EASTON – The 50-year-old Möller pipe organ in The PresbyterianChurch of Easton is going digital.
While only an expert could detect some “off” notes or pitches, theyears have taken their toll on this grand musical instrument. RickOsborne, organist and music director at the church, said the theorgan has more than 1,700 pipes but it’s the “brain” of the organ -the console – that will be replaced.
The project is part of the church’s Capital Campaign, which is 85percent complete, Osborne said. The campaign includes re-doing theparking lot, and tentatively acquiring a large curtain to separatethe Fellowship Hall from the sanctuary. The curtain would mufflethe sound coming from the sanctuary during the church’s secondservice.
The cost of upgrading the pipe organ is $93,000, Osborne said. Theconsole will be removed the day after Easter, and at least for thesummer months, its many pipes left behind will be silent.
Osborne teaches music at The Country School in Easton andfrequently brings his students to the church to view and listen tothe pipe organ. The congregation has enjoyed its music since 1986,when it was brought over from a church in Baltimore and installedat the church.
The impressive group of handmade metal pipes one sees at the rearof the sanctuary is called the “facade.” The organ console isequally impressive, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think allthe sound comes from the facade.
In almost Wizard of Oz-like fashion, however, 90 percent of thepipes producing sound are hidden in two chambers: to the left ofthe console is the “swell,” and to the right is the “great andchoir.”
The cloth covering each chamber conceals large wooden blinds with1r-inch thick slats. Osborne opens and closes the blinds to makethe sound louder or softer.
The pipes in the “great” division are used to accompany thecongregation, Osborne explained. It creates a sound that is typicalof a pipe organ and is good for hymn-singing. The “swell” produces”colors,” which includes the sounds of flutes, strings, and otherreeds. The “choir” has more pipes but produces a more intricate,delicate sound, Osborne said.
Unlike the Wizard of Oz, Osborne operates the elaborate console forall to see. He has been organist at the church for 25 years. Anative of Falls Church, Va., Osborne received a Bachelor of Musicdegree from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.
The pipe organ is a wonder of engineering. Put simply, a pipe organmakes sound when air – called “wind” in the pipe organ world – ispushed through the pipes. In ancient times and for centuriesthereafter, humans had to produce that wind with a bellows.Eventually, systems were designed to create wind and control it.The multi-level keyboard and pedal boards and stops control pitchand loudness. Currently the pipe organ at the Presbyterian Churchoperates through an electro-pneumatic system.
“The console is brains that makes the pipes speak,” said Osborne.”Inside the console are metal rods that you pull or are powered byleather pneumatics that go back and forth. The inside of thisconsole is 19th century technology. … Everything done with airand mechanics will be done through digital technology. There won’tbe anything physical to wear out in the future.”
Another feature Osborne looks forward to having is the computermemory in the digital console, which will allow him to record andplay back music.
While the leathers do age with time, pipes that are well-cared forcan last forever, said Osborne, who noted that the pipe organcomposer Johann Sebastian Bach played is still in use.
The Easton church’s Möller organ was built in 1961. Its first homewas the Arlington Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. Theinstallation in that church was the first Albert Bowders did forThe Möller Company. Bowders installed the same organ in thePresbyterian Church of Easton in 1986. His company, Albert BowdersPipe Organ Service, is located in Windsor Mill.
Five organ builders from New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvaniaand Maryland were interviewed and asked their opinions on thecondition of the pipe organ and how to improve it, Osborneexplained. The church then decided to hire an organ consultant,John Holland, from Baltimore. Holland came over to Easton inAugust, and determined that the expense required to upgrade theMöller organ was justified.
Bowders’ son, Alan, has been hired to do the refurbishing work,Osborne said.
Osborne has known Albert Bowders for 25 years, ever since Bowderstraveled to Easton to install the organ, and is confident the pipeorgan will be in good hands.