New PIPE ORGAN
The organ was installed for a beautiful
Christmas celebration!Please prayerfully consider sponsoring
"Pipes for Praise"
to help cover the costs of this blessing.
New PIPE ORGAN-
The Description -A pipe organ is a keyboard instrument that makes
its sound by forcing air through wood or metal pipes. Pipe organs range in size
from portable instruments having only a few dozen pipes to grand organs having
tens of thousands. All but the smallest have more than one keyboard, with the
most common configuration being two manuals played by the hands plus a pedalboard.
Larger instruments may have three, four or five manuals plus pedals. Pipe
organs are most commonly found in churches, and in some reformed synagogues.
They are also found in town halls, and in art centers intended for the performance
of classical music. In the era of silent films, large pipe organs were installed
in many cinemas. The pipe organ has been around for a long time - much longer
than the piano. Organs were the first keyboard instruments. The organ
certainly grew up in the church, primarily in Germany, France and Holland.
It spans a period of over 400 years. Certainly Johann Sebastian Bach is the most
famous composer for the organ. Other great composers include Pachelbel, Handel,
Mozart, Lizst, Franck, Widor and Dupre. A well-known organ composer in the present
day is Paul Manz. (top of page)
New PIPE ORGAN-
The Sounds -To hear
Deb playing the Prelude on the new pipe organ at our first Sunday (12/18) - click
here (Small - 1.45MB file) If
you need QuckTime - click here A pipe organ is a wind-blown musical
instrument which produces its sounds by air vibrations in an organ pipe. This
is controlled by a musician from a keyboard. Sound is air that is vibrating.
Much like when you blow across the top of a soda bottle - it makes a "note",
a sound that has a specific frequency of vibration called pitch. Likewise, one
organ pipe produces one tone at one pitch. Since there is just one pipe for each
note, a keyboard with 61 notes would have 61 pipes, one for each note. The one
set of pipes for each note on the keyboard makes just one kind of sound. The most
common pipe organ has two manuals plus pedalboard. The organ will have several
sets of pipes; each of these sets of pipes is called a "rank", which
can make different sounds. This is similar to an orchestra which has many different
types of instruments, each having its own characteristic sound. There are many
more pipes in an organ than the ones you can see. A stop is the knob or tab on
the organ that turns a rank on or off. Pipes can vary in total length from as
little as 8 inches to as much as 36 feet! The sound from each pipe is
designed and adjusted to blend with all the other pipes in the organ and to
give the best possible results in a room. The custom design is done by highly
skilled craftsmen known as pipe voices. The size, shape and acoustic properties
of the room, and the number of people the room is designed to hold, are all taken
into account. Every pipe makes its own sound and is in a particular position different
from every other pipe in the room. The blending of the sounds of many individual
pipes into a complex chorus is a key reason for the superiority of pipe organs
over electronic organs.
New PIPE ORGAN-
The Blessings -The pipe organ at BSLC has 1044 pipes which make
up 17 ranks. It was originally built in 1978 by the Temple Organ Company in St.
Joseph, MO. The organ had been in use at Zion Lutheran Church in Prairie Village
until the church closure in May 2005. The Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, KS,
took charge of the BSLC organ project in July 2005. Our first services with the
organ were held December 18, 2005. Our organ was dedicated on Sunday, June 11,
2006. There are both metal pipes and wood pipes in our organ. There
are two manual keyboards and one pedalboard. The Great is the main division of
the organ and is the lower manual. The other manual can usually be coupled to
the Great, so the loudest sounds are played on it. The Great can also be coupled
to the Pedal. The upper manual is called the Swell. It is so called because the
sound of its pipes can be made to swell and diminish. Our organ has stops on the
Swell which include: Gedeckt, Viole d'Gamba, Flute Harmonique, Nazard, Piccolo,
16' and 8' Trumpet, and Clarion. The Pedal keyboard has its own special pipes.
The two manuals can be coupled to the pedal, so that all of the tone colors of
the instrument can be played by the feet! In all, there are 32 pedal notes. The
one part of the pipe organ which is not seen is the organ blower. It is inherently
noisy and is isolated from the organ pipe space. Our organ blower is located downstairs
in the maintenance room. The pipe organ is the oldest and the largest
of musical instruments. For centuries, it was considered to be the finest
example of human mechanical and artistic achievement. Our pipe organ enhances
our worship life. From "Lord, have mercy" to "This is the feast
of victory", the organ witnesses to the real experiences of the Christian
life. To this we respond, "Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol
Him with music and song." (Psalm 95.2)
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