3 days of fun

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
3 days of fun
1
Tue, 07-08-2008 - 9:59pm

DH and I just spent almost 3 days at the national theater organ society (ATOS) annual convention in Indianapolis. We were bussed all over central Indiana to various venues for performances, including a youth competition. There were 550 people in attendance - we had no idea it was big time. They have had annual conventions for 53 years and there are many local chapters. Would you believe this many people would sit perfectly still and silent thru each performance? You really could hear a pin drop, and no one dared cough or f#$t... some feat for a bunch of old folks - LOL.

You may remember that we are great fans of pipe organ music, but never delved into the details. Well, like all special interest groups these folks had a lot to share. We soaked in as much info as we good until our minds were on overload. The most interesting thing I learned was that sheet music is seldom written for pipe organs. An organist cannot buy a standard piece of sheet music with 2 lines of notes, one for each hand. They are dealing with multiple keyboards with as many as 17 different sounds available, plus several foot pedals, so must arrange the piece to accommodate this. Organists often need to re-compose a piece. A major feat is to take a score for a complete orchestra and re-write to play the individual instrument sounds on the organ.

Our vote for favorite venue was in The Paramount Theater Anderson IN. (I tried to copy these images to .jpg files, but they must be protected.) The image on lower right corner is the ballroom adjacent to the theater. We have dance there while the theater was undergoing renovation. The last time we saw the theater (late 90s) it was in full reconstruction mode. In our humble opinion, it had the best acoustics -

http://andersonparamount.org/about/photo/today.htm

This is their rescued and rebuilt organ which was also our favorite -
http://www.theatreorgans.com/cicatos/Organs/paramount.htm

The final program today was in this church. A trio played 2 organs and a grand piano -
http://www.atos.org/conventions/2008/northchurch.htm

And lastly - this is the "smaller" organ at the same church, set in a small baptismal area. Now that really IS a reason to have a great room in your home -
http://organsociety.bsc.edu/getPhotos.php?OrganID=31190

Jacquie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: jacquie_99
Thu, 07-10-2008 - 2:18pm

BTW - for any of you in FL, the huge organ that was once in Indianapolis is now in a pizza parlor in Ellenton FL. Take the grandkids to see this. When it rises out of the floor playing full blast the kids go nuts.

http://www.roaring20spizza.com/history.htm