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During the year that the Bone Doctor was living in sunny Florida, he got to play many wonderful Theatre Pipe Organs. Below, you will find some clips from his excursions into TPO heaven. |
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On the 8th of August in 2006, the Bone Doctor visited Ken Allman at Allman Music in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Ken has developed a virtual orchestral organ having four manual and fifty-three ranks. The program runs in Sun Java for Microsoft Windows XP. Below are some songs Doc played while noodling about on the massive machine loaded on a Dell Optiplex computer.
The Bone Doctor's Music Downloads
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These tracks are in WMA format. You will need Windows Media Player for best results. These are the songs we have recorded so far...
The Bone Doctor's Music Downloads
The Bone Doctor's Comments About The Music
Below are some tidbits of information I have collected about some of the songs listed above. As I learn more about the others, I will post it here.
My Walking Stick My Walking Stick was written by Irving Berlin in 1938. It was recorded by many people, the most famous of which is Leon Redbone, one of my favorite artists of all time. The lyrics follow the melody in the Solo, played with the right hand. The Accompaniment, played with the left hand, contains rhythm chords and hinge notes. The Pedal follows the hinge notes to a degree, but often wonders off into its own thing here and there, playing mostly quick 1's and 5's. The Swell Shoes are light in most places, getting heavy on the ends of some bars. Registration was Piston #3 of 5 Generals that Tom Hoehn had set up earlier. This is a moderate combination of Tibias and Strings in the Solo, Tibias and color Reeds in the Great, Horns in the Bombarde, small Diapasons and light Strings in the Accompaniment, and mostly short boys of all kinds in the Pedal. The stops were not changed at all during the tune, instead, four manuals were used to get the different tones in the song. The only exception was the 32' Contra Bombard under a heavy shoe in the Pedal on the very last notes. "Sha-boom-boom-boom!" Watch out for that one!
Below are the lyrics from Leon Redbone's version of My Walking Stick, played in G Minor. Verse
Without my walking stick, I'd go insane. Chorus
If I ever left the house without my walking stick, Bridge
Be-bop-bop-la-da-dum Chorus
If I ever left the house without my walking stick, This cut is my first attempt at recording the song on the J. Tyson Forker Memorial 4/32 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ installed at Grace Baptist Church in Sarasota, Florida. There are no overdubs. The track was recorded live. This is the third of three takes. Although rough around the edges, My Walking Stick gives you a good idea of what a big TPO can do with a simple tune. Later, we plan to do an album entitled Grace, You Are My Flower, featuring this song, complete with barbershop vocals and riverboat banjo accompaniment.
You Are My Flower The second tune, You Are My Flower, was written by A. P. Carter of Carter Family fame and first recorded by The Carter Family, then by bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs from their album 'Tis Sweet To Be Remembered, and later, many others took up the song. This is probably my favorite bluegrass tune of all time, and is the title track from my soon to be released CD entitled Grace, You Are My Flower. When I was playing with the Circle of Friends at the Tuckaleechee Campground in Townsend, Tennessee during the summer of 2004, this was one of the most requested songs in the program. The Flatt and Scruggs version of You Are My Flower was performed in the key of G. Their arrangement was quite different from mine, which has no real counterpart in any of the recordings that came before. Below are the lyrics to You Are My Flower, played in the key of D. Chorus You are my flowerThat's blooming in the mountain so high. You are my flower That's blooming there for me. Verse 1
When summertime is gone Verse 2
So wear a happy smile This is an even rougher track than the preceding song, but we kept it for postarity. We used the same voicing as before, keeping to the General #3 piston and using all four manuals to get the different flavors within the tune. |
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In this mini-show, you'll hear samples from the following nine tunes, combined into a medley:
The Bone Doctor's Comments About The MusicI have thought about it after posting this little collection of songs: these clips would go really well as soundtracks for some good old-fashoned black and white cartoons.
The Bone Doctor's Music Downloads
The Bone Doctor noodles about. |
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The Bone Doctor sits down to play some tunes he has already recorded on other instruments. Here, he is just having fun on this majestic instrument.
The Bone Doctor's Music Downloads
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Dan Rowland spends his winters in Saint Petersburg, just south of Clearwater, Florida. The Bone Doctor has been paying him visits of late to see and play his Mighty MidiTzer, one of the finest such installations in VTPO land. Doc helped Dan straighten out some things in the setup and got to record some material on this neat organ. As the material is processed, we will be posting it below. This is what we have so far:
The Bone Doctor's Music Downloads
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Tom Hoehn, the Bone Doctor and Kimmy took a trip to Orlando Florida on November 12th of 2005 to see the 3/18 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ installed in the auditorium of the Lake Brantley High School. The organ is cared for by the Orlando Area Theatre Organ Society. This chapter is facing an uphill battle with the school to keep the organ in place and functional.
Because of this, the instrument is in need of repairs that include major cleaning and tuning. When the Walnut Hill team arrived on the scene, the console was powered up but there was no sound when it was played. Tom took to the chambers and Doc sat at the console to push keys and flip switches. While Doc was noodling about, the instrument suddenly began to sound, with ciphers everywhere, which Tom remedied by lifting pipes. Doc continued to noodle about as the recorder ran and this is the result, four very rough cuts listed below. There are lots of mistakes. But, the organ sounded good, in spite of its many ills.
Tom played nine songs on the 3/18 Mighty WurliTzer, and you can visit his Featured Artist page to hear them. The Orlando Area Theatre Organ Society is in much need of help to get this grand old WurliTzer up to steam again. Money and workers are needed. If you want to know how you can help, either through a generous donation or lending a hand on the work crew, call the Walnut Hill Office of Operations at 1-727-230-2610 Monday through Friday from 10AM to 6PM EDT. We will be glad to talk with you about saving the Lake Brantley 3/18 Mighty WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ.
The Bone Doctor's Music Downloads
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