Carrying the organ - the thing on the portative, part 2
Piotr Dziewiecki · Notes Muzyczny · 2020
The present article is the continuation of the text published in issue 12 of “Notes Muzyczny” from December 2019. This paper is devoted to discussing technical issues connected with designing and constructing Opus 1 Portative built by the author; it also touches on practical performance aspects of portative music. The instrument fully designed and constructed by the author is a one-octave portative with stoppedwoodenpipesanditssoundrangeisc1-c2withanoptiontoretunecs1intobandb 1 into cs2 or d2. The default tuning pitch is a=440Hz but it can be altered within 415-465Hz; the temperament may also be freely changed. One wedge bellow placed at the back of the instrument is used for bellow treading. A leather belt worn over the shoulder and the low weight of the construction allow for playing the instrument not only while sitting but also in a standing position. As compared to similar instruments, this portative has more extended case which fully covers the ends of pipes. Opus 1 Portative was built thanks to a few years of research studies and technical work of the author covering the construction of organ components and independent attempts to miniaturise them for the purpose of construction of this specific instrument. Thanks to that, in order to build Opus 1 the author used a few original solutions – e.g. the way of gluing top corners of the bellow, the way of regulating the airflow through the foot of the pipe or the technique of attaching the handle to the stopper of a stopped pipe, with the limited space above its body. The majority of experimental solutions brought satisfactory results and for the remaining ones Piotr Dziewiecki managed to find ways to overcome the difficulties which arose. The author uses the instrument in his own performance practice both for solo music and for playing in ensembles. The portative is very useful for both fields, ensuring wide dynamics and articulation-related capacities. They are connected with an option to very precisely control the pressure of air powering the pipes and with their way of blowing. Its characteristic sound, warm and full of depth, brings associations with human voice. Thanks to that, vocal-and- instrumental music performed on it, with the portative player rendering the singer’s part, sounds good.