Introduction
"How does it work?"
The new pipe organ at First United Methodist Church has sixty-six rank of pipes spread over six divisions. (A rank of pipes is composed of one pipe for each key on the keyboard or pedal board all of which produce the same type or color of sound, e.g. a flute or oboe, etc. ) The organ has a total of 3,873 pipes. Preparations have been made for eight additional ranks of pipes to be added to the Solo division in the future. The console of Opus 3828 has four manuals (keyboards) with a compass of 61 notes each and a pedal keyboard of 32 notes. Each of the five keyboards corresponds with and is dedicated to playing the pipes found in five of six divisions mentioned above. These divisions are the Great, Swell, Choir, Solo and Pedal.
Great: This is the main division of the organ. It contains the primary “organ sounding” stops of the instrument and is used for hymn singing, forte accompaniments and solo organ repertoire. The pipes of this division are placed in the top center chamber of the organ and are played by the second keyboard from the bottom.
Swell: The next keyboard up (or second from the top) plays the pipes of the Swell division. The swell gets its name from the fact that all the pipes of this division are contained in a box with “swell shades” much like large plantation shutters that are opened and closed by means of a pedal at the console, allowing the organist to manipulate the volume of the pipes for musical expression. The Swell division of Opus 3828 is placed in a two-story chamber on the congregations left side of the organ with softer stops on the bottom and louder stops on top. This division contains quite a variety of stops from the strings and celestes to the chorus reeds that are used to add brilliance and fire to a full organ registration. It also contains the Oboe used for solo passages as well as the Vox Humana, an unusual reed stop found frequently in solo organ repertoire by French composers of the Romantic period.
Choir: The pipes of the Choir division are played from the bottom keyboard. This division, which is also under expression with movable shutters like the Swell, is historically intended to accompany the singing of the choir. The Choir division is located on the congregation’s right hand side of the organ chamber just above the wood paneling opposite the lower level of the Swell. This division contains a variety of medium loud to very soft stops that are mostly flute like in tone color and somewhat transparent. However, this division also contains a rather large solo reed stop, the Cornopean, that is something akin to a mellow trumpet and the Crumhorn which is used frequently in solo organ repertoire from the French Baroque and sounds something like an ancient clarinet.
Solo: The top keyboard of the organ console controls the stops of the Solo division. This division is also under expression like the Swell and Choir and is placed in a chamber on top of the Choir division, opposite the upper level of the Swell. This division traditionally contains very distinctive solo stops from flutes to strings to imitative reed sounds like the clarinet or English horn. The solo division of Opus 3828 presently contains only two stops: a French horn and an English tuba, both very distinctive stops that are voiced on a higher wind pressure than the pipes of the other divisions. This higher pressure gives them their commanding volume and presence in the room. An additional seven stops are prepared for and already have labeled draw knobs in the console. These prepared stops include a Harmonic Flute, English Horn, Clarinet and Vox Anglica which will be one of the softest and most ethereal stops on the organ.
Pedal: The Pedal division contains some of the lowest wounding pipes in the organ and is used most frequently to play the bass line. This division contains six stops of its own, but many more stops from the other divisions are also playable from the pedal keyboard making it very versatile. The pedal division also contains three digitally produced thirty-two-foot stops (the lowest pitches played by the organ). The digital production of these sounds works quite successfully given the fact that these are stops that are more felt than heard.
Chamade: The sixth division is the Chamade division, which contains the three stops of the Festival Trumpet. These are the very strong reed pipes with the distinctive horizontal copper resonators visible in the façade. The Chamade division is considered a “floating” division that is playable from any of the five keyboards. It is used for fanfares to announce the arrival to “the bride” or for any festive occasion that calls for a sense of drama.