When this plan is adopted the player is compelled to preserve a mental image of the combinations set on every piston or pedal in the organ and identify them instantly by the numbers shown on the indicator--an impossibility in the case of adjustable combinations often changed--impracticable in any case.
Almost all the greatest organists agree in condemning the system of non-moving stop-knobs, and we trust and believe that it will soon be finally abandoned.
[1] Organists find, after using them a short time, that a row of stop-keys over the manuals is wonderfully easy to control. It is possible to slide the finger along, and with one sweep either bring on or shut off the whole organ.
Pedal boards had always been made flat with straight keys until Willis and the great organist, Dr. S. S. Wesley, devised the radiating and concave board whereby all the pedal keys were brought within equal distance of the player's feet. This was introduced in the organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in 1855, and Willis has refused to supply any other type of board with his organs ever since. Curiously enough, the advantages of this board were not appreciated by many players who preferred the old type of board and at a conference called by the Royal College of Organists in 1890 it was decided to officially recommend a board which was concave, but had parallel keys. The following letter to the author shows that the R. C. O. has experienced a change of heart in this matter:
Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry the Resolutions and Recommendations to which you refer were withdrawn by my Council some years ago. No official recommendation is made by them now. It is stated in our Calendar that the Council wish it understood that the arrangements and measurements of the College organ are not intended to be accepted as authoritative or final suggestions. I am,
Yours faithfully, THOMAS SHINDLER, _Registrar_.
The radiating and concave board has been adopted by the American Guild of Organists and has long been considered the standard for the best organs built in the United States and Canada. It is self-evident that this board is more expensive to construct than the other. That is why we do not find it in low-priced organs.