Favorite Registration for Congregational Music (Hymn/Accompaniment)

[myorgan]

What is everyone's favorite registration for accompanying congregational music or choir music? Is there a setting you gravitate toward, or do you "spice it up" a little? I'm looking forward to reviving my "old standby registrations" with some of your ideas. Hope you don't mind!

Michael

[jbird604]

Excellent topic, my friend. I too want to hear what others have to say about this. I'm one who tends to use too much of the same all the time, I fear, but all my playing jobs have been on electronic organs, and often there aren't many really different registrations that work well for congregational singing.

The old stand-by 8-4-2 combination of flutes and diapasons usually works well for me, though it's often instructive to leave out one or more of these from time to time just to get an idea of how the overall tone color can be varied this way. I discovered the joy of the Quinte 2 2/3 a few years back when playing on an Allen ADC4000 for a few months. This clear but soft principal stop added just the right amount of faux reed color to my principal chorus when I wanted to beef it up without using a real reed. On my current church organ, I often use both the 2 2/3 and the 1 3/5 members of the swell flute chorus (which is coupled to the great) as this adds a rather sweet reed-like quality to the tone without adding a lot of volume. (This only works when these mutation stops are independent and rather soft. A typical analog organ with a unified swell flute may have mutations that are too loud to use this way.)

If playing an electronic that has separate audio systems for the swell and great, I'll always use the swell to great coupler and select a similar or supplementary set of stops on the swell. I would think it good to have the great and swell very similar in color and volume, especially in a divided installation where some in the congregation hear primarily one division or the other. Ideally, of course, with a good installation and good acoustics everyone hears the organ about equally.

As far as mixtures, I am generally in favor of them, as they add sparkle and clarity to the organ tone, enhancing the harmonic series, as has been pointed out elsewhere. If the congregation is large and singing well, the mixtures will help to carry the organ tone above the singing so that everyone can stay on pitch and in tempo.

However, some electronics, such as the poor little Galanti I'm currently playing on Sundays, have peculiar mixtures that may be either too shrill or too loud for frequent use. In our congregation, which contains quite a few older folks with hearing aids, some say that the upper frequencies of the organ hurt their ears or cause their hearing aids to distort. I think the problem is with this organ's mixtures, which sound too fluty to me, not enough real clarity, not enough of the highest overtones perhaps. By contrast, the Allen MDS45 we are working on the shop has mixtures that really seem to float right out of the speakers, bold and bright without being heavy or shrill. I wish all mixtures had that kind of quality!

So, my general formula for a hymn registration would be to draw the great division's flute and principal stops at 8-4-2 (though, as I said, sometimes leaving out one or two for variety), and also draw a similar set of stops in the swell, drawing the swell to great coupler and playing on the great. I might use a mixture on one or both divisions, might throw in a 2 2/3 stop from time to time, and would use an 8' reed when real power is required. For quieter hymns, I might use only 8's and 4's, and I've found it's actually OK to add the mixture to that combination without first adding the 2' stop, for another interesting variation.

Pedal stops for congregational singing need to be quite bold, as people enjoy the big bass, the physical sensation of the lowest frequencies hitting their bodies. I normally use a couple of full-throated 16' stops (not reeds except for really big hymns) plus a flute and a principal at 8'. If the organ has a good independent pedal division, I use the 4' stops, maybe even the pedal mixtures. Otherwise, I use the swell to pedal coupler, but usually not the great to pedal. This way, it is always possible to switch hands to the swell for a quick dynamic change and still have the pedal balance with the manual.

I'd love to hear what others do, especially those who play pipes.

[myorgan]

I tried something interesting for the congregation that worked today. The hymn was My Jesus, I Love Thee. Normally, I would solo the melody on a reed, and accompany it with Alto & Tenor in the left hand w/pedals. However, this AM, I tried something else--I played the Soprano and Alto in the right hand on foundations w/mixtures, and used the solo reed to play the Tenor. Worked great!

Just another idea for a variation.

Michael

[jbird604]

Awesome idea, Michael! I think I'll try that too. Tenor is often under-represented in congregations (even choirs) and giving them a boost like that is a wonderful idea.

[myorgan]

Tenor is often under-represented in congregations (even choirs) and giving them a boost like that is a wonderful idea.

Amen to that!!! The idea works best when the Tenor is in parallel 6ths or 3rds with the Soprano, I've found.

BTW, do you know what a Tenor is? A Baritone that isn't low enough to sing Bass. I don't know how many choir directors have to recruit Baritones (& even Basses) to sing Tenor. Maybe God will invent more?

Michael

[jbird604]

LOL. Yep, true tenor voices are hard to come by. I'm amazed when I hear a real one now and then, a guy who actually finds it easy and natural to sing way up into the octave above middle C. I pretend to be a tenor when singing in an ensemble because I can't sing below about tenor C if my life depends on it! But I have to work pretty hard or cheat with falsetto to sing most of the tenor lines I encounter.

