blog.sinden.org

Ordinary Time 2024

30 May 2011
plagiarism - acoustic
I have never before visited Trinity, Wall Street in New York or played a Marshall & Ogletree organ, but that doesn't stop me from having this opinion: digital organs are fake.

It doesn't matter if you have a multi-million dollar endowment and a sophisticated PR department and web presence: digital organs are still fake, no matter how much they cost.

How do we define what is real in the liturgy?

There are a many elements that seem to be real:
There are a few things that seem to be "fake":
  • amplified sound
  • electric light
  • recorded sound
I think the first two elements here have become an accepted part of the worship experience given that they are modern conveniences and do not have significant artistic/creative implications.

Take for instance a concert of your local orchestra. If any pre-concert announcements are made, they will utilize a public address system.  The concert itself will not be amplified (I hope).

Likewise, as you enter the room where the orchestra will be playing, the house is illuminated.  After you read the program notes and the concert begins the lights dim.  

Sound amplification is present in our churches.  When words are spoken by a single person, they are usually amplified so that they might be better understood by the whole congregation.  Is this absolutely necessary?  No, I don't think so, and valid liturgies were celebrated without artificial amplification for nearly 2,000 years.  Is it generally expedient to amplify sound now?  Yes, and if this technology helps to further equip the congregation for the liturgy (literally the "work of the people") then it is well employed in our churches. (Amplified singing, however, is to be avoided as it interferes with the singing of the people).

In most of our churches, a consistent level of lighting is maintained throughout the liturgy. Interestingly, candles, which are hardly necessary during daylight hours, have long served a symbolic role.

Recorded sound?  You don't hear it at the orchestra concert.  If you hear it at a "popular music" concert or televised comedy revue you probably get upset -- you're not getting what you bargained for.

Digital organs are acoustic plagiarism

Digital organs are a kind of recorded sound. They are, at worst, imitating or, at best, reproducing a sound that comes from many hundreds or thousands of pipes.  Sure, we can sample these pipes in pretty sophisticated ways, but all we can do is copy something else.  This is not a creative enterprise, it's acoustic plagiarism.

The voice of these individual pipes is largely lost.  As the sound of thousands of individual pipes is routed through several dozen loudspeakers an important spatial element is lost.  And finally, the complex interplay between organ winding and pipe speech is negated in this simulation.  

No other instrument falls into this trap. Pianists, violinists and the like all want the very best instruments to play. Qualifying these ideal instruments as real seems unnecessary. I'm not denying that electric versions of these instruments can be used for effect, but in this case a real instrument is deliberately abandoned for a fake sound.

Yet organists seem content playing a fake instrument. And the reason? It costs a lot of money to have several thousand pipes of different pitches and timbres all voiced in a complementary way.

It also costs millions of dollars to own a Stradivarius, and yet there is no substantial sum of money being thrown at a digital violin concept that I know of.

If you think about what has more interest to a listener, to an organist, to a community of believers, is it a fake audio copy of bits and pieces of real organs, or is it the synergy of real wood and metal pipes, screws and nails, glue and steel that come together to make something artistic and beautiful?

Jesus didn't challenge us to make people interested in him; he called us to make disciples. I would rather be a part of a community that undertakes the building or restoration of a real instrument -- variously an affirmation of a gift from the past and/or an investment on behalf of the future of that community -- than a group that settles for a quick-fix heard through loudspeakers.

What kind of trust can we place in those who teach the faith in this community if they are regularly dishonest in passing of a digital copy as the real deal? And let's be clear: the facade pipes at Trinity, Wall Street were deliberately retained and the loudspeakers installed behind them.

There's no deception with the microphone on the lectern. We're familiar with the convention of the public address system. There's no deception with electric lighting. I think most people are familiar with this reality.

However, the digital organ seems to be a deliberate attempt to deceive. There's no evaluating it on its own merits. No one asks the question: "isn't this a great digital organ?" Rather, the question posed is "you can't tell this apart from a real organ, can you?".

The digital organ seems a short-sighted investment, and I think we have plenty of that in our daily lives. Shouldn't we strive for something real in our houses of worship?

These thoughts come as a result of reading this AP article by Jeff Martin. I continue to be surprised by Trinity's shift from calling the digital instrument an interim solution to a "long-term commitment". A quick-fix simply does not have long-term viability.

Labels: ,

 
 
Comments:

Post a Comment

The page you're reading is part of Sinden.org

©MMXVII Sinden.org: a site for fun and prophet

Organ and church music, esoteric liturgics, and a site that changes color with the liturgical year.

Archetypes

Looking for Carol Spreadsheets?

