Tag: registration

Registration is the technique of choosing and combining the stops of a pipe organ in order to produce a particular sound. Registration can also refer to a particular combination of stops. The registration chosen for a particular piece will be determined by a number of factors, including the composer’s indications (if any are given), the time and place in which the piece was composed, the organ the piece is played upon, and the acoustic in which the organ resides.
The pitch produced by a pipe is a function of its length. An organ stop may be tuned to sound (or “speak at”) the pitch normally associated with the key that is pressed (the “unison pitch”), or it may speak at a fixed interval above or below this pitch (an “octave pitch”). The pitch of a rank of pipes is denoted by a number on the stop knob. A stop that speaks at unison pitch (the “native pitch” for that note; the pitch you would hear if you pressed that same key on a piano) is known as an 8′ (pronounced “eight foot”) stop….