PAST PROJECTS

Front Photo 1. Front of the church at the completion of the organ.  The Great/Pedal chamber is behind the facade pipes on the left and the Swell chamber is behind the facade pipes on the right.

 

Great chamber Photo 2. The Great/Pedal chamber.

 

Swell chamber

Photo 3. The Swell chamber

 

Pipe Balcony

Photo 4. The pipe balcony at the back during the renovation of the building. The pipe balcony was used for the Antiphonal division.

 

Washing Diapasons Photo 5. Halie, Beverly and Don wash the big diapasons which will sit in front of the pipe balcony.

 

Removing Clips Photo 6. Jonathan and Dale remove the clips on the front of the largest diapasons so that they are presentable in the center facade in the Antiphonal.

 

Facade Preparation Photo 7. Jim and Pres prepare the place where the facade diapason pipes will be mounted at the back.

 

Antiphonal Division Photo 8.The Antiphonal division at the back when completely installed.

 

Antiphonal Walkway Photo 9. A view down the walkway inside the Antiphonal division.

 

Console Photo 10. The console was contributed by Mark Andersen and it was originally part of a Rodgers organ.

 

Halie playing the organ Photo 11. Halie enjoyed playing the organ upon its completion. 

 

Organ for Lamb of God Lutheran Church

Completed 

03/27/19 

On November 22, 2018, the last of the pipes were put into the pipe organ at Lamb of God Lutheran Church is in the Lake City area of Seattle, and it was declared completed.  As indicated in the News article of June 30, 2018, work with this church dated back for a period of time, but when the situation became right for the church, the people there moved ahead with the project, and a Letter of Agreement between the church and the Foundation was signed on October 7, 2017.

Early in 2018, work on the organ for Lamb of God Lutheran began, and up through June, 2018, the focus was on the divisions of the instrument placed at the front of the church (Great, Swell, Pedal). This work is summarized in the News article of June 30, 2018.  Late in the summer of 2018, the Foundation began to work on the final division of the organ, the Antiphonal division which was placed at the back of the church.

In order to provide a place for the Antiphonal organ, the church had to build a pipe balcony at the back.  This was done during the renovation of the building and according to the specifications of the Pipe Organ Foundation.  The Foundation worked with the structural engineer and the architect as the space available was quite limited.  The final product was a pipe balcony about 13 feet wide and 4 feet deep plus a partial height niche behind it some 8 feet wide and 2 feet deep.  This proved to be just enough for the blower, the regulating system, the switchstack, and the pipes and windchests.

 The pictures show what the pipe balcony looked like before any pipes were installed and what it looks like now that the installation is complete.  Because the five longest diapason pipes were too long to be installed on the floor of the pipe balcony, they were installed in front of it in an attractive manner on a custom windchest using conveyed wind.  Those pipes were part of the 8’ Open Diapason at Zion Lutheran Church in Seattle, and in their original installation there, the hooks on the pipes which held them up were on the front of the pipes rather than on the back of the pipes.  When those soldered on hooks were removed, they left blemishes on the pipes which would have been evident to the congregation.  It took several hours of creative work by Foundation volunteers to remove the blemishes so completely that they cannot be seen at all.

The Antiphonal division consists of four ranks of pipes:  1) Lieblich-Gedeckt/Melodia of 85 pipes which plays at 16’, 8’, 4’, 2 2/3’ and 2’ (excluding the top octave); 2) Geigen Diapason of 73 pipes which plays at 8’ and 4’; 3) Viole of 73 pipes which plays at 8’ and at 4’; and 4) Oboe of 61 pipes which plays at 8’ (t.c.) and 4’.  These pipe ranks were selected carefully in order to represent all the groups of pipes in pipe organs:  1) flutes; 2) principals; 3) strings; and, 4) reeds.  

The Antiphonal division is floating so that it can be played on either keyboard with either the Great or Swell division at the front of the church.  Furthermore, the Antiphonal division also contributes to the Pedal as the Lieblich-Gedeckt plays on the Pedal at 16’ and 8’ and the Oboe plays on the Pedal at 8’. 

When completed, the value of the Antiphonal to overall impact of the organ was obvious.  The particular groups of pipes selected were chosen to complement the 13 ranks at the front of the church with the result that the Antiphonal neither dominates nor is subservient to the pipes at the front.  People in the congregation are surrounded by sound from the front and the back, and as a consequence, they frequently cannot tell which the pipes at the front are playing or the pipes at the back (both are commonly used together).  Further, the organist is able to move the sound from back to front and front to back in interesting ways.  Overall, the addition of the Antiphonal division to the organ was well worth the time and effort that were required.

A dedication concert for this organ will occur on Saturday, May 18, at 3 PM, and all are welcome to attend.  The address of the church is 12509 27th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98125.

(See the photos in the left sidebar and click on the small images to enlarge)

 

Specifications for the Organ Link