Playing the Roland C-200 Church Organ Unedited Working Copy in Production Noel Jones, AAGO Frog Music Press
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This takes the place of the Index, to be inserted later: How to: Section I 1. Play the Demonstration Songs in the C-200 2. Play the Church Organ™ Book 1 Songs from the USB Drive 3. Play organ stops from the four basic tonal families. 4. Use Playing the Church Organ™ Book 1 with the C-200 Section II 5. Record and Playback 6. Harpsichord 7. Fortepiano 8. Piano 9. Celesta 10. Using as a MIDI Controller for Finale and other note entry programs.
•E Playing the Roland C-200 Church Organ • Frog Music Press
F• Playing the Roland C-200 Church Organ • Frog Music Press
•1 About this book. I spent more than a year at a large church with an active choir program that sang a wide variety of liturgical music including the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D of Dyson and the Evening Hymn of Gardiner using for an organ first in a school gymnasium and then in a basilica with 7.5 seconds reverberation, a Roland C-190 Church Organ with one manual, the predecessor of the C-200.
2• A Reference Page This page will help you in and out of the four modes of operation. Imagine a drink dispenser that serves coffee, tea, hot chocolate and soup. Playing the C-200 is like that machine. It can do four different things: 1. Be an organ (this is what it does on startup). 2. Be a keyboard instrument - harpsichord, fortepiano, piano or celesta. 3. Record and playback. 4. Play preset organ registrations. It can only do one of these things at a time.
•3 A Quick Start. Playing the Church Organ™ is a system for learning to play the organ and the C-200 is an organ. This book prepares you to follow the directions in Playing the Church Organ™ and use the C-200 as an organ. How is this possible? Organs have at least two keyboards and pedals. Georg Frideric Handel wrote a lot of organ music that people play today on two keyboards (or three or four or even five) and pedals. The organs common in England then rarely had pedals and almost as rarely two manuals.
4• Playing the DEMO songs. The [FUNCTION] button works to reduce the number of confusing buttons and switches on this organ, just as the function key on computer permits a button to control more than one function. It is the second from the left of the round buttons in the center of the organ. We use it to play the demo songs built into the organ. Playing the demo songs. 1. Hold down the FUNCTION key 2. Press the PLAY/PAUSE button.
•5 Selecting the DEMO songs. There are four groups of songs. 1. Select a group by pressing one of the four harpsichord buttons - the song group numbers are below the button. 2. The group button will flash. 2. Choose the song by pressing one of the lighted stop tabs, the number at the top is the song number. 3. Change the song while it plays by pressing a different song tab. Press STOP to halt the DEMO. Press FUNCTION to leave DEMO.
6• Four Families of Tone A Quick Overview: The pipe organ is built to produce pipe sound in two ways, by splitting a column of air like a whistle or by air moving a reed which buzzes. There are more whistle pipes - called Flue pipes - than reed pipes. All pipes use a resonator, a long hollow pipe to make the sound larger and louder. Pipes are made from metal or wood. The diameter and shape of the pipe affects tone that you hear.
•7 Principal 8 Press the bottom of stop tablet #4. This is the original and true organ sound, which is why it is named Principal. All other sounds on the organ are adjusted to work with it, either by blending in ensemble or playing in direct contrast to it. It is properly generically described as a Flue stop, one that produces sound by vibrating air molecules, in the same manner as a baroque recorder or a whistle. The “8” is the foot length of the resonator of the longest and lowest pipe in a set of pipes.
8• Still Gedeckt 8 Press the bottom of stop tablet #12. The second tonal family in the organ is the Flute. Flute pipes are wider in diameter than principal pipes and have a less rich sound, especially when capped. Capping of a 4' pipe produces the pitch of an 8' pipe, but some harmonics are suppressed, making an sound that is even less rich. Flute pipes may be open at the upper end or capped. A Gedeckt is always capped to get its characteristic sound. Now play this: Abide with Me Céleste EVENTIDE j œ .
