No 10 _Melody On Chord

[Peter Anderson]

Here is     No 10    Melody On Chord      in the series.

Melody on Chord helps you to perform with a fuller more professional sound so to read or print out this article click this link;

No10 Melody on Chord

When you have read this posting, for more on Open Harmony, click on this link,

http://www.ar-group.org/smforum/index.php?topic=232.0

 and for more on the use of the Knee Lever click on this link,

http:// www.ar-group.org/smforum/index.php?topic=732.0

Warmly,
Peter

For more information in the manual see page 70

[Peter Anderson]

Glyn and Cathy Madden issue "The Yamaha Club" magazine, which comes out bi-monthly.
With Hugh's permission, Glyn, who is a member of the AR Group, has been scouring the web site and has so far produced 9 articles hi-lighting interesting issues found within our web pages.     Every article has been relevant and very helpful as well as attractively presented.  
(He always adds a comment directing readers to the ar-group web site, with the familiar picture of Hugh at his organ.)

In the current issue of the magazine, in an article about the M.O.C., Glyn points out the following, which has been overlooked in Starting from Scratch, but is very important, and therefore extremely useful.

As you know, sometimes the use of M.O.C. can produce quite muddy sounds - so maybe it is best to use sounds pitched toward the top end of the Octave range.     This much is pointed out in the article above.

Here is the added gem, from Glyn.   The AR's have the advantage of the monophonic lead voice, which is not affected by the use of the M.O.C. so you can "top-off" your sound with a deeper single note melody voice to compensate for the higher voices which are added to by the extra M.O.C. sounds.


To demonstrate this, Glyn Madden suggests this sweet string setting in the current edition of his Yamaha Cub magazine.

Thank you for this Glyn.

It makes full use of the AR’s “Popular String” voice, mixed with a little Sustain.

Choose Popular Strings via the String button in the Upper Keyboard Voice 1 section.
In the Condition Page, set the Pitch to 4’, the Volume to Maximum, and now in Upper Sustain set the level to about ¾ maximum.

In the Lead section, call up Popular Strings, and in that Condition Page set the Pitch to 8’ this time and the volume to 18, but reduce the Touch Tone to minimum as before.

Set the Lower Keyboard and Pedals to your taste, select M.O.C. 2, and now enjoy trying it out.

Glyn adds this comment.  Altering the vibrato levels can have quite an uplifting effect on ensemble voices and you can have quite a lot of fun experimenting with different user vibrato settings for each string part.   Try adding “Classical” or “Bowed” strings to the Upper Keyboard Voice 2 and running these through the M.O.C. too.

Peter

[Peter Anderson]

Here is another example devised by Glyn Madden and taken from the current edition of the Yamaha Club magazine, with his very kind permission,

Thank you for this, Glyn,

which uses the M.O.C. to produce a chunky big band style sax ensemble, and all you need to do is play a single note on the Upper Keyboard, together with chords on the Lower Keyboard of course.

Select “Alto Sax” from UpperKeyboard Voice 1, via the Saxaphone section.
From the Condition Page set the Pitch to 8’, the Volume to maximum and the “Touch Tone “ to minimum.

Select “Tenor Sax” from Upper Keyboard Voice 2 and in the condition Page, set the three paramaters mentioned above to exactly the same settings as for UpperKeyboard Voice 1.

Now call up Tenor Sax in the Lead section but this time in the Condition Page, set the Pitch to 16’, the  Volume to 18, and the “Touch Tone” to minimum.

Set the Lower Keyboard and Pedals to your taste, and set the M.O.C. to 1.

Now try it.

Peter

[Peter Anderson]

Here is another real peach to try, from Glyn Madden in the current Yamaha Club magazine. 

Thank you for this, Glyn.

The chord notes generated when Mode 3 of M.O.C. is used produce a very wide, or open, harmony sound.    Those who remember the style of theatre organ playing made famous by American theatre organists such as Jesse Crawford will have an idea of what to expect.    Because the harmony is so wide it is best to use sounds in the higher pitch register – and therefore, 4’ pitches are advised.

Select only the “Upper Organ” button in the Ensemble section, and then choose “Theatre” in the Organ Variation section.  Now set the 4’ drawbar to maximum, in the Upper FLUTE/TIBIA section, and adjust the Lower Keyboard and Pedals to your taste, and set the M.O.C. to 3.

