Playing the Organ - please quick response!

[pianohenry]

I dont really play the organ, i play the piano. but i was asked to play for a church for mass once a month.

its not a massive organ, i think its electric, not a massive pipe organ. it has 2 keyboards, (swell/great) and the pedals for the feet. and above the pedal notes, it has several circular buttons (i think they are presets) on each side - which give you certain combinations of stops/sounds.

but theres a pedal in the middle, in between those. its big, and thick, and square. its not a note, it doesnt make a sound when you push it. you press it with your whole foot - but its not like a normal pedal; you dont press it and when you let it go, "release" it exactly. rather it has 2 positions, 1 position where you push it forward with the ball of your foot, and the other you push it downwards/backwards with your heel. and it stays in those positions when you let go.

the man who showed me the organ told me what it does, but ive forgotten now! and theres noone else at the church who knows anything about playing the organ, so i thought id ask on here.

does anyone know what that middle pedal does?

a quick response would be very helpful, im playing tomorrow for sunday mass.

thanks in advance.

henry

[ramseytheii]

Should be the volume pedal!  Didn't you try pushing it down and playing?

Walter Ramsey

[lisztisforkids]

It is either the Crescendo pedal, or the swell box pedal. Either way it will make the music louder. Pucsing the Crescendo pedal down all the is like the equivalnt of pulling out all the stops, but you can also slowly push down on hence the crescendo pedal. Or, or it could open up the swell box. Are the pipes out in the open or are they in a wall? If they are in a wall, when you press the swell pedal, the wall will open up letting the pipes make their music unobstructed, making the whole organ much louder....

[dnephi]

Far left is great, middle is swell, and right is crescendo, if it's the model I'm thinking of.

[caperflutist]

It is hard to say if it is the swell box pedal or the cresc. pedal without seeing the organ.

The circular button thingies are the combination presets.

BTW I loathe cresc pedals. The organist at my church uses it all the time and it is horrible. I only use it to practice the motion of opening the swell box. (the pipes are out in the open in the church I practice in and since I take lessons on an organ with swell and choir box pedals and am expected to use them in the pieces I play I have to practice the motion LOL).

I would rather add a few stops or have another manual set up to be louder (if you are playing both hands on one manual  and have one free one or if there are more than 2 manuals).

[pianohenry]

ok thanks all!

will try it out tomorrow.

i think that the pipes are in the wall; when i pressed the pedal i heard mechanisms clicking somewhere in the church. so, if its either open or closed, should you not have it in between? should it be in one position or the other?

[caperflutist]

There are different levels of it being on. The farther you press it in the louder it gets until it is open all of the way. Try with it closed first before fooling around with it. If you use it, open it slowly or little by little to get the right responce unless you want itvery loud kvery quickly. The pedal will stay in whatever position you leave it in when you take your foot away.

[timothy42b]

I'm like you, I don't play organ but I try to fake it on Sunday.  Sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

I call that pedal the "expression" pedal.  It is your volume control.  On my organ it works both swell and great manuals.  (Organists call a keyboard a manual.  I don't know why.)  On some organs it works only the swell, and on others it is hinged so you can do the two separately, or put your foot in the middle and work both. 

Generally I find a position that sounds loud enough and leave it there.  On the last verse of a hymn I add a stop or change the preset but usually leave the expression pedal alone.

It is considered bad form to "ride" the pedal.  The organist before me did that, and it won't always stay where I put it. 

On an electronic organ it doesn't matter where you leave it.  On a pipe organ when you quit it is considered proper to push it all the way loud, to allow humidity to stabilize in the ?chest?.

[caperflutist]

That's right tim. you should leave the pedals open on a pipe organ when not in use so that the pipes stay the same temp as the church and the rest of the pipes and organ has a better chance to stay in tune with itself (well a little better LOL)