I really want to try your idea out as soon as possible. Maybe I'll use a hymn next Sunday that works well that way.

[davidecasteel]

I don't know what I actually am, but I prefer to sing above middle C. My break occurs in the half-octave below middle C and singing continually in that range just about destroys my ability to sing at all. I can hit notes down to about low F and can usually sing the C above middle C. My speaking voice is fairly low, so I've been accused of being a baritone who just strengthened his falsetto into his normal singing voice. Most hymns are set such that it is painful for me to sing the tenor part, so I usually sing alto; sometimes even that is too low and I'll sing with the sopranos. (Most hymnals don't go much above C above middle C for the soprano line any more, anyway.)

For what it's worth, most hymns can be converted for TTBB singing by giving the soprano line to the T2s (an octave down), the alto line to the T1s (as written), the B1 (baritones) the tenor line, and the B2 (basses) their normal line. Some hymns are really beautiful given that treatment.

I was once told that approximately 40% of males should naturally be tenors, with maybe 1/3 of those being first tenors. The low basses would make up about 1/3 of the remainder of males, with the rest being baritones. A small minority of first tenors could be trained to be countertenors (male altos). Unfortunately, typically here in the US singing high is considered "unmanly" by many young people and so they stretch every nerve to sing at least as baritones--that contributes to the shortage of tenors.

David

[hartleymartin]

My chapel organ only has 8' stopped diapason, 4' open diapason and 8' keraulophon, so the choices are largely made for me! the 8 stopped and 4 open for hymns, though I might draw the Keraulophon instead to provide contrast tonal colour, and for soft hymns/music is is always just the 8' stopped diapason. The chapel only seats about 70 people and the "little box of whistles" does a great job where it is. The Keraulophon can stand in for a soft reed stop, and I often use it for the "trumpet" sound on English Organ voluntaries.

On the voice commentary, I am a Tenor. I find that I am comfortable from about the D or E below middle C up to the G above middle C. I can manage the B-flat above middle C in my natural voice (only just), but tend to falsetto anything above the A. (In fact I can get all the way to the F an octave+4th above middle C in falsetto), but I have no tonal control, If pushed at the bottom end I might manage the B-flat, but my comfort zone ends at the D below middle C. Clear as mud? I believe that good singing is not encouraged enough in schools these days, which means that few people can sing well at all. I occasionally like to freak out my alto friends by singing along with them in rehearsals... (Tenors, being rare creatures, just about get away with murder!)

[mashaffer]

I like to vary the registration to match the character of the song and also within a song to express the differences in the lyrics when possible using an 8/4 base and bringing in higher pitches as excitement builds for example. On "Christ Arose" for example I use 8 and 4 foot flutes with 8 foot string on the lower manual (it is a theater organ so no diapasons and lower manual has fewer stops esp high pitches) for the verses "Low in the grave he lay..." and then switch to the upper manual where I have a full plenum set up possibly with an 8 foot reed thrown in for good measure for the triumphant chorus "Up from the grave he arose...".

Mutations can be nice for adding color to bring out certain sections but can make it muddy if you are not careful. Sometimes a sparse registration with mutation can be interesting such as an 8 foot flute or string with nazard. One has to be careful with mixtures as they can be over done.

Most of the time I play with both hands on the same manual but on some hymns that lend themselves to it I will set up a flute and string chorus on the accompaniment manual and use a solo or duet style registration on the solo manual playing either one or two notes. Sometimes melody only sometimes melody and alto or even melody and tenor. On some I will play the melody with a harmonization above the melody ala obbligato. Split flutes or reeds (8/2 16/4 etc) are often nice for this as are some of the more aggressive reeds.

mike

[michaelhoddy]

I usually vary the registration between verses- for a big hymn such as Duke Street with 4 verses, and with a large congregation, I might do verse 1 with Diapasons through mixture in Great and Pedal, verse 2 with Diapasons through 2', but with the mixtures pushed in, verse 3 with no mixtures but with the swell reeds added at 16' and 8', and verse 4 full organ including 16' pedal reed, mixtures, and the aforementioned swell reeds added.

If the congregation is smaller, I back things off accordingly in terms of volume and brightness.

In a hymn such as Hyfrydol or Crucifer with a verse and refrain, I will frequently use one registration for the verses, and another for the choruses.

In a huge entrance or exit hymn with a large congregation and a good organ, I will sometimes play a descant or double up the soprano on a large solo reed on the final verse or refrain.

I will often reharmonize one verse of a 4-verse hymn- often the third, unless I'm playing in a Lutheran or Dutch Reformed church where the whole congregation is singing strongly in parts.

Really, my goal is strong, inspiring accompaniment with interest and variety, but without distracting or drawing attention to itself. I really don't get how some folks play straight through four verses of the hymn exactly the same way with exactly the same registrations and dynamics, unless the particular organ is that limited.