Tabernacle Day Trip

Hey everyone!

This week I had the chance to take a day trip to Ogden and Logan to play the organs in the LDS tabernacles in those cities. Bear with me, this post is going to be long!

I also tried to play the organs at Utah State University's Kent Concert Hall, and at the University of Utah's Libby Gardner Concert Hall, but was unable to do so. USU's concert hall is under renovation, and most of the organ has been removed to prevent damage, even though the organ was just restored in 2012! The University of Utah's concert hall was not under renovation, it was just locked.

I'll start where I started my day: at the Ogden Tabernacle. This is my new favorite organ, at least my favorite that I have had significant time with. I was let in by the Facilities Maintenance and Security team when I turned the knob on their office door at the rear of the tabernacle. Nobody was scheduled to practice on the day I was there, so I was given plenty of time alone in the tabernacle. It is a beautiful building, and it's very unique. It was just renovated this past year along with the Ogden Temple, and that includes the organ.

The organ was originally installed in the tabernacle by Balcom & Vaughan Organ Builders in 1956, shortly after the Tabernacle was completed. Recently, it was renovated and added to by H. Ronald Poll & Associates Organ Builders of Salt Lake City, UT. Michael Poll, President of Poll & Associates, confirmed in April 2015 that tonal work was still being finished on the organ, and a dedication concert was planned featuring Rulon Christiansen, an Ogden area organist. When I arrived, the memory unit was set to the organist "Rulon C," so I take it that the dedication concert had already taken place. (Note: I later found out the organ was finished, but the concert was scheduled for Sept. 20, 2015. I attended, and it was wonderful). The man who let me in told me that Clay Christiansen, one of the Temple Square Organists, had been there the day before to play the instrument. And from what I could tell, everything was finished and sounded wonderful. (Clay also performed at the dedication, along with other musicians from the local interfaith council.)

Here are some pictures of the facade. This is one of my favorites, if not my favorite organ facade. I think it looks fantastic! It's elegant and interesting without being too flashy or distracting from the worship that takes place in the building. The casework near the top of the facade and just below the tubas mimics patterns found in the stone on the outside of the building, which resemble Mayan writing. Very cool!

The console is very large and has many stops. There is no rolltop on it, and it's hard to see anything over the top of it. The accidentals (black notes) on the keyboards are made of wood. The organ feels very well put together and is a pleasure to play. The chamber in which most of the pipes sit is directly behind the facade, and is very open into the room. This provides some nice effects with the quieter stops, as some really sound distant, with the sound floating out from behind the facade, whereas others are closer and speak more directly into the space. It allows for great contrast of sound for doing call-and-response type pieces, both on the soft and the louder stops. My favorite soft stops are the Dulciana with Celeste in the Choir division. They're just stringy enough, and very warm, and they make a great soft prelude registration. I'd probably add a flute with them, or use them as an accompaniment for the Harmonic Flute on the Great.

Surprisingly, this organ has a Zimbelstern, operated via a drawknob in the Great division. It also has real chimes (not digital ones, as far as I know) and an 8' Harp and 4' Celesta which sound acoustic as well. This is a very fun organ to play. (note: all percussion stops are digital except the chimes).

Here's my selfie, taken near the console:

Notice what's above my head: The horizontal trumpets! These are not a traditional Trompette en Chamade, but rather a Tuba en Chamade, which gives a fuller, warmer trumpet sound, rather than the harsh, piercing tone of a French Trompette. It is a beautiful solo voice, available on Great, Choir, and Pedal at the 8' and 4' pitches. It can be soloed out over a full principal chorus with mixture, even if I have the Swell principal chorus coupled in with the Great and a trumpet in the pedal, and it sounds great on its own as well, with a decent reverberation time in the room as well. I used the Horizontal Tuba to play the fanfare from Wagner's Also Sprach Zarathustra (also known as the theme music to 2001: A Space Odyssey) and it sounded absolutely AMAZING. 

