2017 Pipe Organ Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Wurlitzer's S'i'yle 165X: the Ofthe Smaller Theatre Organ
WURLITZER'S S'I'YLE 165X: THE uintessence OFTHE SMALLER THEATRE ORGAN by George Baker Audiences attending theatre organ recitals today often organists were seldom, if ever, mentioned in theatre adver include among their most enthusiastic listeners fans born tising. Under-maintenance of the organs was often the rule, long after the close of the theatre organ's golden age. This rather than the exception. welcome infusion of young blood is a healthy sign, and one Downtown, however, managers of the larger theatres, that augers well for future theatre organ appreciation and well aware that proper organ maintenance as well as key preservation. board talent helped sell tickets, lavished the kind of care on Some younger fans reason that because most of today's their instruments that was seldom extended to the 2/4 and surviving theatre pipe organs are supersize organs located 2/6 Cinderellas in the smaller houses. in large movie palaces that these giants were the dominant When the nation's film theatres were wired for sound, types of organs in use during the halcyon years. many of the big organs survived for another decade by pre A reasonable deduction , but such was not the case. Cen senting organlogues and brief, clear-the-house opening and terpiece theatre organs, such as the New York Paramount closing programs between showings of the feature film. At and Shea's Buffalo Wurlitzers, the Atlanta Fox Moller, and the same time, most of the smaller organs were abandoned the Ohio Theatre Robert-Morton, in Columbus, were the ex immediately after the installation of sound equipment - left ception, not the rule. -
Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Opus 41 Trinity Lutheran Church, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Cover feature The console Winding system showing stop action trundles above Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, a synthesis of these colors into the well- Trinity Lutheran Church’s director of we draw upon an intimate knowledge Champaign, Illinois precedented framework of classic organ- music, Brian Heinlein. We were asked of many styles and schools of voicing, as Opus 41, Trinity Lutheran Church, building, not from a rejection of the to create the quintessential “Lutheran well as aspects of tonal design, for the Sheboygan, Wisconsin lessons the Organ Reform Movement organ” for Trinity parish’s expansive and particular musical contexts at hand. Add taught. An organ for Lutheran worship impressive music program, combining to that sensitivity for one’s individual From the artistic director must be classically conceived, with a the overall effect of our own “house style and you have the making of art. Sometimes great new organs result hierarchical ordering of the divisions style” with the specific items that dif- Ours is one of few modern commercial when materials from older instruments and the choruses within those divisions. ferentiate the two. The result of the full organbuilding firms that dares to believe are recrafted and repurposed. Many (Oh . but that’s also how we go about organ, and the ability to make seamless it can create a unique place in the pro- of the best builders throughout history designing an Anglican organ as well . .) crescendos and diminuendos, is that fession and its history by developing an have reused former instruments to vary- The greatest artists throughout his- of a Buzard organ—one simply gets to individual artistic style. -
The Fabulous 'Beer Can' Organ
Now the organist could practice his BOMBARDENostalgia selections for the morrow and the organ committee members need never know that a lowly beer can was making THE FABULOUS it possible. The incident got Art Stopes to think ing about beer cans and organs. Per 'BEER CAN' ORGAN haps these beer cans had special quali ties which merited further investigation. Story by Stu Green Photo Copying by Bill Lamb He wondered how the plated ferrous metal from which they are stamped Art Stopes has led a colorful life, But if one were to ask Art about the would compare with pipe metal tonally. by any man's standards, and especially adventure which stands out in bold Tone from beer cans? You've gotta be those of organ enthusiasts. His entire relief as the most memorable, he'll an out of your skull, Art Stopes! life, since the age of 15 has been domi swer without hesitation, "my beer can The idea not only persisted but de nated by pipe organs - and he's still organ!" veloped. Soon Art knew that he was going strong. The year was 1942 and Art was in going to build some sort of a wind Art got his "baptism of fire" when stalling an organ in a Philadelphia church. It had to be ready for a dedi blown instrument, and the music would he was apprenticed to the Aeolian come from beer cans! Organ Co., in Garwood, New Jersey, cation concert the next day and time Being a craftsman, Art Stopes first just after his 15th birthday. -
Trinity's Organ
