First playing of Theatre Pipes in years - New Hope

I went to a meeting of the GSTOS in New Hope, PA and had a chance to play the home installation of a 3/23 Wurltizer hybrid pipe organ. For more information on the organ, see: http://www.gstos.org/newhope.htm. The organ was sweet! It was well voiced and the volume was perfect for the space. I did okay playing a few tunes but since I am used to using only pistons on my Miditzer and not selecting stops while I play, the registration did not go perfectly, but I was pleased. This experience made me even more excited about my own organ coming... whenever the funds are available.. hopefully soon.

Dining Room

The electrician came in a hung the new ceiling fixture which has a spot light for the organ and also the two sconces which are on the wall above where the organ will be. The room is now painted with an accent color on the organ wall and a border which runs around the top of the room tying the two colored walls together. It looks great. All that is left is for the new laminate floor which should be sometime around October. Things are coming along.

Strony's Theatre Organ Registration book

From reading Walter Strony's web site, I see that his book on theatre organ registration is now out of print as he is finishing off his new edition. He says to keep checking the web site to see when the new edition will be released. I can't wait!

My Ship

After looking through my extensive collection of sheet music and collections and asking a few friends. I realized that I did not have access to a copy of "My Ship" by Kurt Weil. The reason I was looking for it was I heard it on a Jelani Eddinton cd (Stars Fell on Alabama) and I thought it was such a lovely, haunting melody. I finally ended up purchasing it online from musicnotes.com. The printout was wonderful. I will photocopy the one from my inkjet, so it will no smear if it gets wet. I have been working on the tune on my organ... there is so much you can do with it!

Preparing for my Allen 311sp

Even though I am not sure when I will be purchasing the Allen Q-311sp, I have started arranging the current dining room for it. Today an electrician arrived to mount a new ceiling light which includes a spot which will shine on the organ. We also discussed exactly how I will want my two new sconces mounted to the wall. He will come back another day to cut the wall board to run wires and mount the sconces. Yesterday, the movers came and took my Kwai piano up to the church to which I had donated it. Last summer I purchased a Yamaha CP-300 keyboard to replace the actual piano. It has an incredible touch and sounds pretty good.

Using YouTube

When I have been struggling with the arrangement of a tune to make it sound right on the organ, sometimes, I go to YouTube to see what other people have done with it. Since the theatre organ is a "Unit Orchestra", it is good to hear various arrangements of the same tune played by different type of musicians on various instruments or by various groups. If one wants to listen to different arrangements, it is easy to get well over 15 different on YouTube... especially if you are searching for a classic. Recently I have researched "Harlem Nocturne" and "Willow Weep for Me" and have found many very different arrangements of the same tune. Try it out.

"New" song found

I have been going through my music files to find new pieces to try out and came across "Harlem Nocturne." It is very nice with a haunting melody. I went to YouTube and listed to some old black and white recordings of bands playing it to get some ideas on how to make a nice arrangement for the organ. I think this one may turn into one of my "regulars."