Pipe Organs

[vinvac]

Great Pics

Great Organ pictures. I am lucky here in the summer Sinsinawa Mound, a Domincan Mother House for the Roman Catholic Church hold Wed. Organ concerts. They invite organist from the mid-west to come and play. No charge, just a free will offering at the door.

The organ is a Casavant installed in 1965. 2 manual and pedal, 26 stops, 34 ranks, and 1651 pipes. At the time it was built it was the largest two manual and pedal organ in the United States. The sanctuary is round and all marble. Above the main entry to the sanctuary is a balcony where the organ is located. The sound fills every area of the room.

Sinsinawa Mound and the St. Patricks Church in Benton, WI (the town I was born and raised in) are hoping that by fall the priest that built the church and the dominican center will be cananized a Saint. Fr. Mazzachuelli was the priests name. He died at a very young age, but during his lifetime designed and built several churches in our area. He was known for his compassion and healing touch. Not only did he design Catholic churches but also helped with several of the protestant churches in the area.

It is so sad for me to see our churchs following the contempory movement and letting the organ as the main instrument fade away. Even the Catholic Churches here are going to drums, guitars and electronic pianos for worship... how sad..

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Grammar School Memory:

When I was in Elementary School, we had one particular Program that was put on by the PTA and one of the Janitor's had an Organ that they brought for the performance. He hooked up an Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner's Cloth Hose fitting to the Blower part and placed the end of the Hose in a hole on the side of the Organ. While the Organ was being played, there was a huge Balloon that started to Blow-Up and we were all plugging our Ears, because we were sure that the Balloon was going to Burst.

Needless to say, he stopped playing the Organ and turned off the Vacuum Cleaner, just in time. The Balloon began to loose the Air inside and it made this great sounding Noise kind of like Bagpipes, after you have filling the Bladder up and quit playing them, while it was deflating.

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of such a set-up, of an Organ using a Vacuum Cleaner to operate the Organ and having a Huge Balloon that would Blow-Up as I have discribed? If anyone might have any Pix's that would be great to share with us. I wish I had a Camera at the time to take some Photo's. Who knew this would be such a great conversation piece so many years later on!!!

Peace and Great Organ Music Playing, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[lederstiefel1]

Pipe Organs

Can pipe organs even wash??

Cheers, Ralf

 

[tommy]

Grammar School Memory Story

Wow, Great Story, Steve! It is interesting, I've had the same thoughts in regard to whether a vacuum cleaner could be used as the blower in a Pipe Organ. Thanks for sharing your story.
With all the vacuum cleaners I have in my collection--200 or more--who knows what I'll do!! It would be interesting to see if one of my Electrolux Vacuums would indeed power a Pipe Organ! Thanks again everybody, for your stories and great pictures!

 

[abcomatic]

great (swell) thread

HI everyone, What a great thread here. I am an organist too and am installing a 1906 Estey organ opus 290 at home here. I also have pipework from Moller and Casavant and the keydesk is a 1924 Hinners. When this is all finished (soon) I will have 18 ranks. Here is a stop list if anyone is interested: Gt. Open dia. 8, melodia 8, dulciana 8, unda maris 8,trumpet (very loud from the old Moller at St. Chrys. in Chicago)ocatve 4, 15th 2. mixture. Swell: stopped dia.8,viola 8, voix celeste 8, oboe 8 (Gottfried, 1924) flute harm. 4, piccolo 2, sesqu.2 ranks, trem. Pedal, bourdon 16'and 16' posaune, half length( from Salem Lutheran Casavant in Peoria). I will see if i can get a few picture here if anyone is interested? Have fun playing. Gary

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Extra Info to my Story:

I couldn't at the time of writing my Story, think of the type of Balloon used. It was similar or exactly like a Weather Balloon, that was used on the Organ. It would figure, because it would have a much stronger Material used for the Balloon housing.

I think that the Owner of the Organ and Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner attachment had the On/Off Switch wired onto the Console of the Organ, so they didn't have to push the Button on the Vacuum Cleaner to start the Blower, for operating the Organ.

"BTW" I believe that the Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner that was used to operate this Organ was one of the 1950's Models that had the Manual Latched Cover to open and access to the Cloth Reusable Bag and it has the Swinging Lovours on the Blower/Front part of the Vacuum Cleaner. It also has the Push-Button Start Switch on the end of the Handle Assembly.

Maybe possibly someone has a Pix of this Model Electrolux to share with this Posting, to show others what this Vacuum Cleaner looks like, especially the younger Members.

Peace and Fun Times of Music, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[rocketwarrior]

Lester's Organ-ization

Forgive me if all y'all have been there, but if you are talking organs, you need to see Charles Lester's site.