Hungry? Try the Liturgical Guide to Altoids Consumption

Thirsty? Try the Tibia Liquida

The Eric Harding Thiman Fan Page: The greatest composer you've never even heard of.

Infrequently Asked Questions

picture of a chicken

Questions? Problems? email the sexton.

Archon

The author of this website is an organist whom the New York Times calls “repeatedly, insisting that he pay for his subscription”. He likes to read parking meters, music, Indianapolis Monthly, and weather forecasts in Celsius, particularly whilst wearing cassock and surplice. He serves lasagna, overhand, as an example to many, and on ecclesiastical juries. He mixes salads, drinks, and metaphors. He takes photos, lots of dinner mints, and a little bit of time to get to know.

about

contact

Archbishops

Anglicans Online
Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
Book of Common Prayer
Brain Pickings
The Daily Office
The Lectionary Page
Sed Angli
Ship of Fools
The Sub-Dean's Stall
Vested Interest - Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Archenemies

Andrew Kotylo - Concert Organist
Aphaeresis
Anne Timberlake
Bonnie Whiting, percussion
conjectural navel gazing: jesus in lint form
Friday Night Organ Pump
Halbert Gober Organs, Inc.
in time of daffodils
Joby Bell, organist
Musical Perceptions
Musings of a Synesthete
My Life as Style, Condition, Commodity.
Nathan Medley, Countertenor
Notes on Music & Liturgy
The Parker Quartet
Roof Crashers & Hem Grabbers
Steven Rickards
That Which We Have Heard & Known
This Side of Lost
Wayward Sisters
Zachary Wadsworth | composer

Archenemies Aviary

@DanAhlgren
@dcrean
@ericthebell
@jwombat
@larrydeveney
@nmedley
@samanthaklein
@sopranist
@voxinferior

Arches

Advent (Medfield MA)
All Saints, Ashmont (Boston MA)
All Saints (Indianapolis IN)
Atonement (Bronx NY)
Broadway UMC (Indianapolis IN)
Cathedral of All Saints (Albany NY)
Christ Church (Bronxville NY)
Christ Church (Madison IN)
Christ Church (New Haven CT)
Christ Church Cathedral (Indianapolis IN)
Christ's Church (Rye NY)
Church of St. Stephen (Hamden CT)
Congregational (Belmont CA)
Coventry Cathedral (UK)
First UMC (Lancaster SC)
Gloria Dei ELCA (Iowa City IA)
Immanuel Lutheran (St Paul MN)
Immanuel Lutheran (Webster NY)
John Knox PCUSA (Houston TX)
St Andrew (Marblehead MA)
St Andrew's, Oregon Hill (Richmond VA)
St Bartholomew the Great, (London, England)
St James's (Lake Delaware NY)
St James's (Richmond VA)
St James Cathedral (Chicago IL)
St Mary's Cathedral (Memphis TN)
St Matthew and St Timothy (NYC)
St Paul's (Cleveland Heights OH)
St Paul's (Indianapolis IN)
St Paul's Cathedral (Buffalo NY)
St Paul's, K Street (Washington DC)
St Peter's (Lakewood OH)
St Peter's ELCA (NYC)
St Stephen's (Richmond VA
St Thomas (New Haven CT)
St Thomas ELCA (Bloomington IN)
Second PCUSA (Indianapolis IN)
Towson Presbyterian Church (MD)
Tremont Temple Baptist (Boston MA)
Trinity (Indianapolis IN)
Trinity on the Green (New Haven CT)

Auraling

BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong
New College (Oxford, England)
St John's College (Cambridge, England)
St Thomas (New York NY)

Argyle

Like the site? Buy the shirt.

Areyou . . .

selling diphthongs?
Yes, but they're not the kind you buy on Wheel of Fortune.

the owner of a bower at Bucklesfordberry?
Full daintily it is dight.

interested in touch lamps?
And fountain pens.

Archives
this site used to be better:

March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
December 2012
January 2013
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
November 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
April 2014
May 2014
June 2014
August 2014
September 2014
October 2014
November 2014
December 2014
January 2015
February 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
October 2015
November 2015
December 2015
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
April 2016
June 2016
July 2016
August 2016
September 2016
October 2016
November 2016
December 2016
January 2017
February 2017
March 2017
April 2017
May 2017
June 2017
July 2017
August 2017
September 2017
October 2017
November 2017
December 2017
January 2018
February 2018
March 2018
April 2018
May 2018
June 2018
August 2018
September 2018
October 2018
December 2018
February 2019
March 2019
October 2019
December 2019
September 2020
December 2020
January 2021
September 2021
October 2021
December 2021
November 2022
December 2022
March 2023
July 2023
March 2024
April 2024
August 2024
September 2024