If you're new to (or considering) playing the organ, all those pedals down there might be intimidating; however, even those of us who have been playing for many years can sometimes have days when we can't play the pedals.
This might be due to a recent foot/leg injury, or maybe one of the hymns this week has a bass line that is just moving too fast for your feet to keep up (hey, that happened to me just last Sunday).
In any case, most Allen organs have a solution for this situation - the Bass Coupler.
What it does
When this coupler is engaged, the lowest note played on the Great manual will play the voices from the Pedal stops that are engaged, instead of the Great manual stops (although it only will do this for notes played below the middle of the keyboard).
This means that you will get the sound as if the pedals are being played but the notes are actually being played by your left hand.
Where to find it
If your organ has this you will find it in your stops tabs / draw knobs. On some organs it will be within the Great manual stops, on others it may be in the general or couplers area, but it's always called Bass Coupler.
When to use it
I've already eluded to the uses, but here's a quick list of potential uses:
- Foot/leg/knee injury
- Don't know how to play the pedals
(great for pianists filling in on organ, or new organists) - Song is too difficult
- Feet get cold (esp. if you play without organ shoes*)
How to use it
First, you must be playing on the Great manual. The coupler only works with the Great manual on most Allen organs.
Second, you must engage the coupler. As soon as it is turned on, the bass coupling will be active.
Third, you will need to ensure that your playing is 'clean', meaning that you must be pressing all notes down at the same time. When playing hymns, if you happen to play the tenor part of the chord slightly before you play the bass part, then the tenor will be coupled instead of the bass. Depending on the model, the organ might hold the tenor note doubled even after you play the bass note (older organs), on others you would hear the tenor played on the pedals and then the bass note on the pedals. Newer models seem to work better at this, but you still should make sure that you are either playing everything together on each chord or at least playing the bass note before the tenor.
What if it's not there?
Unfortunately, this is not something that can be added to your organ if you don't already have it. It must be part of the factory build of the organ.
If you feel that you really need this functionality you can upgrade to a newer model as almost all newer models include this feature.
Some Practical Tips
Don't play the tenor part
If you are having trouble making sure that the bass coupler couples the bass note, and not the tenor, just play the bass line alone in your left hand. If you are using a decently full registration on standard hymns, the tenor will probably not be missed (other than by the tenors in the choir/congregation). And having the bass line clearly played is usually more important to the singing of hymns than the tenor part (and definitely better than having the bass voices play the tenor and then the bass note on each chord - or struggling with wrong notes played on the pedals).
If you have time, you could also just write-in the tenor notes up into the right hand parts and play them with the right hand. That way the tenor pitches are still there, just not at the same octave.
Add it to a piston
Sometime you may realize mid-hymn that you really need to use this coupler just for this song. If your organ has settable pistons (those little round white buttons under the keyboard with numbers), you can add them to your saved piston setting.
If your settable piston is already set with voices, just press that piston number button, then engage the Bass Coupler stop, then hold the SET button and press the piston number button and release it, then release the SET button.
On some organs this coupler is only able to be added to General pistons. On others you can also add it to the divisional Great or Pedal pistons.
If you don't know what General or Divisional pistons are, check your organ user manual to see if you have them. However, if you only have 5-10 total pistons on your organ those are all general. If you have more than one piston with the number 1 on them, then you have Divisional pistons.
If you have divisional pistons, AND you have toe studs (silver 'posts' on either side of the expression/volume pedals), you may be able to just add this coupler (along with your pedal voices/stops) to one of the toe stud pistons. That way if you are playing along and realize you can't keep up with the pedals, you could somewhat easily tap that toe stud and switch to just playing manuals (with your hands).
Also, if your organ has multiple memories for your pistons, you could set all your pistons on one memory level, then create exact copies of all those piston settings PLUS the Bass Coupler on the next memory level. Just be aware that you would need to manually duplicate the settings from one memory to the other (press the piston on memory one to engage the stops, switch to memory 2, add the bass coupler, press SET and the same piston number, then repeat for all your piston settings).
NOTE: Even if you have pistons, they may or may not be settable. If you have a SET piston button, then you should be able to do this. If you're not sure, check your organ user manual or drop us an email at help@61keyservice.com.
ALSO: There are several models of Allen organs that are not 'user settable' but have the ability for a service technician to update the piston settings. IF your organ is that type of model (per the organ manual) AND you also have the Bass Coupler stop, we can schedule a service call to update your pistons to include that.
Mark it with a post-it
If you don't have pistons, or not enough, or you will only occasionally want to add the Bass Coupler, you could just get one of the small 'tag' size post-it note and add it to the stop, so that it's easy to see when playing. Then, if/when needed, you can just manually reach over and add that stop.
Wrap-up
This one little stop can make a huge difference in both your playing and your confidence in playing if used when needed. Don't be afraid to throw the Bass Coupler on when needed. It's better to rely on that technology than to struggle through a hymn and distract the congregation from their worship.
If you have a Bass Coupler on your organ and it's not working correctly, or you don't have one and would really like this, please email to help@61KeyService.com and we can suggest the best path for you to get this type of functionality.
* Although playing 'barefoot' is a common way to play organ for many church organist, we strongly encourage you to consider purchasing and wearing shoes specifically designed to play organ pedals. These shoes can not only make playing the pedals more effective, it will keep your feet warm when you have to practice in the church during the week in the middle of winter when the heat is turned down low. If you're interested, watch for other blog posts about organ shoes, or contact us at help@61keyservice.com.