Here are a couple more unique things: The Vox Humana on the Swell doesn't have its own tremulant, so you can hear what the Vox Humana actually sounds like without the "rwah-rwah-rwah" that usually comes with it. To use it with a tremulant, you must draw the Swell Tremulant, at which point it sounds like a regular Vox Humana. Click here for my favorite joke about the Vox Humana.

As you can see below, this organ has the elusive and myserious Pedal on Great Coupler. I tried it, and it does indeed play the pedal ranks on the Great, though they end at the G above middle C. I guess it's an alternative version of a bass coupler? (note: also used for playing duets, when one organist is already using the pedals)

There is so much to love about this organ. It's in perfect condition, it has a wide variety of tone colors, and everything I put my hands on felt very well-built and solid. I can't see someone ever needing more organ than this to play a piece, unless it's written for more than 3 manuals or you need an Antiphonal division. I am grateful to have the chance to get to know this instrument, it is quite a beauty, and I hope I get the chance to play it again!

Now on to the last organ I played: The Logan Tabernacle. The church authorities in charge of this building have a strict policy that nobody plays the organ unless they're practicing for or playing in a conference or concert. Fortunately for me, the man in charge of the organ itself was there, and since he saw that I have my own organ shoes and am clearly a serious organist--not some kid who just wants to derp around and bang on the keys to make noise--he allowed me to play for five minutes or so. I didn't get really good pictures since I wasn't alone, but I did get to hear the organ for quite a while, since I came during someone's scheduled practice time. The sister who was practicing asked my advice about stops that had been set, and requested some tips to improve her playing. I gladly obliged, since service is why I play the organ. I then talked to the members in charge of tours about the history of the tabernacle for a good while, while listening to this fine sister play.

Sadly, because I didn't have a lot of time to experience this organ on my own, I don't have a very comprehensive impression of the instrument. I do know that it is a hybrid organ, and I got a good feel for the power it has, since I registered my own piece. What I did notice is that the instrument is extremely well-maintained, extremely loved, and extremely beautiful. I would love to have the chance to return some day and give a concert.

A few notes: most of the facade pipes are fake. Only a few on the left side are speaking pipes. The console is also wonderful to play at since the top is so low. You can see the choir director perfectly and without intrusion. This would be a wonderful place to accompany a choir. The instrument also has a beautiful Dulciana with Celeste, similar to that on the Ogden Tabernacle's organ. The two are quite similar in their tonal design.

I don't have a lot of information about this organ, but what I have is below. More is available through the Organ Historical Society's database and through other websites.

Here's the obligatory selfie:

Here are your organ specifications. Since these are outside Utah Valley, I am not providing stoplists. These (as well as more photos) can be found in the Organ Historical Society's Database.

LDS Ogden Tabernacle:

Built By: Balcom & Vaughan, H. Ronald Poll & Associates

Opus Number (if indicated): 34 (Poll)

Year: 1956 (B&V), 2015 (Poll)

Manuals: 3

Ranks: 51 + Digital (32' extensions and percussion stops)

Location: 350 South 22nd St. Ogden, UT

LDS Logan Tabernacle:

Built By: Henry Pilcher's Sons, LDS Church Organ Maintenance Department, H. Ronald Poll & Associates

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1908 (Pilcher), 1953 (LDS Church), 1987 and 2009 (Poll)

Manuals: 3

Ranks: 66 (44 Pipe, 22 Digital)

Location: 50 North Main St. Logan, UT

Pipe Organs of the Rich and Famous: LDS Edition

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I posted. I took an intense class for Spring term, and I just finished my application to the Information Systems Program at BYU. I've been pretty busy studying, but I've also been busy composing (recordings to come soon!) and discovering new pieces.

I've played a few different organs over the past few months, and I'm grouping them into a couple of different posts. This one will outline a couple of organs I really, really enjoyed playing. A later post will outline a couple more I enjoyed, but that could have used a good tuning.

I call this post "Pipe Organs of the Rich and Famous: LDS Edition" because the two organs I will discuss were influenced in their design and building by two of the most famous LDS organists to live in the past few decades.

