Salt Lake Adventures

Hey everyone!

I apologize for not having posted anything for a couple of months.

School has been crazy, and I'll get home late at night tired, and ready to just go to sleep.

Such is the life of a college student.

I have played a couple of new organs, but today's post is going to focus on my trip to Salt Lake City a couple of months back. There's so much to say, that I'll just have to get started right away!

The Salt Lake Chapter of the American Guild of Organists hosted an Open Console and Organ Crawl at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral with its 2011 Bigelow Organ and at the Salt Lake LDS Tabernacle, with its world famous 1948 Aeolian-Skinner. It was a great day, and I got to spend time with some other organists, both from Utah Valley and from SLC. I drove up with my friend Bryce and we both had a wonderful experience playing these two world-class instruments.

Let's start with St. Mark's. This organ is a 40-rank, 3-manual tracker action organ built by Bigelow & Company of American Fork, UT, and it's absolutely beautiful. It's in a great little acoustic space, too. It's a great balance between live and dead. It's live enough that there is some reverberation, but dead enough that the sound is still clear and doesn't overlap with itself as it does in buildings with a more live acoustic.

More information about this organ can be found at bigeloworgans.com

Here are some great shots, thanks to Becky of SLCAGO:

This one is from one end of the organ loft:

This is from the other end, and you can see the Ruckpositiv on the left. This is a small division of German origin that hangs on the gallery rail behind the organist. It can be a whole organ on its own, and it generally contains some smaller, softer stops.

Here's my selfie, you can see the Ruckpositiv just there on the edge with the main case behind it:

Here's a shot I took of the main case, to focus on the 8' Processional Trumpet, what is known as an "en chamade" stop. These are the pipes coming straight out of the front of the case. They are very loud, and were a lot of fun to play in my rendition of "God of our fathers, whose almighty hand," inspired by Diane Bish.

I was very impressed by the organ at St. Mark's. I looked all over it, and I could not find one single flaw. It was meticulously assembled and maintained, and was a pleasure to play. Before we began playing, Adam Hansen, the resident organist of St. Mark's played snippets of a couple of pieces to show how well this organ handles both German Baroque and French Romantic music. It was absolutely amazing. He played the beginning of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 as the German example, and a bit of the ending of Louis Vierne's "Carillon de Westminster" as the French example. It blew me away how perfect both of the pieces sounded on this instrument. Kudos to Bigelow & Co. for designing and building such an impressive instrument!

Before I forget, here's St. Mark's small organ, which is only 4 ranks, 1 manual and no pedal. It's portable in that it can be rolled around the building, and you can either plug it in or operate it with a hand crank. This organ was restored by Bigelow in the 1980s. I didn't get to play this one, but I thought you all might like to see it.

Now on to the reason I went in the first place: The Salt Lake Tabernacle organ. This organ has a long history, which includes one of my ancestors, John J. McClellan, Jr., who I have mentioned here before. He oversaw this organ's renovation by the Austin company in 1916, and played on some of the many pipes I played that day. 

This organ has some of the greatest sounds on it! There are two great trumpet-like stops, juxtaposed with each other on either side of the case, the Trompette Harmonique and the Tuba Mirabilis, which allows the organist to create a call-and-response effect with the trumpets across different sides of the stage. This organ also has an antiphonal division, meaning that there are pipes in a chamber at the back of the room, allowing for yet more call-and-response effects. And the strings on this organ are so lush and soul-stirring it's absolutely unbelievable! This was truly a once in a lifetime experience, but I really hope it's not!

Since we did the organ crawl at the Tabernacle, I'll show the shots of me playing first, then the shots of our trip inside the organ.

Before we played, we heard a 30-minute recital played by Linda Margetts, one of the Temple Square organists, and professor of organ at the University of Utah. It was a great recital, and Dr. Margetts put her own little spin on the end of Bach's BWV 565, which was neat.

I opted to play my arrangement of "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go," since it was a piece that would use the amazing strings on this organ, and it was a spiritual moment, as well as a nerve-wracking moment. I was so nervous, even though I wasn't performing for an audience. This is the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Organ we're talking about here! It was more spiritual than anything, playing a piece I wrote for my sister on pipes once played by our ancestor.

