HubNut handles an organ! How do they work?

A lifelong ambition achieved here as I get to play this impressive Pipe Organ. 1800 pipes! Plus a few speakers...
Huge, huge thanks to stmaryschurchb... and to Philip the organist for helping me achieve this dream. Do check out the events the church offers. It includes wine tasting!
#pipeorgan #howitworks #music

[@darrenmeears3912]

Is there no end to this man's talent just when you think you know someone he's pulls this out the bag 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@jonathanlewis453]

Do you mean he pulled out the stops?

[@TheTrueVoiceOfReason]

"Oop! That one just got me right in the ear." " ' She made me deaf, you know.' " Next up, Carly as Esmerelda, while Ian climbs nimbly through the pipes. I do love a good pipe organ. Our local theater originally had a pipe organ from the early part of the 20th century but was sold. Recently, a pipe organ was repurchased and reinstalled, so we have that going for us. Btw, this is the theater from the original The Blob movie. Wouldn't that be fun to explore.

[@richardbatty6520]

This took me by surprise! As a semi retired professional musician the organ has been good to me, I've earned a few quid playing them over the years. Mechanically they are amazing things and certainly deserve the moniker of the king of instruments. The sense of power you can get from a big 'un and sometimes the bass can shake your very being. Very enjoyable..

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

Ahh, moniker ;)

[@CoreyDeWalt]

I absolutely adore the bass of a good old organ.

[@mlies37]

I’ve always had a tremendous fondness of pipe organs (despite being raised entirely atheist and thus not frequenting churches). Absolutely love it. Very nice to see you sharing this particular appreciation as well as the car stuff.

[@arieplomp8906]

Wow! Goosebumps and 🥲 ! Love the organ playing in a church! Sadly i had an accident allmost 7 years ago at my work! I was exposed to I very loud noise! As loud as an fighterplane taking of but then in an inclosed space! Now I suffer from tinnitus and can’t comprehend the surround noises in churches any more! So sadly i can’t attend concerts or church services any more! But this video brought me so much joy! So a big thanks too you both! And for a non musician you play very wel! 🙏🫶 pardon my bad english! Because Dutch! 🇳🇱 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@hubnotes]

Aw, sorry to hear that. Glad the video was enjoyable.

[@pizzalover3]

That's a lovely sounding organ. Some properly low harmonics there that 99% of speakers couldn't replicate. Always wanted to try the organ in the Albert Hall where the pipes apparently go under the choir stalls.

[@andrewthompsonuk1]

I have always loved the Tocarta, the organ was in my opinion one of the most refined instruments Bach had to compose for at the time.

[@davefrench3608]

I bet you pulled out all of the stops to get to play with this magnificent organ. When I was a church choir boy, one of the highlights was when our choir master gave an impromptu recital on our magnificent church organ He was a fabulous organist.

[@Boating_David]

Loved it ! Im not religious but a church does have that amazing feel to it. Amazing to see behind the scenes

[@suznet]

I bet Philip has another pair of socks like that at home 😂 very nicely played, you didn't do bad either Ian 😛

[@andrewentwistle515]

What a wonderful video by Hubnut. This video provided me with happy memories of my late Uncle who sadly passed away last November who was a Organist/ Piano player. Great Video as always.

[@darrenwilson8042]

what a fantastic sound that organ makes and in that space with those acoustics its glorious - even better in the hands of a professional (sorry Ian)

[@posimativelynegative]

An old family friend used to work as a pipe organ technician. The amount of intricacy required to keep these things operational is quite astounding.

[@Nikki_Holland]

Thanks Ian and Miss Hubnut. I love church organs and the sound they make. Philip played beautifully

[@jimmgmetroturbolott2070]

The Toccata and Fugue in D minor at the end was what pipe organs are made for. Absolutely magnificent, well played.

