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One who plays the organ. Organists have an interesting culture, which is also very diverse. An organist might play any sort of organ (pipe organ, Hammond, theatre). And, there are many types of organist-
The Diva-
These organists will be inclined to jump up behind the conductor at somebody else's choral recital and give cues as they see fit.
Non-technical player-
Somebody who just knows how to turn the blower switch on and pull out the right stops. The have no idea how an organ pipe works, and now much of a clue how the organ itself works.
Old lady-
Yeah, the old blue hair that plays the organ at the local Roman Catholic parish. She never pulls out any more than three stops and likes to take it slow.
The 50% organist-
A pianist who is passing for an organist. They usually play on one manual and don't use pedals. Enough said.
The good organist-
These organists can play both Bach and French Romantic, as well as many other types of organ music. They can register well, and play cleanly. Fortunately, such organists are usually well mannered.
The passable organist-
This organist can play hymns well, but not much else. Fugues may confuse them, and sometimes they can't register that well. They are good for regular, nothing special Sunday services.
Rev. Edwards: Who is your new organist, is he good?
Rev. Andrews: Yeah, but he is such a diva. You should see him conduct the congregation from the organ loft.
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The single best model of laptop form factor machines, now produced by Lenovo. Formerly produced by IBM. They have been known to last years and survive serious abuse that would kill a Dell or Apple. Recommended with a nice big battery and a copy of Fedora Linux 10. Computers for real geeks.
Eric: I say, I quite fancy this ThinkPad over the Toshiba that I owned last. Let's see Apple try to match this keyboard!
Luke: Or the built in biometrics, light, magnesium alloy skeleton, anti-flex screen, innovative pointing devices, durability, or hardware support!
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frappuccino-
A Starbucks product which has probably been engineered to attract youth and teen type consumers. A coffee drink for the wuss. Having tasted one- I would say that refined sugar is one of the primary ingredients. Real men and women take their coffee black.
Luke: Damn! Look at all the damned yuppies in Starbucks, typing on their Apple machines and drinking excuses for coffee!
Dustin: Black coffee is an acquired taste, I suppose.
Luke: Indeed, look at them!
Yuppie in Starbucks: Ooh! Look at me answering my email in public! One frappuccino, please!
Luke: Get a ThinkPad and some real coffee!
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The pipe organ is a keyboard instrument that originated in ancient Greece, as the hydraulis. The hydraulis was powered by water displacing air, thus creating an air supply to play the pipes.
Modern organs are fully pneumatic, meaning that there is a blower or bellows to pressurize them. When you press a key or pedal on the organ, a valve is opened, thus admitting air into the pipe to make it speak.
The connection from the key to valve can be established any number of ways. Traditionally, when you pressed a key, mechanical linkage pulled the valve open. Also you may encounter direct electric action, like Wicks organs used. This used an electromagnet to open the valve. There is also electro-pneumatic, where an electromagnet lets air into an actuator which pulls the valve open.
Organs have different stops to control the voices. When no stops are pulled, the organ will make no sound when keys are pressed. To make sound, one must pick one or any number of stops to play. Each stop consists of one or more ranks of pipes. Some stops may make use of parts of other ranks. An eight foot stop is in unison. The not you play is the not that comes out. When you pull out a four foot stop, it sounds an octave higher, and a two foot stop, an octave higher still. You can combine these stops to make a principle chorus.
There are other kinds of stops, like mutations, which make a not that is not unison or octave, and thus create a parallel melody, which can add interest or create new sounds. There are reeds, which can play sounds like trumpets and oboes. These pipes are not like whistles, but have a beating metal tongue to make the sound out a resonator.
Each organ may have one or more manuals or keyboards. Each one controls a different part of the organ. There may be a great division, the main part. There could be a positive division, which is a smaller division. Some divisions have shades in front of them to control the volume. These shades are controlled by expression pedals.
Organs also have pedals, so the organist can play the base line with their feet, freeing hands to to the alto, soprano, and tenor parts.
And remember, an organ is only similar to a piano in the sense that it has a keyboard.
Rob gave a wonderful pipe organ recital at the Methodist church last night.
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