Pipe Organ Tuning
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Pipe Organ Tuning
This article describes the process and techniques involved in the tuning of a pipe organ. Electronic organs typically do not require tuning. A pipe organ produces sound via hundreds or thousands of organ pipes, each of which produces a single pitch and timbre. The goal of tuning a pipe organ is to adjust the pitch of each pipe so that they all sound in tune with each other. Pitch For many years, there was no pitch standard across Europe. The frequency of (the standard note for tuning musical instruments), for example, could range from =392 Hz in parts of France to =465 Hz (''Cornet-ton'' pitch) in parts of Germany. Organs were often tuned differently than ensembles, even within the same region or town. The modern tuning standard of =440 Hz (=262 Hz) was proposed in 1939, and accepted by the International Organization for Standardization (as ''ISO 16'') in 1955 and again in 1975. Process The first task of an organ tuner is to select a temperament. Generall ...
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Pipe Organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks'', each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops. A pipe organ has one or more keyboards (called '' manuals'') played by the hands, and a pedal clavier played by the feet; each keyboard controls its own division, or group of stops. The keyboard(s), pedalboard, and stops are housed in the organ's ''console''. The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain notes for as long as the corresponding keys are pressed, unlike the piano and harpsichord whose sound begins to dissipate immediately after a key is depressed. The smallest po ...
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Flue Pipe
A flue pipe (also referred to as a ''labial'' pipe) is an organ pipe that produces sound through the vibration of air molecules, in the same manner as a recorder or a whistle. Air under pressure (called ''wind'') is driven through a flue and against a sharp lip called a ''labium'', causing the column of air in the pipe to resonate at a frequency determined by the pipe length (see wind instrument). Thus, there are no moving parts in a flue pipe. This is in contrast to reed pipes, whose sound is driven by beating reeds, as in a clarinet. Flue pipes are common components of pipe organs. Stop Flue pipes include all stops of the "Principal", "Flute", and "String" classes, and some stops from the "Hybrid" class. Construction Flue pipes may be metallic or wooden. Metal pipes are usually circular in cross section; wooden pipes are usually square or rectangular, though triangular and round wooden pipes do exist. A flue pipe has two major parts, a foot and a resonator. The ''foot'' i ...
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Marcussen & Søn
Marcussen & Søn, also known as Marcussen and previously as Marcussen & Reuter, is a Danish firm of pipe organ builders. They were one of the first firms to go back to classical organ-building techniques, and have been producing mechanical-action organs since 1930. Aside from their many instruments in Denmark, they have built organs in northern Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, South Africa, Japan, and the United States. History Jürgen Marcussen (1781–1860) founded the organ-building company in 1806. They used the name Marcussen & Reuter from 1826 to 1848, when the name became Marcussen & Søn after the founder's son, Jürgen Andreas Marcussen, joined the firm. The company has been based in a house in the small town of Åbenrå, in southern Jutland, since 1830. Several organs built in Scandinavia and North Germany in their first decades are still in use today, the oldest dating from 1820. Johannes Lassen Zachariassen (1864–1922), a grandson of the f ...
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Harmonics
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the other harmonics are known as ''higher harmonics''. As all harmonics are periodic at the fundamental frequency, the sum of harmonics is also periodic at that frequency. The set of harmonics forms a '' harmonic series''. The term is employed in various disciplines, including music, physics, acoustics, electronic power transmission, radio technology, and other fields. For example, if the fundamental frequency is 50  Hz, a common AC power supply frequency, the frequencies of the first three higher harmonics are 100 Hz (2nd harmonic), 150 Hz (3rd harmonic), 200 Hz (4th harmonic) and any addition of waves with these frequencies is periodic at 50 Hz. In music, harmonics are used on string instruments and wind instrum ...
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Beat (acoustics)
In acoustics, a beat is an interference pattern between two sounds of slightly different frequencies, ''perceived'' as a periodic variation in volume whose rate is the difference of the two frequencies. With tuning instruments that can produce sustained tones, beats can be readily recognized. Tuning two tones to a unison will present a peculiar effect: when the two tones are close in pitch but not identical, the difference in frequency generates the beating. The volume varies like in a tremolo as the sounds alternately interfere constructively and destructively. As the two tones gradually approach unison, the beating slows down and may become so slow as to be imperceptible. As the two tones get further apart, their beat frequency starts to approach the range of human pitch perception, the beating starts to sound like a note, and a combination tone is produced. This combination tone can also be referred to as a missing fundamental, as the beat frequency of any two tones is equivalen ...
