Anna Lapwood explores the inside of the Royal Albert Hall organ

Watch viral TikTok sensation and our Associate Artist, organist Anna Lapwood, as she is given a tour of the inside of our organ by Daniel, the organ curator.

[@auralsonicwaves7170]

So many people don't realize the scope of space that large organs require. You can't just cram the pipes into a space without allowing room for the maintenance and tuning of every single pipe. The organ is often called "The King of Instruments" due to the complexity and magnitude of sound capable of such instruments. I am hoping to be able to attend a concert of Anna before my time on this earth expires.

[@johanlhuman]

Ditto!!!

[@MrOneofsix]

One of the most fascinating videos i have ever seen, the sheer scale of the instrument is unbelievable.❤

[@SmallBlogV8]

I think it's hard to realise the scale of an organ normally, so this was quite eye opening. I mean, how many musical instruments have _multiple ladders_ inside of them? And make a bass drum look like a tiny novelty addition, tucked away in a corner? It's no wonder they are structurally integrated into the building they inhabit.

[@PieterBreda]

That organ is one enormous unit.

[@TigerP1]

WOW! A beautiful organ and a beautiful artiste and a beautiful video. Who could want more?

[@davidarcus5131]

Thank you for this glimpse inside the gem of the RAH. The KZbin algorithm must have figured out that I just sent off a comment about how wonderfully maintained and in-tune the organ sounded on one of your video clips, so it's great to get to "meet" Daniel and hear you both speak about the all-important work of prepping an organ like this for performances. Six hours on the unencl. reeds alone! That doesn't include the Choir and Solo orchestral reeds, or the Swell division, with its own amazing battery of chorus reeds (including Tubas), and the enclosed 32-foot Trombone! Flue tuning is altogether something else, with multiple compound stops (mixtures, etc.). That could be a week's worth of overnights right there.

[@philipstrachan455]

Thank you so much for showing us the magnificent piping of this organ. It is amazing!

[@Wayne_Robinson]

It's a rare musician that can embark on a multi-story hike through the instrument they play.

[@OrganMusicYT]

The beauty of these instruments is variety. You can have a pipe organ big enough for your house or one so big, it's an obstacle course to get to all the different parts. Works of art they are!

[@DaHaiZhu]

What matter of Insanity is this!!! I had NO IDEA there were soooo many PIPES! Simply INCREDIBLE!

[@ds1868]

The number of pipes is either 9,997 or 9,999, there is not complete certainty on the actual number.

[@DougCassellMusicman]

This is totally amazing. I have gone on a few Organ crawls here in the states. This instrument that I’m just learning about is just incredible. I totally love it someday I’ll be able to hear it (bucket list). I need to get a passport first ha ha Anna I love your presentations and concerts, etc. is totally breathtaking. Thank you for sharing this. I totally appreciate it.

[@fairbanksjp]

Just amazing all the pipes and tubes that allow the organ to function. What a wonderful behind the scenes tour.

[@tonyfuller]

This and where we saw you Anna just before this was a brilliant start to a brilliant concert. Very glad you did not fall over onto some of those pipes!

[@TeeDeeCommunications]

That tour was absolutely amazing - thx Anna and Daniel 😮 Is it constant job of continually tuning ? Is it like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge - once done you start again and work your way around again or do organs keep tune fairly well?

[@dstrome]

Thank you Anna and Daniel for making this video. You made my day!

[@deltamme82]

Wow, I didn't realise how much of a setup it is..love the video.. will try and come and hear it in action sometime .

[@thomaswalters4365]

This footage is greatly appreciated. I've always wondered what the interior of the RAH organ looked like. I had seen many views of the Great division previously but that was it.

[@normanchristie4524]

One of the regrets of my life was buying a ticket to hear Handel's Messiah, mid-day on New Year's Day in 1962. Unfortunately I went to bed after an all night party and slept in. The St Andrews Hall burned down in October that year.

[@profalucciano]

Fantastic!

[@Ryan.C.Hallengren]

So nice to meet you all, I'm Ryan Hallengren.

[@Riviera1972]

I always loved the organ. This is such an amazing and impressive instrument. Thanks for showing this piece of art.

[@jonh9561]

Watching this from Australia and remembering my time attending concerts at the RAH ....... a very special place!

[@sixohdieselrage]

It's like you guys read my mind. This is incredible! Thanks for sharing! 😊

[@Suspan1]

Thank you for a brilliant tour of the organ. You just can’t imagine the scope of it. The biggest one that I’ve seen inside is the Royal Albert Hall in Nottingham.

