Orem Organs - And Salt Lake to come soon!

I'll explain the Salt Lake part first:

Yesterday I participated in an Open Console and Organ Crawl event in Salt Lake City at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral and the Historic Tabernacle on Temple Square. I had the opportunity to play both of these wonderful instruments, and enjoy the music and company of some wonderful and talented organists. 

I will write a longer, more detailed post about this shortly, I am waiting to get some pictures back from another AGO member who brought a nicer camera than I did.

In the meantime, I thought I would post pictures and information about a couple more organs in Orem that I played last Summer. 

This first one is one of the larger pipe organs in an LDS chapel, at 17 ranks. It is located in the Sharon Stake Center in Orem, UT, and was built by the Wicks organ company in 1969. It recently underwent renovation and restoration, to ensure its performance for years to come.

Here's a photo of the facade:

As you can see, there are a LOT more pipes than are typical for your typical LDS Chapel Wicks Facade. There are usually only a couple ranks visible, but this has at least three or four open to the room.

One interesting thing about this organ is the types of the 17 ranks. Prior to this, the largest organ I had seen in an LDS chapel was 13 ranks, but it had a Rohr Schalmei, a great 16' Trompette in the pedal division, and 16' Gemshorn in the Great. It was more eclectic in its tonal design than this organ, at least to my inexperienced ear. So you can see that I was pretty excited to see what kinds of interesting stops I would find on this organ. Sadly for me, most of these additional ranks had been used for different types of flute stops. Not that I don't love a good Nachthorn, but I think this organ could have been made more tonally diverse, and therefore more versatile, by replacing one or two of those flute ranks with an interesting solo reed, such as an Oboe or Clarinet, or extending the pedal down to an actual 32' rather than just a resultant*. I still like this organ a lot, but I am admittedly puzzled by the tonal design.

*A resultant is two ranks of pipes that reproduce the overtones of a lower rank. They are used for 32' stops with a 16' and a 13 2/3' rank, or for a 64', a stop called a Gravissima. 

So here's my selfie, with excitetement, before I found out there was no oboe. Console is located behind the pulpit to the right (stage left), as it is in most LDS buildings.

After I finished at the Sharon Stake, I went to another nearby chapel, the LDS Orem Stonewood Stake Center, and was pleasantly surprised by a 9-rank 1994 Wicks organ. Its tonal quality is a lot nicer than those of the older Wicks organs, especially those from the 1970s, but it's no Schantz. I like this organ very much, but I didn't have a lot of time to get to know it, so I only got a couple of blurry pictures, since it was late and I needed to get going.

So here's the selfie of that one:

And here's a wider shot of the chapel. There are 41 pipes in the Facade, which I'm pretty sure is a principal, with the rest behind the gray screens just behind the main facade.

Overall, I would be happy to play either of these instruments every Sunday if I had the chance, but if I had been the one in charge when they were installed and designed, I would have done things just a little differently: I would have chosen a more eclectic tonal design for the Sharon organ, and for the Stonewood organ, I may have chosen a different builder if it had been within the budget.

Have a great Sunday everyone, and I'll be back with more pictures soon!

LDS Sharon Stake Center:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1969

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 17

Location: 545 South 800 East, Orem, UT

Sharon Stake Center - Stoplist

LDS Orem Utah Stonewood Stake Center:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1994

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 9

Location: 450 South 100 West, Orem, UT

A Personal Record and a Personal Connection

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, I've been pretty busy with finals, and with work over my Christmas break from school. I still have a few older pictures to post, so I'll be finishing with those soon, and I will be trying to play more organs as time permits.

Also, for anyone who is interested, or has kids who are interested in organs, there's an event going on this Saturday morning here in Utah Valley sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, called "Pedals, Pipes, & Pizza." It's a great opportunity for children, adults, and young people to get to know more about how a pipe organ works, and about what organs are all about. More info is available here for those who are interested in attending.

I gave this post the title "A Personal Record and a Personal Connection." The personal record occurred back in July, in that I played three different pipe organs in one day. I'll get to that in a minute.

I was browsing some articles on various organs the LDS Church owns, and I discovered one that mentioned Alexander Schreiner, one of the greatest organists to ever serve at the Salt Lake LDS Tabernacle. It mentioned in passing the name of his teacher, John J. McClellan, who also served as organist at the Tabernacle, and on the LDS Church's original music committee. I knew that I have some ancestors who are McClellans, so I looked at my family history, and, lo and behold, John Jasper McClellan, Jr. is my Great-Great-Great-Swell Uncle! (Just kidding about the Swell, though I'm sure he was a swell guy...) In his time McClellan would have overseen the renovation of the Tabernacle Organ by the Austin Organ Company in 1915 (its second renovation, it has undergone two since then), and of course played it extensively. It's pretty neat to know that I'm related to one of the early organists at the Tabernacle! What a privilege! I guess I know where my love of organ music comes from!

So there's the personal connection. Now on to the personal record.