As you play a single note melody the M.O.C. provides you with a lovely open-harmony theatre organ sound.   
Glyn also suggests, trying to roll your fingers across the notes as you move from one to the next.   A tune like “I’m getting sentimental over you” would work well.

Peter

[Peter Anderson]

For those who want to use the M.O.C. feature, to give a "fuller" sound to their playing, but realise the sounds can get muddy in many Preset registrations unless they are adjusted to a higher octave, may like to know that M.O.C.1 works quite well with all the Theatre USA sounds, (though a couple do get close to offending) and the 8 of 16, all to the left hand side of Theatre Soft are equally good.  (i.e. up to and including Woody Reeds and Novelty Tune)
Many of these, though not all, also respond well, without further adaptation in M.O.C.2 & 3.
Peter

[Peter Anderson]

The Classic Organ on board Registrations really are superb on the AR and give a very wide range of sound from soft and mellow to loud, rich and bold.   Somewhat suprisingly every one of them responds well to the addition of the M.O.C.1 without any need to adjust to a higher octave.   If you play below middle C they can begin to sound "muddied" .
Try them and surprise yourself with the richness and fullness of sound that you can produce, by playing just a single note on the upper keyboard, with a chord on the lower keyboard, of course.  This chord can also be generated by playing just one  (or 2 or 3) notes by selecting Single Finger in the Auto Bass Chord section.    Your neighbours might even think they are situated next to the Albert Hall.
Most of them also tolerate the M.O.C.2 & M.O.C.3 without further alteration.
Peter

[Peter Anderson]

To see how Glyn Madden and I  presented this in the Yamaha Club Magazine, click this link to open it in a new window.

http://www.ar-group.org/smforum/index.php?topic=2063.0

which deals with the Melody On Chord

Peter

[Peter Anderson]

Here are some summary observations about the Melody On Chord.

Melody on Chord

The 3 different options are:
Mode 1
This adds two chord notes below each melody note you play - so if you play C (melody) with a C major chord, the organ will transfer the ‘missing’ E and G notes to the upper keyboard.
The melody note (i.e. the note you are actually playing) always sits at the top of the group.

Mode 2
This one differs from mode 1, in that it adds three chord notes below the melody note, to give a full block chord.

Mode 3
And this one provides an open harmony version with the additional three notes. The same three notes are spread more widely across the keyboard, which produces the ‘open harmony’ effect beloved of theatre organ stylists.

Additional important notes:    
Beware of playing your melody too far down the keyboard though as the depth of the lower note in the harmony can make the overall sound very stodgy if you’re not careful.

Remember  M.O.C. does not work on voices from the LEAD section because these voices are ‘monophonic’ (i.e. they only play one note at a time).

You may occasionally feel that using Melody-on-Chord throughout a piece becomes a bit monotonous - in which case the knee lever can be used to control whether the feature is active or not.

But don't forget that even if the KNEE option is switched on in the screen, the Melody-on-Chord will remain active if the actual lever is folded up under the keyboard.           It’s surprising how many AR users overlook this feature but it can be used to give refined control over several different features.



You may like to read what Glyn Madden said about it in the Yamaha Club Magazine back in August 2003, and if so, please click this link to open it in a new window:

http://www.ar-group.org/smforum/index.php?topic=3192.msg11485#msg11485

or what he and I put together much later, in the same magazine,    Click this link to open it in a new window:

Yamaha Club Part 21 August/September 2012

Peter

[Brian Lisher]

Hello Peter,

Thank you for the information on this topic, must confess I have never really got on with MOC. Found it too muddled for my taste and if pre-sets  included them I cancelled before playing.

However:

I followed your instructions regarding each of the different registrations and, I'm happily playing  a number of pieces using the various arrangements, indeed I have gone so far as to setting up variations and saving them for future use.


I won't say that I will use them for every tune or that I find every pre-set to my taste but thanks to you I am now using and enjoying a facility on the AR which I had not, hitherto bothered with.


Keep up the good work,


Kind regards,

Brian Lisher

[Peter Anderson]

Thank you for your feedback Brian.

I am thrilled that you found something useful.    As that is what this group is all about, we shall certainly keep up the good work.

If anything else intrigues you, let us know and we will try to post items that are very relevant to our members.

Thanks again,
Peter