[@nigelprince987]

What a brilliant video Ian, real tingling in the spine. I had no idea how an organ works, this was so special 😊

[@adrianthorpe6363]

The sound of a pipe is magical and makes every hair on my body stand up.

[@mrwibble70]

I used to be a church organ builder years ago. Mostly tuning and restoration type work. Some new jobs, from beginning to end, can take well over a year. I've spent 2 years on one job. I believe the organ in the Albert Hall in London, took nearly 4 years to complete. Even after that , it will still need regular tuning and maintenance.

[@caw25sha]

Do you know how the bellows would have been powered originally? I know smaller organs had a single manually operated lever but presumably ones like this would need several.

[@mrwibble70]

@@caw25sha as you said, organs originally had a hand pump. Bigger organs must have used more people. Although, I suspect that the bigger organs could only be developed after electric blowers. Some pipes can be so big, I can crawl inside them.

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

The 'Look Mum No Computer' channel mainly does musical instruments but occasionally features old cars, so this is like a mirror image. He recently rescued and repurposed a pipe organ - fascinating stuff.

[@hubnotes]

Indeed so. Love what he's doing.

[@2760ade]

He recently changed a head gasket on the way to picking up a WW2 siren! Absolutely insane, and what he did with that repurposed pipe organ and MIDI is unbelievable.

[@uwekall6281]

Yes, that's the other channel in the UK I always look. Absolutely amazing what an amount of work and ingenious ideas he puts in.

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

@@hubnotes if you’re passing Ramsgate… :)

[@hubnotes]

No-one is ever passing Ramsgate. It's the end of the line!

[@Rangefinder52]

Beutiful playing by Philip the organist and I'm pleased to see a fellow odd sock wearer. Another great video from Hubnut.

[@mpersad]

Flippin'eck you are too modest. You gave us a lovely run through the instrument. What a wonderful thing to play and experience.

[@mickohara7268]

Nice one, pulling out all the stops 😉

[@timelwell7002]

My dad was an organist and used to love visiting churches in this country and in the continent trying out various organs. HubNut is in good company here... So far as tuning an organ, I think I'll stick to tuning and renovating pianos, which are smaller and a good deal less complicated..! As to the pedals, you have to alternate between heel and toe as you play up and down the scales. Thanks for the unexpected and enjoyable video Ian.

[@andrewthompsonuk1]

I remember being shown the organ in old St Pauls in Wellington NZ when it was under refurbishment. They were replacing all those little actuator sticks and replacing all the seals in the air system.

[@TimFoster]

Fantastic Ian, thankyou! As expected, an organist shows us how heel & toeing really should be done!

[@chrisbury4635]

Oh that Toccata ripped right through me, brilliant !

[@robertbills4290]

I've always loved old churches . And the music that is played has got the church to sound off just beautiful

[@321bytor]

...pulling out all the stops to entertain us - wonderful

[@Teribus13]

OK Ian & Carly, you HAD to know what you were doing when you made THAT the title! 😮😅😂😂😂

[@daniellee9015]

Absaloutly brilliant video Ian miss hubnut ❤👍 waw I knew you were brilliant Ian but you've surpassed your self brilliant

[@edgarbeat2851]

Utterly fantastic. No 🐊 crocodiles 🐊 like in the rescuers playing. I loved the organ when I went to Sunday school. Plus The Organist Entertains. Even base ball music.

[@stiannobelisto573]

Imagine if hubnut started reviewing organs and how they feel, I'm sure we would still watch, I'm sure there are organs out there with triangles of doom

[@tonys1636]

One doesn't have to go to a Church to hear a magnificent pipe organ, many of the public halls of a town or city hall have them and of course the one in the Royal Albert Hall, which now sounds as it was meant to thanks to the acoustic 'mushrooms' up in the dome.

[@northstar1950]

A most refreshing change, most enjoyable.