One evening in early August of last year, I decided to go check some out. I ended up driving all over Orem a couple of times, since the Sharon Stake Center (photos to come soon) was locked, and when I initially went to the Cascade 1st & 2nd Ward Building, someone was actually practicing the organ, so I found another and went back later. The Sharon 1st & 2nd ward building was a surprise, I didn't know if it actually had a pipe organ, but I got in and played it. I ended up driving past it and the Sharon Stake center several times to check and see if they were open, and it all paid off eventually.

And yes, you counted that correctly. Three different pipe organs in the same evening. What a day!

Let's start at the Sunset Heights Stake Center. I knew about this organ since a good friend of mine was baptized at this chapel my senior year of High School. I remember the organ being very striking, as it looked different from most other LDS chapels, and most pipe organs I had seen up to that point.

Here's a photo of the facade:

As you can see, it's a combination of exposed pipework (front center, nothing around the pipes), encased pipework (front right and left, pipes in gothic arches), and enclosed pipework (visible through the open swell shades, rear center). This is one of my favorite LDS organ facades, because it is so unique and eclectic. You really don't see much else like this in an LDS chapel, the organ usually doesn't try to draw so much attention to itself.

Here's the console:

The on switch is under the edge to the right of the manuals, and is somewhat hidden. This organ has three memory positions, and a Full Organ toe piston, which was broken when I visited it. Both the memory and full organ pistons are mechanical. They physically move the rocker tabs, not with a motor. The rocker tabs are also heavier than I expected, leading me to believe that they are at least partially mechanical as well. 

And here's the selfie:

This organ was built by the Reuter company, which is uncommon for LDS chapels, much like the design. I love the tone quality of this organ, I find it to be more smooth and refined than you find in most Wicks organs. The principals and flutes are clear and bright enough, and it has a "Geigen Principal," which is a hybrid string/principal stop, a more principal-like version of a Gemshorn or an Erzahler. Very nice!

On to the next organ, at the Cascade 1st & 2nd Ward Chapel. The LDS seminary I attended in high school used to have morningside meetings, where a guest speaker would come teach about the Gospel, in this building from time to time. I don't remember ever attending one, but I wish I had, just look at that organ! 

This organ is one I would love to have in my chapel, because I love the facade, and I love the tonal diversity of it, as compared to other LDS chapel organs built around the same time (1970s). This one has several unique stops, which I will explain shortly. Above you get a good view of the powerful16' Trompette pipes, positioned vertically along either side. These play with a powerful force that shakes the console! They are very fun to play!

Here's a wider view:

And the selfie...

Here's the console, drawknobs and all! This organ has 13 ranks of pipes, which is one of the larger organs I have seen in an LDS building, so I guess there wasn't enough room for stop tabs. Drawknobs, such as these, in addition to being great fun to play (you actually get to 'pull out all the stops!'), allow the organ builder to position more stops within easy reach on the console.

Here are a couple of the unique ones. In addition to having an extremely high (an somewhat piercing) 1' principal stop, this organ has a 4' Schalmei in the Pedal division (top center of the photo below) and an 8' Rohr Schalmei in the Swell. I like the sound of these, they are soft solo reeds, much like an oboe, but I didn't know what a Schalmei was. According to the internet, a Schalmei is an ancient instrument considered to be the predecessor to the oboe, much like the krummhorn is considered predecessor to the clarinet.

This building is nice as well, so here's a wider view of the chapel:

Starting with the selfie this time, for the Sharon 1st & 2nd Wards. This was a nice surprise, as I wasn't aware of this organ until I played it. The building was available when I happened to stop by, and I discovered this neat little instrument.

The way they positioned the pipes here, and the high ceiling of the chapel makes for a nice acoustic space, as well as a grand appearance:

Here's the view from the console:

And here's a view of the console. This organ didn't seem too special compared to other Wicks instruments at first, but then I remembered that it is only the second one I have seen with a 32' resultant stop. Looking around, I couldn't see where they could possibly have put 32' pipes, and it turns out I needn't have wondered. This stop is a Resultant, which uses a 16' rank and a 10 2/3' rank to produce the same harmonics as a 32' rank does. Playing a piece at full organ, it honestly doesn't make a ton of a difference, but, now that I know how to use it, I imagine it can be fun to engage on a final chord, to a nice effect.

Also, this is the first time I ever saw an old MIDI sequencer on a pipe organ. This is probably the oldest one I have ever seen, and I have since seen the same unit on two other organs. It allows for organists to create their own profile, which is just a memory level with their name on it, and lets one save his or her memory settings to a floppy disk, or a USB flash drive on newer models.

Was that post long enough for you? I'll be posting more pictures soon, I still have a couple more sets of "organ-hunting" pictures from last summer I haven't had time to upload. I'll continue to upload new pictures as I take them. I'm also working on uploading some recordings as well, so you can hear the stops I talk about enjoying so much!

Organ Specifications:

Orem Sunset Heights Stake(LDS):

Built By: Reuter Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated): 1812

Year: 1972

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 11

Location: 1260 S 400 W Orem, UT

Sunset Heights Stake - Stoplist

Cascade 1st & 2nd Wards(LDS):

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated): 

Year: 1973

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 13

Location: 481 E Center St. Orem, UT

LDS Sharon 1st & 2nd Wards:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated): 

Year: 1974

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 8

Location: 641 S 400 E Orem, UT