August 2015 “How to record a Pipe Organ” 1

HOW TO RECORD A PIPE ORGAN RECORDING PIPE ORGANS - INTRODUCTION Organs are rather like cars - there are the Rolls Royce and the Austin 7 types and all sorts in between. The average church recorder may not be able to describe the details of his/her car although (s)he may be a good driver. Likewise an organist may not be able to describe the organ although (s)he plays well. These notes are to help ordinary church recorders to "record" an organ so that

a) the record is suitable as part of a NADFAS record with the dedicated number of 800.

b) the record is accurate and can be understood by members of the British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) and experts who keep the database NPOR (National Pipe Organ Register) up-to-date. A copy of your finished record should be sent to NPOR Database Manager, Royal College of Organists, PO Box 56357, London SE16 7XL W: www.npor.org.uk E: npor@bios.org.uk BEFORE STARTING TO RECORD A PIPE ORGAN a) Go on-line to www.npor.org.uk Print out anything which NPOR has about the organ. Take it with you on the day you record. b) Arrange with the churchwardens/organist to have access to the organ. Find out how to unlock it and how to turn the wind on and off. The organist may want to be with you. c) Find out about the ACTION. Telephone the organ tuner (via the churchwarden if the tuner’s notebook with his number is not near the organ). d) Use the NADFAS 1-10 format as usual. However, paragraph 1 will be subdivided and may continue for some pages. e) As always with any object being recorded please be accurate. This is especially important with names on nameplates (the way they are written can help with dating an organ). ALWAYS PHOTOGRAPH THE NAME PLATE.

NB Brian Gill’s book: “An Introduction to the Recording of Church Organs” (available from NADFAS HOUSE) has excellent photographs and some useful notes at the back. RECORDING ON THE DAY – using the NADFAS 1-10 format NB The position of the organ refers to the organ pipes/case, not the console. The console (the driving seat!) can be attached or detached. See below.

These notes in the blue column are detailed but may help and be of interest.

The questions in the yellow column are for you to answer. From these you can write your record.

1 Description CASE: Look at the case. If the case has an attached (integral) console, start with that side..

Which direction does the main case face? North, East, South, West?

After describing and photographing the main case, describe and photograph each side and the back.

SEE ILLUSTRATION OF A CASE FRONT ON NEXT PAGE. DON’T FORGET THE SIDES AND BACK.

The blower (which produces the wind) is either inside the organ or in an external box, often at the side or the back of the organ.

If you can see the blower box (or enclosure) give its position and describe any labels.

GIFT IN MEMORY PLATES GIFT IN MEMORY PLATES Gift in Memory inscriptions: The description for these will be recorded within the section for the case or the console depending on its position but the actual inscription will be put in paragraph 9.

Check carefully whether it is a gift in memory or a memorial. If a memorial put in the Memorial section of the record. If the plate is elaborate, photograph it as well as describing it.

EXAMPLES OF SOME PATTERNS OF PIPE MOUTHS

A SHAPE V SHAPE STRAIGHT STEPPED M SHAPE W SHAPE

August 2015 “How to record a Pipe Organ” 2

ILLUSTRATION OF A CASE

ILLUSTRATION OF A CONSOLE OPENING

DECORATIVE PIPE DISPLAYS

CORNICE SHADES TOWER FLAT PIPE MOUTHS CENTRAL TOWER WITH

BRACKET

CORNICE

SHADES

TOWER

FLAT

PIPE MOUTHS

IMPOST

CONSOLE MUSIC DESK KEYBOARD

KEYBOARD

J A M B

J A M

B

PEDAL ACCESSORIES

PEDALBOARD

For console, keyboard, pedalboard, pedal accessories and jambs with stop knobs, see later illustrations.

RED SIGNAL LIGHT ROCKER SWITCH FOR POWER TO CONSOLE LIGHTS AND BLOWER JAMBS WITH STOP KNOBS KEYSLIPS

MAKER’S PLATE

JAMBS WITH STOP KNOBS

ORGAN PIPES ABOVE

MUSIC DESK WITH 4 MUSIC RETAINING

CLIPS

2 KEYBOARDS ABOVE

PEDALBOARD BELOW

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CONSOLE: CONSOLE: This is the "driving position", with the equivalent of a "dashboard" with lots of knobs.

Sit on the organ bench to answer the following questions. Have your camera or your photographer handy.

