Ralph, At 06:03 PM 10/15/97 -0400, you wrote: >Hi Horace > >Seriously, of all the Wurlitzers and Robert Mortons I have played, it >seems as though they don't stay in good tune for one day. My teacher used >to say, "part of the tonal beauty of the theater organ is it's slight >out-oft-tuneness" I have never tuned a pipe organ...only played them but >I sure notice when they are out of tune. I did a stint working with an organ builder some years ago (probably accounts for the bats in my belfry). You raise the distinction between "Theater" and "Classical" organs. Please let me race to assure you that some of my most treasured childhood memories are of the then-trendy Saturday Matinees at the Downtown Long Beach (CA) UA Theater with its Mighty Wurlitzer. Those days were resplendent with performers from my local favorite Wendy Huff, to, yes, Jesse Crawford. (Long Beach was an on-the-circuit place, in those days.) These days, the only real theater organ in the bay area is over in Oakland at the Paramount/Grand Lake; but, there's a pretty nice (smallish) Wurlitzer at the Stanford Theater. >I'm not a fan of classical organ so I can add nothing to what you have >said below. I remember,though, on the Conn organ I used for recording >that there was a tab whose purpose was to slightly detune the strings, >reeds and diapason from the tibias and I liked the effect. Of course I >was playing what we used to refer to as schmultz. Conn's and Thomases used similar devices for that. Interestingly, the older Allens did the same kind of thing by combining tubes and transistors (somehow, I'm not an engineer) on the same stops. There's a time and a place for schmultz, and I wish I had a nickel now for every piano I'd ever tuned for schmultziges musik. >Being a classical organ lover you probably never listened to my teacher, >Jesse Crawford either on Decca label or at the Paramount in N.Y....or for >that matter, myself on ABC. Both of us would probably have given you a >case of Montezuma's Revenge. Well, I probably wouldn't ask you to compete with Lionel Rogg at playing Bach - but then, I wouldn't ask him to accompany a Hal Roach film, either... What fun. Best. Horace Horace Greeley Systems Analyst/Engineer Controller's Office Stanford University email: hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu voice mail: 650.725.906 fax: 650.725.8014
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