[@robingiles9444]

What a wonderful change from cars. A friend of mine used to play by ear, sadly I could never master the keyboard. He had a Harmonium in his flat which, although smaller, gave that organ feeling. Great video, took me back. Thank you.

[@caw25sha]

If your friend got bored with playing his harmonium in a flat did he ever play it in b minor for a change?

[@robingiles9444]

@@caw25sha I always preferred D morris minor 😂

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

What a fascianting video certainly puts our Casio Keyboard to shame in our church building, what a fascinating machine the Pipe organ and a marvolous looking church, well played Ian and what a with Phillip playing at the end.

[@spellsecurity]

Nice one, Hubnotes. In the 90's I was the muscle for the bellows that provided airflow for such an organ, in the unitarian church of my city. Quite the workout and you had to work very closely with the artist performing, since you kinda had to know where she liked to push for a strong effect and where to just feed the organ without making it scream.

[@jfv65]

I was waiting for Toccata! and Fugue The BEST organ piece EVER written! ❤

[@jackkinkead868]

Classic car owning, former cathedral lay vicar, current ordained vicar - this video is much appreciated 😃

[@micheltebraake7915]

How beautiful! Very interesting look inside the organ. In the Netherlands we had Rick van der Linden (from the pop group Ekseption), who could also play such an organ wonderfully.

[@rakeshtak]

Great rendition of The Prodigy! What an instrument, I had no idea how complex they were, thanks for the insight 👍🏾

[@MattBrownbill]

'In the garden of eden' by Iron Butterfly, I was expecting. Lol.

[@Shane_Marsh]

HubNut slumped over his organ. Never thought i would ever have a chance to say that 🤣 and quite the musician 👍

[@jameswallace7709]

Part of my mispent youth was being forced to learn the organ. I wish I hadn’t been forced. I’d probably still play. I used to have lessons on Chichester Cathedral’s organ which was always tense as it wasn’t exactly subtle when you ballsed it up. What was tricky was when you played using the pipes at the beginning of the naive. There was a delay from pressing the key to the sound emerging.

[@mrwibble70]

The action is called tracker. Although the organ looks like it's been expended over the years, so some, like the pedal stop that's electric. So there are little electric contacts in the pedal as well.

[@paulpobsanderson6219]

Always wanted to know what was behind one, how it actually works. Thanks for answering so many questions. Love to see Rick Wakeman play one.

[@hectorshouse7348]

What a grand sound…wonderful. Thank you😁

[@chrisglover1978]

It's Anna Lapwood with a beard!

[@hubnotes]

And far, far less talent!

[@722garage9]

My vision of the day. Now stuck in my brain 😅

[@PaddyWV]

Yay! All the way through that I was thinking about a bit of Bach! *BIG GRIN*

[@superbracey]

My love of organ music can probably be traced back to my dad (a rock, heavy metal, prog rock and folk fan) played Tocatta from a recording of St Pauls Cathedral through his Leak 3080 speakers. It would have been the late 80s when I was about 5 or 6. I was in awe. Funnily enough, I'm going to watch an organ recital at Ormskirk Parish Church this Saturday (my first organ concert).

[@dieselbushcraft1299]

Absolutely beautiful organ and sounds that match. Amazing skills to play these instruments. There’s a video on KZbin that demonstrates how a 89 key Fair Ground organ works. Now those are amazing pieces of machinery and how they were invented the mind just boggles.

[@Kevin_Hones]

That has evoked memories of me as a 10yr old choirboy in the early 1970’s! I could natter for hours, but not here or now. Thanks once again for another excellent video!

[@TheTwingoChannel]

My.. that is a big organ and you play it so well!

[@suddenlyautistic]

Love this, thank you! The only down side was realising how much base I can no longer hear. I'm sure I'd feel it though. Love the Stained glass too!

[@danielpothier9990]

Ian you are truly an amazing soul. More than automotive and rail, you remember to advocate for the emotionally ill and together with your amazing Miss you light up our lives with now with history and music. We sould all have cake in your honor. Carry on honorable sir

[@paulwatts2192]

What a trill to have a go at this church organ. Very compliant, but you did not let your self down.

