Mezzo-Forte Registration

Well I finally changed two of my three general pistons on the Miditizer to a MF and F registration as suggested in Walt Stroney's book (with some allowances for the polyphony limitations of my Miditzer setup.) WOW what a difference it makes...It gives me the sound I was hearing in my head but not able to get out of the Miditzer. I played through my Oliver vocal selections and it was fun. I even fixed the traps on the Miditzer pedal so I was able to use a snare in the accomp. and a drum and cymbal in the pedal for "Oomp Pah Pah." What fun. This whole things makes me ache for the time when I will get my Allen.

Visit Stadele's Organ

I recently went down to Stadele's organ to play the Q-311sp that I will be purchasing soon. It was fun.. and made me more anxious, looking forward to the time that it will be in my house. We discussed some things such as speakers and whether or not to purchase the Midi Assistant. No decisions have been made yet on either of those things.

I recorded myself playing for 52 minutes. When I got home to listen there were two things I noticed. One - the organ sounds great although there are some things I would like revoiced but that is a decision to be made after I hear how it sounds in my home. Two - I have to get used to playing organs that I am not totally familar with. When playing and I did not like the sound, I would try to readjust the registrations, only to then stumble around on the keyboard and lose my place in the music. When I get the organ, I will practice playing by adjusting the stop tabs while playing and not just using only pistons as I do on the Miditzer.. because that is all I can really do on it.

I made a CD of my playing.. nothing to write home about (or to write here about.) It will be good for my own historical collection of my playing. I will try editing the songs on Audiocity to remove some of my major pausing and stumbling.. we will see how that turns out.

Talking of recordings of me... I recently found an old cassette tape of the time in the 1970s when I first went to the Allen organ dealer (the same one) to try out my first Allen. It was interesting to here the playing and conversations.

After this trip I really am hearing the clock tick.....

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.