Here I am playing:

And another shot with a better view of the Facade:

And a more close-up view. In case you were wondering, I only had a few minutes, so I didn't get to set my own stops. Rob Stefanussen, a frequent guest organist on Temple Square and proprietor of one of the best YouTube organ channels, set the stops for me. I wish he had given it reeds and mixtures towards the end of the piece, but I didn't tell him to, so that's okay. I would like to go back and play this piece again, and play something else that takes better advantage of the reeds.

Now for the trip inside the organ. This was really cool. It was neat to see the different stages of the organ, since it has been rebuilt 4-5 times since its original installation. Bryce and I spent an extra half hour talking to Robert Poll, the curator of organs on Temple Square, as well as one of the gentleman from the Rocky Mountain Organ Company, who assisted with the renovation of the organ when the building was renovated in the early 2000s. There's so much to know that I couldn't possibly explain it all here, but feel free to contact me, and I'll tell you more!

I will tell you this: Of all the pipes you can see, only ten of them are real, and those are the ten largest ones: the six in the two main towers, and the one on the front and the side of each of the two next largest towers for a total of ten. The rest have been fake since the beginning. But don't worry, other than the ten you see, there are 11,613 more lurking behind the scenes that provide the rest of the tones. This is a 206-rank organ, so there's a lot going on here!

There's also a neon sign on the organ, behind a grille just under the center of the facade, so it is invisible unless you are close to the organ case. It reads "Quiet Please." It is currently disconnected, as it is so old that they need a special transformer for it, and since it isn't used, they haven't bothered fixing it.

Here are some of the pipes we saw from inside. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because I was too excited, and too preoccupied with the questions I had for the curator.

Here's a violone:

And part of the Bombarde in the pedal:

Here's the plaque from the Organ Historical Society, recognizing the historical nature of the instrument. I just realized, it's also inadvertently a self-portrait, but don't let that bother you.

In the large metal room/box you see in the background are the blowers that run the main organ. Air entering the chamber is temperature and humidity controlled, and heavily filtered before it enters the blowers. This helps keep the tuning stable in the pipes.

 Here I am standing next to the main blower. This blower provides air to all of the stops in the manuals of the organ, while the smaller one behind it runs a few of the larger ranks. The large pipes had a tendency to steal too much air from the treble pipes, so they separated them.

Here you get a better view of both of the blowers. There is a third blower, but it runs the pipes at the back of the room, and is hidden from view, as are the pipes. These are behind a grille that is easily mistaken for an air-conditioning vent. The man in the white shirt and tie is Robert Poll, the organ curator.

So that was my amazing day in Salt Lake City. It was an out-of-this-world type of experience for someone as amateur as me to be able to play and visit two world-class instruments such as these, and I am very grateful to SLCAGO for letting me participate. I hope I will have the chance to again play these instruments, as well as (eventually) the LDS Conference Center, the LDS Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Assembly Hall on Temple Square and Salt Lake City's Cathedral of the Madeleine. A man can dream, right?

I've played a couple of chapel organs recently, so I'll post those in a couple of days. I figured I'd keep this separate since this is already one of the longer posts I've written.

Summer break is coming and I will have a lot more time to take and post photos of organs! Starting in the fall, things will slow down, but I'm very excited for summer, as I'm sure you are!

Have a great day, and keep your eyes peeled for more posts soon!

Friends, Fugues and Fournitures

Let me just start with a shout out to my awesome readers! You have helped me locate so many new organs to play, got me access to play them, and supplied me with such great and detailed information about these instruments. THANK YOU!!! 

As a small announcement, I will be adding a link to a stoplist for each organ in Utah County I have shown here on the blog. The link will be at the bottom of each post near the specifications and address for each organ. I'm still working on getting some of the information, so stoplists will be going up one by one, but keep an eye out for them.