Trinity’s Organ The organ at Trinity was dedicated on October 23, 1994. In many ways it can be thought of as a reflection of our own congregation. There are 2,395 pipes in the organ. Trinity congregation, in 1994 was very close to that number in membership and has since then far surpassed it. The pipes in the organ actually form a “congregation of singers” made up of many different shapes and sizes. Some are short, some are tall. Some sing high, some sing low. Some are loud, some are soft. Each person in our sanctuary can combine his or her voice with others to offer up prayers and songs of praise. Each pipe in the organ “building” works along side of others to produce sounds for accompanying our songs of praise. We each have a mouth to sing God’s praise. Each pipe in the organ also has a mouth. The straight edge at the top of a pipe’s mouth is called the upper lip. The bottom edge is the lower lip. Pipes have “feet”, “bodies”, “ears”, and “tongues.” The pipes “sing” in much the same way as humans. Sound is produced when air causes something to vibrate. The sound then comes out through a mouth for all to hear. The pipes receive their breath for singing from a windchest. The sound produced by the pipes is thus a sound that is vibrant – “alive”! The organ at Trinity is an instrument allowed by God to be built for worship – an instrument whose breath will combine with ours to set in motion pipes for praise. -
Theatre Owner's Manual
TH-202/TH-302 Theatre Models IMPORTANT! Organs which contain GeniSys™ technology no longer include the GeniSys™ Controller Guide within the model specific Owner’s Manual. The correct GeniSys™ Controller Guide must be downloaded and/or printed separately. Please check the CODE version of the software installed within the organ to determine which version of the GeniSys™ Controller Guide is required. The CODE version is briefly displayed within the GeniSys™ Controller’s LCD display when the organ starts up. Copyright © 2016 Allen Organ Company All Rights Reserved AOC P/N 033-00221-1 Revised 10/2016 ALLEN ORGAN COMPANY For more than sixty years--practically the entire history of electronic organs-- Allen Organ Company has built the finest organs that technology would allow. In 1939, Allen built and marketed the world’s first electronic oscillator organ. The tone generators for this instrument used two hundred forty-four vacuum tubes, contained about five thousand components, and weighed nearly three hundred pounds. Even with all this equipment, the specification included relatively few stops. By 1959, Allen had replaced vacuum tubes in oscillator organs with transistors. Thousands of transistorized instruments were built, including some of the largest, most sophisticated oscillator organs ever designed. Only a radical technological breakthrough could improve upon the performance of Allen’s oscillator organs. Such a breakthrough came in conjunction with the United States Space Program in the form of highly advanced digital microcircuits. In 1971, Allen produced and sold the world’s first musical instrument utilizing digitally sampled voices! Your organ is significantly advanced since the first generation Allen digital instrument. -
Church Organ History
Church’s Organ Has Long History The organ in the church sanctuary was built in 1938 by the illustrious Aeolian Skinner Company of Boston, Massachusetts, based upon a design by tonal director G. Donald Harrison. It was moved from its original home at Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, and reinstalled here at First United Methodist Church of Commerce, Texas, in 1970-71 by James Sandling of Dallas. The church edifice itself was completed in February of 1968 at a cost of $450,000. The first service was held in the new building on February 25, 1968. The organ, purchased for a mere $10,000-12,000, required the expenditure of an additional $12,000 to transport it to Commerce and another $10,000 to rebuild the front of the church to accommodate the instrument. So, for about $34,000 the church got an organ then valued at $100,000. To replace the organ today with one of similar size and quality would cost more than $1,000,000. Installation of the organ began in September of 1970. Upon completion of its installation, the organ was officially consecrated in church services and recitals. Mrs. Dorothy Richards, the church’s organist, gave a short recital prior to the sermon on April 18, 1971. Norma Stevlingson, the organ instructor at East Texas State University, located across the highway from the church, performed a solo recital that afternoon, performing music by deGrigny, Bach, Franck and Alain. On the afternoon of April 25, a choral performance, given by the East Texas State University Chamber Singers under the direction of Charles Nelson, was interspersed with renditions of solo organ music by Alain performed by Maurice Thompson, a student of Miss Stevlingson. -
From Basement to Barcheston Paul Hale
