A Late Update: The Importance of Tuning and Maintenance

Hey Everyone! I've been really busy with my classes in the Information Systems program at BYU, so I haven't been able to post since I started school. I've attended a couple of different church music workshops, and had the chance to play for my Stake Conference a couple of weeks ago, which was exciting and successful!

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

Provo 5th and 8th Wards Stoplist

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

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

My Ideal Friday Night - Utah State Hospital Chapel

It's been a while since I've posted, because I've been so busy with my studies. Finals are right around the corner, so I probably won't post anything else for another week or two, but I'll make it a good one!

Last night was a really fun night for me for a couple reasons:

1. I got to play a fantastic little pipe organ!

and 2. I went on a fun date after I finished playing! 

As the title suggests, that is nearly my ideal Friday night!

The organ I played was an 8-rank, 2-manual Wicks organ in the chapel at the Utah State Hospital in Provo, UT. They have the chapel to provide a worship space for their patients, no matter their beliefs, so the space is configured to be able to support LDS sacrament meetings, as well as Catholic Mass, and other religious services, along with meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. 

Here's a link to their website, with an outdoor photo of the chapel: 

USH Chaplain Services

I was able to play this chapel because it was rented out for the evening by Arches Academy, a small private school where my mom is a member of the faculty. Arches rented out the chapel for the evening for their annual Christmas concert, featuring the students of the school. My mom spoke to some of her fellow faculty members, and found out that there was a one-hour window--that happened to fit my schedule perfectly--in which I could go in and play the organ. I am grateful to the staff of the Utah State Hospital and the faculty of Arches Academy for making it possible for me to play in such a beautiful space on such a fun instrument!

The thing that makes this organ unique in this area is that it is positioned at the back of the hall. That is unusual for this area, since there is a very high number of LDS church buildings, and they all have their organs positioned at the front of the room, rather than the rear.

Here's a photo of the rear with the organ (pipes and console) taken from just forward of the center of the hall:

Here's the front of the hall, for those who are curious:

Here's a closer-up view of the pipe facade. Notice a couple things: First of all, no swell box. This organ does not have expressive capabilities (For my non-organist friends, this doesn't mean that I can't use it to express myself, but rather that I can't control the volume of the sound directly. I can add and remove stops, but not change the volume of the stops I have pulled.). Second, You will see some pipes left of center in this photo that appear to be in pairs. These are not a 2-rank Sesquialtera Mixture, but rather a 2-rank Erzähler stop. This is probably my favorite stop on this organ, and it occurs both on Manual I and Manual II, as this organ refers to them as, either as both ranks together, or individually. Manual I also has a 16' Erzähler, which is also beautiful. It's a hybrid sound, in between a principal and string sound, and I like the sound because it doesn't get as buzzy as strings sometimes can, and it's softer and smoother than a principal. Erzähler are hard to find, and are great for prelude or any meditative music.

My parents came to see me play for a few minutes, and my dad was once again my photographer:

It was really nice, I played a few different hymns and a pop song, then spent a good 20 minutes doing some improvisations on Christmas songs (mostly religious, but a couple were secular)! 

 Here's a closer-up view of the Zymbelstern, as I described in my post about the Provo Central Stake Center Organ. The kids who were coming into the concert loved this, they were simply enthralled by it! Those who had come before I left (I had to leave before the concert started) stood there in awe when I "made the bells ring," as did some of their parents! In this case, the bells are hanging on little wire hangers, and there is a set of small clappers (like mallets) that spin around when a toe piston is pushed, ringing the bells and creating a lovely twinkling, tinkling sound in the room. You can see it near the center of this photo, just above the center supporting beam for the organ.

  

Here's the console, and it's a pretty unusual design. It's narrow at the top, like a Holtkamp, but it uses drawknobs above the manuals, instead of the stop tabs or tablets typical of this design. (Non-organists: drawknobs are pulled out like these. Most of the other organs I have played use stop tabs, so just look back at some of my other photos if you are curious.) It was pretty comfortable to play though, I felt right at home, and I really enjoyed being able to observe what was happening from the back of the room. That was fun! That said, this organ has no reed stops, and no mixtures, either. I can't say I'm surprised, though, because the space is rather small, and a reed chorus could easily overpower someone sitting in the congregation. The principal chorus (with a flute for the 2' instead of a principal) is plenty powerful, and adding some of the mutations to the 2' gives you a pseudo-mixture, which produces a similar effect to an actual mixture stop. To be honest, it was refreshing to see an organ with more focus on some beautiful quiet stops, rather than some beautiful loud ones. The Erzähler stops are a very, very welcome addition!