This week has been a wonderful week for me as an organist. On Saturday, I went to the Utah Valley American Guild or Organists' Pedals, Pipes and Pizza activity on Saturday, and I got to go inside Bigelow's Opus 16! It was a really neat experience to see the inside of an organ up close. I also noticed how meticulously crafted, tuned and maintained Bigelow organs are. I've seen the pipework of several instruments up close, and Bigelow's is so pristine, right down to the tuning scrolls on the pipes Here's a picture of me inside the organ:

Yes, it was a great day, as you can tell by my face. I also made some new friends in the local AGO chapter, which was wonderful! I even met a couple of fans of Pedals and Pipework, which was really cool! 

One of the people I met, Bryce, made me an offer I couldn't refuse, to play the organ at the Alpine Stake Tabernacle in American Fork! We set a time on Monday, and I met him at the Tabernacle to discuss and play this instrument. We were joined by David Chamberlin, who I have mentioned before, a local organ builder and talented organist who is very versed in the history of the Alpine Tabernacle Organ. 

Here's a picture of the organ, and I'll give you the condensed version of the Organ's history:

This organ was completed in 1923 by the Austin Organ Company, after persuasion by John J. McClellan, tabernacle organist (and my relative) to have Austin, one of the foremost organ builders at the time and who had just renovated and expanded the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ, to build this one. Over the years, some changes were made. The current Trompette was originally a Tuba stop, and the organ got a new console in 1976 after being vandalized. When this happened, several stop tabs were added, plans having been made to add these ranks to the organ, but they have not yet been added, and the new console is almost 40 years old. Stops that were simply "prepared for" have a red dot on the stop tab, so as not to confuse the organist. Here's the console:

You'll see from the stop list, this organ is very symphonic. It has both a clarinet and an oboe, a vox humana, some beautiful flutes, and two separate ranks of strings with accompanying celestes. Another interesting thing about this organ, is that some of the ranks extend up to the 2' range, even though there are no functioning 2' stops on the organ. This top octave of pipes is accessed using a 4' coupler, meaning that everything being coupled is played an octave higher than normal. This allows something resembling a full principal chorus to be achieved.

Also, the bar above each divison's stops is a divisional cancel when depressed. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted one of these! Sometimes, I'll have the Pedal set up just right, but I need to start from scratch on the Swell, so I push the general cancel and Whoops! There goes my perfect pedal. This is a feature more organ builders should integrate into their consoles, it makes it so much easier to play. 

This console was also a little confusing at first to me, since there are two rows of stop tabs. With stop jambs and drawknobs, I know the standard location of the divisions, as I do with a single row of stop tabs, but with more than one row, it confused me at first, but it's less confusing after playing for a while. This organ's manuals are also farther apart vertically than they are on other three-manual organs I have played, which, once again, took some getting used to, but is fine after playing for a bit.

This organ's sound is unique. It's not quite like anything else I've ever played. The Tutti is not quieter, but less bright than on most of the organs I have played. I understand this is part of the design, and I like it. This organ is capable for pieces some traditional or more baroque-style pipe organs would not necessarily be capable of. And I love the eclectic nature of symphonic organs, there are so many different tone colors to play with, even on organs with relatively few ranks for a symphonic instrument. 

Here's another view of the organ, from the balcony. Bryce made it in this shot! He's at the console:

This is the last tabernacle we have in Utah County, and we are very blessed to have it. I don't think many people realize what a treasure this instrument is. Though it has had some minor changes over the years, this instrument is pretty close to how it sounded in 1923 when it was first installed. And it's still in amazing condition, with Austin's impeccable build quality manifest in every piece I had contact with. The organ sounds wonderful and brings life to the space. I see why John J. McClellan wanted this organ installed, it's wonderful, and most of all unique.

And here are a couple fun photos; my selfie and a nice shot of me at the console!

Keep your eyes out for more posts soon! I have several pictures from last year I still need to show you, and some new organs to play as well, thanks to you!

Have a great week, everyone!

LDS Alpine Stake Tabernacle:

Built By: Austin Organs, Inc.

Opus Number (if indicated): 1130

Year: 1923

Manuals: 3

Ranks: 20

Location: 100 E Main St. American Fork, UT

Alpine Stake Tabernacle - Stoplist

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.

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