Describe the console opening. See illustration on previous page.

Describe the doors if it has them.They may be glazed. There may be a key hole with a key escutcheon.

If it doesn’t have doors it may have a roll top or a music desk which folds down (known as a “locking fall”) or a Perspex cover, or nothing at all.

Is the console integral with the organ? If N go to next box. If Y What overall size is it? Does it have doors? If Y describe them or photograph them. If N, does it have a roll-top lid? or a locking fall?

or something else?

Is there a key escutcheon? are there handle(s)?

If the console is detached, give the position (it may be moveable, if so, say so.)

Is the console detached? If Y What overall size is it? Where is it?

For both attached and detached consoles:

Above the keyboards there will be a music desk (describe briefly) with a rest for the music (about 4.5cm deep) with 4 brass (sometimes wooden) retaining clips. Check.

Look at the music desk.

What material is the desk? Are there any music retaining clips? How many? What material?

Keyboards for the hands are called manual keyboards (or manuals).

See illustration on page 4 for the general terms used for the Console/ keyboards and stops. See illustration at top of this page on how to work out the “compass” (range of notes/keys) of the manuals.

How many keyboards for the hands are there? How many notes/keys do they have (the total per manual, including both naturals and sharps?) What is the lowest key on each manual? (almost always bass C, called CC) What is the highest key on each manual? What colours are the naturals (the longer notes) ? What colours are the sharps (the shorter notes) ? What material are the naturals? What material are the sharps?

CC DD EE etc C D E etc c1 d1 e1 etc c2 d2 e2 etc c3 d3 e3 g3 or Bass C or Tenor C or Middle C or Treble C

ILLUSTRATION OF KEYBOARD WITH NOTE NAMES

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Sharps and naturals. The naturals are the bigger keys and are usually white. The sharps are small keys and usually black.

Use the chart at the top of the previous page to work out which note/key is the lowest and which is the highest. There are lots of different ways of showing notes. This is only one way of showing them, or you can count them, sharps and naturals. This example shows one manual with notes CC to g3, i.e. 56 notes, known as the “compass”.

Key Colours Naturals will be white, black, other. Sharps will be white, black, other. Key Materials White keys can be ivory, bone, or plastic, Black keys can be ebony etc Other is usually wood, pale and/or dark.

STOPS AND COUPLERS STOPS AND COUPLERS You may be interested in the following. You may want to take photographs. Apart from the keyboards themselves, the 'controls' of the organ operated by the hands are of three main kinds:

Stops: These, when pushed in, stop individual rows of pipes from sounding. To be playable, the stop needs to be pulled out or switched on.

Couplers on organs with one or more keyboards and/or pedalboard, which 'couple' two or more keyboards or keyboards and pedals.

Combination pistons, which draw or cancel groups of stops (and/or couplers) in combination.

The Stops and Couplers are nearly always hand-operated by knobs or tabs beside the music desk.

Mixtures are usually described in stop lists with a roman numeral denoting the number of ranks - most stops have one rank of pipes but mixtures, known as compound stops, have two or more (many more in classical organs on the continent) so in a stop list one will see - Mixture III; or Mixture V - as the case may be. But occasionally arabic numerals are used

e.g. MIXTURE 3 RANKS. But that is fairly unusual.

Answer as many of these questions as possible.

Where are the knobs/tabs?

If they are on the jambs say if the jambs are flat or angled or (more rarely) sloping or even terraced.

Are they tabs (short for tablets)? (These can be hinged at the back or pivoted in the middle i.e. rocking tablets).

U U U U U U U U U What material are the tabs?

Or Are they pull-out knobs (drawstops)? If drawstops, what are the materials?

Are the shanks turned (round) or square ?

What material is the shank?

What sort of collar does the drawstop have? (wood, type of wood if known, plastic, felt, etc.) Is there a lining to the collar? If Y, what material is it? What colour is the material?

ILLUSTRATION OF TYPICAL

STOP KNOB

= PISTONS KEY SLIPS KEYBOARDS (MANUALS) KEY CHEEK

SHARPS

NATURALS

SHARPS

NATURALS

JAMBS each side

of the console

with stop

knobs

ROSEWOOD COLLAR RED FELT LINING OAK SHANK ROSEWOOD

IVORY DISC WITH NUMERALS AND SANS SERIF CAPS COLOURED BLACK

August 2015 “How to record a Pipe Organ” 5

The knob: What type of material? (Usually wood, usually matches the collar and may or may not match the shank.)

What type of material is the disc? Ivory? Plastic? Wood? If wood, what type of wood? What type of lettering is on the disc? Is the lettering painted? or engraved? or both?

Is the lettering coloured? If Y, what colour?

THE STOP LIST THE STOP LIST NPOR will almost always list the stops.

You may be interested in the following.

There are many different stop arrangements. In all instruments they are in groups sometimes headed by the name of the division (Great, Swell, Choir etc) and (rarely) may be serially numbered.

There may be a figure under some of the stop names indicating the pitch of the stop in feet (16, 8, 4 etc, based on the speaking length of the bottom CC pipe); an 8ft stop sounds the same pitch as on the piano, a 4ft stop sounds one octave higher than the piano, a 2ft stop sounds two octaves higher etc. A 16ft stop sounds one octave lower than a piano.

BE VERY ACCURATE WITH THE STOP NAMES. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT WAYS OF SPELLING SOME OF THE MORE OBSCURE NAMES. DON'T PRODUCE ANY HOWLERS –

Tenor C NOT Tennessee [Tenor C is a stop with limited range]

Bourdon NOT Bourbon Diapason NOT Diapson Cornopean NOT Cornucopean

CHECK, CHECK AND CHECK AGAIN. THE SPELLING SOMETIMES HELPS TO DATE AN ORGAN OR IDENTIFY THE MAKER.

List the names of the stops.

There may be one manual only, or one manual and pedalboard, or there may be more manuals and one pedalboard.

Start with those in the GREAT organ division. The convention is to start at the bottom left working upwards. [GREAT is nearly always on R.]

Then list the stops in the SWELL organ.

Then list the stops in the CHOIR organ in the same way.

Then list the stops in the PEDAL organ and, finally, the COUPLERS.

If there is only one horizontal row of stops, list them L to R or bottom to top as appropriate. If the divisions are not labelled ask the organist which is which.

PISTONS (If any) PISTONS (If any) Pistons are usually small buttons placed below the keyboard (in the keyslip) whose stops they operate. Pistons may be numbered or blank.

List the pistons, with any lettering/numbering on them.

Under each manual, in the key slip, how many pistons are there? Are they numbered? Or lettered?

OTHER FEATURES OTHER FEATURES As you sit at the console, you will perhaps notice other ordinary electric switches, other switches, mirrors of various sorts, warning lights for the arrival of the bride, closed circuit TV etc!

Are there other features? If Y, list them (see notes on left) without going into too much detail.

August 2015 “How to record a Pipe Organ” 6

OTHER FEATURES (continued) Old organs sometimes have a pendant tell-tale or mouse (of lead, brass, ivory, etc) to indicate the level of wind in the reservoir with a string running over a pulley. Find out if it still works by switching on the wind and seeing if it comes down.

OTHER FEATURES (continued) Does this organ have a tell-tale? If Y, what material? Does it still work? You may not be able to tell if it works or not but you can try using the suggestion on the left.

NAME PLATES NAME PLATES As with any other item being recorded, follow the rules for recording inscriptions. The maker's name plate is very important. The description: the type of lettering, incised, painted, coloured, the material, will go in paragraph 1 within the section for the case or the console. Don’t forget the measurements. ENSURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT NAME:

Snetzler NOT Snezler John Oldrid Scott NOT

John Oldroyd Scott Walker Joy NOT Walter Joy Gray & Davison NOT Gray & Davidson

As well as describing the plate, always photograph it.

PEDALS PEDALS ILLUSTRATIONS OF PEDAL BOARDS. A) Explaining a concave pedalboard. Look at the picture below which is an "elevation" of a concave pedalboard. (A flat pedalboard would be flat!)

FLOORLINE

B) Explaining a radiating pedalboard.

The diagram is looking down onto a radiating pedalboard. This will also help you to work out the compass of the pedalboard. The compass of this pedalboard is CC to f1, i.e. 30 notes. (Note that c1 is middle C.)

Is there a pedalboard (a wooden keyboard for the feet)? If N, skip to the ACTION box on the next page. How many notes does it have (including ‘sharps’)? If possible give its compass using the illustration below on the left to help you. Using the illustrations on the left to help you Is the pedalboard concave or flat (apart from the sharps)? Is the pedalboard radiating (fan-shaped)? or straight?