•9 Voix Céleste 8 Press the bottom of stop tablet #12. This time HOLD it until the round buttons light - 1 will be steady, 2,3,4 will be flashing. Press 4. It will stop flashing and light. Press the bottom of stop tablet #12 to stop 4 from flashing. The third tonal family in the organ is the strings. String pipes are much narrower in diameter than principal pipes and have a very rich, often strident sound. They are effective played softly as they have the ability to maintain a clear pitch at low volume.
10 • Trompette 8 Press the bottom of stop tablet #12. This time HOLD it until the round buttons light - 1 will be steady, 2,3,4 will be flashing. Press 4. It will stop flashing and light. Press the bottom of stop tablet #12 to stop 4 from flashing. The third tonal family in the organ is Strings. String pipes are much narrower in diameter than principal pipes and have a very rich, often strident sound. They are effective played softly as they maintain a clear pitch at low volume.
• 11 Playing the Church Organ At this point we have heard the four distinct sounds that are found in church organs. The C-200 has many more sounds than just the ones named on the stop tablets. Rather than spending months and months learning about them and how to combine them and play them, our approach is quite different. Within a page or two you will instead begin playing them in all their glory. Learn to enjoy their sound and the music you may play without fear.
12 • Loading the Playing the Church Organ™ Memory Registration. 1. Insert a USB Drive into your computer and download the C-200 file from our website to your drive. (You may need to register this book to do that - it’s quick and easy to do - go to www.playingthechurchorgan.com). 2. Insert the USB drive in the socket on the back of the C-200. 3. Hold down: [FUNCTION]. 4. Press: [MEMORY PISTON]. 5. Release both buttons. 6. Hold down: SUBBASS 16 tilt tab on the far left of the stop tabs. 7.
• 13 Using the Memory Piston button. The Memory Piston gives you access to alternate use of the 7 buttons to its left. The use is marked below each button. The [MEMORY PISTON] lets you select and save preset combinations of sounds. It is the last button to the right. There are two sets of four different sound combinations possible for your use. They are in two sets, called M1 and M2. Look carefully at the group of four buttons in the center section of controls.
14 • Using Piston 1, Memory 1 My Jesus, I Love Thee Adoniram J. Gordon Arr. NoelofJones The first pages of Playing the Church Organ™ have two arrangements hymns that illustrate how to read organ music. GORDON You are encouraged to listen to the music for these two pieces as you read about them and follow the instructions. j j œ œ œ̇ . œ At œ œ . ˙ œ ẇ . œ ˙ œ œ œœ to play these pieces so that they sound as ig b ˙this point we˙ needœ̇toœexplain ˙ a special œ technique that you ˙will.
• 15 Using Piston 2, Memory 1 Turn to page 16 in Playing the Church Organ, Book 1 (PtcO1). On the bottom of the page you will find an explanation of the Bass Coupler on the Roland and Rodgers organs, something that’s missing on the C-200 - but for good reason. The C-200 has a limited number of stops (but with a large number of stops that they control - which we will discuss later) so when we play a piece from the book we leave the Pedal stops lit up.
16 • Using Piston 3, Memory 1 Play 6. O God, Our Help in Ages Past. If you want to play the alternate verse, having a friend in the choir loft can come in handy to play the optional pedal notes in the last three measures. This can be a good way to interest a pianist in learning playing the organ! The Chaconne is straightforward to play, While Christ, God’s Only Son take a little juggling.
• 17 Using Piston 4, Memory 1 If you are coming from the piano, measure 3 of 9. Take My Life will seem possibly unplayable....just reach down with your RH thumb to play the Bb from the bass clef line on the third beat, freeing up your LH to play down to the low F on the last beat. The optional last verse has a “pedal point”, a term that means that the pedal note sustains a single unchanging note under other moving harmonies.
18 • Using Piston 1, Memory 2 [PtCO 5] Here we make a change! 1. Press Memory Pistons 2. Press M2. 3. Press 1 - since we have moved up one level, we press 1 to get piston 5 to use in Playing the Church Organ Book 1. 13. Fugue in C Major is one piece that was written for one manual. In editing it, I made the decision to give organists the experience of switching keyboards to play stops lighter in sound on the Swell. On the C-200 due to some crossings of parts, (see m.
