A longtime promise
“ The whole assembly worshipped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded ... ”
— 2 Chronicles 29:28
In May 1976, Pastor David Ullery was a 42-year-old preacher building a congregation at a site some called "St. Dinky's," and Tom Gerke was a 26-year-old organist who had just arrived in Columbus to continue his teaching career.
When Ullery first asked Gerke to consider becoming organist at All Saints, Gerke demurred. The young musician had hoped to play on a mighty pipe organ. Not easily dissuaded, Ullery asked Gerke to see the church's brand new Saville organ before deciding.
The organ might have failed to win Gerke over, but fortunately for all, the congregation did. After finding a group of people interested in Lutheran worship and devoted to sacred music, Gerke said, he became organist at All Saints in August 1976.
And all along, Ullery promised Gerke the congregation would have its pipe organ.
“We’ll have one when we finally build a sanctuary,” Ullery said, and although he didn’t live to see this day, dying unexpectedly on Sept. 3, 1996, his vision has been fulfilled.
The sanctuary dedicated in 1986 was designed to house a pipe organ, and in May 2007, the gallant Saville organ was finally retired. The new organ was installed in June 2007 and dedicated in October 2007 to the glory of God, in memory of the Rev. Doctor David Ullery and in recognition of Gerke’s more than 30 years of service as All Saints’ organist.
Many think of the organ as where the organist sits. However, in a pipe organ the console is only part of the total instrument. The organ is the pipes and everything within the organ chamber, which the organist controls from the console.
How do organ pipes produce sound?
An electric blower in the organ chamber provides air at steady pressure to wind chests that serve the three divisions of the organ: great, swell and pedal. The organ pipes sit in ranks (rows) on top of the wind chests. When the organist plays a key or presses a pedal, an electrical contact is made that completes a circuit, causing the wind chest to open the valve of the pipe corresponding to that key. When the valve is open, air passes from the wind chest into the pipe causing the pipe to “speak” or play.
Why do pipes make different sounds?
There are two types of pipes.
- Flue pipes: Like a toy whistle, air blown into a flue pipe passes through a flue (narrow opening) in the mouth of the pipe. Sound results from the vibration of the flowing air as it hits the upper lip of the mouth opening.
- Reed pipes: Like a party horn, the airflow into a reed pipe causes a curved brass tongue to vibrate and produce the sound. This sound is magnified by a resonator, the part of the pipe in which the column of air vibrates.
The tone color of the pipe is determined by the following:
- scale (ratio of diameter to length),
- material (wood or various alloys of metal),
- adjustments made to its mouth, and the
- shape of the pipe.
The pitch of the pipe is determined by the pipe’s length from mouth to top.
What kinds of pipes are in the All Saints organ?
Three colors of sound are produced by the flue pipes: the basic organ sounds called principal (Principal, Octave, Diapason),
- the softer and mellower sounds called flute (Gedeckt, Sub-bass, Bourdon, Koppel Flute)
- orchestral string sounds called string (Salicional)
A fourth color of sound is produced by the reed pipes, imitating reed and brass orchestral instruments (Trumpet, Clarion, Oboe, Trombone.)
These sets of pipes are also called “stops,” controlled by a stop knob on the console. A stop usually has one pipe for every note on the keyboard (manual) or pedal board. Depressing a stop knob blocks the airflow to a set of pipes, silencing them. Pulling a stop knob out opens the airflow, allowing the sound to be heard when the key is played. When more stop knobs are pulled out, more pipes are ready to play; hence, the expression “Pulling out all the stops.”
Why do the sounds of some pipes get louder or softer?
The sets of pipes in the Swell division are enclosed in a “box.” This box has louvers, or shutters, along two sides of the box. When the louvers are closed and the box is closed, not as much sound can be heard. The organist controls the louvers by depressing an expression pedal on the console. As that pedal is pushed, the louvers gradually open allowing more sound from those pipes to be heard. It is said that the sound “swells”. When the organist closes the pedal, the sound is diminished.
A letter from our builders
Our new pipe organ for All Saints Lutheran has been a particularly exciting project for us. We worked with the organ committee many years to develop a plan that has now come to a happy conclusion.
We are a smaller builder in northeast Ohio. We are not a factory, but a collection of seven craftspeople who enjoy building custom pipe organs by hand. We take pride in working with a few clients who recognize the value in unseen detail.
The instrument we have built for All Saints has been designed first and foremost to lead congregational singing. To do this well, the organ must sing forth with rich energy that inspires the voice to praise God, easily blending its voice with all of yours. A “choral organ” such as this contains solid bass, rich and warm middle ranges and restrained trebles. The organ is located high and in the center of the church, which is the ideal location. You planned well when the church was built, and we thank you for that. Organ building is much more rewarding when the church building is designed for natural sound and singing.
Of special note are considerations given your choir. The new organ will be used a great deal with your trained choristers. We have built the new organ with the ability to send certain sounds more directly into the choir loft when required. This will allow the organ to better balance the choir and not to overpower it.
Because we know that impressive facts are of interest, here are a few: The organ contains 1,624 pipes, made of wood (poplar), pipe metal and zinc. Pipe metal is an alloy of lead and tin that is unique to the pipe organ craft and has remained almost unchanged for over 1,500 years. The gold front pipes that you see are real pipes that are functional. We bring the larger metal pipes of pleasant proportion to the front and in this case have painted them with bronze powder mixed on lacquer. The console sends an electrical signal up to the pipes, which trips a valve that lets compressed air into the pipes. There is a 1hp, 3600rpm blower that provides the air for the organ.
We thank you most sincerely for the opportunity to build this instrument. We hope to continue our happy relationship with All Saints Church for many years to come.
Charles Kegg, President
Kegg Pipe Organ BuildersFredrick Bahr
Philip Brown
Michael Carden
Joyce Harper
Charles Kegg
Philip Laakso
Bruce Schutrum