The first of these is a tracker action pipe organ built by Kenneth Jones in BYU's Harris Fine Arts Center. This organ is not in a large performance space, but rather in a professor's office. The office in question used to belong to the late Douglas Bush, a world famous LDS organist and arranger who also had a hand in the construction of the Provo Central Stake's Organ. The current occupant of this office is Brian Mathias, a BYU organ professor.

Here is a photo of the entire organ:

As you can see, the console is attached at one end (right edge of the picture) and the facade speaks out into a small space. You can see the corner of the ornate rug and the back of a harpsichord near the left of the photo. Basically, I want an office like this. 

The fantastic thing about this organ is that it's not in a big huge space, and it wasn't designed for one. While enjoying this organ, I pulled the Trumpet on the well and it was a trumpet sound, but just right for the room size. A friend and I took turns and both of us played full organ on this instrument with the other standing in front of the facade. The noise was loud and glorious, but not overwhelming in such a small space as one would expect a pipe organ to be.

Here's the console:

This organ has a nice tracker action, and some great tone colors as well. The salicional with celeste is rich, warm, and absolutely beautiful. The oboe is a fantastic sound, and the cornet is very nice as well. The stop knobs feel like they have mechanical action, but there is a combination action with motors that operate the knobs, even though they are large and ornate, requiring a long draw to pull them out.

Here's a closer photo of the center of the facade. Notice the beehive in the carving.

I forgot to get a selfie with this one, probably because I was so excited to play it. I knew about this organ, but I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to play in this office. I stayed after our Utah Valley AGO Super Saturday to play it. We had just finished a class in the room and I jumped at the chance to play the instrument, and boy am I glad I did!

On to the next organ! This next organ was orginally built in the 1970s by the Wicks Organ Company, and renovated last year by R. M. Ballantyne Pipe Organs under the direction of James Kasen, another famous LDS organ composer. He has written arrangements of many popular LDS hymns, and every one I have heard is absolutely beautiful!

(Edit: When I first played this organ, it was not finished. I played it later in September when it was finished and several changes had been made. The stoplist has been updated.)

Here's a photo of the organ facade. This organ is also located in Provo, UT.

I knew this organ would be nice, but when I first saw it, Wow! This is one of the better open-pipe facades I have seen. It is symmetrical and interesting, and I rather like it! (There is now a visible Gemshorn rank that changes the look slightly, but the visual change is subtle.)

This organ has two manuals and Wicks' Direct Electric Action. I would guess that by number of stops, this is one of the larger organs I have found in an LDS church building, though I have played others with more ranks. The way it is configured, the organ makes very good use of  its 15 1/2 ranks, and it is versatile, making it easy to create effective and interesting registrations.

Here's a wider view of the space:

The organ projects very well into the space. Tone is clear, crisp, and powerful. Even when all the curtains are open to the overflow, I imagine that this instrument is very well-suited to congregational accompaniment.

Here's the console:

On the left side, some of the stop knobs are sort of hidden behind the key cheeks, but they can still be pulled out fully, or operated via the combination action. This organ is blessed with three different types of flutes, oboe and trumpet ranks available at 8' and 4' pitches, and a beautiful Gemshorn that extends all the way down to 16'.

This organ was fun to play. It feels more buttoned down than most Wicks instruments of the era, and it is absolutely beautiful. (Note: a 2-rank String stop was added on the Great, and it's a wonderful addition. There are also separate strings on the Swell now.)

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing these instruments. Specs and stoplist links are below. Now that I have more free time, expect a few more posts about new organs and about new pieces of music that I have discovered.

Have a great day!

BYU Teaching Studio:

Built By: Kenneth Jones & Associates

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1999

Manuals: 3

Ranks: 22

Location: E-208 HFAC, BYU, Provo, UT

HFAC E-208 Stoplist

LDS Provo Stake:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company, R. M. Ballantyne Pipe Organs

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1974, 2015

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 15.5 (originally 12)

Location: 1315 East 900 South, Provo, UT

Provo Stake Stoplist

A Neat Organ and a Sad Story (with a New Happy Ending!)