[@35dononeill]

I loved how your base hand was trying to do the job your feet were doing. It's like a reflex thing. I love the nsughty electronic note. Sounded very hitch hikers guide to the galaxy esque.

[@chrisdowns1987]

Ooh, that's very special. Magical! 😊 The complexity of the music and the instrument is really something! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@robc5955]

Marvellous, love a pipe organ but never seen inside one loved this.

[@richcarter2294]

Sounding good! Always wanted to have a try on a pipe organ. Fascinating to see how it works. Great vid thank you.

[@langerstrains9460]

It’s the phantom of the HubNut 😆 Very much enjoyed this video, thank you for sharing this.

[@MattBrownbill]

Amazing bit of machinery.

[@andyt2510]

Next stop on the HubNut Music Instrument tour, the Carillon in Bournville, Birmingham. That really sounds epic!

[@hubnotes]

I don't love them - lived fairly close for a time - but the Dutch do!

[@grahamt33]

Ian you NEED one - just check out the next boot sale in your area

[@seankirby1327]

I have been lucky to help maintain an Organ in Quincy Massachusetts....I am no longer scared of heights. It was electromechanical. I was in my early 20"s and it was amazing

[@bentullett6068]

The organ is such a fascinatingly musical instrument and the church organs are lovely things to see.

[@MrCElk]

This was fabulous Ian. Well worth watching to the end.

[@anthonystevens8683]

Nice one Ian. These machines are so mechanically complicated and must be a real challenge to maintain (probably not an ideal short term HunNut project). I does make me wonder how the designer held all that information in just the one head! OK I'm sure he may have had a little help from some others but it still is not only a work of art but a wonderful instrument as well. Many thanks for sharing.

[@volvo480]

Absolutely brilliant video, enjoyed it from beginning to end. After having watched and listened to this video, I had the sudden urge to dig up 1970s prog rock records with lots of organs, Mellotrons and Moog synthesizers. The more bombastic the better 😅

[@PaddyWV]

Fantastic! I wish you still had your antique one! 😍

[@chrisaris8756]

Thanks so much for this what an instrument to master! And the Tocata and Fugue was just the icing on the cake. Now where can I buy one?

[@bid84]

Pulling out all the stops Ian, love the organ sound, owned a Korg Cx3, And a Hammond xk3 in the past, green onions just about mastered. Knew loads of little bits from other tunes, nice playing btw.

[@RocketJonny69]

Brilliant video love a church and an organ well done.

[@anthonygregg862]

This is absolutely awesome. A very interesting marvellous piece of work.

[@PaddyWV]

There's a ferry down at Newhaven Harbour that just got out the way for you! 😄

[@heatherread5314]

The bach always sends shivers down my spine. Was in st.davids Pembrokeshire once and organist played this stopped me in my tracks had to sit down and listen wonderful noise.

[@paulbennell3313]

That is beyond awesome! They'd have to wrestle me away from the keyboard and forcibly remove me from the premises!

[@FreddyVan]

Ian, without doubt that is the best video you have ever made. We’ve been watching you more or less since you started as Classic Hub, and have been lucky enough to have met you a few times too. Your excitement in this video is so genuine, and a testament in why you have such an avid audience. Thank you so much, Janet & Simon.

[@hubnotes]

Thank you!

[@MrTimcoronel]

Hence the term 'pulling out all the stops'

[@alansimpson835]

I'm with you Ian. Pipe and wurltzer organs fascinate me. Looks like a lot of multitasking but what a result. They sound so good in a church. Beautiful ending too. The last organ I witnessed was the self playing fairground one at Grampian Transport Museum on Monday. Always makes me smile. You should visit. Take Bob and Miss Hubnut to Scotland.

