Quimby Pipe Organ Tour - March 1st 2022 - Building the Immaculata

[@godwingretysd6402]

This entire church project is amazing and the church building is magnificent. However, only 20 ranks of pipes for the main organ really is grossly undersized considering the scale of the structure. This new church has a planned capacity of over 1,000 people according to press releases (largest Catholic church in Kansas, which is awesome). However, according to the APOBA (Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America), a church with seating for 1,000 should have between 65-86 ranks in the organ as a rough estimate. Therefore, 20 ranks represents only about about 1/3rd to 1/4 of the pipes typically called for in a gallery organ in this size of a church. The unfortunate truth is that in buildings of this size, the larger number of pipe ranks may be something more like a necessity than a luxury. Many TLM churches seem to prefer the French practice of using the organ to lead/accompany congregational singing of the Kyriale, as well as lead entrance/recessional hymns. In addition, both loud and softer organ literature seems to be used. The smaller Aolian-Skinner Chancel organ might be able to do this for private masses with smaller capacity, but certainly not in a fully packed church on a Sunday or feast day. Therefore, the bigger organ would need to be powerful enough to lead as well as accompany. Sound needs to reach from the back to the front of the nave to support the whole congregation with a solid amount of sound still in reserve. In situations with a larger organ, the volume would be provided a combinations of more stops graduated in appropriate volume. In a larger specification, pulling out/pushing in the appropriate number of stops could result in fine-tuned differences in tone and volume to accomplish all of these tasks. In this case, you can voice some of the 20 ranks to be very powerful to reach the front of the nave, but then it will be challenging to get the graduated "range" of "soft-to-middle-to-loud" sounds that are useful for a church organ; there just aren't enough pipes to fully bridge the gap and balance with other combinations. You could "borrow" stops from different divisions or use "unification" to make a bigger stoplist, but this does not fully solve this problem as it doesn't really change voicing/tone. Also, unification, while useful, can be a problem if used too much. It basically means using one rank/row of pipes for multiple "stops" via electronic switching. If one rank has a problem such as a cipher (note sounding by itself) or dead note, it will then affect more than one stop/division, hindering playability of the organ. Quimby is a good organ builder with a proven track record, so that is a plus. Hopefully if the current 20 rank plan goes through it is indeed expanded over time. However, adding 30-60 ranks to a 20 rank organ could be more difficult than just starting from scratch and building a brand new, bigger organ....

[@andrewpearce2562]

As a pipe organ builder who trained with Rieger in Austria and organist, I completely agree. Around 40 stops would not only provide sufficient options for accompaniment, but also greatly increase the repertoire options, which are definitely VERY limited with a 20-stop spec. Additionally, it is very disappointing that no value was seen in building an instrument with MECHANICAL action - the historical, superior standard and the standard to which the organ building community has returned to for at least the last 40 years - which provides a far superior playing experience, enabling the organist to play much more precisely than with any kind of electric or electro-pneumatic system. The membrane-style electropneumatics here are, in contemporary organ building, normally only used as additional/supplementary wind chests, and electric actions in general, regardless of windchest type, are only used in spaces which do not permit the console to be mechanically connected to the instrument - which is definitely not the case here. The balcony appears to provide a perfect clean slate for realisation of an ideal build, even if one did have to build the organ in two halves so as to not obstruct the window. On the bright side, maybe the very small scale of the gallery organ will prompt the sale of this instrument and the installation of a completely different organ after a certain time.

[@AG-fl3kl]

Wonderful detail, thank you!

[@justinreid2422]

You'll know them by their fruits 🤗 ☦️☦️☦️ TREMENDOUS WORK

[@stthomasmore4811]

First off - blessed be God that you are investing in real pipe organs. You will not regret this. And now, I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but only 20-something ranks for a Gallery organ in that GIANT church? Gentlemen, that is quite small. Sigh. Welp, I hope as Mr. Quimby said, that it will be scaled and voiced VERY generously. I love the Society - and what you are doing is VITAL for the universal Church - but this is one of my chief complaints about traditional chapels/parishes: a penny-pinching mindset often prevails and they rarely aspire to full and lasting excellence in these high-price musical ticket items. In my experienced opinion, for a church your size, you needed approx. a 2.5 - 3 million $ organ project, and at least 35-60 ranks in the back capable of playing all the GREAT Catholic repertoire, and probably could have done so. The little Aeolian-Skinner will definitely be beautiful and helpful, but goodness, if there arises any opportunity to ADD to this Gallery instrument even before it's built - PLEASE PLEASE consider doing so! I'm a Guild Member for the Immaculata project and a musician, and you all have my complete support! God bless.

[@andrewpearce2562]

As an Austrian-trained pipe organ builder and musician, I completely agree. Also, see my reply to Godwin below, regarding the type of action. And I don't think an adequate instrument would need to exceed $1 million, at least not with European prices.

[@JGAstaiza]

For the Glory of our Creator.

[@rubygamboa5532]

Gift from God.

[@louisIXco]

🎹▪️▪️◾️▪️ Aaaspeeeerges meee! 😸

[@lovelylisa421]

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