Poor musical arrangements

Well said Scott. I’m surprised Adam has raised this question again. The topic of converting 112/110 organs to 98-key and the advisability of converting them back to their “original scale” has been extensively debated. Setting aside the problem that there is insufficient information surviving to reconstruct White’s Gavioli and the Thursford Gavioli as they were in scale and pipe work disposition when brand new from Paris, where would you obtain an original library of 112-keyless and 110-key books to complete this act of authenticity/tonal purity? In the margins of making sympathetic old style books of music for the Jonas/Sanphillipo Gavioli I have given a lot of thought over the last 15 years to how organs like White’s and the Aspland’s Gaviolis may have sounded originally, and it remains a fairly harmless armchair pipe-dream activity, but to suggest actually trying to unpick the 80-year old changes in one of these instruments would be tantamount to declaring war on a good friend, a war that would result in their almost complete destruction. Fortunately, such plans are not very likely. At best an "original replica" might be attempted one day but it would be somewhat speculative, in my view. We should appreciate these major British heritage instruments as they have been for donkey's years and be thankful to the likes of George Parmley and Percy Cole that they have survived at all. I must admit I haven't seen either the White's or Thursford Gavioli organs in person yet, but based on the photos I've seen and audio that I've heard, there seems to be quite a lot of these organs present. In fact I remember someone writing that so much of the pipework in the Whites organ remains, that it would be relatively easy to put it back to it's original scale! Whether you should or not is the question. I don't see any missing pipes in all the photos I've seen of the organ (all from the front; where are the rear-view shots?). Indeed, I would suspect that many pipes are going unused due to the scale, and are on display only (specifically, 5 bass notes, 6 accompaniment, 1 countermelody, and 4 melody/piccolo notes). However, the 112-keyless scale was an unusual paper roll scale, apparently read by higher-pressure air than the pipes (whose "brilliant" idea was that?). Given the probable tendency of the roll reader to shred the rolls, I would suspect few to no original 112-keyless Gavioli rolls survive today, nor even a roll frame (does anyone have so much as a photo of a Gavioli roll frame?). Preston's Gavioli plays the right scale, but using books. Naturally this is a modern rebuild from a partially complete organ, and it sounds great. Still, it would be nice to hear all the pipes in White's used for the first time in decades, and perhaps they could get copies of the books from Prestons? Naturally, if such a thing were done, it would have to be a "duplexed" keyframe made in such a way that with the flip of a lever (and fitting of a wooden guide in the keyframe to allow the now slightly narrower 98-key book to track properly), it could still play its current musical repertoire! --- Getting to the one at Thursford (ex-Coles), It appears that all, or most of the unused pipes in the organ were removed at the time of conversion. Just look at the big gaps between the violin pipes at the front! Now, this is getting into thin ice since Johnny Verbeeck (and Graham Atkinson, the owner, who commissioned the work) got a lot of hate mail for "re-converting" the Southsea Gavioli back to its "original scale". (I am putting those in quotation marks since some people have said they think it was always an 89-key Gavioli, never 110-key and they ruined it by making it bigger). I don't know much about this organ before or after; the only "before" photo I have is a small photo on the cover of a Key Frame magazine, and the organ looks quite deplorable, with obvious missing pipes (though these look like they were just stolen by hooligans, not necessarily removed in a conversion), and the whole just dirty and obviously inoperable. I'll let the experts duke it out as to whether the organ was 89- or 110-key before and thus whether the "re"-construction was justified etc. I'd say, if it is in bad shape, unplayed for years, and was 110-key before, put 'er back! Give the 98-key music (if there is any) to another 98-key organ owner, or better yet, duplex it so it can play both scales! (what's wrong with that?). It sure beats going to the dump! (that may sound surprising to those in the UK, but over here in the US, people are wasteful and perfectly good player pianos go to the dump all the time. For some reason, band organs are seen as very unusual in the US and so a lot of them have survived) The biggest thing I don't like about that organ is the fitting of a blower. (I hope I'm wrong and it's playing off of bellows). If they really wanted to restore to original they should have ditched the blower and built a new set of replica Gavioli triple-feeders. I'd love to try to hand-crank that sucker! (after I lift some weights) As for your ideas on organ registration I’m a bit lost. As far as system Gavioli/Marenghi organ are concerned, you would not want to hear arrangements that only used “certain combinations per song” without