It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 8:30 am


I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

A discussion forum for anything even marginally Hauptwerk-related.
  • Author
  • Message
Offline
User avatar

JSO

Member

  • Posts: 45
  • Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:33 am
  • Location: Guadalajara, Mexico

I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostSat Aug 02, 2014 2:38 pm

Hey all,

Just wanted to tell you a little about my experience today playing a pipe organ for the first time. It is perhaps something that may be taken for granted by some organists but it's be an experience I'll never forget. Basically when I first started this endeavor all I knew was that I wanted to play the organ. I didn't know a whole lot about them, I had no connections whatsoever to the / a church, I didn't know anybody who played. I was in the dark. Then I stumbled into HW (years ago) but only recently started to look more into it.

I'd just like to thank this community for all its help and encouragement. I couldn't have done it without all of your direct / indirect help and assistance. Of note: Thomas Gentry, John Stump, Christ Church RA in Mexico City and the HW team and all forum members for this great resource!

Hard to believe I went from this to this and then this

The organ is a Walcker, with a somewhat limited stop selection. It's on a small church in downtown Guadalajara. Still, it was a great experience for me. Hopefully I'll have a lot of years ahead of me to try and master this great instrument.

I'm now taking lessons and will try and make the best of it.

I could keep rambling on but I'll spare you the agony. :)

Jose.
Offline
User avatar

notdefined

Member

  • Posts: 284
  • Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:22 pm
  • Location: Naselle, WA 98638

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostSat Aug 02, 2014 9:24 pm

Rattle on baby. The excitement of discovery is what will keep this instrument alive for generations. Besides, your excitement is our excitement and quite welcome in my case.

Cheers,
Tom
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostSat Aug 02, 2014 9:28 pm

Thanks for the report, Jose. And your enthusiasm is showing which is good. Rambling about something that is of importance is good for the soul as well. Keep at it in spite of some possible inescapable frustrations at times. Most can say been there, done it. :)

Rgds,
Ed
Offline

studens

Member

  • Posts: 108
  • Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:47 pm

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostMon Aug 04, 2014 11:12 am

I like this.
Offline

b.natural

Member

  • Posts: 198
  • Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:02 pm

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostMon Aug 04, 2014 12:05 pm

I will never forget my first time playing a real pipe organ. It happened when I went away to university at age 17.
I had hitherto only played on the little Hammond spinet at my home church. As I entered the university chapel for the first time and saw the pipe organ, I thought I was experiencing some sort of beatific vision. I stealthily approached this brand new Casavant with great joy and longing. It wasn't two minutes before I had found the key and started to play. Hearing those marvelous stops was a defining moment in my life when I knew that I was to be an organist.

The very next day I went to the music department to inquire about getting lessons. I met the organ professor later that day and she set me up for lessons with one of her senior students for my first year. I changed my major to music after I had put in 2 years of Arts.

What a marvelous privilege it has been for me to play the organ throughout my life. I now enjoy Hauptwerk at home in my leisure time. :D
Offline

Doggit

Member

  • Posts: 16
  • Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:20 pm
  • Location: Georgia. USA

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostFri Sep 19, 2014 10:37 am

Just came across this and I can relate.
I've only been playing for a couple of years, but often wanted to. An article appeared in the paper about a local organist. I told my wife that one thing I wanted to do before I die was play a pipe organ. (I had one year of piano lessons plus some self teaching). So I called him and he said "Sure, come on over." I arrived with my basic version of "Jesu Joy of Man's desiring," which he proceeded to play flawlessly. Then said, "I have to run some errands go to it." It was a really nice three manual schantz. I felt like a kid in the cockpit of a 747. Managed to figure out which stops went to what manual and dragged my way through it. Hope no one was listening! :D Well, I was hooked. Although this organist did not teach, he put me in touch with a great teacher who is still teaching me to this day. Probably goes back to his office and tears his hair out after a session with me. Bought an older Allen organ as a practice instrument (didn't know about Hauptwerk then). Still have plans to midify it when I can afford it. I am too old to ever become a great organist, but I thank the Lord for that organist who was willing to let a complete newby loose on his instrument. I have a pleasure that will last the rest of my life.
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostFri Sep 19, 2014 11:25 am

Glad to see that you got "hooked". Someone to whom this has never happened doesn't understand the feeling and emotion. Next "hooking" will take place when you create with Hauptwerk. :)

Rgds,
Ed
Last edited by engrssc on Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Offline
User avatar

profeluisegarcia

Member

  • Posts: 844
  • Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:00 pm
  • Location: Manizales, Colombia

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostFri Sep 19, 2014 4:12 pm

JSO wrote:Hard to believe I went from this to this and then this
.