On a related matter, are you familiar with monastic antiphonals? I have a page from a 15th century antiphonal that is two sided and 31" by 22.5"

http://www.137.com/organs/

 

[bobbyderegis]

Hi All, another organist here.
I just got a new gig: as of September 1st I will be the new organist and choir director of the Congregational Church in Needham, Massachusetts. It has a 1993 Casavant, 3 manuals, forty ranks. I'll post some pics of the case and console when I figure out how to do it. I will miss the tracker organ in my old church. You can't get away with anything on a tracker!
Bobby in Boston

 

[timborow]

Help me understand.......

I am a church pianist and fill in occasionally for our organist. We have a two-manual Allen from 1979. It plays well and sounds great. Now I am not trained on the organ, and don't know much about it. I have always wondered what a tracker organ is? Can someone help me understand? Tim

 

[vinvac]

Tim

A tracker has a mechanical action. When you press a note on the keyboard you are actually opening the valve to allow air into the pipe. The more stops you use that harder it is to play.

Anytime you have an Allen organ you have a good electronic organ. Now with digital voiceing it can be hard to tell wether or not it is a real pipe organ. Allen is in my opinion one of the best electronic organs on the market. The church I play for has an Allen that is about 8 years old. Smaller churches that can't afford a real pipe organ will generally look for an Allen or Rogers. I beleive now Allen can build an organ that uses both real pipes along with the digital voices. I am not sure that any of the other companies offer that.

Morgan
Morgan

 

[tommy]

Electrolux Vacuum Picture for Steve

Hi, Steve & other members, The Electrolux Vacuum, from Steve's Description, sounds like it is an Electrolux model "XXX" or "30", as they were made from the early 1930's all the way up to the early 1950's. Here is a picture of one that I have in my collection.

Nathan

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner:

Hi! Nathan, yes this is the very same {or similar} model that I was talking about. I had mentioned that the Vacuum Cleaner that the Organ Owner had was around the 1950's, I'm glad to see that they were Manufactured until then.

My Mother and one of her Sister's had this very same {or similar} Model Vacuum Cleaner, except that I'm not sure when theirs were Manufactured or their Vacuum Cleaner Model Numbers.

Thank you Nathan, it is great to see this Model again. I've still got my Mother's 1962 Electrolux that has I believe the first Auto Cord-Winder, attached to the Blower end of the Vacuum. It is a slightly Square/Rounded Corners Tank and has the Attachments Caddy that Latches onto the Top, with part of the Caddy covering the opening where the Electric Cord Plug's into the Vacuum Cleaner. I believe that it was also the first Model, with the Auto Bag Popper System.

Remember, nothing Sucks, like an Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner. Now I'm no doubt sure that I will hear from the Master of "Puns" as with other Laugh's and Suggestive Comments.

Peace and Happy Cleaning with an Electrolux, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[tolivac]

At one of the radio stations where I used to work-the station owner bought a small 2 manual pipe organ from an old church-it was stored at the transmitter site for a number of years-actually played around with it by setting up a few of the pipes and using a Kenmore canister vac as the wind source-could sort of play a little tune on it-you had to move the vac hose to the foot of the pipe you wanted to hear.the air from the vac could sound only one pipe at a time-esp the pedal bass pipes.It was kinda fun to play with in between transmitter meter readings.Then the owner sold the organ to someone-he had a diffrent one and had it installed in his home-I did some of the wiring for it at the transmitter-then someone else installed the units in his home.I remember a dealer in downtown Rapid City South Dakota that was an Allen organ delear.He sold both Pipe versions and the electronic ones.Remembered the Allen "Gyrophonic" tone cabinet-the speakers were mounted on a large circular rotating baffle to work like a Leslie speaker.
the big problem with any electronic organ is that it is a music or sound REPRODUCING device like a Hi-Fi.The speakers and amps may have great difficulty reproducing the voices with the same volume as a real pipe organ.That is why some institutions replaced their electronic organs with pipe organs.Both are interesting devices.

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: FYI, I wonder:

If the Brand of Vacuum Cleaner might make a difference with the amount of Air Discharged? I'm wondering if the Kenmore Vacuum Cleaner just didn't have enough Power to expell the Air in order to operate the whole Organ System? This is just a thought, since it was an Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner used to operate the Organ in my Story and they were quite popular at least here in Sacramento, CA {way back when}.