And here's my selfie:

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season! In case I don't get to write another post until then, Merry Christmas to you all, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season!

Utah State Hospital Chapel (Multi-Use):

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: Unknown, rebuilt 1993-1994

Manuals: 2

Ranks: 8

Location: 1300 E Center St. Provo, UT

Utah State Hospital - 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

Two Favorites - A Building and an Organ

This was a couple of months ago, but I just got some information I wanted for this post tonight at an AGO event, so I'm posting today.

These photos were taken in early July 2014.

The first chapel I went to on this particular day was the Provo 1st Ward Chapel, one of the most beautiful chapels I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

More photos of the building and information about the architects are available at the following link: LDS Architecture - Provo 1st Ward

Here are some quick pictures of the organ, taken by me:

Starting with the selfie:

Here's a closer shot of the organ. I know it's a Wicks and was rescued by a Provo bishop from an identical chapel in Arizona that was being demolished, but other than that, all I can tell you is what it's like to play.

The organ sounds pretty good, and it's in a great acoustic space, but there are a couple things to note: 1. There is no combination action (memory levels) in the console. 

2. There are probably only about 8-9 ranks in this organ. It's not very big, and it's not very loud.

3. The blower seems to be getting old. I pulled all the stops and played a C major chord, and I noticed that the pitch dropped momentarily, as if the organ were running out of breath.

Here's a cool shot taken from the back of the chapel just under the balcony (yes, a balcony in an LDS church. I know, right?) This is the favorite building. I love this place, and I would go back again just to see it. My school had a Christmas concert here when I was in elementary school, and I remembered how beautiful this building is from that day. 

The coolest thing about this evening was the experience I had playing this organ. As I played my interpretation of Diane Bish's arrangement of "God of our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand," an older couple and their friend walked in and sat on the back row of the pews. The gentleman came forward as I finished, and introduced himself as an attorney for the Church visiting from Canada. He, his wife and a friend had come to visit this beautiful building. With tears in his eyes, he recounted a story of when he was on his mission, I believe, and they were brought into a Catholic mass. He distinctly remembers them playing the aforementioned hymn, with a choir, organ and trumpeters from the choir loft in the rear of the church. He remembers being deeply touched by the experience and asked me to play the hymn again before he left, which I gladly did. I can see why this reminded him of his experience in the mass, since the arrangement I was playing emphasizes the trumpets on the organ quite a bit. As they left, he said "Thank you for playing that for us. You just made our day!" It's always nice when your music touches someone like that. 

And in case that amazing experience wasn't enough, I thought I would go find an organ that my friend Becca had told me about previously. She had given me the address, but I found no record of this church's organ anywhere else, so I went, not knowing what I would find.

What I found was this:

I walked in and I thought, WOW! And the sound was equally a wow! This organ has a drawknob console and a LOT of stops for a 2-manual organ. And it's powerful. And looks beautiful. I wondered about the origin of this organ for a long time, as there is no builders' mark on it anywhere to be found. I attended an AGO event this evening and spoke to local organ builder David Chamberlin, who said he has tuned this organ several times. He referred to it as the Provo Park Ward, and told me that it is a Wicks, but had been partially remodeled with the help of the late Dr. Douglas Bush and Mike Ohman (not sure the spelling is correct). He told me it has 9 ranks, and was built originally in the 50s or 60s, with Bush and Ohman making their modifications to it in the 1980s. 

This is one of my top 3 pipe organs I have ever played, since it has some great voice, and a relatively large number of stops and voices for a chapel organ. This organ is also less unified than others. Unification is when one rank of pipes is used for several different stops. This one still has some unification, but there are, for instance, different sets of pipes for the principal in the Pedal and in the Great, which gives it a more powerful sound and makes it easier to distinguish when stops are being played in different divisions.

Here's a view from the console:

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun that evening. I went to one of my favorite buildings, and discovered one of my favorite organs. What organist could ask for anything more?

That's all for tonight, guys, but more will be coming soon, I'm taking a little day trip here in the next few days, and I have planned to make some "organ stops" (pun intended) along the way.

Take care, everyone!

