Mixtures

SOLO MIXTURES, unlike chorus mixtures, are intended primarily to supply mutations which add color in a solo voice. The most common pitches they contain are 2 2/3' and 1 3/5'. Solo mixture ranks are often scaled as flutes. They do not normally break back, as do chorus mixtures.

The CORNET (pronounced “cor-NAY”) is a special combination of ONE RANK EACH of five particular pitches: 8', 4', 2 2/3', 2', and 1 3/5'. These are the first five pitches of the harmonic series. If a two-rank solo mixture is present, it may bear the name “Cornet,” but it will include only the two mutations (2 2/3' and 1 3/5') of the full five-rank cornet. The other three pitches (8', 4', and 2') must be added separately by pulling stops. The set of five ranks that make up the cornet may be scaled as either flutes or principals.

The set of five pitches that make up the cornet is a particularly useful resource for solo combinations.

Solo mixtures are used mainly in solo and accompaniment- and trio/duo-type registration, in which a solo part is played from a single manual, and a second part is played on another manual. They are also used sometimes in chorus-type registration.

Solo mixtures add color to the solo stop combination. Click to hear a solo line played first on an 8' flute, and again with a two-rank solo mixture added.