something old, something new FROM BASEMENT TO BARCHESTON Paul Hale This is the story of the organ now to be found in the delightful Warwickshire church at Barcheston. It begins in 1973, when Longstaff & Jones (Telford-based organ-builders and maintainers) advertised in the organ press that they would like to build a new, small pipe organ. Geoffrey Holroyde had yearned for some time for a small house organ for regular practice, so Longstaff & Jones were soon engaged to build for him a compact instrument, using direct-electric action. The successful design consisted of four ranks of pipes (and a quiet electronic pedal Bourdon) providing two manuals and pedals, with no couplers thereby avoiding too much extension with its attendant ‘missing notes’. Tickell case design for Barcheston The carefully chosen vintage ranks of pipes were: A Wooden stopped Gedackt 8ft extended to 4ft 68 pipes B Open metal (stopped from TC down) 8ft 56 pipes C Smaller scale open metal 4ft extended to 2ft 68 pipes D Oboe (for the Pedal Organ) 8ft 30 pipes Specification: Lower manual B8ft A8ft C4ft A4ft C2ft Upper manual C8ft (bottom octave from B) A8ft C4ft A4ft Barcheston Church looking East Pedal 16ft D8ft B8ft A8ft B4ft A4ft C2ft 48 • March 2020 something old, something new The opening recital in Geoffrey’s house was given by the youthful Edward Higginbottom, who before Cambridge had played for Geoffrey’s flourishing choir at St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Warwick. In 1979, Geoffrey and his, by then, large family moved to a spacious Victorian four-storey house. -
Seeking Cavaillé-Coll Organs in North America We Are Forging Ahead, Indeed, and with No Little Palatable AGNES ARMSTRONG Success
VOLUME 59, NUMBER 1, WINTER 2015 THE TRACKER JOURNAL OF THE ORGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY ORGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY•JUNE 28-JULY 3 THE PIONEER VALLEY - WESTERN MASS. Join us for the 60th Annual OHS Convention, and our first visit to this cradle of American organbuilding. WILLIAM JACKSON (1868) CASAVANT FRÈRES LTÉE. (1897) C.B. FISK (1977) JOHNSON & SON (1892) JOHNSON & SON (1874) EMMONS HOWARD (1907) Come! Celebrate! Explore! ALSO SHOWCASING THE WORK OF HILBORNE ROOSEVELT, E. & G.G. HOOK, AEOLIAN-SKINNER, AND ANDOVER ORGAN WWW.ORGANSOCIETY.ORG/2015 SKINNER ORGAN CO. (1921) HILBORNE L. ROOSEVELT (1883) 2015 E. POWER BIGGS FELLOWSHIP HONORING A NOTABLE ADVOCATE FOR examining and understanding the pipe or- DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS gan, the E. Power Biggs Fellows will attend is February 28, 2015. Open to women the OHS 60th Convention in the Pioneer and men of all ages. To apply, go to Valley and the Berkshires of Western Mas- HTTP: // BIGGS.ORGANSOCIETY.ORG sachusetts, June 28 – July 3, 2015, with headquarters in Springfield, Mass. Hear and experience a wide variety of pipe or- gans in the company of organ builders, professional musicians and enthusiasts. 2015 COMMITTEE The Fellowship includes a two-year member- SAMUEL BAKER CHAIR TOM GIBBS VICE CHAIR ship in the OHS and covers these convention costs: GREGORY CROWELL CHRISTA RAKICH ♦ Travel ♦ Meals PAUL FRITTS PRISCILLA WEAVER ♦ ♦ Hotel Registration LEN LEVASSEUR LEN ORGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY WWW.ORGANSOCIETY.ORG PHOTOS J.W. STEERE & SON (1902) A DAVID MOORE INC World-Class Tracker Organs Built in Vermont Photos Courtesy of J. O. Love A Gem Rises We are pleased to announce that our Opus 37 is nearing completion at St Paul Catholic Parish, Pensacola, Florida. -
Question: Is It Ok to Play a Pipe Organ During COVID? There's Debate in Our Church Whether, Since This Is a Wind Instrument, It Will Blow Covid Particles Around
American Guild of Organists Committee on Career Development and Support - COVID-19 and Organists: Q & A https://www.agohq.org/covid-19-and-organists-q-a/ Question: Is it ok to play a pipe organ during COVID? There's debate in our church whether, since this is a wind instrument, it will blow Covid particles around. Research shows that minute Covid droplets attach themselves to dust particles and disperse in the air for 2-4 hours. The organ is in an enclosed chamber 10ft above the floor of the balcony, and 25 feet above the congregation in a very large building. The blower is located in a tower well above the balcony. Thanks. Responses: 1) from Jeffrey Dexter, President of the American Institute of Organbuilders... I would tend to agree ... that the organ would not be any more of an agent of virus spread than say, for example, a building HVAC system – likely even less. Although I cannot offer any factual evidence that would corroborate that claim, common sense seems to indicate such. My greater concern would be for any assembly/choral singing within a space (as tempting as it is to burst forth into song upon hearing an organ play). I am copying a number of my AIO colleagues – a cross section of persons – if only to provide further reinforcement to that which I have suggested – or perhaps, to take a wholly different opinion. This is the first such question about the pipe organ being a potential 'distribution agent' for the COVID-19 virus. We've been fielding questions about the sanitization of manual keyboards – especially in parishes where multiple organists use the same instrument. -