[@Mike-kc8rl]

Sitting in the audience, you only see a small part of an organ, and quite often, that is a selection of ornamental pipework ! This is an impressive organ at 9998? Pipes but there is a good KZbin video of the insides of the Wannamaker organ with 28700 pipes on several floors! Now that's a big organ!

[@timburton5280]

What a fascinating video, that thing is MASSIVE. It must give you a great feeling of power when sitting at the console knowing you have total control over this houseful of pipes, various tuned percussion instruments and one of your favourites, a drum.

[@KyleJarrett1337]

Can you hear the smallest pipes from the back of the house? How many inches of pressure do they speak on? Thank you so much for doing this, absolutely awesome. Ms. Lapwood is an amazing ambassador of this instrument. Please keep up the stellar content

[@samrodian919]

These pipes are voiced for the space the sound has to fill and I expect the main flue work soundboards are probably originally around 6" of water manometer pressure. That believe it enough is only one sixth of a pound per square inch pressure, one PSI is around 29" wind gauge ( manometer) wind gauge is just the organ builders nickname for it. ( yes I'm an ex organ builder ) when Harrisonand Harrison rebuilt the organ , probably the second rebuild by them they increased the action wind pressure to 15" and this made the actions rather loud in operation I have a couple of LP records of the organ dating from the late 1960's and you can clearly hear the stop actions working during registration changes and in some quiet passages you can hear the note actions working because the wind pressures were so high. I think the action pressures were lowered during the last rebuild. Incidentally in 1986 I was turning the music at the console for a friend who was playing at a Redbridge schools choral music concert( which was held every two years) and there were so much leaking wind around the console it was almost chilly!

[@gegessen159]

I was thinking the same thing. I know it is massive and takes large rooms, but it is still fascinating how such small pipes are loud enough to be heard outside the organ, let alone the complete hall

[@ds1868]

​@samrodian919 The Great reeds which you see in this video are on 25 inches of wind pressure. This pressure was restored to this level in the rebuild by Mander organs in 2002-04. The Tuba Mirabilis which is also positioned with the Great reeds is on 30 inches.

[@Doobie2100]

Thanks for the awesome tour!!!

[@user-bz8zp5ly8w]

Absolutely fascinating ❤

[@barnarus]

Wonderful!! My favourite organ of all!! Do more tours inside!!

[@deantiquisetnovis]

Thank you for this video. It makes me appreciate the work of my late grandfather, who was a master organ builder, even more. I remember staying with him during school breaks and we built a small organ. Just using the very small pipes ❤

[@josephosowski5036]

This is truly fascinating! Thanks for sharing this.

[@jrwtalbot]

I am fairly sure this must have been the day she played her late night organ Prom concert on 25th July 2023. Several contemporary classical pieces alongside three excerpts from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack music for Interstallar. It was very good.

[@miketrenkler2577]

Thank you for the tour.

[@AldenDoble]

I had no idea it was that vast 😵‍💫

[@marcychristoff219]

That was very cool!! Thank you.👏🎶🎹

[@carlfalkenau]

Absolutely wonderful!

[@ArtFreeman]

This is very interesting. I love pipe organ music but seeing the internals of an organ is fascinating

[@philipperkins7083]

Thank you both very much for this interesting insight. This is a most amazing instrument. The only slight shame is that you walked past many, many interesting organ pipes without explaining them at all. And I didn't see the massive bass pipes - the most impressive of all at 35 feet, nearly as tall as the building itself? Is that correct? This would have added a little time to the video, but only 20-30 seconds perhaps.

[@dcallan812]

I work for a company and built an electrical distribution cabinet, curved of course. But as a teenager I played in a brass band competition. Happy days

[@malc121]

So different and interesting thanks ❤

[@montyzumazoom1337]

Wow Anna! What an impressive instrument that is. How on earth would you ever start to design, tune and maintain something like that? That was an incredible and very interesting tour, thanks for sharing this.

[@reggiebosanquet1525]

Hello, the organ was completely rebuilt in 2002-04 by Mander Organs. That cost nearly £3 million and involved cleaning the pipes and replacing the action and winding. It's a mammoth instrument, the second largest in the UK and the largest concert hall organ in Europe.

[@backi480]

It is simple.. In the beginning there was only a Pipe😉 Then 5 .. 10.. 50 and so on With every Step upwards the Maintenance "grow" the same Step The Men who build such an Marvel have Years of experience and a huge "Libary of past Projects" Tuning .. i have no clue but i think the Guy who does the Job has a "Plan" what is important and then work it out besides "real planning" i dont think that work at this scale there are always "things" that go wrong

[@michaelmiller1215]

Really enjoyed the video!

