Hammond – organ theories

In the previous post we talked about the history and the main features of the classic Hammond Organ, but we didn’t get deeper enough. The Hammond (but also the standard pipe organs) are not like every other keyboard or piano. There are great structure, sound and “feedback” differences.

First of all the organ keyboard (called manual) has no pressure sensitivity. This means that pressing a key is the same as pressing a normal light switch: it can only get either ON or OFF. The classic piano keyboard produces soft or loud sounds depending on how much “violence” is put by your hands, and that’s why we say “piano – forte“. The organ manuals, instead, will produce the same volume for the played notes regardless of the strength of the touch. For these reasons all the keys of every kind of organ are “super light” and the player’s fingers can move very quickly up and down the manual with relative ease. On the other hand, the classic grand-pianos are built with heavier keys and the musician has to develop a completely different technique… trust me, it’s a big difference! By the way, electric organs also have an expression pedal – usually on the bottom right – which allows to control the main volume of the instrument.

Now let’s concentrate on the most important aspect: the shaping of the sound.

The beauty of the organs is that they do not produce always the same sound type, but they can change their “voice” through simple mechanisms. The normal reed organs are equipped with a large series of “pipes”, each one of a different length: the longer the cane, the lower the pitch of the emitted note. Shorter pipes will create the “trebles” and the longer ones the “basses”. Not all the canes should “sing” at the same time, but they can be opened or closed by pulling particular levers called drawbars. The possible combinations of pipes that are actually opened or (partly) closed give space to a terribly vast range of timbres and effects – flutes, horns, diapason or full-ensamble (all drawbars out) and much more…

The Hammond also works this way, but since it is electric there’s no real pipe, though it still has the drawbars. Actually the sound shaping becomes completely “virtual”.

There’s a precise harmonic correlation among the various drawbars, but we’ll discuss that in the next article. For now lets see a few other features this splendid instrument owns.

Classic pianos normally have two or three pedals at most, for the “reverberation” effect. On the contrary the organ doesn’t need a reverb pedal because the notes would easily overlap one another causing a lot of noise. Many organs (among which also the Hammond) have an entire pedal board in place of the simple reverb pedal. The pedal board works exactly like another keyboard that may be played with the feet, but a lot of skill is required in order to master this technique. The sound produced by the pedal is pretty deep and strong, so it can be used to play nice “bass lines” for the performed piece, but generally this is a characteristic of the church organs – in fact Hammond organs used for churches usually are endowed with a pedal board that “Gospel” or “Soul” musicians are used to playing.
Nevertheless, Jazz players always use their right foot to regulate the volume through the expressions pedal, while they never move the left foot but for controlling other effects such as “vibrato” and “Leslie speed” (which we talked about in the previous post).

Of course the world of Jazz can boast a fantastic exceptions: the great German musician “Barbara Dennerlein” is maybe the most skilled female Jazz player, who is known for her “absurd” fluidity with her feet: this technique is called “walking bass“.

Here’s a video of this rare beauty. Enjoy!

Typing games

How accurate and fast are you at typing in English on your keyboard?
I thought these simple online typing games might help you to improve your writing skills… who knows?
Have a go and let me know!!!

Typing speed test

Qwerty warriors

Best cheating technique during class tests

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… during class tests

Students’ creativity is at its best when it comes to cheating… would you believe?

Some write their notes on scraps of paper, which they hide in their hands, in their sleeves, in their pencil bags, under their worksheets, on their chairs, or stick them under the desk… some write on their hands, or their arms,  on their desks, on the wall, on their dictionary pages… some hide books, exercise-books or sheets under their desks… some write on an eraser, or  (would you believe it? #1!!! ) on a ruler… some rely on old-fashioned, traditional techniques… like communicating with other students using gestures or whispers… stretching their arms and backs to peep on another student’s sheet… some leave their schoolbag open by their desks, with books and sheets “accidentally” on top… and I guess the list could go on

The best cheating technique, however, is the one suggested by the experienced teacher in this video which I accidentally happened to watch a few days ago…

31 songs: California Dreamin’

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I’ve been for a walk
On a winter’s day

I’d be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreamin’
On such a winter’s day

And here we are, another long step back in time, as this time I was… maybe 8 years old?

Those were the years of the vinyl records, the glorious 45 or 7” (the numbers refer to the record play speed, called “rpm” , revolutions per minute, and to the record diameter, which was 7”, that is 18 cm), and of the 33 ½ rpm “Long Playing”. A 45 rpm single had a large centre hole and contained only one song.

