Organ

We have an old Hammond, and thankfully, it's broken!

In my last church, we had a small 2 manual Allen - great sound for a small church!

 

We have an old vacuum tube organ with a whirling speaker. It's as old as the hills but it comes to life because the fellow that plays it doesn't tow the traditional line. It actually enhances the music in my opinion. Organs aren't bad. As for operators now that's a different story.

 

I think my church has a small organ the same size of the piano, but I haven't heard it played. I don't care much for an organ, because they're often too loud or shrill. My ears can't tolerate high pitched sounds, which is why I've liked very few women (and some male) singers I've heard. The women singers I like are ones with alto voices, which are much lower than soprano voices. I heard one woman who I told others sang like an angel. I have no idea of angels sing or not, but if they do then she sang like one--the most beautiful female voice I ever heard.

Back to the organ; I suppose they have their purpose, but I prefer a piano or guitar and find them easier to sing to than an organ.

 

We don't have an organ. When we built we made the decision never to have an organ. Doesn't fit our context.

If we need an organ one of our nice kurzweil keyboard can reproduce the sound.

As an aside, I have thought about what it must have been like to be part of the organ making industry over the past 25 years. A consistent sense of terror? I dunno...

 

None of the churches I attend have an organ.

 

I have been in two churches that have gone from traditional music to contemporary music. In both churches, a part of the transition process was to stop having organ music. In one church, the pastor would not allow an organ back in the church for a wedding after the transition to contemporary music. His reason was that they had too much trouble getting rid of the organ to open that can of worms again.

Personally, I really miss organ music in the wordhip service.

 

A while back, I decided to visit Third Baptist in St. Louis when the roads were icy and I couldn't make it to my church. They had an interesting organ:

http://www.third-baptist.org/worshipping/music/

The Sanctuary Organ

• Built by Kilgen
• Modified in the 1950s by Moeller (new console, more pipes)
• Console rebuilt in the late 1990s
• Peterson Orgaplex switching system/master coupler and MIDI resource system and master stop processor MSP-1000.
• Four manuals
• Antiphonal
• 3,603 pipes
• 59 ranks
• 119 drawknobs

Third Baptist Church has signed a contract with Bogue Organs of Downers Grove, Illinois for the rebuilding and enlargement of this organ. Originally begun in 1930 by the Kilgen company of St. Louis, the organ was completed with 60 ranks in 1949 by the M.P. Moller company of Hagerstown, Maryland. The current organ will be supplied with new winding, windchests, and a new 4-manual console. 8 new ranks will be added to the organ, and 1 rank and a set of chimes previously removed will be restored. The renovation is scheduled to be completed in early 2009. The project is being underwritten with assistance from the Third Baptist Foundation. information about the organ and it's progress will be available at http://www.third-baptist-organ.org.

 

We use the organ in some services, and not others...

Where we use it, it adds a great deal.

Where it's not used, it's not missed, because the service's style doesn't fit it.

It'll be around, and used, for a long while...

 

Same at our church. It's used a lot during the traditional service, not too much during the blended/more contemporary service. Depends on the style of music. Some grand hymns sound great with an organ --- "A Mighty Fortress," "Come Christians Join to Sing" to name a couple of them.

 

And on "Oh Lord, It's Hard to Be Humble," and "If Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie," not so much.

 

We have a Moller organ with three keyboards and 41 ranks of pipes. The architect of our auditorium and the organ builder worked together so that the acousitcs of the room would enhance the sound of the organ. We use the organ for all of our services. I sing in the choir, so I get to hear it up close and personal. There is nothing like the sound of a well-played organ.

My grandmother was a pianist primarily, but she had a small portable organ that she played to accompany congregational singing when my grandfather was leading the hymns. The organ was the size of a large suitcase, and it folded up so it could be carried like a suitcase. You pumped two pedals to give it air. When my parents moved to Nashville, my dad gave the organ to the music library at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth.

Tim Reynolds

 

There's a great NPR show called With Heart and Voice that features mostly hymnic organ music with chorales. Really good stuff.

I hear it on my way to church on Sundays...it is played (um) very early on Sundays. A good show for the organ fans.