[@Bigal0407]

What an absolutely brilliant video

[@melaniamonicacraciun9900]

Seems to me you are doing a great job indeed, never stop believe in guys, fans are always here to backup you, long live freedom of expression and let only music rule the world... then, nothing else matters

[@arthouston7361]

Amazing. Truly.

[@danielmkubacki]

So cool!

[@renaeaz76]

wow! I had no idea

[@burz]

Would dusting the interior of the organ change the sound?

[@williamstephenjackson6420]

Magnificent! 😍

[@1700iDiGuy]

If all the stops for all the ranks were pulled and all the pipes played at once, imagine how loud it would be!

[@G6JPG]

I've sometimes wondered: with great organs like these, _does_ anyone ever "pull out all the stops"? Would the pumps have the power to operate that, even just for a chord, not all notes at once?

[@user-lx3th5on8l]

Hahaha everyone would be deaf

[@nxmrjake]

Wow!!

[@andrewmcfarland57]

Organist stumbles.; organ technician puts another pot of coffee on... 🙂

[@sentinel76]

Wondering if Anna Lapwood would be happy to take a request for Grand Admiral Thrawn's theme from the Star Wars Rebels animated series?

[@dnbeckmann]

wow

[@chrishood57]

Amazing amount of dust 😮

[@JontyTrain]

Did you manage to get to the bottom of the little winding problem on the last chord of the concert?

[@paulmetheny2126]

Toccata in D minor. Would you please do us this when your not busy. Would be a real TREAT. 🥰

[@rodolfolarrea8493]

Crazy … just crazy …

[@miahoover9225]

My dad used to tune, repair and install pipe organs.

[@misstitchpot]

I was holding my breath and hoping she didn’t fall onto the pipes!

[@paulmetheny2126]

You better put some lights in there so you can see what's going on.😮

[@aBachwardsfellow]

You would definitely not want me to be walking through an organ with no sleep ...

[@ajthegreat2006]

I’d have loved to have seen inside the old ‘bar’ that is now the swell :)

[@ds1868]

Actually the Solo and enclosed Bombard division. The Swell division is located in another part of the organ.

[@Sathrandur]

I was just thinking about commenting about my anxiety regarding the risks when carefully walk through those pipes when she slipped! That made me gasp. I do not enjoy watching others walk through those narrow passages. I think of all the possible damage to be done with a single incident, especially with the smaller pipes.

[@user-lx3th5on8l]

Whoa it's mighty dark in there it needs more lights 😮😂😊

[@Lion_McLionhead]

Surprised the tuner's keyboard isn't a wireless phone app by now. Must be a union job.

[@principals16842]

The people working on the (even larger) Boardwalk Hall organ in Atlantic City, NJ do exactly that. They can select stops and press notes on an iPad. The juxtaposition of old and new technology is delightful to see!

[@crasthenalti0226]

The technology didn't exist when this instrument was last rebuilt to do that. In 2024, we install that technology into most new electric/electropneumatic action organs. And upgrading an organ to have that capacity is actually a major job! many older instruments aren't compatible with digital technology at all, and even those that are may not be able to handle that kind of requirement.

[@DodderingOldMan]

When I become a billionaire, I'm gonna build one of these in my spare room and use it to learn basic piano skills on. The neighbourhood will tremble under the tumultous cacophony of me trying to learn how to play Three Blind Mice.

[@G6JPG]

I'm now going to search KZbin for Three Blind Mice on an organ!

[@danield2689]

I wonder how they wipe the dust...

[@backi480]

Realy interesting ! But why is there so poor Lighting in the Organ ? If someone miss a Step because of "Blind Guessing where to step" and fall into the Pipes .. Bingo Pipes broke ..Man broke Are there in the UK no Safty Rules about that German Electrician asking😉

[@wingslanding]

How often if ever do you dust? Perhaps you never dust as it may change the pitch. Dust of ages]

[@zapfanzapfan]

Don't fall over and knock the instrument out of tune! 🙂

[@libertyvilleguy2903]

There are 4,000 holes in those organ pipes.

[@DuraLexSedLex01]

The 4,000 holes are actually in Blackburn, Lancashire. And that's how we know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

[@cnagorka]

My gosh is that thing dirty, sounds great but boy that organ needs to be cleaned up.

[@ds1868]

This has been noted elsewhere. The organ hasn't been cleaned since the rebuild of 2004. It really needs it now.

[@G6JPG]

If you're volunteering …