I have had a REVERSE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE:
I went from this (http://catedraldesanpedro.weebly.com/) -Walcker III/46, 1928
and this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmVHruCcexc) -Alberdi (Spanish) II/22, 1908
to my home based splendid HauptWerk (Florez & Garcia, opus 1, recently restored¡) *

I am the Honoraire Titulaire and take care of both pipe organs, but in order to play the first one I have to travel 250 kms. (it is located in Cali, Colombia), and to play the second one -located in my city- I have to find a parking lot and then to climb 80 unending stairs.
But in order to play a Silberman-Arlesheim or Batz-Utrecht I just need to jump from bed to organ (and vice versa) :D :D

* I make my own the words our HW mate BachsFugue wrote in this Forum in 2003:
Now for the praise I have for the work that Martin Dyde has done. Hauptwerk--what I'm sure is a labor of love for Martin--is all I need for me to end my days and take me to my final rest. That for which I have longed for so many years has come to be: a real pipe organ in my home, and one that even sounds good to boot!
Offline
User avatar

hwnewbie

Member

  • Posts: 38
  • Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:07 am
  • Location: Savannah, GA, US

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostFri Sep 19, 2014 4:55 pm

My experience is very similar to Doggit's. In the spring of 1972, my college classmate and I were visiting graduate-level seminarians in Washington DC, and one of them arranged for us to go over and get a close-up view of the organ in the church across the street (since they found out I was a budding organist).

We went over, and the organist (music director, Mr. Michaud) took us up to the loft. We watched as he played the opening hymn, and then he explained the organ to us - the divisions, ranks, electro-pneumatic action, etc. Then he said, "I won't be in tomorrow, but you can get the key from the secretary and come up and practice if you want." :shock: I was dumfounded at first, but I finally stammered out, "Okay, sure." Prior to this, my only organ experience was less than two years on a chapel's B-3 (that's as close to cussing as I'll get here) and a 3-manual Allen at the college. I never had a lesson, learning only from a book on CHORD organ. Anyway, the next day, we went up, I sat at the console, and yes, it was like a Piper Cub student pilot in the cockpit of a 747 or maybe a space shuttle, because this was the 4-manual Moller at the National Shrine in DC. I only used the presets that Mr. M. had prepared, and played for about an hour. It was heaven! :mrgreen:
Offline
User avatar

engrssc

Member

  • Posts: 7283
  • Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:12 pm
  • Location: Roscoe, IL, USA

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostFri Sep 19, 2014 7:49 pm

It only takes a single one time experience such as these to get "smitten":. And that "effect" never leaves. :D

Rgds,
Ed
Offline
User avatar

JSO

Member

  • Posts: 45
  • Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:33 am
  • Location: Guadalajara, Mexico

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostSat Sep 20, 2014 2:56 pm

Nice to see how my experience has evoked memories from several of you. It truly is a magical journey. The more I think about it the more I agree with the old saying, playing the organ is a privilege, not a right.
Offline
User avatar

StephG

Member

  • Posts: 14
  • Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 2:26 pm
  • Location: Athol, MA, USA

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostMon Sep 22, 2014 10:39 am

I am happy that you got to experience the joy. We had a Hammond at our Catholic church, and I wandered down to the Methodist church when I was 10, and the sexton let me try out their smallish 2 manual. It was awesome. I played one piece and thanked the man for his kindness. While I ended up with a key to the Catholic church choir loft, the Hammond wasn't the same. Anyway, that was my start. Some 20 years later I went back to the Methodist church again, having arranged with the same sexton, and played several pieces for him. I again thanked him for letting me play so long ago, as it was what got my foot in the door and stoked the fires of my passion for the pipe organ. Keep playing! :)
Offline
User avatar

profeluisegarcia

Member

  • Posts: 844
  • Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:00 pm
  • Location: Manizales, Colombia

Re: I played a real pipe organ for the first time today.

PostMon Sep 22, 2014 12:26 pm

Yeah¡
The first close visit to a pipe organ -and to a planetarium- is never forgotten¡
Also, I´ll never forget my first visit to hauptwerk.com

Return to General discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests