A Personal Favorite of Mine

One of my favorite pieces for organ is Charles-Marie Widor's Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5. It's an amazing piece that requires lots of skill and practice to perfect, but when you do, to me it's one of the most powerful, inspiring compositions I have ever heard. It is also one of the most famous pieces written for organ. I'm learning to play it, but I can only get through the first couple of lines without stopping, since it moves so fast and is so very complex.

Here's a recording I found on YouTube of this piece being played, and you'll see what I mean:



So, you can tell it's a pretty complex work. And awesome. It really lets you show off the power of an organ.

Recently, I stumbled upon another piece based on, and in fact accompanied by Widor's toccata, as performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It's called "Sing!" and it's a little different from what the Choir usually sings, but it's absolutely staggering. It's a choral and orchestral rendition of Widor's Toccata. Of course, the Toccata was written as part of a symphony and therefore may have originally been performed with an orchestra, they added some of the orchestration, as well as the choral singing to the piece. The video includes some great shots of organist Richard Elliott going to town on the LDS Conference Center's Schoenstein & Co. Organ. He is performing the Toccata verbatim as far as I can tell. Definitely a great Sunday afternoon watch!

Here's the video:

I hope you guys enjoyed this! Happy Sunday!

Provo 9th & 19th Ward Building

I discovered this chapel through the following blog about LDS architecture, which I find fascinating. I also heard mention of it afterwards from a friend, then eventually another friend of mine moved into one of the wards that meets in the chapel. As it turns out, someone I work with at BYU is the bishop of one of the wards that meets in this building.

Here's a link to the architecture site. This guy takes way better pictures than I do!

Provo 9th & 19th Ward - LDS Architecture

Here's my addition, I pretty much just took selfies of this organ, so here's one of them:

Not the best photo, but there I am. This was taken May 20, 2014. The console is off to the right of the photo, but you can get a better view of its location at the architecture site linked above. The swell box is located behind the grilles you can see just behind the center of the pipe facade. There are also several pipes in the right side wing (again, not in this photo). It's really neat how close you can get to the little pipes on this organ's facade. Usually you can just get close to the larger 8' and 16' ranks, but these are fairly close to eye level.

I don't know who built this organ, as I had only played 2 chapel organs prior to this one, but it feels like it could be a Wicks, possibly a Reuter. It's small, it has very few ranks, and the Tutti (or Sforzando, as Wicks likes to call it. It means full organ, all the stops out) wasn't overwhelming. It was a sweet, soft sound, and I remember the keys and especially the pedals having a very soft touch, which leads me again, to believe that this is a Wicks. The wind chest for the facade and console controls also remind me of other Wicks organs I have played.

Enough about the brand. This organ felt small, but what was there I liked. It was hard to play my interpretation of Diane Bish's "God of our Fathers," since I had to use the reeds to support the principal chorus, and since the stops were unified, when I tried to play the fanfare on top of the chorus, I didn't get any sound. I did enjoy this, a lot, though. The organ is well-maintained, and in a great acoustic space. The wood paneling continues along the entire ceiling and into the cultural hall, so there's some good reverberation. It's a good organ for the building.

I'd like to go back soon, to get a more experienced organist's perspective on this organ. That may or may not be coming soon, but I'm planning on posting some cool organ videos I have found within the next few days. I hope you guys like them!

Organ Specifications:
Built By: Unknown, probably Wicks Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: Building built 1959
Manuals: 2
Ranks: Less than 10
Location: 667 N 600 E Provo, UT

Provo 9th & 19th Wards - Stoplist

Dry Creek Stake Center - Springville, UT

This is a very special organ. I was just there tonight playing it, and I had a great (and swell) time!

The story behind this organ and the windows below is that they were in an older LDS chapel in Springville which burned down. They had been in storage for a while, until they decided to install them in this chapel.

Here's a link to a Daily Herald article with more information about the church:

New Dry Creek Stake Center - The Daily Herald

This was also my first time playing an organ with actual chimes, I've only played digital ones to this point. These are pretty cool, you can even adjust the volume on them! They only play on the great, not on the swell or the pedal, even when you have the great coupled to the pedal.

There's even a handy switch to turn them on and off quickly while you're playing. It's just to the side of the great manual:

This is the only place it was indicated who was involved in the building and installation of this organ, and it only shows for a second when you turn the organ on. I know John R. Mitchell did the restoration and installation/voicing, but I have no idea who built the original organ. I do know that John R. Mitchell works closely with the Wicks organ company, of whom the Church is (or was) a regular customer.

Here's a view from farther back. You can see that the facade is pretty small, which makes sense, since this organ doesn't seem to have very many ranks.

...And the selfie. Sadly, this organ had a few stops that were out of tune, or had a couple of broken or plugged pipes. What sound there is is soft and beautiful, but there are a few maintenance issues, clearly. Some of the pipes sounded sporadically, or had to have the key pressed for a few seconds before sounding, and one of the facade pipes appeared to have a tongue that wasn't actually a tongue, but a very small pipe from a different rank. 

Here's the console, plain but functional. There are separate switches for the wind and the lights, which is nice. Sadly, the bench is not height adjustable.

I like their choice of stops, and I like their choice of an oboe rather than a trompette rank for the only reed on the organ. It's more useful for church services, and is voiced in such a way that you can use it as a trumpet when you want it, and as a beautiful, soft solo reed when you need it for prelude. Which is important for worship, and a blessing to have with an organ not endowed with many ranks. Below are the Great stops.

The oboe is also playable on all 3 divisions. Below are the Swell stops.

And here are the pedal stops. The mixture is only available on the pedal and the great, there's no mixture on the swell.

Overall, this was a fun experience. I enjoyed this organ a lot, but it didn't really blow me away. If it had been better-maintained, I would have enjoyed it more. I love the chimes, and I really like the oboe stop. You don't see those on chapel pipe organs very often. I think this is one of the more versatile, usable small church organs, and I think that given a good once-over, It could be one of the best. Sadly, though, it's fallen just enough into disrepair to be noticeable, and that keeps this very good organ from being great.

Organ Specifications:
Built By: Unknown, Installed by John R. Mitchell Pipe Organs of Salt Lake City, UT
Year: 2010 (Current Installation)
Manuals: 2
Ranks: Unknown
Location: 1100 W 900 S Springville, UT

Dry Creek Stake - Stoplist

A Very Special Organ - Provo Central Stake

This organ is so special, and I wasn't quite skilled enough to appreciate it the day I had the chance to play it. They keep it locked down most of the time, since there isn't a cover over the keys, and it's so valuable.

Here's a link to a bit of story behind this organ:
Death of the Organist

The Readers' Digest version is that the late Doug Bush, a former professor of organ at BYU and member of the Provo Central Stake Presidency pushed to have this tracker-action organ made by M. L. Bigelow & Company of American Fork, Utah ordered as the replacement to the stake's aging electronic organ in the 1980's.

A tracker action organ is basically an organ that is entirely mechanical. This is the type of organ played by Bach and Mozart, and was used before it was possible to have an electropneumatic action. Basically, all the pipes are connected to the keys by wires, and by thin pieces of wood called trackers. It's interesting, since when you activate more stops, the keys get harder to press. Also, when you couple 2 of the manuals together, or couple one or more of them to the pedals, keys go down that you aren't playing, as shown in the following video:
Toccata & Fugue in D Minor BWV 565

Most organs are electropneumatic or simply electronic, which are both similar in that when the keys are pressed, it's like pushing a button that activates a magnet or motor somewhere else in the room, which in turn opens the valve that makes the pipe(s) play. When you play a tracker organ, your muscles are literally opening the valves. A tracker is VERY uncommon in an LDS Church, there are less than ten that I know of in the entire United States.

Anyway, I was lucky to get to play this one. I was attending a recital of Bach's works, hosted by the Utah Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. It was an excellent evening, and I made some acquaintances in the local organist scene that I am genuinely grateful for. The music was excellent, played on an instrument fitting to the period in which it was written.

And I got to play the Bigelow Tracker!

Here's a view before the recital from about halfway back in the chapel. Notice how everything is basically self-contained, since the keys are mechanically connected to every single pipe in the organ. This organ has 2 manuals, 18 ranks of pipes, and 13 independent voices. Voices are tone colors, or different sounds, such as an oboe, flute, or trumpet. Stoplist is available here: Bigelow Opus 16

I took this next one after the recital, when I could get a little closer to the pipes. Notice the star at the top. This is called a Zimbelstern (German for "cymbal star"), which has bells on it, and rotates when a certain pedal is pressed, causing the bells to ring and adding a nice twinkling sound. Of course, it was my luck that I didn't know about it, or how to activate it when I went to play it that day. Apparently, this organ also has a Vogelgesang (German for Birdsong), which plays a whistle into a small container of water, causing a chirping effect like those bird whistles little kids always win at the arcade, and don't put down for the following week, after which it mysteriously "disappears," because the parents were sick of hearing it. But I digress. The Vogelgesang is much nicer than that, but I didn't know how to use it at the time either. The Zimbelstern and Vogelgesang are classified as "toy stops."

And I couldn't forget the selfie...

Here you see the console, which is directly below the pipework. The squares in the upper corners are covered mirrors, so the organist can see the choir director to follow him or her in leading the choir or congregation in song. Stops are activated by pushing the levers beside the keyboard to the left or right. Bigelows are unique in that  most stops can be activated on 2 manuals, or one manual and the pedal, not just in one place. Notice also that the pedalboard is flat and straight, not concaved and radiating, as is the standard here in the USA. In the center near the pedalboard you can see the large black expression pedal, with the manual-manual and manual-pedal couplers to the right. The smaller black button-like pedals on either side are what activate the Zimbelstern and Vogelgesang, as I later figured out. 

