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From: LeliaLoban
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 19:35:18 EDT
Subject: [CB] atlantic city organ (fwd)
Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans wrote,
>Assuming that I'm not the only one on this mailing list
>always wanted to have their own pipe organ but ended up
>settling for something as mundane as a contra bass clarinet,
>here is a piece from rec.music.makers.bowed-strings about
>the great Atlantic City pipe organ with its 64 foot (about
>8 cps) low C pipe.You're not the only one! :-)
Whether or not it's a great organ (in the sense of extremely *good*, as
opposed to extremely *large*--nobody, I imagine, would dare debate the
latter!) is the subject of considerable controversy among organists. IMHO,
it's a magnificent monstrosity, weird but strangely beguiling. I've never
heard (of felt) the 64' diaphone, which I believe has been dismantled for
decades, but it's an actual speaking rank, not a resultant. I think there's
only one other real 64' speaking rank in the world, in Australia. Since this
thing is a diaphone, a reed pipe, it would be *seriously loud*, and I think
that a few unusual individuals can indeed hear down to the fundamental of 8
Hz, to judge from some comments on this list. People can certainly hear the
higher end of that rank -- the approximately 8 Hz pipe would be only the
lowest note (C) on it.My uncle played (part of) this organ when it was in pretty serious disrepair,
and among other things, he pointed out that with pipes as much as a city
block apart, registration had to be chosen very carefully to find ranks that
would sound in unison at roughly the same pitch from any given point in the
audience. For practical purposes, it's really several different organs and
you have to choose which one to use. Otherwise, you get a cacophony. Then,
too, the ACC organ has always been a considerably smaller instrument than the
specs would lead one to believe, since nobody's ever been able to get all
parts of the instrument in working order at the same time from the day it was
"finished"! Some stops have *never* worked and have been disconnected from
day one.It's a wild idea, though. I have to admire the audacity of constructing such
a thing. Right now there's a major historical conservation effort underway
to rebuild this organ and get all of it or most of it working. There's lots
more (including the history and a complete list of the specs) on a web site
devoted to this project:Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society, ACCHOS:
http://www.acchos.organd there's commentary and debate in the archives of the PipeOrg-L mailing list:
http://www.albany.edu/piporg-l/Lelia
~~~~~~~~~
Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.
~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:12:18 -0700
From: "monica fucci"
Subject: [CB] RV: MONICA FUCCI PERFORMANCE Sonet of John Corina in IDRSBuenos Aires-----Mensaje original-----
De: JOHN CORINA
Para: mfucci@ciudad.com.ar
Fecha: Viernes 18 de Agosto de 2000 9:03 PM
Asunto: Sonet>Dear Monica,
>
>I saw Bill Davis recently and he told me that you did a marvelous
>performance of SONET at the IDRS, Buenos Aires 2000. Thank you so much
>for programming it. I hope that a tape will be made available so that I
>can hear your performance. I also hope that you will be able to do the
>piece with string orchestra in the near future. Thanks for a great
>performance. Please give my thanks also to Luis Semeniuk, your pianist.
>
>All the best,
>
>John
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 08:05:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: LynnEttte Mueller
Subject: [CB] mundane instrumentsI'm assuming that Richard was not putting down contra bass clarinets or
their owners by his statement>Assuming that I'm not the only one on this mailing list always wanted to
>have their own pipe organ but ended up settling for something as mundane
>as a contra bass clarinet,I don't own a contra bass clarinet but a contra alto clarinet and I know
it is not a mundane instrument.I also own a soprano Buffet R13, which the previous and original owner
uniquely plated. I also own a Malerne oboe, which nobody I know has ever
heard of. Are those mundane instruments because they are soprano ones? I
don't think so.The director of the community concert band needs soprano clarinet players
yet he wants me to play the contra alto because of it's uniqueness.Everyone has their likes and dislikes in instruments and saying one is
mundane I believe was an insult to the instrument as well as the owners.I don't believe Richard meant his statement as an insult, but I
wanted/needed to voice my feelings.=====
LynnEtte MuellerMusic allows the heart to sing
and the soul to fly__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Free email you can access from anywhere!
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---------------------------------------------------------Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 12:10:31 -0800
From: Andrew Stiller
Subject: Re: [CB] atlantic city organ (fwd)At 7:35 PM -0400 8/19/00, LeliaLoban wrote:
> Since this
>thing is a diaphone, a reed pipe, it would be *seriously loud*, and I think
>that a few unusual individuals can indeed hear down to the fundamental of 8
>Hz, to judge from some comments on this list.A diaphone is not in fact a reed pipe, but a unique form in which the
vibrating mechanism is a solid block of wood rattling in the air
column. It is indeed seriously loud (diaphones are routinely used in
foghorns), but musically it counts as just another diapason.Small children can hear as low as 10 Hz., but I never heard of an
adult who could actually hear an 8-Hz pitch. Of course, at high
volumes one can *feel* such pitches, and you can also hear any high
overtones that peak with the fundamental--but what you're hearing
there is not the fundamental pitch, but 16th-notes in march tempo!--
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Presshttp://www.netcom.com/~kallisti
Ut Sol inter planetas, Ita MUSICA inter Artes liberales in medio radiat.
--Heinrich Schuetz, 1640
---------------------------------------------------------From: "Spencer Parks"
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 11:09:32 CDT
Subject: Re: [CB] End of Survey>Actually, I erred. I answered under the assumption of a mishearing or
>mispelling of the original question. I thought the questioner queried of a
>"Dopplehorn". That is similar to a circ ular Mellophonium (a variation of
>Horn). "Dopplerphone" sounds like something used in weather prognosticating,
>as the "doppler" radar, or doppler "effect" in physics, is a sound property.
>What most people call a "French Horn" is a German instrument, French doesn't
>refer to language or Nationality, but rather part of a much longer
>expression misused over time, just as "that unusual little automobile that's
>in Morris' Garage", became the "MG".
>
>The Dopplephone of which I referring, and the circular Mellphone,
>Mellophonium, circular Alto Horns, etc are closer to a "French Horn" than
>the Orchestral Horn referred to as such by almost everyone, except of
>course, Hornists.
>
>TomOK. I'm a very visual person and I'm curious to know what these intruments
look like (circular Mellphone, Mellophonium, circular Alto Horns). Are
there any sites that have pictures of these?SPeNCeR
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From: "Kevin Highley"
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 10:06:23 +0100
Subject: [CB] Comments on recent threads.A few comments to go with recent threads.
I found the discussion on different notations for Bass Clarinet interesting. Most of the scores I have seen are in treble clef, a ninth above the required pitch. We have recently been playing some old British army band arrangements of Gilbert and Sullivan pieces, these are scored for Bass Clarionet, and are on the bass clef, and in concert pitch. I couldn't play this at sight, just bass clef is hard enough for me, so I ended up playing a part labled Althorn, which was fun as it had lots of melodies, and seemed to be doubling the cornet line.
Odd instruments - at a follk festival recently I saw for sale a bass banjo - larger than a 'cello, and with a diaphragm that would suit a large kettle drum.
The Dopplerphone - could this be a reference to a length of hose, a trumpet mouth piece and a funnel? In use the funnel end of the hose is whirled around the head while playing, which produces a sound varying in pitch with the movement of the funnel.
Kevin Highley.
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