utilising the full resources of the organ, including all the available percussions. Such instruments imitate an orchestra or military band in their rich combinations of sound, rapid changes in tonal colour, and use of percussions. These enrich the performance greatly. Variety is the spice of life! You would not want to buy a book that say imitated classical church organ registration where you set the stops at the beginning of a piece and make no changes to the registration for the duration, however long. That would be a recipe for incredible dullness on the fairground and would likely lead to someone else putting more registration into the book on your behalf or the owner returning it to you saying he doesn’t much care for “the tune”. I think Adam was referring to the type of "arrangers" who have to show off every single register and effect in the organ every tune, all the time, as if every book was a -*test*-('") book! Certainly, if the organ has a trumpet rank (for example), by all means use it, don't let it gather dust by NEVER using it. However, you don't have to use it in EVERY SINGLE TUNE! Naturally, in most fairground organs there are pipes that are "on" all the time (not on register) and thus there is no choice, you HAVE to use them all the time. However, the arranger can control what pipes they layer on over those, and when in the tune, and how often. If you watch a good jazz band (and even some good rock bands) you will see that in a long show, sometimes the leader will motion some of the other musicians to "lay out" for a tune and not play, not just to give their lips a break from blowing (brass players), but also to lend musical variety and spotlight a few instrumentalists without all the other stuff going on. The same can be said of an organ with a lot of registers; while it is nice to have them at the disposal and whim of the arranger, they don't have to be used all the time (that is, turned on and off frequently, except where it makes musical sense). To make an odious pop-culture reference, if you have ever watched "The Simpsons" and seen the school band room scene in the opening montage, you will know what I mean. The director is conducting the kids, and as the "camera" focuses on each one, magically, they get a solo in the middle of this tune! It is almost like they knew the "cameraman" was coming and decided to play a tune to show off the whole band one-by-one, instead of more orchestrally! Now, I have made some not-too-nice comments about Weber orchestrions and their arrangements, but here I'll use a handy example. One of my favorite Weber Maesto arrangements is "Every Little While". It is kind of show-offy in the way I mentioned above, but very tastefully done. In this case, quick and frequent register changes make for a very interesting and musical arrangement! (it's all about tastefullness and how you handle it). For example, in the first iteration of the main chorus, the flue pipes play the melody with moderate tremolo, with the trumpets (I think?) responding to the statement, and the xylophone switching on and off for just a quick glissando punctuation! If you've ever listened to recordings of '20's hot dance bands, you'll realize that this part, at least, is close to the way the tunes were actually arranged! See, real instrumentalists, whether it is a percussionist, a trumpet player, whatever, are not "turned on and off" like registers in fairground organs (YES! some organ arrangers think the drums are connected to the "forte" register and only bash when the trombones honk!), but can play notes immediately, whenever they please (or whenever it's written in their part on the arrangement). Thus, quick register action, and imaginative and realistic register changes are the name of the game if you want to make good music that gets people going, whether on the fairground or the dance floor. Perhaps your remarks were more aimed at arranging for post-1914 dance organs which are something I have not taken such an interest in but I think Scott is write to point out that arrangers who just churn out the same arrangement for every type of organ (street/fair/dance) off their computer are doing mechanical organs a grave dis-service and laughing all the way to the bank. As a music graduate trained in couterpoint and harmony with experience of arranging for dance bands and theatre orchestras, I could also go on to make some observations about the "human" arranging art as opposed to mechanical "impression", but I think I'll save that for a properly thought out article sometime suffice to say that an organ arrangement has to be every bit as daring and adventurous as its orchestral equivalent to make the organ sound good. You're right! I'd love to hear more people get an old dance band, concert band, or ragtime orchestra chart and take a whack at turning it into an organ book! Wouldn't that be fun? After all, these things were meant to imitate bands anyway. Bad music on a good organ can make it sound terrible. Good music on a poor organ can still make it sound reasonable. The arranger (or "marker", the term I prefer to use as it was the traditional one used in UK) wields great control over the instrument, more than the organ owner but perhaps not as much as the organ tuner. haha, well said!