Well, I simply happened to find one day a “single 45” – I was at my cousins’ – which was damaged, that is, a piece of it was missing. It lay there among other intact “45s”, and I got incredibly curious about it…

(surprised? )

I doubted at first the record could be played, as to play a vinyl record you had to carefully place the small stylus, also called “pick-up”, on the record.  A stylus was a very delicate accessory, and could easily be damaged if you happened to place it wrongly. However, I asked if I could play it and managed to  place the stylus with the utmost care just after the missing part. In this way I knew I would lose the beginning of the song, but at least I could listen to the rest of it!

And all of a sudden the vocal harmonies of California dreamin’, the Mamas & the Papas,  caught me, and became song #2 in my V.P.S. (Very Personal Soundtrack ).

It was not until years later that I could listen to the whole song from beginning to end… but for that summer I would visit my cousins very often and play my favourite, broken 45 rpm single…

Here’s a video of the Mamas & the Papas performing the song at Monterey Pop Music Festival in 1967:

The Mamas & the Papas , a vocal group of the 1960s, were  John Phillips, his wife Michelle, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot.

“California Dreaming’” was first released in 1965 and ranks in position 89 in the periodical Rolling Stone’s list of  The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

A brief history of Oxford

The story of Oxford is a tangle of legend and real facts.

A Saxon princess and nun, called Frideswide,  is said to have established a monastery around 700 AD on the present site of Christ Church. Because a king fell in love with her she fled to the woods and hid there to escape his courting. The king was struck blind by a lightning bolt, but Frideswide was so kind that her prayers healed him, and he left her alone. A small community grew up outside the gates of her monastery, beside the oxen ford (shallow part of a river) over the Thames, after which the city is named.

Over the 12^th century a university developed within the defensive walls of the market town of Oxford, filling its streets with rowdy students, testing the resources of the community and causing frequent clashes. Two scholars and a citizen were killed in a riot in 1209. Discontent between students and citizens came to a head on 10th February 1355, when a student threw a pot of wine at the innkeeper of a Carfax tavern – Carfax, from the Latin word quadrifurcus meaning four ways, has been the centre of city life since Saxon times –. A clash broke out, and while citizens were rallied by the bells of  St Martin’s, the students gathered at St Mary’s. In the next three-day battle 63 students were killed and many were injured. As a result the mayor was imprisoned and the university gained more power over the city. This brawl became known as St Scholastica’s day riot and has been commemorated over the next 500 years.

If you are planning to go to Oxford there are a number of good places I suggest you visit. First of all Carfax tower, which is the 14^th-century tower of St Martin’s Church: don’t miss a climb to the top of the tower for magnificent views of Oxford’s famous skyline!

The Golden Cross, originally the courtyard of a medieval coaching inn, was the venue for a production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in 1593, and is now a little shopping square.

Radcliffe Square hosts one of the finest group of buildings in Europe, that form the heart of the university.

High Street or “The High” (as it is locally called) with its awesome buildings  has often been described as one of the most beautiful streets in the world. The open-air market held in Carfax until 1774 was moved to High Street and covered over in Victorian times. It now sells all sorts of goods, ranging from fresh fish to speciality sausages.

The college of Magdalen opens its deer park, meadows and leafy pathways by the River Cherwell to exploration by the public. The riverbank provides a grassy slope where visitors can enjoy the fantastic view of the slow-flowing river.

Christ Church occupies the site of Frideswide’s monastery. It was built in the late 12^th century  in Norman and Early English styles, and its spire, built in 1230, is believed to be Britain’s first.

The University of Oxford is one of the leading teaching centers in the world. It’s made up of 44 colleges, and it was the first of English universities to hold lectures in English instead of Latin. There is no clear date of foundation (maybe around 1096), but the University developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II forbade English students from attending the University of Paris. Bare halls of residence were first established to host students, that had often come to clashes with the local citizens. These halls were succeeded by the first of Oxford’s colleges under the supervision of a Master.

University, Balliol and Merton Colleges, which were established between 1249 and 1264, are the oldest.

From 1878, women too were allowed to attend the University, and acquired full membership in 1920. Five all-male colleges first admitted women in 1974 and, since then, all colleges have changed their regulations to admit both women and men.

St Hilda’s College, originally for women only, was the last of Oxford’s single sex colleges. It has admitted both men and women since 2008.

The goblins of Labyrinth

Do you like goblins and magic creatures?  Have a look at this video…

Have you ever watched the film Labyrinth? Would you like to learn more about it?

Labyrinth  is a fantasy film directed and produced by Jim Henson, the creator of The Muppets, in 1986.

It tells the story of a young girl’s splendid adventure in the reign of the goblins to save her baby half-brother from the Goblin King Jareth, because it is she who in a moment of anger had wished the goblins to take Toby, her half-brother, away.

Sarah (starred by Jennifer Connelly) must find her way to the castle of the Jareth (starred by David Bowie) before midnight, through a labyrinth full of strange creatures, because otherwise her brother will be turned into a goblin.