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Reed Pipe
A reed pipe (also referred to as a ''lingual'' pipe) is an organ pipe that is sounded by a vibrating brass strip known as a ''reed''. Air under pressure (referred to as ''wind'') is directed towards the reed, which vibrates at a specific pitch. This is in contrast to flue pipes, which contain no moving parts and produce sound solely through the vibration of air molecules. Reed pipes are common components of pipe organs. Stop Reed pipes include all stops of the "Reed" class, and some stops from the "Hybrid" class. The reed stops of an organ are collectively called the "reed-work". Construction A reed pipe comprises a metal ''tongue'' (the reed) which rests against a ''shallot'', in which is carved a tunnel. The reed and shallot are held in place by a wooden ''wedge''. This assembly protrudes from the underside of the ''block'' and hangs down into the ''boot''. A ''tuning wire'' is inserted through the boot and is bent to hold the reed against the shallot. The wire is moved u ...
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Flue Pipe
A flue pipe (also referred to as a ''labial'' pipe) is an organ pipe that produces sound through the vibration of air molecules, in the same manner as a recorder or a whistle. Air under pressure (called ''wind'') is driven through a flue and against a sharp lip called a ''labium'', causing the column of air in the pipe to resonate at a frequency determined by the pipe length (see wind instrument). Thus, there are no moving parts in a flue pipe. This is in contrast to reed pipes, whose sound is driven by beating reeds, as in a clarinet. Flue pipes are common components of pipe organs. Stop Flue pipes include all stops of the "Principal", "Flute", and "String" classes, and some stops from the "Hybrid" class. Construction Flue pipes may be metallic or wooden. Metal pipes are usually circular in cross section; wooden pipes are usually square or rectangular, though triangular and round wooden pipes do exist. A flue pipe has two major parts, a foot and a resonator. The ''foot'' i ...
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Octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which is "common in most musical systems." The interval between the first and second harmonics of the harmonic series is an octave. In Western music notation, notes separated by an octave (or multiple octaves) have the same name and are of the same pitch class. To emphasize that it is one of the perfect intervals (including unison, perfect fourth, and perfect fifth), the octave is designated P8. Other interval qualities are also possible, though rare. The octave above or below an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated ''8a'' or ''8va'' ( it, all'ottava), ''8va bassa'' ( it, all'ottava bassa, sometimes also ''8vb''), or simply ''8'' for the octave in the direction indicated by placing ...
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Four-foot Pitch
An organ pipe, or a harpsichord string, designated as eight-foot pitch (8′) is sounded at standard, ordinary pitch. For example, the A above middle C in eight-foot pitch would be sounded at 440 Hz (or at some similar value, depending on how concert pitch was set at the time and place the organ or harpsichord was made). Similar terms Eight-foot pitch may be contrasted with four-foot pitch (4′; one octave above the standard), two-foot pitch (2′; two octaves above the standard), and sixteen-foot pitch (16′; one octave below the standard).Hubbard (1965: 355, 361) The latter three pitches are often sounded (by extra pipes or strings) along with an eight-foot pitch pipe or string, as a way of enriching the tonal quality. The numbers just mentioned largely exhaust the possibilities for harpsichords, but in organs a far greater variety is possible; see Organ stop An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air (known as ''wind'') to a set of org ...
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Electronic Organ
An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed into several types of instruments: * Hammond-style organs used in pop, rock and jazz; * digital church organs, which imitate pipe organs and are used primarily in churches; * other types including combo organs, home organs, and software organs. History Predecessors ;Harmonium The immediate predecessor of the electronic organ was the harmonium, or reed organ, an instrument that was common in homes and small churches in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In a fashion not totally unlike that of pipe organs, reed organs generate sound by forcing air over a set of reeds by means of a bellows, usually operated by constantly pumping a set of pedals. While reed organs have limited tonal quality, they are small, inexpensive, self ...
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Concert Pitch
Concert pitch is the pitch (music), pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are musical tuning, tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from musical ensemble, ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over music history. The most common modern tuning standard uses A440 (pitch standard), 440 Hz for A above middle C as a reference note, with other notes being set relative to it. In the literature this is also called ''international standard pitch''. The term "concert pitch" is also used to distinguish between the "written" (or "nominal"), and "sounding" (or "real") notes of a transposing instrument, i.e. ''concert pitch'' may refer to the sounding pitch on a non-transposing instrument. Music for transposing instruments is transposed into different key signature, keys from that of non-transposing instruments. For example, playing a written C on a B clarinet or trumpet produces a non-transposing instrument's B. This pitch is referred to as "concert B". Moder ...
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Equal Temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, which gives an equal perceived step size as pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency. In classical music and Western music in general, the most common tuning system since the 18th century has been twelve-tone equal temperament (also known as 12 equal temperament, 12-TET or 12-ET; informally abbreviated to twelve equal), which divides the octave into 12 parts, all of which are equal on a logarithmic scale, with a ratio equal to the 12th root of 2 ( ≈ 1.05946). That resulting smallest interval, the width of an octave, is called a semitone or half step. In Western countries the term ''equal temperament'', without qualification, generally means 12-TET. In modern times, 12-TET is usually tuned relative to a standard pitch of ...
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