Two Pipe Organs in One Day! - Provo Married Student Stake Center, Sharon East Stake Center

This was a great day. Memorial Day, 2014. It was the first time I ever played two pipe organs on the same day! Sadly, it was the last time I was able to fully play an organ, since the next morning, I broke my toe, making it impossible to put on my organ shoes. The boot they gave me at the hospital was also far too wide to be able to play the pedals with my right foot. For an organist, you can imagine, that this was dreadful. Thankfully, I work in an office and didn't have to walk around much anyway while I was healing.

But I digress.

The first place I went on May 26 was the Provo Married Student Stake Center on 900 East in Provo. This building has two chapels in it, and a large gymnasium in the middle. The South chapel has a Rodgers digital organ, and the North chapel has a Wicks pipe organ!

Here's a picture of the somewhat boring facade:

The pipes are located behind the grilles on either side of the central projection screen.

This was an interesting experience, as it was my first time experiencing a couple of stops: It was my first experience with a 32' stop on a pipe organ (I had played digital 32' stops previously) and a 10 2/3' "Quint" stop. I had never seen a bass mutation before, and honestly, I can't see a lot of applications for it in LDS music, but I imagine the occasional classical piece takes advantage of it.

Here's the placard, with a USB port below it. Being built in 1962, this is probably the oldest pipe organ I have played. As I understand it, the USB port was added during a recent renovation of the organ, and is there to allow organists to store their "profiles," essentially collections of memory levels, on a flash drive so they can keep their combinations from being modified by other organists. I wish more organs had this!

This organ was fun, but I really enjoyed the second one of the day, at the Sharon East Stake Center. I had known for a while that the aforementioned stake center is where my YSA ward goes to play volleyball on Monday nights, and I had recently discovered photos and details of this organ on the Organ Historical Society's Website, so I snagged a ride with someone to "volleyball," and quietly walked to the chapel to play the organ. I finished about the same time they did, so the timing was perfect

Here's a link to the Organ Historical Society's entry on the Sharon East Stake's Organ: 

OHS Sharon East Stake Center

Photos in the entry can be clicked on to make them larger. My photos are below.

Here's the facade, taken from just behind the pulpit. I really like the small, exposed-pipe design at the top. Notice that the swell box is in the center. This makes it a lot of fun to use the expression pedal, since the shutters are so close by and easy to see (and hear) in motion.

Here's something interesting, a 1' stop! This is the first time I ever played one, and this one is a flute, the Siffloete. It's a neat addition to the principal chorus, but it's very shrill, and I honestly prefer a mixture in most cases. You can see the stop tabs for the Swell division including the 1' here:

And how could I leave out the selfie? (One of my better ones, too!) This was my favorite organ in Provo for quite a while. I have been back to play it a couple of times, but I now have a couple of new favorites. This one will always be special to me though, since I later found out I have friends who attend church here.

As I mentioned, less than twelve hours after I took the above photos, I broke my little toe on my right foot in my apartment, and I couldn't properly play the organ for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, everything healed well and quickly, and I was soon back to being my organ-loving self! My next post will be about the organ I played the first time I managed to get my organ shoes back on after my little accident. Have a good one, guys!

Organ Specifications (Provo Married Student Stake Center):
Built By: Wicks Pipe Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: 1962
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 6
Location: 1600 N 900 E Provo, UT

Provo Married Student North Chapel - Stoplist

Organ Specifications (Sharon East Stake Center):
Built By: Wicks Pipe Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: 1977
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 11
Location: 2400 N 1060 E Provo, UT

Sharon East Stake Center - Stoplist