How To Control All Those Organ Pipes

Dear friends,

Playing the organ involves a complex series of managing many thousands of binary mechanical operations in an attempt to make something artistic. At the organ console, keys are off or on—there is no halfway and there is no distinction in speed or intensity if a key is played differently. All of those knobs, tabs, and buttons on the console have off and on positions only; the exceptions are those four “shoes” that look a little like gas pedals in your car: they have sixteen positions each, all of which control other off-and-on mechanisms upstairs in the pipe chambers.

Somehow these 244 manual keys on four keyboards, 32 pedal keys, 114 buttons, 40 toe levers, and more than 200 drawknobs control 6126 pipes and the mechanisms that work in tandem to make music in three different locations. We organists employ subtle variations with fingers and feet to adjust articulation, timing, and a myriad of other techniques to create a sense of phrasing, accents, and musical line.

If you attended any midweek services last week, or were inside the church for any reason, you probably glimpsed a rare look inside the organ console. Computers, chips, cards, and wires work to communicate the organist’s wishes with the pipes upstairs. Our friends at Integrated Organ Technologies, Inc., who customized the electronic control system for the Bethesda organ, were updating software and hardware to improve the reliability and functionality of our glorious instrument. While everything was apart, they also made some preparations for potential additional tone colors in the future. Looking forward, you may even notice an iPad on the music desk as I explore some newer technology and consider how it might be useful in the music program.

We learn about new possibilities in ministry during our Continuing Education. Michael and I attended a regional convention of the American Guild of Organists, in Fort Worth, Texas, in the first week of July. This was an incredible opportunity to hear some fabulous playing and instruments, to chat with vendors, and to participate in workshops on topics ranging from technology and organization through performance technique and new repertoire. There was even a Choral Evensong, which featured thrilling congregational singing from hundreds of organists let loose. Continuing Education is an essential ingredient for building ministry, and I am grateful for the resources to solicit inspiration from many colleagues.

But, mostly, I’m glad to be back at Bethesda!

Stuart.