As a little announcement about myself, I am now officially a member of the American Guild of Organists, or AGO! They are a great organization dedicated to excellence in organ and choral music, and I know some great people involved. Check them out at www.agohq.org/ or my local chapter at uvago.org!

As I mentioned last time, I took a little day trip this weekend. I was in the Ogden, UT area, and I had some pipe organs to find! I wanted to go to the Ogden LDS Tabernacle, but there weren't any meetings there today, and every other chapel I went to was occupied with Primary Program Rehearsals, except for one: the Washington Terrace 4th & 6th Ward Chapel.

I discovered this building, once again, through LDS Architecture.
Here's the link to their page on the chapel. with some great photos (a lot better than mine, actually):
LDS Architecture - Washington Terrace 4th & 6th Ward
There's some great history of the building there and some more photos on the tour handouts they have posted. It's definitely a good read, but not necessarily organ-related.

I only had a few minutes in the chapel, so I didn't have time to turn on all the lights for the pictures, I had just enough time to play a hymn, before leaving to get to a visit with some dear friends.

Here's my best photo of the organ:

It looks pretty impressive with all those beautiful brass pipes! I've never seen a Wicks organ like this with brass pipes before. It looks absolutely stunning! The organ has some very nice stops on it, the flutes are very nice and the principals are decent. There's an interesting stop called Oboe (Syn) 8' which sounds like an 8' flute with a high mutation or 2' stop playing with it. I like it, but I'd rather have a real oboe stop.

Here's the console. Notice the clock off to the right. The good news is this organ is in tune and loved. The bad news is that it is in disrepair. The Swell manual will not play unless the Swell to Swell 16' or 4' is engaged, or the swell stops will play coupled to the Great. The trompette rank is also missing a couple of pipes. This is the beginning of the sad story.

Here's a close-up of the console. This organ is a 5-rank Wicks built in 1961. But it may not have too many more years in the building. According to some members I spoke to, LDS Facilities The bishops of the wards in this building believe that when this organ breaks, it's going away and an electronic organ is coming to replace it, since they did just that at the nearby stake center. Therefore, they have kept it quiet that the organ is having troubles.

Fortunately, the members of these wards love this organ so much that they could probably raise the money to fix it and get the Church to let them keep it, especially if they start now, before it disintegrates completely. I believe it's probably just some electrical or mechanical issues inside the console, since the Swell stops still play, just not where they normally would. If anyone knows someone in Facilities Maintenance, or someone that could help save this organ through either skills or funds, I think this chapel could make a neat, intimate concert venue for the Ogden area. The chapel has a lot of character and is a nice acoustic space. It may not be the fanciest or largest organ, but it has some great stops, is in a great building, and has a lot of character. If you know anyone who could help with this project, or who has some inside influence, please contact me at right with their information, and I will pass it on.

UPDATE April 2016: Through some contacts in the American Guild of Organists, I have learned that this organ has been inspected, and a local company has the contract to rebuild the instrument later this year! Upon hearing the sad story, I emailed this post to a contact in the Salt Lake City AGO Chapter, which administers the Ogden area, and he passed it on to Clay Christiansen, who sits on the Musical Instrument Selection Committee for the LDS Church worldwide. When he learned of the removal of the pipe organ at the stake center, Christiansen was apparently very surprised, responding that removing pipe organs "is NOT the policy!" He then went with several others to inspect the instrument, and the decision was made to renovate it.

Here's my selfie. I'm smiling because I hadn't yet heard the sad story. And because I have hope for it, and because I got the chance to play it. (And now, I'm smiling again because I know the happy ending!)

Have a great night everyone! I have plenty of pictures of organs I played a couple of months ago that I haven't had the chance to post yet, so keep your eyes out for those coming soon!

LDS Washington Terrace 4th & 6th Wards:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1961

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 5

Location: 4760 S 200 E Washington Terrace, UT

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