Some Fun Christmas Organ Solos

This post will be a bit less talk and a lot more action.

I imagine that most people in the world see the organ as an instrument that is used primarily to play hymns and classical pieces. And most people would be right. There are, however, lots of fun things you can do with even a small organ.

The following are three of my favorite organ solos, all of which are Christmas songs.

The first is by Cameron Carpenter, one of today's most brilliant and unique organists. He is the only organist to ever be nominated for a Grammy award. His playing style is very unique and somewhat controversial. I personally enjoy his compositions. Here's a video of him playing his arrangement of "Sleigh Ride" at the Marshall & Ogletree Organ at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City, which he helped to design. This organ is all digital, but it uses some new technologies I won't go into now to make it sound so authentic! This organ incorporates sounds from a classical and a theatre organ to create such a cool effect, with percussion and everything. It's all coming from the organ.

Here's the video:

This next one has some of the most amazing pedal work I have ever seen! This is "Go, Tell it on the Mountain," Arranged and performed by a man who is probably my favorite organist, Richard Elliott, Principal Organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

And here's Richard Elliott, with my favorite Christmas organ solo ever, his own mashup of "Good King Wenceslas" and just about every significant part of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite:"

Have a Very Merry Christmas, everyone! 

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 Great, Inspiring Song

Okay, so I know this isn't really organ related at all, but it is music related, and it something that means so much to me that I want to share it.

The reason that I love music so much is because it can touch the soul so deeply. I have lost count of the number of times a song or other piece of music has inspired me, comforted me, or touched me in some other way.

Today was a day that I really needed to have my soul touched in that way. I won't go into any personal details here, but I have been having some challenges recently. I listened to the following song, and the lyrics comforted and inspired me, and motivated me to press forward with peace in my heart. I know they have comforted others, and that they will continue to do so.

The video for the song is posted below, followed by the lyrics. It is entitled "Glorious," written by Stephanie Mabey and covered, in this case, by David Archuleta to be used in the movie Meet the Mormons.

I hope this touches your hearts like it did mine. Thanks for indulging me.

Here are the lyrics:

[Verse:]
There are times when you might feel aimless
You can't see the places where you belong
But you will find that there is a purpose
It's been there within you all along and when you're near it
You can almost hear it.

[Chorus:]
It's like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece in their own melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

[Verse 2:]
You will know how to let it ring out as you discover who you are
Others around you will start to wake up
To the sounds that are in their hearts
It's so amazing, what we're all creating

[Chorus:]
It's like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece in their own melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

[Bridge:]
And as you feel the notes build higher
You will see

[Chorus:]
It's like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece in their own melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

Field Trip! Wellsville & Brigham City

So in late July, I went to Wellsville, UT and Pleasant View, UT to attend my mission president's homecoming and reception. We stopped by the Logan LDS Tabernacle first, where they have a large and beautiful pipe organ, to see if I could play it, but there was nobody there. That does mean, however, that I had my shoes with me that day.

Fortunately for me, the chapel in Wellsville where my mission president spoke is adjacent to the Wellsville Tabernacle, which was sold by the church a couple of decades ago. The Organ, built by Henry Pilcher's Sons, was originally installed in the adjacent tabernacle, and was rebuilt by H. Ronald Poll & Associates of Salt Lake City, and moved to the chapel when the tabernacle was sold. It was installed in 1982. 

My dad was with me that day, so he took some photos of me playing this organ, since I was playing during the meeting block and didn't have a ton of time to play.
So, let's start with some photos of the Wellsville organ. Here's a shot of the case:

You'll notice in the shot below that the swell shades on one side are open, and the other side's are closed. This is because the Great and Swell divisions are both in expression (inside a swell box) with the exception of the facade pipes. I like this, it allows for greater versatility in playing and registration.

Here's a closer-up shot of the organist (yours truly) in lieu of a selfie.



And here's a wide shot of the organ in the room. I really like how this is set up, and the organ's tone quality is very clear and crisp. Everything is very well-voiced and it feels very well buttoned down compared to a Wicks. Of course, Wicks has made some good organs, but this is much nicer. It does not, however have any reed stops or any mixtures. This organ is amazing though. I really, really enjoyed playing it. Sadly, the ward organist didn't know much about organs. She never changed registrations, and never played the pedals. She had no idea how to bring the best out of this treasure of an instrument. Hopefully someone takes the time to teach her how to play, because this organ deserves it.

After the church meeting and my short organ practice session, we headed South to Pleasant View, where my mission president was having a sort of meet-and-greet with everyone who had come for the meeting. This meant we had to pass through Brigham City, where there is a new LDS temple. We wanted to see it up close, and see what the spire was that we could see on a building near it. Fortunately, that spire, just across the street from the Temple, belongs to the Brigham City Tabernacle, also known as the Box Elder Stake Tabernacle. This organ is a Reuter, refurbished by (you guessed it) H. Ronald Poll & Associates.

