How Pipe Organs Work: Inside the St. Paul’s Chapel Organ

Most of us recognize the music of a pipe organ, but much fewer of us likely realize how venerable, and how complex, this musical instrument is. Pipe organs date back 1,800 years and, as demonstrated by Trinity’s former Associate Organist Janet Yieh, produce an incredibly wide diversity of sound.
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[@thebandcalled78]

Came across the video after a “shower thought”. It’s actually really cool to see how these thing work! Awesome vid 😀

[@keeganpenney169]

Great minds think alike, I was on the john myself

[@griffingoodman1055]

Same here aha

[@reclusiarchgrimaldus1269]

John 3:16 King James Version 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Amen 🙏!!!

[@ZfactoryMotors]

Same here

[@daveartvideo6088]

haha best ideas come from there!

[@off_mah_lawn2074]

2:43 I just realized where the expression “Pull out all the stops” comes from

[@associau9048]

This is a top-notch example of how an incredibly complex topic can be simplified and delivered in a clear, concise, and interesting way in a short video. Excellent work. It's the best I've seen. Thank you for creating this.

[@trinitywallstreet]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks!

[@19cerni91]

Organ music is huge reason why i visit church every sunday. Organist in Bratislava- Slovakia is big fan of Bach and incorpirates it all the time creating amazing atmosphere. I'm just an electritian, but this instrument definitely influences my view on world

[@SuicidialDolphin]

Didn't realize how complex these machines actually were. If an electrical engine pumps air into modern organs, how did pre-electric organ acquire air?

[@jeridtroncoso4090]

Steam I think

[@chrisrosenkreuz23]

@@jeridtroncoso4090 I mean that's what everyone who searches for how an organ works is interested in and yet none of these videos seem to present it

[@sakurap95]

Steam would actually ruin the woodwork, but it’s not a bad thought. Before a motor was installed, teams of people would actually work together to pump all that air through, manually. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYWcZGebicegq7s

[@andrewbarrett1537]

Pipe organs before the late 19th century or so were generally powered by at least one (or in large organs, multiple) person/people who pumped the bellows. This was done either by hand or by foot, usually in a separate room where the bellows were located, partly so that the sight of people pumping the bellows wouldn't distract from the music, and partly so that the mechanical / pneumatic wooshing noises also wouldn't detract from the music. Here's a very old pipe organ still with its original bellows (although I think they've been releathered / maintained in recent times, but still in operation). Enjoy! Notice how these levers are weighted and balanced so one person can pull on them one at a time to allow the weights / gravity to do the work of actually creating the air pressure, giving them time to move back and forth from bellows to bellows. But this is a smaller organ and can easily be pumped by one person: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnnSiaGVmbaEfbs

[@andrewbarrett1537]

Here's a more 'recent' (1890s) church organ by the famous American company of Hook and Hastings, still with its original hand pump for the bellows. This is of a different design than the other one. These organs not only can still be found in various churches etc in America, Europe and other places (usually with a blower added to augment the hand/foot pump so a person does not need to be manually pumping at all times anymore), but also can be found for sale periodically, on places like the Organ Clearinghouse and (on Facebook) the Pipe Organ Garage Sale and Pipe Organ Swap and Shop groups. Much historical info about them can be found on great websites such as the Organ Historical Society pipe organ database, for instance: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGGWgZipaq90o5o

[@dvb013]

They forgot to mention that there’s a room deep underneath the building where lots of fat guys would blow air into the tubes

[@Blake22022]

Simply amazing what we accomplished back then just to make some music. Genius, beautiful. It's sad what our priorities have shifted to.

[@Goodroosters]

I always thought pipe organs used fat guys beneath the pipes blowing air up through the pipes while an individual pressed the keys in tune with them. Shows what I know.

[@laralova9119]

top comment

[@againstitself2625]

I see they are using the new way

[@Voidi-Void]

nice pfp

[@MH55YT]

Thank you for the excellent explanation. I know you did a great job because I'm not a musician, and I understood it. I am somewhat of an engineer, so your video was really helpful.

[@graceann547]

Wow!!!!

[@_TeaMaster]

Holy ****, this thing is complex. I bet you can give her an airplane control panel, and she will somehow land it anyway.

