{"id":237474,"date":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/an-introduction-to-the-organ\/"},"modified":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T08:00:00","slug":"an-introduction-to-the-organ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/an-introduction-to-the-organ\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducci\u00f3n al \u00f3rgano."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Carol Williams |\u00a0Civic Organist News<\/p>\n

I adjusted my seat in the saddle and raised the stirrups a little with my feet\u00a0as Gypsy\u2019s sure-footed cantor took us across a deep stream. Great\u00a0splashing in, and on we went, to the top of a bluff with glorious sights and\u00a0smells. I gently asked her to halt and for a moment we both stood there\u00a0looking out at the green rolling hills of the lake district in Cumbria, England.<\/p>\n

\"Carol<\/a>
Carol Williams, shown with the Spreckels Organ, hosts performances every Sunday at 2 p.m. at Balboa Park\u2019s Organ Pavilion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I could feel the energy in the crisp morning air.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Gypsy violently shook like a wet puppy just out of her bath water; this 2,000 pound Shire horse with little me on top. But I have the good knowledge that Gypsy, even in her intent to be comfortable, would not allow me to fall. Her huge head turned back to gaze at me and her eyes looked for assurance that she was still in my favor. I gave her an exuberant smile, a gentle rub on the neck and with a clicking sound in my mouth, and then we were on a gallop along a dry stone wall in an open tree-lined field.<\/p>\n

These are the times my soul gets recharged and I am in love with life.<\/p>\n

I was daydreaming of that day when I realized that same connection to\u00a0life fills my spirit when I see the happy faces of children and adults applauding my performance on a weekly basis here in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

I am so blessed to have this job. I love it when people realize what the pipe organ can do for their soul. It\u2019s wonderful to meet and hear about \u201chow they never knew an organ could make them feel so good,\u201d or the glow in a child\u2019s face as they ask me how I did that.<\/p>\n

These are the things that drive my life.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019d like to know how a typical Sunday unfolds for me at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. I\u2019ll start with a novice explanation of how the pipe organ works:<\/p>\n

A pipe organ is constructed of pipes that speak by means of air pressure passing through them, like whistles. Electronic organs work by amplifying samples of these sounds \u2014 a much different animal \u2014 and in my opinion, not entirely the same experience.<\/p>\n

There are ranks (groups) of pipes that have different sounds, such as flutes, wind, strings, tubas and on and on. Different pipes made of many different materials and even real drums, cymbals, harps, horns, and so on, are operated by pneumatic systems. I\u2019ll try to keep this simple because it can get complicated whether it\u2019s a symphonic pipe organ, or a theatrical pipe organ, or a combination of both; which is our Spreckels Organ.<\/p>\n

Today, wires connect the keys to the air valves, but the really old organs have their keys connected mechanically to the valves, which means the musician must press very hard on the keys to operate them and that becomes quite tiring. I\u2019ve strained myself while touring Europe on these old historic organs.<\/p>\n

Am I boring you yet? I hope not.<\/p>\n

Every organist must set the organ up to play the pipe sounds they want at every specific point of every piece of music performed. This creates the orchestration of the instrument. There are buttons to push, toe studs to push with your feet and pedals to move at different parts of every piece.<\/p>\n

My husband, Kerry, is a drummer and knows what it\u2019s like to control four limbs at different beat segments during a song. But organists have ten fingers and two feet all going at once and this totally blows his mind. I bring this up because in this way I can beg extra respect from him \u2014 like maybe an extra dinner night out.<\/p>\n

I like to keep things hopping and bring new surprises to the Park. Last\u00a0weekend for instance, I performed with the real Von Trapp family (the grandkids from \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d family). This was the first time they ever sang with an organ. The audience met them after the concert and everyone had a great time.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss my 10th annual \u201cBark in Balboa Park\u201d concert Feb. 15 at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, benefitting the San Diego Humane Society. It\u2019s free and everyone is invited to bring their animal companion to hear pet friendly music, meet other animal lovers, learn about the Humane Society, and then join the pet parade across the stage \u2014 come in costume if you\u2019d like!<\/p>\n

\u2014La organista c\u00edvica Carol Williams se enorgullece de servir como embajadora del campo de las artes y la cultura de San Diego. A trav\u00e9s de sus conciertos en el pa\u00eds y en el extranjero, Carol ofrece una nueva versi\u00f3n del concierto de \u00f3rgano cl\u00e1sico. Est\u00e1 comprometida a iluminar el colorido romance de San Diego con el \u201cRey de los Instrumentos\u201d, siempre buscando llevar el \u00f3rgano a nuevas audiencias. Para m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n visite sosorgan.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Carol Williams |\u00a0Civic Organist News I adjusted my seat in the saddle and raised the stirrups a little with my feet\u00a0as Gypsy\u2019s sure-footed cantor took us across a deep stream. Great\u00a0splashing in, and on we went, to the top of a bluff with glorious sights and\u00a0smells. I gently asked her to halt and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1218,"featured_media":237444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"An introduction to the organ","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}