Organ (music)

The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the western musical tradition, with a rich history connected with the Christian religion and civic ceremony. Its sound output is continuous rather than decaying, i.e., the sound continues for as long as a key is depressed and does not depend on how hard the key is struck-?as is the case with a (velocity sensitive) piano--, and does not automatically decay quickly, like the harpsichord, and clavichord. However, some modern electronic organs have the capacity for velocity sensitivity. Many organs do not have aftertouch (pressure sensitivity) and so do not respond to how hard a key is held down.

Pipe organs

See the main article at pipe organ for more details and the history of the pipe organ.

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The original organ was the pipe organ, and many organ enthusiasts still regard all other forms as imitations.

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Pipe organs may be broadly divided into three categories:

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• The church organ was developed originally for congregational singing, and is still found in many houses of worship. Accompaniment of human voices, whether a congregation, a choir or a cantor or soloist is the primary purpose of the church organ, and it is highly developed to be suitable for this task. Often just called a pipe organ (whether it actually has pipes or not), it may be called a church organ or classical organ to differentiate it from the theatre organ, which is a distinctly different instrument. However, as classical organ repertoire was developed for the church organ and in turn influenced its development, the line between a church and a concert organ is hard to draw. Instruments of any size may include some stops designed for independent performance of this music rather than for accompaniment.
• The theatre organ (see that article) or cinema organ was designed to replace orchestras or instrumental ensembles that accompanied silent movies with a single performer. These instruments differ from church organs in three main ways:
• Their pipes are designed and voiced for this role, rather than as accompaniment to voices.
• They may include a far greater variety of non-organ sounds, notably drums and other percussion and sometimes a piano in larger instruments.
• Even the largest instruments tend to rely unashamedly on extension to produce the maximum variety of sound from the minimum number of pipes.
• The concert organ or symphonic organ which flourished during the first third of the twentieth century in town halls and other secular public venues, particularly in the United States and the UK. As these were developed primarily to perform repertoire originally written for the church organ, the line between the two types can be hard to draw, to the point that two identical instruments, one in a church and the other in a concert hall, might be termed one a church organ, the other a concert organ.