Organ
From Wikiversity
An organ is an wind/ keyboard instrument that was invented during the Middle Ages to provide vocal accompianment in churches.
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[edit] Current Form
Organs today exist in two main varieties, electronic and pipe. The controls for both kinds are very similar. There are two or more keyboards (manuals) placed one above the other. (On a two keyboard organ, the upper is known as the swell and the lower as the great). There is also a collection of pedals on the bottom of the organ. One controls the volume while the rest are laid out as keyboard and are used to provide bass notes.
[edit] Stops
Both pipe and electronic organs utilize a series of controls, known as stops, to control the tonal quality of the music. These stops allow the organ to imitate other instruments, such a trumpet or a human voice. Through proper manipulation of these controls, the operator can create many interesting and unique sounds.
[edit] Reading music for the Organ
The basic elements of written organ music are same as those of any other instrument; as this information can be found on other pages of the School of Music and Dance it will not be included here.
The organ is a polyphonic instument written on two or three staves. When written on three staves, one is provided for each manual, while on the third is music for the foot pedals. This style, however, is not universal, for three staves occupy a great deal of space and thus are expensive to print and difficult to read. Therefore, the staves for the lower manual and the foot pedals are often combined.
