Pedalboard fingering for pipe organ

Hello,

How to use specific symbols of pedaling?
The fingering options only allow numbers.

Did anyone find how to do?

The symbols are in the Playing Techniques, Keyboard section.

Thanks a lot I didn’t guess it was in this section, I believed it was related to fingering.
You saved a lot of my time. :smiley:

Fingering is normally related to the hands, and playing the pedals on the organ normally related to the…

:slight_smile:

Indeed, although I don’t fault the OP for guessing the way they did. To my mind it is a “fingering for the feet” so to speak. No different than a harp pedaling, recorder finger diagram, or traditional fingering number to my mind.

As an aside, there are some old editions that use ‘O’ instead of ‘U’ for the heel. This would be nice addition. I saw it a long time ago (don’t remember where) and adopted the practice myself since sloppily written U’s turn into V’s and then you have v vs ^ which can be harder to distinguish in the heat of the moment. At any rate, low priority to be sure lol.

You could quibble that it’s not a playing technique, since pressing a pedal with different parts of your anatomy makes no difference to the sound produced.

It certainly takes technique, though :wink:

You notice though the artist does not use any printed music .

+1 for O as heel. That’s certainly how I learned it and use it.

I’m glad I’m not the only one. I did alter the playing techniques for one score, but it definitely took some fiddling to get it right. It really does make a difference having the O’s though…

I don’t know if you are an organist, but one of the joys of playing an unfamiliar organ is suddenly realizing you need to figure out how to visually look at the assorted foot-operated controls apart from the pedals, to find where one of your feet needs to be, without disrupting what you are playing.

I once saw (and heard!) a 15-year-old boy who is now an internationally famous organist literally slide off the bench and finish up in a heap on top of the pedal board, attempting that feat.

I still recall stories of a world-class organist who was rather short using his toe to tap a pull knob stop closed at approximately his elbow height, quite a feat (feet?) of flexibility in his fifties or sixties.

(I can’t help wondering how he’d have managed on an organ with tab stops.)

Some organ consoles have draw-stops at “foot level,” which would make the story more plausible.

See here for example (and the complete performance of this old warhorse by the kid is worth listening to, IMO) J.S. Bach -Toccata & Fugue in D-minor BWV 565 - Stephanuskerk Hasselt - YouTube

I love the big grin on his face at 8:20 when the stop-changer gets the timing spot on. That’s six runs out of the middle of the bat straight over the bowler’s head, for cricket lovers … :slight_smile:

Actually the organ was at Washington Cathedral in DC, so this would not have been a foot-level stop by any means.

Did I mention that I love this forum?
:laughing:

B.

Derrek, was the organist Cameron Carpenter by any chance? (Look him up if you never heard of him.)

Cameron Carpenter is quite something, but this was the then organist at the Cathedral who gave concerts around the country and abroad.

Incidentally, I enjoyed the video: one (talented) organist but multiple stop pullers. I suppose the tracker action (no combination pistons) and difficult to reach stop knobs probably made the additional assistants helpful.

Here Cam plays the Bach Cello partita in G. It’s really quite elegant until he finishes up with his usual seizure. :unamused: the Liszt is really superb though.