Monday, February 16, 2009

Macross Frontier "Lion" on electric organ

Whenever I tell someone that I play the electric organ, I normally get one of the following responses:
- A nod and smile, then staring at me as though I just grew a 3rd eye
- Immediately asking: "So you must be very religious"
- Some perverted joke about playing an "organ"... or worse, an electronic one >.>

No, I'm not religious at all. I'm not crazy. The organ is an instrument that seems to be more common in developed asian countries and virtually unheard of in the U.S. for some reason. There are schools where parents to bring their little children to and make them learn how to play the organ, just like the parents here in the U.S. bring their children to learn the piano, violin and other instruments for the sake of a "well-rounded" education.

Anyway, here is a very talented girl playing her re-endition of the Macross Frontier Opening song "Lion" on an electric organ:


At first glance, it might appear as though she were playing some parts of the music with extra music added in. She's actually playing everything in the song with no other recordings or players. Most people aren't quite able to keep up with everything going on with her playing this complex instrument, so I'll break it down and explain things a little:
- 2x main keyboards -- Playing two different instruments. Right hand is mainly for melody, left hand for chords
- Left foot -- 3rd keyboard on the floor. Listen closely and you can hear the bass in the background. Also, it's linked to the background music so she can hold onto each note and it will automatically match the rhythm without her having to constantly lift her foot
- Right foot -- This pedal is for main volume control, but it also has additional switches that you can't see. One is definitely on the left side of the foot, but there might be another on the right. If you listen carefully, you can hear cymbals during the song. She's triggering them with this switch. Also the "twinkling" noise is probably triggered the same way. At the end of the song she increases the volume for the finale.

So, that's all four limbs accounted for... additionally, there is tons of extra programming work that had to be done before she even started playing:
- Drums in the background -- If you look closely on the left side of the organ, you can see some red LEDs counting the beat. The background drums you hear are pre-programmed and when they kick on/off is determined by when she starts playing
- Chosing the instruments -- Each keyboard can have one, or more instruments linked to them. Try to figure out which one she's using to play which instrument!
- Instrument changes -- There are a series of white buttons/LED between the two keyboards. Each one represents a set of instruments that were programmed by her. It used to be that you had to hit the buttons really quick to switch instrument sets, that is, the instruments the keyboards are configured to sound like, but it appears that she programmed the switching to occur in time with the music
- Instrument volumes -- Besides the master volume, each instrument has it's own volume meter as well

This is an incredible example of a really good organ player. I'm nowhere near this good, especially being years out of practice since I can't find anywhere in this country that has one that I can play. These organs range from $2,000 - $15,000. I used to play Yamaha organs, and I'm pretty certain that the one she's playing is on the higher end just judging from the foot pedals. The basic organs only have one octave of left left foot pedals, and only one right pedal. In the past, there were organs with three keyboards, but this was before more advanced electronics made it easier to switch between instruments.

So... what instruments can you play? Can you put up a performance like this? :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That seems so very cool - now we need a youtube video of you playing ;D

As for me, I used to play the clarinet, bass clarinet and the contra bass clarinet. I stopped classes once they started requiring quarterly solos in 11th grade. . . I was in it for fun not for massive work <.<

~Mathieu [varg]

Zurar said...

My parents own an old pump organ. We used to play it now-and-then, but a few years back, one of the cats chewed the strap on the foot pedal (it's a foot pump organ... no cords here you techno freaks!). It still works, but we don't dare use it too much for fear we'll wear out what's left of that strap. Not to mention the wood it's made out of is incredibly dry from our old house that just moving it i'm sure put multiple fractures in the frame of the organ. Anyway, it was my great grandma's, so that's why my mom's holding onto it.

Anonymous said...

I'm a 6 string guitarist. Wolfmoon Warriors is my band, (Pentagram Pendulum 2-disc album due out this winter!!) I can also play some drums. Most of what I do I am not comfortable uploading on the internet. My reasons for this is, I don't take criticism very well and since our fans at the local pub love us, I don't have to put up with it.

Some of my favorite tracks to play by myself are Ozzy's Crazy Train, Smashing Pumpkin's Today, Jon Bon Jovi's Livin' on a prayer, Joan Jett's I hate myself for lovin you, and I can actually do an acoustic version of Slipknot's Dead Memories and Duality.

I do sing pretty good. If you've never heard a chick scream out "ALL ABOARD!!!!" heh. The pub loved that one.

As for drumming, I can do Aerosmith's Walk This Way pretty good without fubaring it up. Which is why when my band switches instraments we play that track.

And don't ask for video uploads, A) I'm too nervous to do that, knowing what I'm playing is to be filmed for youtube, kinda screws me up and I start playing like crap and B) anything with the entire band requires every members okay. We're a group not a solo project.

-Karou

Zurar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zurar said...

Awww... would you do a video for us that WON'T go on youtube? ^^; Or can we at least hear some of your music? You got me interested now!

I'm not crazy about youtubing myself either... my friend has done it a couple times, but I prefer just using it to find weird or interesting videos others made.

Gerry said...

Hello, my name is Kurai and I like-a to play-a the trumpet.