Organs: A Dissertation in Umpteen Parts; Preamble

Hello, and welcome to the Adam Sullivan Music Theory Blog!  My name is Dallas.  I'm a friend and colleague of Sulli's; he's been trying to get me on here to do a couple series for months now.  For various and sundry reasons I never could get around to it, but lo and behold, here I am! 

Let me first give an honest disclaimer:  this is not really a dissertation in any way.  Not officially, at least.  However, as you may come to notice while reading through this series, writing such a thing about the pipe organ can make you feel like you're writing a senior thesis.

I'd like to begin with a few vague points about myself... however, there's a time and place for autobiographical ramblings.  (Namely my own personal blog, which will come online in tandem with the publication of this series.  More on that later!)  For know, suffice to say that I'm a young organist/pianist/violist/bassist/random percussion neophyte/composer living in Rock Hill, SC.  Music is my lifeblood.  And I have quite a lot to say about certain subjects in the musical spectrum in which we all situate ourselves as musicians.

Which brings us to the point at hand!  If you hadn't guessed by now, this is going to be a series all about organs.  The lauded "King of Instruments," as it were.  Pipe organs have been around for several hundred years, and their evolution over that time frame is staggering.  Now, with the advances of modern technology, electronic and digitally-sampled organs are vastly popular; there are even digital organs that have sample sets advanced enough to (fairly) convincingly reproduce the sounds (and seconds of acoustical reverb) of famous organs in vast cathedrals such as the great organ of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, or the historic and awe-inspiring instrument in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.  In this series, I am going to walk you through everything I know—and some things I don't know yet, I'm sure—about the world of the organ.  My major focus will be on actual pipe organs, but I can promise to include a wealth of information on their increasingly capable digital counterparts.

By the time this series is completed (which is a daunting thought), you will understand the difference between a Principal and a Stopped Diapason.  And what all this business about "feet" seems to be (that is to say, what the heck they mean by 8', 4', 2', and so on when naming stops).  And why playing middle "c" with a 2 2/3' mutation rank won't do you any good in representing the pitch of ANY "c" at all.  You'll know all about resultants and mixtures and celestes and cornets and what is actually meant by stops called such things as "viola," "trumpet," "tuba," and so on.  And of course, the most important bit of all:  you'll know the storied journey of the pipe organ from antiquity to the present, and just where its perilous path may or may not take it in the days to come.

This series will publish on Thursdays—not on Tuesdays.  As it goes on, the specific flow of things may change, but to begin with, I've listed a very general idea of what you can expect to see, and in what order.  Note that certain parts, like II and III, may end up being posted in subsections, as they can get to be QUITE long and involved.  Furthermore, these labelled parts do not constitute the entirety of the series.  There will be rather less specific "filler" posts here and there along the way as I continue in my constant endeavour to raise interest in and awareness of the incredible world of the organ.

I hope you enjoy the adventure we're about to embark upon.  If you don't, well... you will be assimilated.  But in all honesty, I can not stress the importance of raising awareness of the (pipe) organ within the musical community.  Especially the subsection therein that is in my generation; it is up to us to carry the elements of our forebears into the future.  If we're not careful, the organ, King of Instruments as it may once have been called, may not make that journey with us.

Thanks for reading.  Have an awesome day, and be sure to thank a music educator somewhere.

—

Part I:  The Storied Journey [the history and evolution of the pipe organ, and where it stands today]

Part II:  Anatomy and Physiology 101 [an introduction to the inner structures and workings of pipe organs]

Part III:  Divisions Conquered [an in-depth look at the different kinds of pipes found on various instruments]

Part IV:  Pulling Out the Stops [an in-depth look at how different kinds of pipes work together... or don't!]

Part V:  The Language Barrier [a brief instalment, to include a breakdown of linguistic variations]

Part VI:  Anatomy and Physiology 202 [a really in-depth expansion on A&P 101]

Part VII:  Literature of the Organ (I) [an introduction to organ music of the Baroque and Classical eras]

Part VIII:  Literature of the Organ (II) [an introduction to organ music of the Romantic and early 20th century eras]

Part IX:  Literature of the Organ (III) [an introduction to modern organ music]

Part X:  The Digital Crux (I) [part one of the subseries devoted to digital organs and their development; introduction to the epic debate of pipes vs. digital sampling]

Part XI:  The Organ as a Concert Instrument [a small dissertation of its own, going into the organ's often enigmatic role as a concert instrument]

Part XII:  The Organ in Liturgy [everyone's most familiar aspect of organ music:  the church]

Part XIII:  The Digital Crux (II) [how digital organs relate to the concert hall, as well as the church]

Part XIV:  The Digital Crux (III) [the most current advances for digital organs, and how they're starting to overtake even the greatest pipe organs in many ways; further debate on the pipes/digital argument]