Organ Specifications:

1. LDS Provo 1st Ward Chapel:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: Unknown, Building Built 1928, Organ added later

Manuals: 2

Ranks: Probably 8 or 9

Location: 195 S 100 E Provo, UT

2. LDS Provo Park 1st Ward Building:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company, modified by Doug Bush and Mike Ohman

Opus Number (if indicated):

Year: 1950s or early 60s (original), Building built 1946, organ modified by Bush and Ohman mid-1980s

Manuals: 2

Ranks: Around 9

Location: 101 W 800 N Provo, UT

Provo Park 1st Ward - Stoplist

Deja Vu - Some Familiar Sights

Okay, it's kind of late since I just got home from playing these organs, but I saw a couple of things that looked familiar to me.

I went looking for something a bit less familiar, a unique Swiss-inspired chapel located in Springville, UT. I found out about it here: 

Beautiful Swiss-Influenced Chapel in Spanish Fork

The author thought the chapel was in Spanish Fork, UT, whereas it is actually located in Springville, UT. Thanks to a Facebook post from an awesome friend who lives somewhat near this chapel, I located it, and went tonight to play the beautiful pipe organ there.

Sadly, when I got there, the chapel was locked, which forced me to talk to someone to see if they would open it for me. I found the Bishop of one of the wards sitting outside his office with another member. They indicated to me that the functioning pipe organ had been removed, that the pipes were still there behind the screen (the black shape on the wall above the rostrum in the photos) but had been disconnected from actually playing, and that an electronic organ was used for church meetings instead. This is an interesting decision from the Church, since this is such a unique building and they are preserving it, but not its organ.

The good news was that shortly after this, the member sitting with the Bishop said "Well, if it's a pipe organ you want, then you want the chapel over on 4th and 4th." They gave me directions to another LDS building just 4 blocks away, where there was "one of the top pipe organs in the state."

Here's a picture of that pipe organ:

No, I didn't go back to the Sharon East Stake Center, this is a different organ, but it is one year newer and has a different style of stop tabs. As I recall, the stops are the same as well, but there may be a difference in one or two of them. Other than that, the entire building is literally identical to the Sharon East building.

Here's my selfie:

This organ is one I played a couple of months ago, but it has pretty much the same stoplist as Sharon East Stake's organ, and this organ in Springville. It is located in northern Provo, and was sort of a first Deja Vu of the Sharon East Stake's organ.

So, that was today's first Deja Vu. This next one isn't quite as similar, but the console is what was familiar.

I recently had the chance to play an organ solo in a Sacrament Meeting in Cedar Hills, UT. I performed that solo on an Allen Protege digital organ. And the organ below has a console almost identical to that organ's console, but it also has some pipes attached.

Here are the pipes:

And here's a wider view:

This organ is what is called a Hybrid Organ. This means that it has some stops that are actual pipes, and some that are entirely digital. This is great, because it lowers the cost of getting additional voices (types of sound) out of your pipe organ, but it is, of course, better to have an all-pipe organ.

That being said, this is one of my favorite chapel organs. You get the great pipe sounds for about 2/3 of the stops, and you still get the additional voices, such as oboe, clarinet, etc. (and clarinet stops aren't all that common compared to others!), so it's a win-win situation.

This particular organ was recently tuned and maintained, and I am happy to say that this is probably what I would try to get in my building if we were up for an organ replacement. It's less expensive than an all-pipe organ, and you get more stops. Like I said before, win-win.

Here's my selfie. This organ is located in an LDS chapel in the foothills of Provo, UT.

Anyway, those were my "Deja Vus" for today. I hope that you guys enjoyed it!

And here are the specs for these organs:

1. LDS Springville Spring Creek South Stake Center:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: 1978
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 11
Location: 350 N 400 E Springville, UT

Spring Creek South Stake - Stoplist

2. LDS Edgemont 12th Ward Chapel:

Built By: Wicks Organ Company
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: 1978
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 11
Location: 320 E 2950 N Provo, UT

Edgemont 12th Ward - Stoplist

3. LDS Oak Hills Stake Hillside Chapel:
Built By: Allen Organ Company/Heritage Church Organ Company of Orem, UT
Opus Number (if indicated):
Year: Unknown
Manuals: 2
Ranks: Hybrid Pipe & Electronic
Location: 1960 N 1500 E Provo, UT

Oak Hills Hillside - Stoplist