Pipe Organs and Composition:

A simple treatise on registering the most complex in

strument built in history
by

Joshua Nichols
josh.d.nichols@gmail.com

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Starting Guidelines
It is important to know how a pipe organ is built and organized. Tough know
ing the specifcs is very useful, a general knowledge of how pipes are built is es
sential.
Tere are two types of pipes:

Flue: Tis type of pipe is either open or closed in construction, and it res
onates freely through the pipe when pressurized air fows through it. In
99.9% of all organs built with faade pipes (or pipes that you can see in
plain sight) are fues.

Reed: Tese pipes resonate the same as a fue, but utilize resonating reeds
(like an oboe or clarinet) that 'color' the sound of the pipe by vibrating
against the pipe or another reed or piece of metal. Generally speaking,
these look like inverted cones (think trumpets).

In addition, pipes are arranged by rank and are grouped into divisions:

A rank is a single collection of a color and length of pipe.

A division is a collection of ranks controlled by a particular keyboard.

Couplers are stops which can manipulate which manuals control which
divisions.

Ranks are usually organized by length frst, then color.

Organs are usually judged in size by how many ranks of pipes are found
in the organ.
E.g. - 'X' organ is 56 ranks, and has three manuals.

Beyond these two bits of information, it is also important to understand what

the numbers or roman numerals mean on an organ (as well as colors):

Any arabic-style numeral displayed on a tab or draw-knob indicates the

length of the lowest speaking pipe in that particular rank. E.g. '8' is dis
played, which means the lowest speaking pipe is 8 feet long.

Any roman-style numeral indicates how many ranks of pipes speak

when engaging that particular stop. E.g. 'V' is displayed, which means fve
diferent ranks of pipes are speaking at once.

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 Tese stops are generally regarded as mixtures or mutations.

Tese stops never play by themselves in traditional organ literature;
they are used in addition to foundation stops, or single ranks of
lower pitch (such as '8,' '4,' and '2') for the purpose of adding color and
expanding the sympathetic tonal spectrum.
Finally, there is a physical component to how the organ is organized:

Te keyboards that are played with hands are called manuals or manual
divisions;
Tey are organized in the following order:
Te Great or 'I': comprises the loudest and most projected sounds
coming from the organ. It houses the great-est sounds. Tink f
and f dynamic levels (with modern variations). With exception to
a couple of American organ builders, the division of pipes that
corresponds with this manual is not enclosed (or under ex-pres
sion).
Te Swell or 'II': comprises stops that can be sof or loud, but are
under expression; this means that the pipes are enclosed in a large
'box' which can be opened or closed with shuters to change the
dynamic and (primarily) color of the stops. Tese stops can swell
with emotion. Tink f to pp dynamics.
Te Choir or 'III': comprises usually the sofest and sometimes
more interesting stops of the organ, containing solo stops and/or
mutations suitable for creating solo efects. It also is not necessar
ily under expression (if it is not under expression, it is sometimes
called the Positiv or Positif). Te church choir is most easily ac
companied by this division of pipes. Tink pppp to mp/mf dy
namics.
Te Orchestral/Anything-Else-Unique or 'IV+': comprised usually
of uniquely voiced stops that do not ft into traditional stop cat
egories, or perhaps beter resemble the sounds of an orchestra or
percussion instruments. Tey can also be under expression. E.g.
First Baptist Church in Jackson, MS, has a beautiful Cello stop at 8'
and 4' in the Orchestral division that pairs beautifully with the fute
chorus on the Choir. Teater organs tend to have specialized divi
sions of orchestral stops such as Timpani, Snare Drum, Xylo
phone, etc. Tink pppp to ff dynamics.
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Te keyboard played with the feet is called the Pedal division. It is not
enclosed, and it also contains the lowest speaking pipes of the organ. It
also usually doesn't have unusual sounds.

