In the organ world, we have many ways of classifying organs by some type. We might say electric or mechanical action, modern or historical (for age), church or classic — but what about theater organ versus a classical organ? Is a theater organ not a regular organ? Yes and no.
Theater organs use mainly pipes to produce their sound, but the functionality of the theater organ is different than that of a classical organ. If a classical organist walked up to a
English: Avalon Casino’s Page Organ console with portraits of and . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
theater organ for the first time, there are a few things they might notice as odd:
1. The console shape. Theater organs almost always have the classic “horse-shoe” console with tabs that seem to move around the console, rather than being at the sides or only above the keyboards in a straight line. The tabs on a theater organ are bit thinner and colored (color coded, actually), with tabs on the backboard under the stop rails that do more than just couple. Also, a classical organist might notice that toe pistons on an organ aren’t presets for generals or pedals — most of the toe pistons on a theater organ have sound effects.
2. The names of the stops are modern instruments, rather than historical instruments. A pipe organ has stranger names like Gamba, Subbass, Trompoette, Mixture, flote, and more, whereas a theater organ has modern instruments like trumpet, clarinet, or flute.
3. “Second Touch” stops. Pressing the keys like normal triggers whatever stops you have selected for the manual, second touch brings in another set of ranks when you press harder.
4. Percussion like drums and triangle, and tuned percussion like xylophone, marimba, “harp”, glockenspiel, tuned sleighbells, and even piano are present on theater organ, these are extremely rare on a classical organ.
5. Multiple tremulants for sets of ranks, rather than one main tremulant or a single tremulant for each division.
These are the biggest differences. So what are they all about?
Keep in mind as I break these down that theater organs are designed for efficiency in playing, but most important that they are designed to accompany silent films.
The horse-shoe console wraps the stops around the organist in a way that they are much more accessible. You do not have to move your hands as far away from the keys to add or subtract a sound. This is incredibly convenient for changing registrations on the fly without stopping, which is necessary for silent film accompaniment. For a silent film, you would have provided non-stop music for the entire show.
The stop tabs are colored. Generally white for fairly standard flute and diapason stops, but red for reed stops (the loudest, e.g. trumpet or kinura) yellow for strings (violins), and black for couplers. The stop tabs are slightly thinner than tabs on classical organs, this allows for more space but doesn’t have much advantage after that.
Toe pistons are usually sound effects on the theater organ. These usually include things like police sirens, bird train and boat whistles, fire gong, kettle drum and other drums, horse hooves, and much more. These are directly for the purpose of accompanying silent films. On a classical organ, toe pistons are usually presets that either affect the pedal registrations or that affect the entire organ (called generals).
The theater organ was often called a “Unit Orchestra”. The sounds it produced were made with a higher wind pressure and were made to represent the sounds of orchestral instruments. That is why the theater organ has many modern instrument names, like trumpet or clarinet. They sound much more like the instruments they are supposed to represent as well. Robert Hope Jones discovered that one of the keys to better instrument representation was to provide a higher wind pressure than what was currently being used in organs,
Marimba in the Solo Chamber at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre (3/13 Barton) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Percussion stops are one of my personal favorite parts of the theater organ. Drums, tambourine, and castenets are a lot of fun to include in music, but I especially enjoy the tuned percussians. With the flip of a tab, the keyboard suddenly becomes a Xylophone, cathedral chimes, glockenspiel, harp, or my personal favorite: chrysoglott (celesta). These really add an extra dimension to the organ.
Organs also have what is often called a “toy counter” or the “trap effects”. These are sounds, usually triggered by toe pistons, like bird and train whistles, police and boat sirens, and other inventive sounds. These are all created by clever mechanical means and are important in providing special sounds in silent films.
The last notable feature of the theater organ are the tremulants. Theater organs usually divide up tremulants by ranks, rather than divisions. The theater organ I play frequently for example has separate tremulants for the main, tuba, trumpet and kinura, tibia, vox, and flute. The vox humana is usually always on, the tremulant usually can’t be turned off from the console. The tremulants of a theater organ are usually deep and fast, rather than the shallow and slow tremulant we find on classical instruments. This is the pinnacle of the theater organ and is also why it has that (in the best respects) “cheesy” sound we all love.
During silent film accompaniment, many organist would improvise what they were playing to fit with what was on the screen. If a man shot a gun, the organist might trigger a crash-cymbal to make the effect. If he escapes on a horse, he might along with his music hold down the “horse hooves” piston to mimic that sound. As a copper follows him, he might press the police siren piston after, and upon crashing into a wall, it might just be a conglomeration of sounds that are all made by mechanical means. You can see how then that the silent film was seldom silent. Even theaters without organs would usually have a piano. Some larger theaters often even had orchestras, but this only proved to be expensive.
The theater organ, unfortunately, is often now forgotten. Many classical and theater organs are thrown away or melted down. If you want to learn more, find out if you have a local Theater Organ Society chapter by visiting this page: http://www.atos.org/chapters
I love theater organ!