those matters. Why does a good AN OuTliNE foR A CouRsE Wurlitzer, Morton, or Kimball en semble sound different from that of any other? Some of the answers lie iN ThuTREORGAN - 2 in the mechanics of construction. Complete answers will require mea The Nature of the Instrument surement of the blending of timbres or overtones produced normally and by overblowing, and of the relative by John Muri loudness of individual ranks of pipes. Little has been published The theatre organ of the nine organs; seemingly not enough care since Herman Helmholtz wrote his teen-twenties was an accommo was put into their voicing. Tibias "On the Sensations of Tone as a dation to a demand for relatively have been variable, even though they Physiological Basis for the Theory low-cost music, to scarcity of space are the most characteristic stop of of Music" in 1863. George A. Auds in organ chambers, and to the taste theatre organs. Organists sought ley's chapter on voicing in his "The of theatre-goers. Initial costs, rang primarily to have a full, round, airy Art of Organ Building" (1905) testi ing up to one thousand dollars for a tone; some wanted a warbling sound. fies to the author's inability to de rank of pipes, were high; but the in Good theatre organ stops were rare scribe what he calls the art (not the strument required only one musi and chancy things; one envied the craft) of voicing. He criticized the cian who could provide music of any organist who had well-voiced and engineers of his time for neglecting kind, even percussions and sound scaled pipes to play on. the study of pipe-organ acoustics. effects. One player could effectively As for tremulants, theatre organs He could say the same thing today. substitute for the work of several usually didn't have enough of them. One cannot fail to notice the musicians. The ordinary six or seven-stop in deceptions that theatre-organ de Even though early mechanical strument had two tremulants, one signers practiced in their desire to instruments incorporated bells, for the vox and the other for every produce impressive consoles. One drums, etc., Dan Barton must be thing else, including the 16-foot builder made big three-manual con given much of the credit for making pedal Bourdon, an extension of the soles for six and seven-rank organs. percussions playable from a con flute rank. Too often a tremulant Sometimes the third manual was sole. On his Bartola, a pianist could would work well on one rank but not even hooked up. One builder play an organ melody with his right perform badly on the rest of the or made a console with two full stop hand and piano accompaniment gan. Most attempts at finding a bolsters on which none of the tabs with his left. shake that would work satisfactorily in the top bolster operated anything. As theatres became larger, cham for most - if not all - of the stops Although the extra tabs were labeled bered pipe organs were installed. would fail. The argument about with an array of tonal resources, The unit system was readily accepted how fast Tibia tremulants should be none of them existed in the organ. because of its economy. With in set have been unceasing. Tremulants Builders never agreed on a uni creased wind-pressures, ten inches usually covered up bad voicing and form system of stop-tab and division and higher, a small organ could unmatched ranks. Most of the layout. Wurlitzer seemed to have sound as formidable as larger low smaller organs (less than ten ranks) reached an ideal layout for their pressured church installations. A had ugly ensembles when played Publix 4/20's (you can find what you ten-rank unit organ can be impres without tremulant. Furthermore, want on them very easily), but seri sive in a large room with good re good, full crescendos could not be ous deviations from the pattern verberation. built up by imperceptibly increasing exist on at least one of their largest The weakness of the unit organ is degrees. Small theatre organs had instruments. Most builders put the its use of a single rank to perform great gaps in their dynamic ranges. pedal stop-tabs on the left side of the several jobs. Single ranks do not Clarinets and Oboe Horns might be bolsters; a few put them on the right. have much variety in their several as loud as the Diapason; there might Some put solo tablets to the right of registers; the upper ranges of a flute be no intermediate stop between the the accompaniment; others did the do not take on the nature of piccolo Flute and a Diaphonic Diapason. reverse. tone. Trumpets or tubas in the four Not much writing has appeared Music racks were often placed foot registers are almost invariably on the subjects of tonality, voicing, much too high for comfortable use, shrill; they certainly do not produce and balance in theatre organs. We just so a horseshoe design of tablets clarion tone. Saxophones are un shall get improvements in small could be unbroken. The