Imagine my surprise when we went to hear Robert Plimpton work out in Balboa Park...
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-plimpton-0802761b/
https://web.archive.org/web/20141129041425/https://www.sandi...
Often these organs were too massive, specialist, and expensive to maintain (or even just to operate them) and that lack often prompted a complete overhaul of a congregation’s repertoire, as guitar-strummers and tambourine-clappers would be called in to fill the gaps.
Even electronic organs could not suffice, as they proved harder to maintain as their unique technologies aged poorly.
Nothing against folk music, but the transition and loss of continuity has really messed with some of us, spiritually.
I am thankful that around these parts, we’ve had some responsible pastors who not only cared about music, but also found the resources to rehabilitate several churches and get their pipe organs updated for the 21st century, with a firm establishment of music ministers who could carry on that legacy for the foreseeable future.
This is absolutely the case. I studied organ during my high school years. The instrument where I took my lessons was a large church and the instrument had an antiphonal section. The time that it takes for the pipe to begin speaking and for the sound to reach the console is enough to upset the ear-brain-hand connection.
To a certain extent this interaction is true with any acoustic instrument. I’m mostly a pianist now and I’d say that so many aspects of technique that are altered by the acoustic qualities of the venue - pedalling, legato, spacing.
>The organ is, together with the clock, the most complex of all mechanical instruments developed before the Industrial Revolution. Among musical instruments its history is the most involved and wide-ranging, and its extant repertory the oldest and largest. Despite its essentially indirect and therefore relatively inflexible production of sound, no other instrument has inspired such avowed respect as the organ, ‘that great triumph of human skill … the most perfect musical instrument’ (Grove), ‘in my eyes and ears … the king of instruments’ (Mozart, letter to his father, 17–18 October 1777).
Stephen Malinowski's famous YouTube channel of animated graphical scores has a great selection of organ pieces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXaCmhAMnHs&list=PLA20FE13E9...
St. Cecilia, pray for us!
Or to put it more strongly: the most complex machines on the planet for roughly 2000 years. The starting point usually acknowledged is Ctesibius's hydraulis, an organ with a simple automatic pump (no calcant or animal labour required) and pressure regulation. That was about 250BC. They were still producing innovations well after the industrial revolution, e.g. pneumatic relays.
I did not learn that it was Rollerball that I had watched the opening of all those years ago until sometime after the turn of the century when the original started getting heavy replay on late night TV because the remake was coming out soon.
*I suppose cable in this context is rather archaic these days, as is the idea of a "cable ready" TV and cable boxes. Wood grained plastic was pretty much the internet of those day.
The story of my home made pipe organ (2000) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42831969 - Jan 2025 (52 comments)
Paper Pipe Organ (2019) [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39000648 - Jan 2024 (6 comments)
Organ pipe physics - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38853087 - Jan 2024 (66 comments)
OpenPipes: Build your open-source virtual pipe organ system - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36873573 - July 2023 (27 comments)
The organ as a wind instrument - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34309230 - Jan 2023 (105 comments)
Self-Playing Pipe Organ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18111869 - Oct 2018 (7 comments)
Teeny-Tiny, Handmade Pipe Organ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13711526 - Feb 2017 (1 comment)
Pipe Organ desk - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10778499 - Dec 2015 (25 comments)
Pneumatic logic board made entirely from wood doubles as desk/organ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2788069 - July 2011 (4 comments)
The Surprising Physics of Pipe Organs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=803341 - Sept 2009 (1 comment)
Eight foot pipes. In his house.
The music is minimalistic at first ear, but the tension and release caused by the slightly out of tune notes [2] is really pleasant IMO.
[1] https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/track/all-life-long-for-orga...
[2] Out of tune to equal temperament, which is what nearly all modern music western music uses.
Can you recommend some other similar artists??
LegitShady•9mo ago
Highly recommend this youtube playlist by Look Mum No Computer, who bought an old church pipe organ, disassembled it and reassembled it at his museum.
And he does in fact end up installing a (smol) computer so he can use it with MIDI, as well as LEDs on each pipe so when a note sounds you can see which pipe makes it.
timthorn•9mo ago
natebc•9mo ago
Anna Lapwood touring the Royal Albert Hall organ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq0s17bzdLI
Bonus related rec if you need a smile in your day. Anna Lapwoord playing that organ with Bonobo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdyAF9M3XVw
mmmlinux•9mo ago