Modern organs are organized in this order; if there is only one manual, that
manual is the Great; if there are only two manuals, then those manuals are the
Great and the Swell (and so on and so forth). Tere are older instruments (espe
cially those built in Bach's time) that were organized very diferently, and thus
were referred to diferently. Unless you are composing for a specifc instrument
of this nature, it will not be important to know the diferent names.1

Final Considerations
It can still be overwhelming to register a work for organ, no mater how simpli
fed the methodology might be, but keeping in mind the general layout of the
organ will help with this kind of grief.
Here are some good rules of thumb or general guidelines:
1. Avoid referring to the specifc names of stops in your registration unless
you are commissioned or asked to write for a specifc instrument. Refer
ring to the color, length, and general name of a sound is more useful for
an organist (they will not generally listen to very specifc requests of
stops anyway unless they are playing on the specifc instrument for
which the composition is set).
2. If afer this guide you aren't sure what type of of registration fts what
you want, describe what mood or atmosphere you want to project
through the composition in postscript notes, or in comments. Commu
nicating your desires and wishes with a fellow organist is also good (gen
erally we are compliant if you ask nicely).
Now, on to the guide!

Te Simple Treatise
Remember how there are only two types of pipes? Well, there are major difer
ences even within each type of pipe. It is important to understand these difer
ences so that embarrassing and nave mistakes are not made. Tis comprises the
majority of concerns with registrations.
1

Note: An organ does not need a pedal division to be an organ.

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Within Flues, here are the diferent colors (in all cases, these stops are classifed
from loudest to sofest):

Principal [32], 16,2 8, 4, 2, [1], and Mix. (usually IV or V rank): Tese

are the loudest speaking fue pipes, and they ofen overpower all other
fues. Generally speaking, these pipes are not combined with any other
fues in registration.3

Mixtures II, III, IV, V, VI, [VII], and graduated (e.g. IVV):
Te sounds that are emited from mixtures are generally shrill and
shiny in color. A mixture must sound at least two diferent ranks of
pipes. Tey usually never sound the fundamental pitch played, but
upper harmonics above it (such as thirds, ffhs, and so on).

Flutes warm to hard; [32], [16], 8, 4, [2], [1], and Mix. (usually II or III
rank): depending on the type of material used to construct this pipe, it
could sound as warm and as sweet as an orchestral fute or possibly as
harsh and present as a principal stop.

In the case of Reeds, there are far more diferences of tonal quality and loudness
than in the Flue category. Here are the diferent colors:

2
3

Trumpet [16], 8, 4, [2]: Tese are perhaps the loudest pipes known on
the organ, and cover a general family of sounds. Tese sounds closely re
semble the sound of a trumpet, trombone, or tuba.

Solo Reed 8, 4: Tese are usually sofer reeds under expression used for
'solo voice and accompaniment' type works. Tey can be as loud as
Trumpets, but generally are sofer and take on less harsh tonal character
istics.

Strings [16], 8, 4: Tese ofen resemble the sounds that a string orches
tra makes. Tey take on the most 'luscious' colors of the organ and be
came quite pervasive in the Romantic era style of organ building.

Miscellaneous Stops [16], 8, 4: Tese stops vary from organ to organ,

and have varying ranges of loudness, harshness, and other colors. Tey
can be quite useful to form a specifc sound in mind. Generally, though,

'[]' indicate non-standard lengths of pipes. Tese types of pipes are found in larger organ
installations.
Te greatest exception would be the French Symphonic/Romantic organ building style,
whereby the futes were ofen closer in sound to principals, so there was an implicit practice
of using the futes with the principals.
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avoiding registering for this type of stop is suggested. E.g. Te 'Tuba' stop
at 8' on the organ at First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS, is great for
leading congregational singing in new or unfamiliar hymns, but this stop is
not common in other churches.
Tis introduction qualifes all rules of registration from here on out. Tere is a
tonal precedent with the pipe organ, so understanding the dynamic interest of a
composition and its character/atmosphere is key.

Figuring it all out with dignity

Short of writing 'something churchy' or 'not loud' as a registration, it is useful to
know how to put together a registration that you understand. Tis allows more
efective communication when/if an organist contacts you for clarifcation, or to
ask for permission (!) to amend/change what you have suggested. Not only is it
important to understand what you have writen, but also that what you have
writen is sensible and dignifed.4 Below you will fnd (much like tonal harmony)
rules that help you to understand what you write in relationship to registration,
and to communicate efectively with your future collaborators.