Peace and Great Organ Music Melodies, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[tolivac]

The organ at the station had a Kinetics Engineering "green wood box" organ blower-it had a 2hp motor.The Kenmore vacuum cleaner would probably generate about 70-80CFM of air-that 2Hp blower would probably generate about 1000CFM.And I didn't have any air reseviors with that organ.They "store" air generated from the organ blower--like the tank on an air compressor.That helps a lot.And the resevior prevents the pedal note pipes from "intermodulating" the higher note ones when they are played together.Pipe oragns may have several air resevior units in them-often one for each rank of pipes-esp the pedal notes.And if the organ has manually or motorized "bellows" type pump-the "pulses" of air from such a pump are smoothed by the reseviors.And they also regulate the air pressure.They are a large wooden box type affair with expandeble leather sides-and may have springs or weights on top for regulating air pressure in it.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

My Organ

The organ in the church where I play is a 1957 Casavant (from St. Hyacinthe, Canada). It has three manuals (keyboards) and 24 ranks (sets) of pipes, which comes out to about 1800 pipes. It's a really grand-sounding organ, very solid and full sounding and not screechy like many of the "baroque" organs that were all the rage between, generally speaking, the late 1950s and the early 1980s.

I just wish it was a little bigger. Er, I mean, I wish it had more ranks of pipes! It really doesn't fill the large sanctuary the way it should.

You can see photos of "Miss Cassie" (I think pretty much all Casavant organists call their instruments Cassie!), and the stunning (in my opinion) 1957 "Populuxe" style church, at:

http://www.137.com/faithhttp://www.137.com/faith2http://www.137.com/faith3
btw, when I first started playing there (almost four years ago), I of course snooped around for vacuums -- opened a closet off of the sanctuary and there were TWO Kirbys -- one a 517, which the church would have bought new when it was built! The other was a D50.

Unfortunately they had both seen their best day and had been rebuilt several times, with mismatched trim; the D50 has a tacky brown plaid bag and the 517 has a genuine Kirby mustard-yellow Classic bag. See pic below of the original find!

I don't know why they would have ever needed two vacuums, at least, two uprights --- there never was much carpeting in the sanctuary, just one runner down the center aisle (and now, even that has been removed in the interest of improving the acoustics). Some of the classrooms etc. are carpeted but I suspect that's all fairly recent. All the floors were originally most likely checkered tile. The floor of the narthex (in the front of the sanctuary) is faaaaaaaaaaabulous terrazzo! I'll post a pic of that in a minnit!

 

[maggie~hamilton]

Terrazzo, as promised...

Isn't this floor just too fabulous!

The chancel floor is of terrazzo also but in a more subtle, not quite so bold, pattern.

The back wall of the chancel is fronted with three solid slabs of 3" thick marble - each piece is about 7 feet wide and 30 feet tall -- the pastor told me that each piece weighs more than three tons!! They were lifted into place with a giant crane before the ceiling was put on.

There are many terrific architectural and aesthetic details in this church. Too bad it has gotten a little bit run down because the congregation has declined in recent years. In its heyday it was the largest parish in the area and "the" Lutheran church to belong to.

They had one of the very first closed-circuit video systems in the country --- one of the members worked for one of the high-tech electronic companies that used to have a plant in the area, and the system was custom designed for the church. A (black and white) camera mounted on the balcony ledge picked up the services, and the video and audio signal were broadcast into the office, the kitchen, the nursery and Choir room. Neat, huh!

 

[tolivac]

Charles:The vacuums at your church are very interesting.usually churches have vacuums donated to them from church members.You could find anything.Unusual that a church would buy a new Kirby.But what a GOOD buy-its still in use!!I like your chruches Casavant organ-these are famous instruments from a famous builder.They are used in other churches and concert halls.Do the Kirbys at your church have bare floor pads or attachments?that would sure help in cleaning all of that beautiful Terrazo flooring.I like the walls of the marble-good acoustics from it-a building where I used to work has GREEN marble panels on the entrance way walls-one of a kind.They are beautiful.and the building has all kinds of murals painted on other walls during the late 30's when the place was built-Gov't buildings can be MOST interesting!And the first Westinghouse escalators.They are getting bids to get them rebuilt-the parts have to be specially made.The murals depict life in the era before WW2.They have been cleaned and restored.I had seen them before and after-much better!

 

[andrewinorlando]

That terrazzo floor is beautiful. I have the exact same floor throughout my house. Just in the process of looking for a contractor to refinish it. It's 50 years old and still in good condition, but needs a major polishing.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

The Kirbys are retired

No, the Kirbys at my church are not being used any longer, and in fact probably have not been used for many years. They're just stuck in a storage closet. As I said, there is no carpeting in the sanctuary any more. The custodian just uses one of those huge industrial rag mops on the floor. There's another Kirby there, a G3 that was given by the pastor when he got a new machine (don't know what he got) and I think that's what is used in the carpeted classrooms.

btw I made a new thread about a really cool photo I found on the Internet but it seems to have evaporated into Cyberspace somehow. Wonder what happened to it.............