A PROFILE of CHARLES M. RUGGLES, BUILDER of HAND-CRAFTED MECHANICAL ACTION ORGANS by Mark A. Herris Submitted to the Faculty Of
A PROFILE OF CHARLES M. RUGGLES, BUILDER OF HAND-CRAFTED MECHANICAL ACTION ORGANS by Mark A. Herris Submitted to the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Music Indiana University May 2016 Accepted by the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Music Doctoral Committee ______________________________________ Janette Fishell, Research Director ______________________________________ Christopher Young, Chair ______________________________________ Eric J. Isaacson ______________________________________ Elisabeth Wright April 6, 2016 ii Copyright © 2016 Mark A. Herris iii Dedicated to Christy, Ryan, and Sam iv Acknowledgements I am thankful for all of the support I have received in completing this project. It has been an honor to work extensively with Charles M. Ruggles over the past several months, and this project would not have been possible without his substantial support and time. I would like to thank my research director, Professor Janette Fishell, for her feedback and direction as this project came to fruition. I cannot thank her enough for challenging me to do my best. I am also indebted to Professors Christopher Young, Eric J. Isaacson, and Elizabeth Wright for graciously agreeing to serve on the committee for this paper. I am grateful for my organ teachers who have helped me get to this point, including Christopher Young, Craig Cramer, Gail Walton, and Jack Vogelgesang. I would like to acknowledge David Kazimir and Bob Finley for their assistance in developing my understanding of organ building. Special thanks goes to Leslie Weaver for her expeditious editing of my paper. -
GREAT ORGAN Technical Details Feet Pipes 1 Double Diapason
GREAT ORGAN Technical Details Feet Pipes 1 Double Diapason & Bourdon 16 56 2 Large Open Diapason 8 56 3 Small Open Diapason 8 56 4 Stopped Diapason 8 56 5 Harmonic Flute 4 56 6 Principal 4 56 7 Twelfth 2 2/3 56 8 Fifteenth 2 56 9 Mixture, 4 ranks 224 10 Posaune 8 56 SWELL ORGAN 11 Bourdon 16 56 12 Open Diapason 8 56 13 Stopped Diapason 8 56 14 Salicional 8 56 15 Suabe Flute 4 56 16 Principal 4 56 17 Twelfth 2 2/3 56 18 Fifteenth 2 56 19 Mixture, 2 ranks 112 20 Cornopean 8 56 21 Oboe 8 56 22 Clarion 4 56 CHOIR ORGAN 23 Open Diapason 8 56 24 Stopped Diapason 8 56 25 Cone Gamba 8 56 26 Dulciana 8 56 27 Wald Flute 4 56 28 Principal 4 56 29 Flautina 2 56 30 Clarionet 8 56 PEDAL ORGAN 31 Sub-Bourdon 32 30 32 Open Diapason wood 16 30 33 Open Diapason, metal 16 30 34 Bourdon 16 30 35 Violone 8 30 36 Fifteenth 4 30 37 Trombone 16 30 COUPLERS Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal Swell to Great Swell to Choir Total number of pipes 2,114 COMPOSITION PEDALS 3 to Great Organ 2 to Swell Organ The Harrison & Harrison Organ The next organ was completed for Dedication by the Vicar, then Canon Gillson, M.A., at Evensong on 24th March, 1924. The gift of Dame Monica Wills, in memory of her husband, this organ had been designed in consultation with the organist, Mr. -
Organ Registration: the Organist’S Palette—An Orchestra at Your Fingertips by Dr
Organ Registration: The Organist’s Palette—An Orchestra at Your Fingertips By Dr. Bradley Hunter Welch I. Basic Review of Organ Tone (see www.organstops.org for reference) A. Two types of tone—flue & reed 1. Flue a. Principals (“Principal, Diapason, Montre, Octave, Super Octave, Fifteenth”) & Mixtures b. Flutes (any name containing “flute” or “flöte” or “flauto” as well as “Bourdon, Gedeckt, Nachthorn, Quintaton”) c. Strings (“Viole de Gambe, Viole Celeste, Voix Celeste, Violone, Gamba”) 2. Reed (“Trompette, Hautbois [Oboe], Clarion, Fagotto [Basson], Bombarde, Posaune [Trombone], English Horn, Krummhorn, Clarinet”, etc.) a. Conical reeds i. “Chorus” reeds—Trompette, Bombarde, Clarion, Hautbois ii. Orchestral, “imitative” reeds—English Horn, French Horn b. Cylindrical reeds (very prominent even-numbered overtones) i. Baroque, “color” reeds— Cromorne, Dulzian, some ex. of Schalmei (can also be conical) ii. Orchestral, “imitative” reeds—Clarinet (or Cor di Bassetto or Basset Horn) Listen to pipes in the bottom range and try to hear harmonic development. Begin by hearing the prominent 2nd overtone of the Cromorne 8' (overtone at 2 2/3' pitch); then hear 4th overtone (at 1 3/5'). B. Pitch name on stop indicates “speaking” length of the pipe played by low C on that rank II. Scaling A. Differences in scale among families of organ tone 1. Flutes are broadest scale (similar to “oo” or “oh” vowel) 2. Principals are in the middle—narrower than flutes (similar to “ah” vowel) 3. Strings are narrowest scale (similar to “ee” vowel) B. Differences in scale according to era of organ construction 1. In general, organs built in early 20th century (1920s-1940s): principals and flutes are broad in scale (darker, fuller sound), and strings tend to be very thin, keen.