[@michelle_sea_view]

💛

[@karenconey5224]

😮 wow!!!!!!

[@adud6764]

0:23 Well if you don't do that, then maybe look into it because that sounds pretty cool.

[@Aatroxious]

My science teacher Mr. Z Hadel told us that underneath the Organ are a bunch a fat guys blowing air 🤷‍♂️

[@blackfalcon1324]

and you thought the piano was hard

[@dabien1]

How did the ancient times get airto flow through the instrument? I dont think they had motors back the

[@darry-garry]

in the middle ages there were people pumping air into it, kinda like a bellow

[@dabien1]

@@darry-garry oh! thank you, i was so curious haha

[@liberatetutemeexinferis5902]

Are pipe organs built into the building or is it the other way around?

[@sa1t938]

6 months late but the building IS part of the organ. Kind of like how a guitar string wont sound good without the rest of the guitar and a piano wont sound good without the rest of the piano. They are kind of built around eachother, the organ needs to consider the design of the church but the church design has to consider the sound qualities of the organ

[@AlphaMechagodzilla8630]

It can go both ways. In some cathedrals, the buildings are built around the entire system itself for its mere foundation and maintenance. (Shows how magnificent they are once more!) while other organs can be built after the building, and you can tell it by their shape. If the building seems like they are built around the system, then it’s likely the organ was made first. If it seems the other way around, then the building was made first as a base.

[@daveartvideo6088]

Who composed the last piece played?

[@trinitywallstreet]

The piece is Paean by Herbert Howells.

[@starshot5172]

Yeah but how did they power it back then?

[@trinitywallstreet]

Before electricity, pipe organs' air was pumped through manually operated bellows.

[@abhishankpaul]

​@@trinitywallstreet and definitely something one would not want to do

[@utuber1752]

In those days, it was like a moonshot.

[@TBoy205]

so how does it work

[@spencerhauck690]

The simplest way to explain is when you pull one of the stops and a key is pressed a valve below a pipe opens and air rushes through the pipe. The hole you see or the "mouth" is what produces a sound.

[@Noelll]

Should add a pop filter to the narrators microphone just an FYI. Ty for video!

[@CaptainCaveman782]

wouldn't these instruments be ideal for multiple players?

[@MrCalCal87]

I wonder, why do random keys go down without getting pushed? I'm confused

[@MrCalCal87]

nvm ik now

[@flynntaggart8549]

if you came here wondering how pipe organs used to work before electricity and such, the answer is that beneath the organ there would be a bunch of fat guys who would blow into the pipes.

[@Account1746]

Shit too complex for me

[@muminnabil7473]

So technically electric motors came before steam engines

[@nicholasprivate-address4437]

The very first train was electric powered (then came steam). Look it up! Snapple facts I am

[@Voidi-Void]

@@nicholasprivate-address4437 i googled a lot of stuff and i don't think so

[@justinleck226]

So the ancient Greeks had electricity? Hmmmm.

[@OsonimateK]

electric motor in greek at the time....

[@scriabinfan]

first

[@Prizm44]

This voiceover needs more vocal fry.

[@ankursingh7395]

🇮🇳👳🇮🇳👳🇮🇳👳🇮🇳👳🇮🇳👳

[@eedobee]

Why do they sound awful

[@PBNIP]

What

[@StopFear]

Yes, it sounds nice. BUT can this extremely expensive musical toy justify spending such huge amounts of money on something that is arguably superficial and unnecessary? Some people will argue that this is “art” and the music produced is priceless and “everyone will enjoy it. But does anybody really benefit from this? God forbid a random fire happens. This things burns. Money wasted. A church can be just as good with a large piano or even a very expensive synthesizer. But his instrument may even be considered comically unnecessary.

[@tylermckee]

You're right. We should just live in mud huts and play nose flute because life is meaningless. Thanks for the insight.

[@emilyt5550]

Something about pearls and swine applies here.

[@topgoose4818]

Yes, why should we enjoy life. We should do absolutely everything as efficiently as possible with no slack to have fun with. Get bent bozo

[@Voidi-Void]

@@tylermckee i'll have you know that my mud hut is very elaborate and pointlessly expensive

[@madjanetramerez2383]

that can be said about anything