• 19 Using Piston 2, Memory 2 - [PtCO 6] Remember, here we change from M1 to M2 to move to piston 6 in Playing the Church Organ. On No. 16, 17 and 18, set the Bass Split to middle C. In fact, let’s learn to make this part of the piston setting. 1. Press Memory Pistons, select M2, Piston 2. 2. Set the Bass Split to middle C. 4. PRESS Piston 2 and HOLD until MEMORY PISTONS flashes once. Now, clear everything by pressing [CELESTA]. 1. Press Memory Pistons, select M2, Piston 2.
20 • Using Piston 3, Memory 2 - [PtCO 7] On Caed Mille and Élévation you may wish to try this: After playing Caed Mille once through: 1. Reach up and turn of stops 1, 2, 4 and 5. (the green piston lights go dark) 2. Play it through again, at this point you are playing Swell stops only. 3. When you reach the end, press the piston to get the Great stops back to play it once more. A. Press MEMORY PISTONS B. Memory Bank is still on M2, so skip over to Piston 2. C. Press Piston 2. 4.
• 21 Using Piston 4, Memory 2 - [PtCO 8] Now we move to using Split Keyboard fully. How do you know when Split Keyboard is engaged? The II/I stoptablet is dark. At this point the Upper half begins to play down an octave, the Lower half up an octave. The two keyboards overlap in pitch. This may be awfully confusing at first, but here’s the way to figure this out. Press piston 7 and play a measure or two of 24. Ciacona, starting at Meaure 18. Stop, press piston 8. Move your LH down an octave, 8 white notes.
22 • Using Piston 4, Memory 2 to create [PtCO 9] When using the Split for these pieces, you will play Sw. parts on the lower half, Gt. on the upper half. It’s because Chimes are usually found on the Great keyboard.* These pieces call for chimes. We will use learn to program a USER stop to make this happen. Press Memory Piston - then M2 - then Piston 4. Cancel stops 13 and 17. Programming USER stop 16 to play Chimes. 1. Press the bottom of stop 16 until it begins to flash. 2.
• 23 Using Piston 1, Memory 2 to create [PtCO 10] Since all the pieces for solo organ trompette call for the trompette on the Swell, your right hand will be playing the upper half of the keyboard, the left hand on its normal lower half of the keyboard. These pieces call for a solo organ reed. We will use learn to program the USER stop to make this happen. 1. Press Memory Piston - then M2 - then Piston 1. 2. Cancel stops 11, then all lit stops between 12 and 18. 3. Press the bottom of 16 until it flashes.
24 • Playing the Roland C-200 Church Organ • Frog Music Press
• 25 Playing the Roland C-200 Church Organ • Frog Music Press
26 • Playing the Church Organ™ The Roland C-200 Church Organ is a two manual and pedal church organ that just happens to be inside of a keyboard with 79 keys. But this doesn’t mean that it’s limited, rather it can be played as if it is a two manual and pedal church organ quite easily. Here are some points that you may want to consider as we use this book: • An organ only needs one keyboard to be an organ. • A pianist plays the piano, which has only one tonal sound which is modified by the player’s touch.
• 27 The Coupler. I am assuming that you may be a pianist or someone who plays a keyboard at church. And when you sit at an instrument and, if it needs electricity, you turn it on, then press a key you expect to her something. Now you are sitting at an instrument, the lights are lit and one lit tablet is lit that reads II/I. You play a note. Nothing. Not a sound. Is it broken? Organs use “stops” to turn the sounds on and off.
28 • The Coupler. I am assuming that you may be a pianist or someone who plays a keyboard at church. And when you sit at an instrument and, if it needs electricity, you turn it on, then press a key you expect to her something. Now you are sitting at an instrument, the lights are lit and one lit tablet is lit that reads II/I. You play a note. Nothing. Not a sound. Is it broken? Organs use “stops” to turn the sounds on and off.
