|
The Lay Family
Concert Organ!
 Let's
look up at the front of the concert hall. Do you see the organ
pipes? That is the Lay Family Concert Organ - It was built especially
for this room by the C. B. Fisk Organ Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts,
and is also known as the Fisk Opus 100. Opus is a word you hear
a lot in music. It means work, so in other words, this is the
100th organ made by the Fisk Company.
|
 Pipes
How many pipes can you see? 25? 50? 75? Well, there are a lot more
pipes out of sight behind the pipes you can see. Does anyone want
to guess how many? It's a big number
4,535! |
 Pipe
Sizes
Not all of the pipes look like the ones we can see. Those are round,
and made from metal, a mixture of metals called a tin alloy. There
are other pipes that are made from wood, and not all of them are
round. Some are even square-shaped.
 The
largest pipe is 32 feet high (that's almost as tall as a three-story
building) and 64 inches around. 
The smallest
pipe is less than an inch high, and only about 3/8 of an inch
around.
|
|
 Pipe
Sounds
Now, who can tell me what type of sound that a small pipe will
make? That's right - a very high-pitched sound, like a whistle.
And the largest pipes will make what kind of sound? That's right,
a very low sound. In fact, it's so low that you can feel the vibrations
through your chair.
 The
shape and size of the pipe also affects the tone or timbre of
sound that the pipe produces. The Lay Family Concert Organ is
quite versatile - it has pipes that sound like many of the instruments
in the orchestra, including flutes, trumpets, and even the tuba.
It also has pipes that allow it to sound like organs from different
countries, such as France and England. Of course, it can also
sound like your church organ.
|
|
 Blower
Motor
Here's a
simplified overview of how an organ works. Down in the basement
is a huge blower motor. Think of a hair dryer or leaf blower on
steroids. When the blower motor is turned on, it sends air up
through the organ.
|
|
 Ranks
The pipes themselves are grouped together in what organists call
"ranks." (Organists have their own vocabulary, so we'll learn
what they call the different parts of the organ.)
The ranks are set
together on boxes known as "wind chests," with the bottom or "toe"
of each pipe down in the box.
The bottom of the
pipes is closed, so the wind chest is airtight. The air from the
blower motor travels through hoses into the wind chests and stays
there, waiting to get out.
|
 Stops
 The
organist then chooses which pipes they want to play by operating
the "stops." The stops are the white knobs on either side of the
"console", where the organist sits. (Have you ever heard the saying,
"Pull out all of the stops"? That would mean that you had set the
organ to play all of the pipes at once. It would be very loud, so
when you say, "Pull out all of the stops", you're saying that something
is a really big deal.) |
 Manuals
and Pedalboard
Once the organist has chosen their pipes, then they prepare to play.
The Lay Family Concert Organ has five keyboards; four to play with
the hands, known as "manuals," and  one
that is played by the feet, known as "the pedalboard". |
|
Linkage
 When
the organist presses a key, a mechanical link connects that key
with the chosen pipe.
 One
of the most significant things about the Lay Family is the fact
that there are mechanical links from the keys to the pipes, creating
a very complicated mechanism.
|
 When
the key is pressed, the mechanical link allows air to enter the
pipe from the wind chest, and the column of air vibrating in the
pipe creates sound. |
As we discussed earlier, the shape, material and size of the pipe
will determine the exact sound heard. |
|
Watch
a video on the Lay Family Concert Organ   
Do
you have any questions about the organ? If so, send
a question to DSOKids!
|