This is the first Reuter I ever played, and it was neat, because the pipes are voiced to fill a much larger space than your typical LDS chapel, so they seemed quite loud to me, since I was sitting right in front of them. This organ was the first I have played to have a Clarabella, a beautiful flute stop, a Flute D'Amour, a higher-pitched flute stop, and a Cornopian, a trumpet-like reed stop. It was cool, but an older gentleman who was there to give tours of the Tabernacle told me that when the organ was to be refurbished, another company made a bid and proposed several reed stops and a set of chimes, but in the end Ronald Poll won the bid, and the organ came to be as it is now.
This is the only shot we got of the entire organ case:

It's pretty high up in the room, and you can come up either the front or back end of the building to the balcony from the ground floor.
Here's a slightly closer shot. I think the facade pipes may be purely decorative, but I could be wrong.

And here's your close-up of the organist (yours truly).

You'll have to click on this next one to get the full effect. My dad took this panorama from the rear end of the balcony while I was playing. This shot gives you the idea of the type of space this organ is in. You can sort of tell by the way the case looks that it was installed long after the tabernacle was built. It was neat to hear the reverberations in this large space, especially those of the Cornopian. That thing is pretty loud.

So that was my little field trip. It didn't work out quite the way I had planned, but it ensured that whenever I'm going to visit a church other than my own, I make sure I put my organ shoes in the car! It really pays off, and I'm glad I had them with me, even though the Logan Tabernacle was closed at the time.


My next post will be about some organs I played the following week, all in Orem, UT. I'm still catching up on posting the organs I played this summer. As I play new ones, they will be posted right away, but I'm staggering these older photos to keep things neat.

Have a great weekend everyone!


Here are the specifications of the two organs:

Wellsville LDS Stake Center:
Built By: Henry Pilcher's Sons, moved and rebuilt by H. Ronald Poll & Associates
Opus Number (if indicated): 1422 (Pilcher), 8 (Poll)
Year: 1928, renovated 1982
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 9
Location: 30 South Center St. Wellsville, UT

Brigham City/Box Elder LDS Tabernacle:
Built By: Reuter Organ Company, rebuilt by H. Ronald Poll & Associates
Opus Number (if indicated): 966 (Reuter)
Year: 1951, Refurbished 1992
Manuals: 2
Ranks: 9 (originally, may have changed with renovation.)
Location: 251 S. Main St. Brigham City, UT

Organ Stops Explained - By a Great Organist on a Beautiful Organ!

This is my favorite video explaining most common organ stops, and all the different musical sounds a classical organ can make.

The Organist is Frederick Swann, who was, at one point, the President of the American Guild of Organists. He is absolutely amazing, and has a great sense of humor.

The Organ is C. B. Fisk's Opus 130, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California.
More information about the organ is available here and here.

What I can tell you about the organ off the top of my head, is that it is a tracker, as I explained in my post about Bach. This means the keys on the organ work mechanically, and Dr. Swann shows that towards the end of the video. The stops are operated electrically in this organ, which makes things easier on the organist. I think tracker action with electric stop action is the best combination, since you can have a tracker organ, yet still have memory levels, and plenty of them!

This video is about 10 minutes long, but if you're interested in learning more about organ stops, this is one of the best demonstrations. Dr. Swann doesn't play any actual pieces in this clip, but rather just explains what the different stops do. He's also pretty funny, so you probably won't get bored, even if you aren't quite as interested in Organs as I am.

Here's the video:

Anyway, that's "today's lesson!" Have a wonderful evening everyone! New organs should be coming to the blog here in the next week or so.

Halloween Organ Music

Hey Guys!

So, since today is Halloween, I thought I would share a couple of organ pieces that I particularly like, since organ music is often heard on Halloween. These two pieces are really cool, so I hope you listen to them!

The first is probably the most famous piece of organ music. It was featured in an early film version of Phantom of the Opera, and has been featured in many creepy and/or dramatic films since then.  It has become an iconic piece in today's culture, since just about everybody has heard the beginning of this piece at least once.You'll probably recognize it in the first fives seconds or so.

This piece is the Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, by Johann Sebastian Bach.

More history on the piece, and how it became associated with Halloween is very well summarized in this article.

Here's one of my favorite recordings of it, played on an organ that Bach may have played in his lifetime:

So, that's the famous one. This next one is a little more obscure, but it's one of my absolute favorite pieces. It's just so dramatic, and I hope to one day be able to play it!

This is the Toccata from Leon Boellmann's Gothic Suite. If you can, listen to this on some larger speakers, or with some good headphones, because this piece is so dramatic, and you lose some of the effect on smaller speakers.

Here's the video:

And, though it isn't classical, who could forget the now-famous overture from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, The Phantom of the Opera?

Here's a good recording of it played on a nice pipe organ:

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you enjoyed these three pieces as much as I did!

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