Custom-made specifically for the University of Northern Iowa, the organ is designed according to historic tonal principles, but simultaneously takes advantage of current technology. For example, the organ has mechanical key action, just as all organs had prior to the advent of electricity. The keys are short and the pedalboard is flat, just as they are on historic instruments. These traditional elements provide students with the experience of making music in a manner similar to that of composers who lived centuries ago. However, certain modernizations are desirable for teaching music in the 21st Century.
Historic organs require all organ stops to be changed by hand.
Historic organs were also pumped by hand, resulting in a variable air supply. The Wolff instrument is equipped with a wind stabilizer, which allows the organist to select either variable or steady wind pressure when playing more modern music. The hall is named to honor Noma Rupprich Jebe and her husband, Emil H. Jebe. Mrs. Jebe took great interest in organ history and created an endowment to the School of Music which included funds toward the purchase of a new organ. Dr. Jebe, following his wife s death in 1992, left a bequest to fund a hall for the new organ.