Overall, it was a very memorable experience, but now that I am a slightly more experienced organist, I would like to re-visit this organ if I get the chance, to hear and play it again. This one's a lot of fun!

Sadly, as I mentioned, they keep things pretty tightly locked there. The chapel is locked unless there's an event there, and you can't get in unless you know someone who has a key. If I get to play this one again, I'll be sure and report on it, since it's such a special instrument, and I'll have a new, more knowledgeable perspective on the instrument.

Organ Specifications:
Built By: M. L. Bigelow & Company of American Fork, UT
Opus Number (if indicated): 16
Year: 1987
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 18
Location: LDS Provo Central Stake Center, 1220 W. 500 N. Provo, UT

Provo Central Stake Center - Stoplist

My First Pipe Organ Ever!

These photos were taken on March 7, 2014. That day was the first day I ever played a pipe organ! I remember finding an open time slot in BYU's Madsen Recital Hall that night, for just an hour or so, so I had the hall to myself for about 40 minutes. Up until that day, I had only had the opportunity to learn and practice on digital/electronic organs. And boy, what a difference does it make! On a digital organ, sometimes you have to use half the stops to get a decent sound out of it to play some hymns on, but on a pipe organ, a single stop is often sufficient, so the pipe organ can just blow you away if you're not used to it!

Anyway, more about this organ. It was built in 1969 by E. F. Walcker & Sons of Germany, and rebuilt and tonally remodeled in 1989 by Kenneth Jones & Company of Ireland. It has 3 manuals (keyboards) and, of course, the pedalboard, which consists of 32 keys played by the feet. It only has one division in expression, so it only has one expression pedal and no crescendo pedal. Yet this organ has some great sounds!

I have been back to this organ several times since March 7th, and I have discovered some things I really love about it. It has a lovely oboe stop, written in French, "Hautbois," as well as some great string sounds, and lovely flutes. The Gemshorn is also a favorite of mine. (Don't worry about these names, I'll explain these in another post soon.) It also has some cool mixtures, one of which has a very bright and sharp tone. It is the Cymbal 3-pipe mixture in the Positive division.

Anyway, here are some pictures of that night. As you can tell by my smile when I'm near the console, it was a great night!

Here you can see the facade. This is what we call an open-pipe facade, since the majority of the pipes are simply standing on their wind chests without any wood surrounding them. (Sorry about the facial expression, I didn't have much selfie-taking experience at the time.)

This isn't an organ, but it's a $50,000+ Shigeru Kawai piano that was on the stage for a recital later that night. These are much more carefully crafted than your average Kawai piano. The soundboards are made from a specific type of wood and aged for an extended amount of time before becoming a piano. The action is partially made from carbon fiber, so nothing expands or contracts when the piano is moved between climates of varying humidity. After I played this piano, it made the $20,000 Yamaha grand piano sitting nearby feel extremely cheap, and that's something I never thought I'd hear myself say!

So that was my first venture into the world of pipe organs. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!

Organ Specifications:
Built By: E. F. Walcker & Sons, rebuilt & tonally remodeled by Kenneth Jones & Associates
Opus Number (if indicated): 5258 (Walcker)
Year: 1969, Remodeled 1989
Manuals: 3
Ranks: 51
Location: Madsen Recital Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602

Madsen Recital Hall - Stoplist

Welcome to Pedals & Pipework!

Hey guys! I just wanted to welcome you to my blog, Pedals and Pipework, and introduce myself.
My name is Nick. I am a young, single adult college student, and my passion lies in playing music, especially organ music. Since pipe organs are often difficult to locate, I have started to search for pipe organs in churches, concert halls, events centers, and the like near my home, and I always take pictures when I go to play a pipe organ--and almost always a selfie--of me with the beautiful new instrument I have discovered. I decided to document my excursions here so that all who wish to find a pipe organ in my area can do so. From time to time, I will also post other organ or music-related things that I enjoy and find uplifting, to share my love of music with all who wish to hear.

Part of why I love the organ so much is because it is such an ideal instrument for worship. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which plays a very big part in my daily life. The organ is a way for me to express how I feel about my Heavenly Father, and His son Jesus Christ, and to feel the presence of the Holy Ghost. The organ can express almost perfectly both the reverence I feel for God, and also the infinite grandeur He possesses. In addition, the organ is a powerful and versatile musical instrument, which is becoming less and less well-known as time goes on. There are so many things you can do with the organ that people just don't realize, and so much good classical and modern classical music written for it that isn't very well-known.

I hope you enjoy my posts and photos. I will start posting pictures from the organs I have already played on a regular basis, and when I play a new organ, I will post the pictures immediately. Please be kind and polite in the comments, and if you have feedback or any comments or questions for me, please feel free to use the contact form to the right under "Contact the Author" and I will respond to you in a timely manner.

Thanks guys!