The Pedal and The Solo Division

Many people are surprised when they realize that, yes, an organ console has a set of pedals down at the bottom, but didn’t realize that it actually is a 2 1/2 –octave keyboard.  What we now call “full pedalboards” became popular in the Germanic countries in the 17th and 18th centuries.  They have become standardized at 32 notes, and on most modern organs consist of their own large selection of stops, many of which are “borrowed” from some of the manual stops, and some of which extend certain manual stops downward an octave or two to provide a bass line for the music.

The pedal division on the present organ consists of 18 stops controlling 3 specific pipe ranks and 3 electronic ranks. The rest of the stops are borrowed and extended from the manuals. The new console will have 32 stops, which will include 4 32’ stops and many more borrowings (even including chimes), for much more versatility. The 32’ stops, by the way, are the lowest stops commonly found on an organ, although there are a very few 64’ stops in the world. The nomenclature refers to the fact that the lowest pipe of a 32’ stop is approximately 32 feet long.  We simply don’t have enough height in the chambers for pipes that long, so it is much cheaper and virtually as realistic to reproduce them electronically. 

The totally new division on the organ will be completely digital electronic, consisting of 26 stops. This division is called the “Solo,” and as its name implies, provides stops that are suitable for soloing out a line of music.The most prominent solo stop on the present organ is the Trumpet en chamade, those horizontal pipes in the right-hand chamber given several years ago in memory of Howard Vogel. This rank will be playable from the Solo manual, (Manual IV) and will also play from the pedal and the other three manuals.  Other solo stops will be a large flute, a set of strings, French horn, English horn, and a Fanfare Trumpet. There will also be a harp, chimes and a celesta, also playable from one or more of the other manuals. Like the Swell and Choir, this division will be under expression, although done electronically rather than being placed behind shutters.