[@tony-yp6qk]

another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍

[@wgeddis]

Absolutely brilliant. I love the sound of an organ, especially the pipe organ and a big building like a church or cathedral makes it sound even better. I grew up listening to my parents music from the 60s and 70s and wondered what kind of keyboards they used back then because they sound very different. Turns out it was Hammond organs that they used and my favourite band is Deep Purple because of the Hammond organ they use. Smoke On The Water wouldn't be the same without it.

[@Redgolf2]

Ian, I'm IMPRESSED! Nice one, as a fellow musician I feel the excitement hehe We had a big one in my Pugin Church, got permission for my brother to play it and he rocked the place, particularly with his Goodbye To Yellowbrick Road! 😃

[@michaelwright2986]

I'm glad you got to actually be in an organ (try that with a synthesizer). You would have liked an event that happened where I live in Auckland: the three local churches have interesting organs, so the enterprising Chinese woman who'd just taken on the position as organist with the Anglicans thought this deserved celebrating, so she organised an organ crawl. Two were made by significant local makers, but the star is the little domestic organ the Baptists have, which is late 18th c. and still fairly original. Very interesting, but the highlight for the kids was the ability to pump the organs by hand, and I enjoyed that very much, too. Apparently the right shoes for playing an organ is an issue. Also, well done for avoiding organ double entendres.

[@huwdavies6650]

The Pipe Organ that used to Reside in the Parish Church in Llanelli Town centre was a former theatre organ from The Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road. It was replaced many years ago as it was in serious need of repair, I'm not sure where it ended up. The only person who could actually play it was a gentleman who always doffed his Bowler Hat to the ladies, he also owned a local company that produced cough mixture. Hactos Cough Mixture.

[@dogsbody49]

Fascinating. I have only seen the church from outside. It look s huge & towers over the whole neighbourhood.

[@dlittlester]

When I was a boy, we had an upright grand. Our piano tuner was blind.

[@adrianday8678]

Soo good more of this please

[@eddiestevenson-kaatsch6306]

Glorious stuff, Ian !

[@CauliflowerMcPugg]

Brilliant! Pipe Organs are a truly amazing instrument. As the video started I had Toccata in d minor in my head so to hear it played at the end was wonderful. 😁👍

[@petercrosland5502]

Lovely bit of Hubnutstein to finish. Glad you sorted your bourdons from your tibias.

[@frenchhornwoman]

WOW. Now come to Coventry and have a look at the cathedral organ.... The acoustics are mental. 😆🤣

[@GlennPowell-ls3lg]

Start the party by the Prodigee.Banging tune.

[@huwdavies6650]

Bravo. Love the sound of a pipe organ. I have had the pleasure many years ago of hearing The Heroes Organ in Kuffstein being played. An awesome instrument. Also used to enjoy listening to The Organist Entertains on Radio 2 until it was taken off air in 2018.

[@robertngreen6]

Someone's job many, many years ago would have been to get those bellows working in the days before compressors! Very interesting video!

[@KEATRONICS]

Thank you kindly, that was an amazing review. My family (Albert Keates) used to build these monsters.

[@richardharrold9736]

I knew the organist here for many years, Bill Sibbey! Although not through the church organ world, but through the entirely different world of the theatre pipe organ... this organ is arguably the magnum opus of its maker, not a hugely eminent name like Willis or Hill (one of Hill's finest organs is in All Saints Hove), but a little treasure nonetheless. Some of the Pedal division in this organ is actually 1980s vintage electronics!

[@gazp2194]

I was waiting for the aliens to land !. Close encounters of the 3rd kind

[@carllawrence787]

Love pipe organs and loved learning how they actually work. Also enjoyed you doing the Phantom of the Opera and Bach always love his music.

[@nickjh1968]

Wonderful stuff Mr Hubnut! Thoroughly enjoyed that, and the end was an absolute treat, what masterful playing by Philip, incredible!