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The
Choir and The Positiv
This article covers
the controls on the lowest, or first, manual of the console. On our organ, this comprises two divisions, the Choir and the
Positiv. These divisions are
both located above the right side of the chancel. The Positiv is an exposed division, visible in the front of the
chamber. The smallest,
therefore highest pitched, pipes in the organ are contained in the
Positiv. This division is
imitative of an organ of the Baroque period. At least, in the 1960s this is what they thought a Baroque organ
sounded like. Thoughts have
greatly changed since then.
It
is extremely bright sounding, even to the point of shrillness at times.
The pipes speak with a pronounced consonant, known as a “chiff.”
This gives a certain clarity to the speech, much as consonants do
in human speech. In the
original specs of this organ, the Positiv was called a “floating”
division, which meant that the organist would have had to operate a tab
stop to assign the Positiv to a specific manual whenever it was to be
used. Fortunately, the
builders decided to give it a home, making it a bit easier to find!
Behind the Positiv is the Choir division, which, like the Swell division
on the other side of the chancel, is under expression (behind shutters.) In England, the Choir is sometimes called the “Chair,” since
it used to sit on the rail of the rear gallery, somewhat like a chair. The softest stops on the organ are here, including a “flute
celeste” which can be closed down to become almost inaudible. In the funny little world of organists, stops like these are
known as “Communion stops,” for obvious reasons. Some of the most
colorful stops on the organ are also in this division, all of them
rather quiet. On the old console,
these combined divisions consisted of 17 ranks of pipes, controlled by 22
stop knobs. We added a pair of string stops to the Choir, as well as a harp and
celesta (!), all digital stops. These
new divisions now consist of 33 stop knobs.
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