This post will be about a couple of organs I played several months ago. The first one is in an LDS chapel in Salt Lake City. I was at this chapel for a mission reunion. I only got to play this instrument for a few minutes after the reunion was over. I was one of the last people to leave. It was a typical small Wicks, with a decent Trompette and a nice Erzahler, sadly without a corresponding celeste.
Here's a photo of that instrument:
It looks quite a bit larger than it actually is. The wings on the two sides contain no pipes, but rather the pipework is all contained within the visible facade and the swell box just behind the center portion of the instrument.
I enjoyed playing this organ, but it wasn't much to write home about. I'm including it here to document it, and to make a point later in the post.
On to the next organ, at the Provo 5th and 8th Wards Chapel. I have friends who attend church in this building, and they alerted me to the presence of this instrument. Unfortunately, at the time I visited, the phone I was using to take the pictures did not respond at all well to the lighting in the building, and the contents of the photos are barely visible. Here's a link to some good photos of the building and chapel taken by another blogger.
What I can tell you is that no pipework is visible. Not everything is enclosed, but it is behind a screen at the front of the room. You can see this in the photos on the other blog.
This instrument had no maker's mark or opus number anywhere on the console, but several characteristics lead me to believe it is a Reuter organ. These are: 1) The design of the console and 2) the specification of the instrument. The Springville 1st and 3rd Wards building has a Reuter that has a console with the same carvings as this one, and the stoplist is very similar (though the facade is much more impressive on the Springville instrument).
The unfortunate thing about both the Salt Lake City organ and the Provo 5th and 8th Wards Organ is that when I went to play them, I wasn't able to get an accurate impression of either instrument because both were severely out of tune at the time I visited. On the Salt Lake instrument, the principal rank is unified, and if you play higher than the C above middle C or attempt to use the 2' principal, it sounded like a giant calliope, except not musical at all. On the Provo instrument, most of the individual stops sounded fine, but they were out of tune in relation to each other, causing a celeste-like sound, except in an exaggerated and unpleasant manner, and with nearly every stop.
The point is, if you or your congregation has or decides to obtain a pipe organ, PLEASE take good care of it! I know that maintenance is expensive, but it is worth the trouble! A well-maintained pipe organ can bless the lives of people for generations, but if you let it dwindle into disrepair, it will become a nuisance, and in many cases, you will lose a treasure of an instrument.
Neither of these organs had anything broken on them, but an organ being out of tune significantly limits its usability. Here are some tips on keeping your organ in tune:
- ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS leave the swell box(es) open when you shut the organ off!!! This causes the organ to maintain constant tuning between divisions that are enclosed(such as the Swell) and divisions that are unenclosed (such as the Great), and allows them to be used together, even if the organ as a whole is no longer tuned to A-440. This is so easy, yet so many people forget it! Many modern organs default to opening the swell shades automatically upon turning off the instrument, but you should open the shades just to be safe.
- Try to maintain a consistent temperature in the room year-round. This is easy in a home, but can be more difficult in a church building. Many LDS buildings have thermostats that shut off automatically after three hours. Since this will not maintain a constant temperature in the building always, try and make sure that the room is the same temperature (or close to it) when the organ will be played. Come in 30-60 minutes early to start the thermostat before the meetings start. You can even use this time to practice! That way as the pipework detunes, it will be tuned back to its proper pitch when at the correct temperature, at least for the duration of the meeting.
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week, and that you keep enjoying all the Bach, Franck and Widor you can!
Here are your organ details:
LDS Wards:
Built By: Wicks Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: 1965
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 7
Location: 3051 S 2900 E Salt Lake City, UT
LDS Provo 5th and 8th Wards:
Built By: Reuter Organ Company?
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: Unknown
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 6-7 (approx.)
Location: 502 E 200 N Provo,
UT
This organ has been in service for more than a century. It was originally installed in the previous Provo 5th Ward meetinghouse a few blocks away. The organ was relocated when the current Provo 5th/8th Ward meetinghouse was built in the 1950s, where it is entirely enclosed within the central chamber, with two offset windchests on either side, over the sacrament preparation room and a choir music library.
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