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3 manual music on 2 manual organ

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martinhoffen

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3 manual music on 2 manual organ

PostSat Oct 03, 2020 11:56 am

I regularly find that my organ music is written for a 3 manual instrument, where I only have two manuals to play.
How do other organists cope with this?
Are there any generalised rules on how to interpret the score for just a great and swell?
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voet

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Re: 3 manual music on 2 manual organ

PostSat Oct 03, 2020 12:31 pm

Here are few suggestion for playing organ pieces scored for 3 manuals on a 2 manual instrument.

Trumpet Tunes There are a number of trumpet tunes that are scored, or arranged for playing on 3 manuals. Some arrangements of Purcell and Clark follow this pattern. The typical set up is:

1. Trumpet stop
2. Accompaniment
3. Reprise on full organ.

On a two manual instrument:

Option A
1. Trumpet stop + full plenum, you could remove the trumpet when you play the reprise section.
2. Accompaniment
Option B
1. Trumpet stop
2. Accompaniment and add stops for the full organ section. This could be as simple as adding/retiring a mixture, or using a piston to make the change.

Toccatas Some toccatas have sections at three dynamic levels, for example, Gaston Belier’s Toccata pour grand orgue in D minor. On a three manual instrument it would be set up:

1. Full organ
2. Softer Plenum
3. Softest Plenum

On a two manual instrument I would have the softer plenum on the Swell and close the swell box for the softest section. You could also use a piston or add/retire a mixture from the 2nd section.

César Franck’ Cantabile has a section on Grand Orgue followed by a melody on the Récit accompanied on the Positif. If you have pistons available, you could have one set up for the Grand Orgue section and another for the Récit/Positif section. If you do not have pistons, you might have to add/retire stops on one manual for the Grand Orgue/Positif sections.

These are just a few examples. Hopefully others will offer additional suggestions.
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RaymondList

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Re: 3 manual music on 2 manual organ

PostSat Oct 03, 2020 3:59 pm

I set up the divisions as 'floating divisions' (Pg 110 in the V manual), and use 4 of my pistons to select which divisions are being played from my 2 manuals. As examples: SW/GT, SW/CH, GT/CH, SOLO/GT. I also duplicate the selections on one of my LaunchPads. A quick glance to see which LaunchPad button is lighted tells me which divisions are assigned to the keyboards. This works really well, although I still wish I had 4 real manuals! Or, even 3! There are a few pieces I play where at some points I have 3 manuals in use simultaneously, which obviously won't work with only 2 keyboards!
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abaymajr

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Re: 3 manual music on 2 manual organ

PostWed Oct 07, 2020 5:55 pm

RaymondList wrote:I set up the divisions as 'floating divisions' (Pg 110 in the V manual), and use 4 of my pistons to select which divisions are being played from my 2 manuals. As examples: SW/GT, SW/CH, GT/CH, SOLO/GT. I also duplicate the selections on one of my LaunchPads. A quick glance to see which LaunchPad button is lighted tells me which divisions are assigned to the keyboards. This works really well, although I still wish I had 4 real manuals! Or, even 3! There are a few pieces I play where at some points I have 3 manuals in use simultaneously, which obviously won't work with only 2 keyboards!


I do exactly the same, with an unused expression pedal though. I divide its 0-128 into 4 regions, each one triggers a different floating division configuration. Since HW can't map many dozen of midi values for the same task, I use BOME MIDI Translator, that translates 0-32/33-64/65-96/97-128 pedal incoming MIDI strings into 4 customized ones which correspond to those desired floating division configurations. That way I can even play in 2-manual consoles quickly changed dialogues through 3 or 4 virtual manuals.

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