= sharps = naturals

Height from

CC EE C E A B c1 f1

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PEDAL ACCESSORIES PEDAL ACCESSORIES The most usual are a) a ratchet lever on the right-hand side or a balanced pedal in the centre, operating Venetian shutters on the swell box. b) Coupler pedal (to draw or cancel e.g. ‘Great to Pedal’, so called “reversible”) and c) Composition pedals or toe pistons, some of which may duplicate the action of the manual pistons.

ILLUSTRATION SHOWING SOME PEDAL ACCESSORIES AND KEYBOARDS, KEYSLIPS AND KEYCHEEKS.

Apart from pedal keys, are there any foot operated levers, pedals , knobs (pistons) etc? If Y give what details you can or draw a diagram or take some photographs.

ACTION If you have a print-out from NPOR the action will be listed but still check with the organ tuner. In the NPOR entries the following initials stand for the various types of action: TR = Mechanical (tracker) TP = Pneumatic (actually tubular pneumatic but “tubular” is not necessary for us) EP = Electro-pneumatic EL = Electric (which really is different from EP). Sometimes there is a mixture of actions, e.g. mechanical to manuals and pneumatic to the pedals.

PIPES An average organ contains pipes of several types and materials, the tone of individual stops being determined by many details of the construction and the type of material used, whilst their pitch is determined, broadly speaking, by their length.

Ensure that you mention whether the pipes are painted, gilded, made of pipe metal or zinc etc. Materials for pipes: Pipe-metal (an alloy of zinc and tin). They look rather blotchy and so are not often shown in the front pipe display. Zinc (used for larger pipes, for strength. Zinc is a lighter grey than lead and pipes made from it make a harder noise than pipe metal or lead). Lead: Dark grey and rather soft. Wood: Square or rectangular section wooden pipes are used for many stops of flute tone (e.g. pedal Bourdon, Stopped Diapason etc).

KEYBOARDS KEYSLIPS each with 4 pistons KEYCHEEKS, MOULDED

PEDAL ACCESSORIES

including

2 spatulate pedals

and a balanced

swell pedal

August 2015 “How to record a Pipe Organ” 8

ORGAN BENCH ORGAN BENCH Organ benches are fairly standard. Sometimes they are made to match the case. Some are adjustable.

Describe and measure.

You have now come to the end of paragraph 1. For paragraphs 2-10, record as you would for any item. 2 Materials: Materials used in the construction of the case, console and pipes should be listed here. Remember that there will be the usual wood, metal, brass etc but there may be ivory, plastic, felt etc and pipe-metal: see above. If you know the material of the pipes, say so. Don’t be afraid to use “etc” – all sorts of materials are used, some quite esoteric.

3 Date: The original date of manufacture of the present organ goes here. Other dates are inserted at paragraph 7.

4 Measurements: Overall measurement of the case or each case, the console if detached, and the organ bench. Various measurements may have been added to your description of the case and console. Only put the overall measurements here. If it's too high to measure, say so. Estimate the height if you can. If you like, put a photo or diagram here with appropriate measurements marked.

5 Artist: Often with small organs the artist who made the case is also the manufacturer of the organ. With simple cases such as pipe-racks, no carving etc, there is no artist. With grand or rather good organs, very often the name of the artist is known, often an architect.

6 Manufacturer: The organ is originally made by one man or one firm but over many years, many people have worked on it. This may be given on the NPOR website. Put the ORIGINAL maker of the present instrument here and add everyone else in paragraph 7.

7 History: This can be a most important paragraph for the record. Here is added your research and the history of the organ, as much as you can find out, from your usual documents, organ builders' records, parish records etc. You can give a potted history with the names and dates of the different organ builders who have worked on the instrument and what they have done. But it can be a mine-field and if you have a good rapport with a member of BIOS or an organ builder it will help. Be as accurate as you can and don't guess!

8 Donor and date of gift. Fairly obvious but also add here if a restoration has taken place as a gift.

9 Memorial inscriptions The description including the position, lettering etc has been made in paragraph 1. Here you just put the text of any memorial or dedicatory inscriptions with / showing end of line. NB Text of Biblical quotations goes in paragraph 1). 10 All your references ESSENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHS are of the CASE; CONSOLE or CONSOLE OPENING; STOPS with readable lettering; PEDAL AREA similar to the diagram on page 7 and MAKER’S NAME PLATES.