racks were satisfactory most of the time, chang unit-organ building when theorists usually much too thin to hold ing disagreeably in voicing as they and engineers pay more attention to enough music for a full feature move up octave by octave. Kinuras film. To a considerable degree, or are quite variable; they are either too ganists were driven to faking their loud, too soft, too nasal, or too thin. Mr. Muri's opinions expressed music because of the inconvenience Kimball made uniformly good snarly herein are his own and do not that poor rack-design caused in necessan1y reflect the policies of Kinuras; Wurlitzer's were almost ATOS or THEATRE ORGAN actual performa~ce. always thin and stringy. Strings are Magazine. Little thought was given to the usually the weakest ranks in theatre placing of consoles for organist-
24 THEATRE ORGAN MAY - JUNE, 1975 convenience. The Chicago Theatre pitfalls for visiting players. patronizing tone. The article has and Radio City Music Hall provide In 1931, a Mr. Elliot B. Spaudling recently been reprinted in a couple examples of consoles placed on a wrote an article, "The Bumbulums", of ATOS chapter bulletins. Con side so close to one chamber that one in which he had nothing good to fronted by these severe criticisms, can barely hear the other a block say for the theatre organ. He con what does one say? In our next arti away across the auditorium. The demned audience taste more than cle, "Function in Theatres", we shall placing of organ chambers was also he excoriated the organists' per attempt a reply and a defense of the something to howl at; they might formances, all in a vehement and theatre organ. be found anywhere. One big one in New York City was placed under neath the stage, where water from an ice show might leak into the chests, and where the sound was choked off from the auditorium when the orchestra elevator rose in front of the swell-shades. Another big one had to have tone-chutes and electronic amplification so that the audience could hear it. Many were placed in small crowded chambers, where at tempts by servicemen to get at parts of the organ would necessitate tear ing out other parts of the instrument. Percussion and soft stops were placed so far back in chambers as to become all but inaudible, while the loudest stops might be placed right up against the shutters. Theatre organs are generally un suited to the performance of works by classical organ composers. There is not enough choice among tonal ities to create proper effects and balances. An organ with only one or two sixteen-foot pedal stops cannot deal with the pedal requirements of Bach. The pedal will be either too loud or too soft for the rest of the registration. An organ with only one Diapason must use whatever is available to match the Diapason tone, usually a lone Tuba. Some ut t1te, "legitimate" organ works may be Metuling ~ht diJrectioa___ satisfactorily played on theatre or gans. The finale to Reubke's Ninety 0~, SruiF/llUtCMco-! fourth Psalm is quite suggestive of movie music, and pieces like Will This snapshot, taken in January, originator of pizza house organ in MacFarlane's Scotch Fantasia, 1975, illustrates once again the stallations over ten years ago. Car Hollins' Concert Overture, and R.S. mutual interest in railroading, which sten also owns the "Cyclops!" Bill Stoughton's esoteric pieces will go many organ enthusiasts share. The Langford, veteran of numerous rather well, but as for items like 1½ inch scale, coal burning, steam regular broadcasts, the ABC Para Deszo d' Antalffy's Drifting Clouds locomotive, "Cyclops," one of the mount radio staff, and his own show (a beautiful composition) - forget largest of the several scales including "Portraits in Black and White," uses it unless you have about twenty (½ and ¾ inch) which are operated his imagination and talent bringing ranks. Small organs can't cut it. at the Golden Gate Live Steamers, out the best in the "Mighty Warfield As for the present scene, most Inc., club loop in Tilden Park, Oak Wurlitzer," at the Joynt. In so doing, of our large instruments are only in land, Calif., is shown being driven by he has become an institution in the partial working order. Inoperative Ray Weaver, a retired locomotive Bay Area. To hear Bill and the many piston mechanisms are strewn across fireman. Following Ray, Carsten other artists and installations in the Bay Area, get on the right track and the land. Consoles with stop-tabs Henningsen, in turn followed by Bill make your reservations for the 1975 that do not bring on what they say Langford. they will (for example, an Oboe Regular readers will remember ATOS National Convention, July Horn tablet that brings on a Post Carsten as the owner of Ye Olde 15th to 20th in San Francisco, Horn) require special care and create Pizza Joynt in Hayward, Calif., the where hot air is put to many uses! 25 MAY -JUNE, 1975 THEATRE ORGAN