German fair organs seem to be an exception (although converted dance organ books are being played on them too - have mercy!). Whilst in Waldkirch both myself and Jory witnessed the horror of Marcel Bartier's iconic arrangement of '12th Street Rag' being played on - of all things - Bram Vader's model 38 Ruth :shock: :shock: :shock: It almost put me off my Hirschen-bräu! In all fairness though, I have also heard the same organ playing Albert Decap's 'La Cucaracha' (transcribed by Maarten van der Vlught?) and it works in a strange kind of way. ..and talking of modern classics I think I recall Kevin Meayers having said he did the waltz from Shostakovich Jazz Suite as a bespoke arrangement for a (gavioli?) once... Yes, Kevin has marked the Second Waltz for 89 and 98VB. In a similar vein, he has also done the waltz from the 'Masquerade' Suite by Aram Khachaturian. Both were extremely well received when played at the Amersham winter open days. As Kevin's advertising states - 'All music is specially marked for each scale by Kevin Meayers. No computer involvement at any stage of production guaranteed!' In fact I remember someone writing that so much of the pipework in the Whites organ remains, that it would be relatively easy to put it back to it's original scale! Yes, this suggestion keeps turning up like the proverbial bad penny. From a converstion I had last year with a trusted member of the Show Organ Society, my understanding is that Neil Corner is happy for the organ to stay as a 98 (the format it has played for the last 75-80 odd years) and has no plans to alter it whilst it stays in his ownership. Still, it would be nice to hear all the pipes in White's used for the first time in decades, and perhaps they could get copies of the books from Prestons? Except all the 112 key books I've seen on Preston's organ are from the Prinsen era onwards! I don't think any original 112 key music survived (I am happy to be corrected if that's wrong). In my very humble opinion, the organ actually sounds more together on the occasions when it plays old 110 key books. One final thought - an organ owner I know bought a good number of computer arranged and punched books from Brand A because 'they were so much cheaper than brand B' (which are traditionally arranged and punched). The next time I saw him, he had a handful of new Brand B books on the organ and the Brand A books were mainly confined to the bottom shelf. In his words - 'I made a big mistake buying that music - the organ sounds so much better playing Brand B music'. So, which music turned out to be most expensive in the long run? The cheap computer-produced music that is hardly ever played or the expensive bespoke music that gets played and enjoyed regularly? Think about it. Jeremy.

One final thought - an organ owner I know bought a good number of computer arranged and punched books from Brand A because 'they were so much cheaper than brand B' (which are traditionally arranged and punched). The next time I saw him, he had a handful of new Brand B books on the organ and the Brand A books were mainly confined to the bottom shelf. In his words - 'I made a big mistake buying that music - the organ sounds so much better playing Brand B music'. So, which music turned out to be most expensive in the long run? The cheap computer-produced music that is hardly ever played or the expensive bespoke music that gets played and enjoyed regularly? Think about it. Surely this can be only ever put down to brand A punching arrangements which are musically inferior to B. A and B need to talk and do a deal and both benefit.

A and B need to talk and do a deal and both benefit. B wants to keep his arranging secrets to himself and reap all his deserved benefits!