Rule 1
Less is more.
Why?
Te beautiful thing about modern technology and digital organs is that you can
simply play around with it underneath a pair of headphones and fnd sounds
that you like. Tis has led to many problems, however, because real organs and
larger installations of digital organs are unanimously much louder than their
small counterparts in practice rooms or home organs, even with sofer stops.
Contrary to haircuts, it is always easier to add stops in a registration as an or
ganist than it is to take liberty to take away registrations. Tis is because listing
complex stop combinations (other than the fact that it might break one of these
rules) adds ambiguity. Take these examples:

Organists will take your compositions more seriously, and you will gain respect more
naturally.
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1. I: Flutes 8, 4; Ped. Flutes 16, 8

Okay, I know what this person wants-sof, with a body-but my or

gan's futes need a litle more body, so I'll register with a Principal 8 in
addition.

2. I: Flutes 8, 4, Principal 8, 4, Strings 8; Ped. Flutes 16, 8, 4, Principal 16,

Ped/I

I'm not sure what type of sound they want... it seems the futes confict
with the character of the principals, what sound did they have in
mind? What are the strings doing for the color of the sound?

Rule 2
Mutations (and mixtures) must mutate (or mix) something.
Why?
Something that hasn't been explained in detail before is the nature of mutations
and mixtures. Tese stops are only designed to expand a foundational tonality,
because they utilize harmonics containing multiple ranks of pipes sounding at
consecutive octaves and ffhs (and in some cases, thirds). Tey require founda
tional stops (particularly 8', 4', and sometimes 2') because they use higher har
monics which, without the foundation stops, obscure the tonality. If you were to
just use a mixture rank without any foundational stops, you would not hear the
actual pitch dictated in the score when you played that note, because you would
be hearing ffhs and thirds above the writen pitch, but not the writen pitch it
self.

Rule 3
Loud stops always overpower soft(er) stops.
Why?
Te rule of thumb is precisely this; don't even try to register strings with prin
cipals. Principals are the louder stops, and thus it should be expected that one
will never hear the strings if the principals are present. Same thing goes for
futes and principals; just don't do it.

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Below is a table of some of the most common stops:

pp

Wood futes Metal futes

Vox Humana Strings

mp/mf

Super5-Flutes Mixtures
Solo Flutes
Super-Prin
Principals
cipals
Sof Reeds

ff
Loud Reeds

fff
Super-Reeds
Solo Reeds
Trumpets

One exception is the tuti (or all) type registration. In this, generally reeds are
combined with principal chorus. Tis registration is a hair-blower and is gen
erally meant to signal large and grandiose passages of organ music (so, basically,
the opposite of delicate).

Rule 4
The speed of the music must take the inverse in registration.
Why?
Busy music takes time to speak with pipes. If you have fast moving music, avoid
using reeds (of any kind), especially louder ones. Reeds have an extra interface
(the vibrating reed) which means it takes a litle more time to speak. Couple this
with fast moving music, and the registration will take on a muddy sound, a
sound which no professional organist can compensate in terms of articulation to
make clearer. Have slower moving music? How about grandiose passages?
Tose are great for mixtures, lots of high-pitched principals, and reeds. Use dis
cretion.6

Final Thoughts
Tese rules should go a long way to bringing light to what seems like a daunting
or mysterious task. However, if anything remains unclear even afer seeking
counsel, then the best thing to do would be to study the real thing; fnding (or
buying) recordings and sheet music of the Greats makes understanding registra
tion a lot easier.
Of course, if something remains unclear, or if you need personal clarifcation,
the best way to reach me is by email. Happy registering!
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6

Super is a term used on some French organs that refers to stops which are foundational at
foot levels higher than 8'.
Of course, if you are having trouble, try it out on a real pipe organ, pass it on to another
organist, or ask an organ professor.
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