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The organ as a wind instrument

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101–108 of 108 posts

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#101
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one is stopping you or any other secular organization from building your own organs. It seems weird to complain that churches were the only organizations willing to spend the money to build and maintain organs. If anything, you should be grateful they invested the resources in the first place. Without these churches, is it not possible the organ would be virtually extinct at this point? I think its reasonable to…

Now that so many people are non-religious, I wonder why groups are not being formed to take the place of churches, and have choirs and organ music. Clearly there is a desire for such things. If churches can do it, surely secular non-profits could do the same thing. Gather together one or more times a week to sing and listen to music. Maybe have talks about whatever people want to talk about (hopefully avoiding things…

> Where is the local …

Library.

Libraries are often community based, can hold events and talks, are an assumed "no cost" place too. I've lived in cities where you can go and play music on their instruments, use 3d printers, computers, access training, hold community groups, use their sewing machines, watch performances and more.

What you need is the funding.

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#102
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the main statement at the beginning of your comment is that they were and are exclusionary. Even if they were less exclusionary to the group the other commenter identifies as a member of than other things "of the time" that's a relative measure and "better than some other things" isn't really relevant to the point. > On the whole, Christianity can be argued to be one of the most inclusive religions ever. It w…

> I think the main statement at the beginning of your comment is that they were and are exclusionary. Now I'm wondering if you read my previous comment. I already stated: all things are defined by what they include and exclude. Excluding and including is amoral. It only takes on a moral character when you consider what is being included or excluded and why. Being "less exclusionary" could be bad, depending on your pe…

> Now I'm wondering if you read my previous comment. I already stated: all things are defined by what they include and exclude. Excluding and including is amoral.

Yes I did, and at no point did I even assign a moral value to the exclusion because it's not relevant. Even the original poster didn't.

It can be necessary for the group, inherent in groups, whatever. You don't need to argue around the balance of good Vs bad and can leave it at simply "this part in isolation is a shame". That's it. It's not a big revelation, or shouldn't be, but it may help you with not reacting like such a simple statement is an attack on a larger part of your identity.

> No. No, I didn't. And the rest of your final paragraph doesn't make any more sense to me

You called it obvious yet didn't understand it.

This isn't Reddit and I don't want to contribute in turning it into that, if you don't want to read my banal points then don't - I have nothing to win or lose here. If you want to try and understand I think I've framed it as best as I can, so try reading it without assuming it's an attack, responding further after a few misunderstandings is futile because either I can't explain it to your further satisfaction.

Much like the balance of emotions, there does not need to be some winning think out of this.

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#103
post #87

The pipe organ is surely one of the most majestic & grand instruments, and I long for the day its most frequent use won't be drab church hymns. It's capable of so much more. It's also difficult to get exposure to. You've basically got make friends with a church music director to let you play theirs. That's not easy, especially as a queer self-taught musician—no religion, no music degree won't get you too far. It's a…

There is this thing called "Organteq". It's made by mad scientists (well, mathematicians and engineers) from France and is based on physical modelling. Look it up, it's great!

Oh super I did not realize they have a linux version of Organteq, I will definitely have to try that. I've used Grand Orgue so far and that works quite well, but I am a very happy user of Pianoteq (you can guess what that does) and Modartt has definitely raised the bar there, so I'm curious what they can do with Organs (arguably: easier to model in theory but probably a lot harder in practice).

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#104

The pipe organ is surely one of the most majestic & grand instruments, and I long for the day its most frequent use won't be drab church hymns. It's capable of so much more. It's also difficult to get exposure to. You've basically got make friends with a church music director to let you play theirs. That's not easy, especially as a queer self-taught musician—no religion, no music degree won't get you too far. It's a…

I don't want to be "that guy" but a mate of mine is the music director is in his local church here in the UK, plays the organ and piano, is mostly self taught and is also gay... he's even going to be teaching me to play the organ later on this year (and I'm joining his choir for a bit of fun... he also knows I'm not religious at all and in his own words "faith is not a requirement") All I'm saying is you just need to…

Gay organists are common enough to be a trope.

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#105
post #4

Anna Lapwood demonstrating the features of a pipe organ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzK-tYFGQx4 Edit: Although she didn't explain how they "programme" the buttons. Presumably by adjusting something in the guts of the organ.

It's all computer-controlled, so the programming is probably done with a computer or a built-in digital interface.

Not necessarily on all organs though, there are still some all mechanical ones that are alive and well!

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#106

As someone who is both an organ nerd and... I'll say very religiously conservative (although that's only relevant to some points), a couple things people in this thread might find interesting: - If you're looking for pipe organs and are in the US, check out https://pipeorgandatabase.org/ . It's very comprehensive, has stoplists for most organs, and has pictures for many of the larger ones. - I see quite a few people…

Lovely comment! Thank you, agreed on all points, especially 'the building is the instrument', an organ played with the church in which it is housed in mind and various parts 'speaking' into different parts of the building can make all the difference between a boring performance and an outstanding one.

Oh, and then there are such exotic ones as the ones that speak through conduits on the other side of the church (and good luck managing that trying not to get confused when the sound reaches you...).

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#107

There's a software that I used to emulate a pipe organ (and also harpsichords). I used it for years and it has a library with a lot of historical organs around the world: https://www.hauptwerk.com , as far as I know this is the only commercially supported PC/Mac software dedicated to this.

And: Grandorgue, J-Organ, another commenter mentioned Organteq and there is Digital VPO and quite probably others that I've never encountered.

Re: The organ as a wind instrument

#108
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that so many people are non-religious, I wonder why groups are not being formed to take the place of churches, and have choirs and organ music. Clearly there is a desire for such things. If churches can do it, surely secular non-profits could do the same thing. Gather together one or more times a week to sing and listen to music. Maybe have talks about whatever people want to talk about (hopefully avoiding things…

> Where is the local … Library. Libraries are often community based, can hold events and talks, are an assumed "no cost" place too. I've lived in cities where you can go and play music on their instruments, use 3d printers, computers, access training, hold community groups, use their sewing machines, watch performances and more. What you need is the funding.

Yes... all the libraries with Pipe Organs and choirs...

I see what you are saying, but library isn't it. It needs to be an organization like a church, just non-religious. Libraries and churches have some similarities, but the many differences, and not just religious versus non-religious.

I want to see a purely voluntary organization. There is a head of the organization, but that person has a normal full time job, as does everyone else who "works" there. People need to pay dues to pay for the building, the utilities, the pipe organ, etc. but none of that money can go to a person's salary. No mega "churches".

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