In the labyrinth Sarah meets fantastic creatures, as Hoggle, Ludo and Didymus, who go with her in her quest, and finally she confronts Jareth who tries in every way to stop her.

And here they are…

Sarah

Jennifer Connelly was born in 1970 and at the age of 10 started modelling for magazines and doing commercial advertisements. In 1984 she was chosen by Sergio Leone to act in ’Once Upon A Time In America’, but she only became famous at 15, when she starred in ’Labyrinth’. She then studied and graduated from Stanford and has starred in many movies since, among which “A Beautiful Mind”. She was only 14 when ’Labyrinth’ was filmed.

Jareth

David Bowie is a British composer, singer and actor. He is considered one of the most influential pop writers of all time. He composed and performed the songs in Labyrinth.

He became famous in the sixties and has managed to remodernate his music and stay on top for several decades.

the Goblins

Sarah with Didymus, Ludo and Hoggle

… and a few notes about Jim Henson…

Jim Henson was a brilliant and innovative director and producer before the digital era. He was first a puppeteer and he created The Muppets and Sesame Street, programs which have entertained and taught children all over the world for decades. He was nominated for an Oscar and he won an Emmy Award. In the film Labyrinth he gave his own creativity full freedom and he invented, constructed and animated the Goblins and the other creatures.

How about watching this film then?

Differences among the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England

Surfing the web I came upon this quite funny and interesting video that explains once and for all the differences among the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England. It also talks about Ireland, the Commonwealth, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. No more doubts anymore!

31 songs: Sitting down here

I’ve started reading Nick Hornby’s book  and I’d like to share with you the first of my ”31 songs” (Ok, I’ll be sincere, 31 is a HUGE number in this case, so don’t expect 31 posts! )

I’ll start with the first song that reached me. I don’t actually have a precise memory of the very first song that I listened to, nor of the one I first fell in love with. Anyway I remember that my parents and I were going to the seaside and listening to this song, and I was singing the refrain in gibberish (I didn’t know a single word of English at those times). It was such a happy and radiant song, and it reflected my mood in that moment.

I also remember that a couple of years later this song was used in an advertisement for a medicine against flu, but this isn’t very relevant

I wanted to know the title and the singer of this song, but I couldn’t because after I had learned some English (and so could understand some of the words) the song wasn’t played on the radio anymore.

Some years ago I discovered a website on which, if you have a microphone, you can sing or hum a song and it recognizes it. One day this song came back to me and I thought ”Why not try?”, so I started humming it into the microphone and after a few seconds the name of the song was displayed:  Sitting down here by Lene Marlin.

Now, to be honest, I don’t like this song very much anymore, because I think it is too sweet and mawkish (even if it talks about revenge after a broken relationship, or so I guess).

However, this song still evokes in me wonderful memories about those sunny days, the radio in my dad’s old Fiesta and that long road to the seaside.

Lene Marlin is a Norwegian singer and musician. She had her début with the successful single ”Unforgivable Sinner”.  Her last album ”Twist the Truth”  was released in 2009.

Stanley and the pineapple

I recently had one of my classes watch this funny, nonsensical video in the lab. They seemed to like it quite a lot and I had the idea of sharing it here with all of you…

Are you ready to meet Stanley? “He’s real nice!”

(You can find the script at  http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_words_to_Stanley_and_the_Pineapple … there’s a spelling mistake in the script… can you find it?)

Which Side is the Future?

Can language shape our perception of time?

The answer seems to be “yes”…

A Stanford researcher, Lera Boroditsky, in a lectio magistralis during the “Festival delle Scienze” in Rome, explains that English speakers tend to see time on a horizontal plane, from “left” (past) to “right” (future), the same way they write. But an Arab speaker, as he writes from “right” to “left”,  has the opposite perception on time: past is on the right, while future is on the left. For example, an English speaker would arrange (in a chronological order) the photos of an intact egg and a broken egg in this way:

while an Arab speaker would arrange them in this way:

And what about a Mandarin speaker?

Well, Mandarin Chinese associates “up” with the past and “down” with the future! And re­search shows Mandarin speakers often arrange photos in a vertical plane with the earliest at the top.

But Lera also spent time in a remote aboriginal village in Australia, where she discovered that Pompuraawan (the tribe of the village) do not have terms for spatial relationships such as “left” or “in front of.” Instead they use directions as descriptors, such as “my south arm.” They think of time the same way: when asked to arrange four pic­tures showing a person’s life, Pompuraawans laid the photos in a line from east to west.

People’s way of thinking is important, too: for example, we also arrange time putting the past behind us and the future ahead of us, but there are people who think that it’s impossible for us to see our future, while the past is something that we have already seen. Therefore, they put the past ahead of them, while the future behind them – because they can’t see it!

That’s funny, isn’t it?