For the most part, production methods have little to do with the quality of arrangements. Computor programs for arranging and cutting music are merely tools. The arrangements are only going to be as good as the arranger. Not only does he or she have to be profficient in theory and counterpoint, but have intimate knowledge of the instruments they are arranging for. If they reley solely upon the arranging program for the finished product it's not going to be anything but "average", for the most part the program is intended to be nothing more than a guideline. As far as cutting books, I've down a fair amount of that , (mostly for Gebr. Bruder organs) and the use of a computor operated punch can alter the sound of the finished product. With a manual punch even if you are extremely carefull, there is a little bit of slop inheirent in the process, thus making every book sound a little bit different. Computor operated punches put out a product much like the early Wurlitzer band organ rolls. They put the holes EXACTLY where the master says it supposed to be, and that makes a major difference in the way it plays.

just for the info, There are about 5 Marenghi, and around 20 Chiappa 112 Keyed music, from when it worked on the fairs, daren't touch them tough, lol

Hi Jake, Thanks for putting me right on that. I appreciate it. Jeremy.

Who am I to contradict Richard Preston's grandson, but all the old 112 books I have ever seen in various different collections are KEYLESS and not keyed and they all seem to come off of G T Tuby's Gavioli. I don't think Gavioli or Chiappa ever made keyed books for this scale. May be Jake is confused here with the 110 KEY books that the organ played in the second half of its commercial life in Woolls Bros Scenic. I'm not even sure that the Preston's Gavioli was a book-operated organ when new; it may have been paper roll operated. Who can say for sure?

I may be wrong, but there are several Chiappa books (ie. amparito Roca, Stars and stipes, and many others) are in 112 key, il take em to pickering if any ones interested

Sorry Jake, you are right....Chiappa Ltd did make about 20 or 30 112-KEY books in "modern times" for George Flynn , this was after he retubed the organ back to 112. In my last post I was referring to when these organs were brand new they were either keyless books or, I believe, paper roll. The 112-key scale it plays today differs from the original 112keyless Gavioli scale because George Flynn chose to go his own way and customise the layout. The story goes that the precise details of the original 112 layout were unknown in the 1960s and no one could unearth a scale book or scale stick. He therefore took advice from Eric Cockayne and James Tiller and developed his own synthetic version of the 112 scale working with the evidence of the organ specification in front of him. Mr Tiller was the marker of all the arrangements Chiappa supplied. I prefer the Chiappa label books on this organ as they bring out the traditional fairground character of the organ but I tend to agree with the person who said it plays more together on the 110 scale than it does on the revived 112 scale. I wish we also had more opportunity to hear the old 110 library. If Les Cloches de Corneville Fantasie and the Faust Selection are anything to go by a full length classical concert of 110 old books would be quite an occasion for organ fans the world over. Where else could such a concert be heard?

haha, There is a marenghi version on Faust in 110 Key, I darnt play it though, its a bit, fragile, and as for Les Cloches de Corneville Fantasie, Ive never heard of it, I may find it one day

Maybe you could find a way to scan these old fragile books for posterity. Seems a bit sad that the books exist, but you can never hear them because they would fall apart if you did !! Kinda like the piano roll scanning projects or ... Perhaps if you could lay the book out on a long sheet of photo-sensitive drafting paper and expose it to the Sun ? I am probably opening up a whole other topic here .. or does this sound like a daft idea ? Shouldn't we be finding ways to preserve old organ books in some other format before these arrangements are lost forever ? Stephen

I would love to have that done, especially for all the Marenghi/Gaudin books. On that topic, does anyone know if Kevin Maeyers has the first half of Belle of New York Gaudin Arrangment

I don't see the point of scanning old books at all unless you want to feed old organ arrangements into a computer and what is the point of that? If a book is good and it is worn out (the two conditions often go together!) get it professionally recut on new cardboard and it will be good for another 100 years if you look after it. Kevin Meayers is your man for this work. It is also worth saying that Chiappa Ltd has an enormous pattern library too, so in many cases new books can be made direct from the original stencils, even better than drawing through a damaged or incomplete book. Chiappa Ltd is the only legitmate source of new Chiappa books.

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