In case you didn't know: I am a pretty big Bach fan. This is the first
piece of music in a new Bach book I got at the Fukuoka shopping mall -
only 1,000 yen and its printed on legit music paper.
This was recorded on my new (to me) Yamaha Motif keyboard, and I just
can't get over how mind-blowing the sounds are that are built in. For a
long time I've always wanted to play the organ, and by that I mean play
keyboard that can make organ sounds - not learn to use your feet and
monkey around with all the stops and play three manuals all at once.
Although maybe eventually I could get one of those digital dual-manual
organs... Anyway, I like this sound because it reminds me of a small
organ that was in the jury room of Rock Hall when I went to Temple to
study music. Here's a picture of what it looked like.
It turns out this is called a Baroque Continuo Organ and the housing and all the pipes are made of wood - you can buy one online for $43,900. The convenient thing about organ is that all the notes create the exact same level of volume - like the harpsichord and virginal and clavier, so you don' t have to pay attention to the dynamic markings like 'forte' and 'piano' - although those markings aren't original anyway and have been added in by the editor. But it is a student book and you gotta learn to do that if you're playing piano so thats why they're there. Thats why organs have stops and multiple sets of keyboards because each one would make different sounds or different volume levels. The way to convey dynamics without a second manual is with a volume pedal - which I actually have, so uh I guess I should have paid attention to those markings afterall... It wasn't until the 'fortepiano' was invented that people could play all kinds of different degrees of volume and intensity depending on how hard you smashed the keys. This caused other instruments to quickly go out of style because rich parents now wanted their kids to learn to play the fortepiano at home instead of harpsichord and guitar.
I'm getting back into keyboard because I'm pretty sure if you want to have a smooth workflow for songwriting you have to be at least a little bit proficient.
Ishida