El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-02-21
Tie GOSSIP CORNER
By RUTH MoNRO AUGUR.

TN THE $1,000 pipe organ now being
; assembled in the Church Of St
= Clement, Ell Paso viii have. not
| only the finest organ in the city but
| one Of the very finest in the entire
| state. I had a wonderfully interesting
I time Investigating the "innards" II
this splendid instrument the other day
| with II. G. Bastow. the church organ
/ ist. as my guide. 7 found so many
! things that were absolutely new TO me
I that 7 thought those Of The Herald
readers who are not organ PLAYERS
might like to know about them too
" course all organists know all about
lnese things. but there are very few
Of them in FL Paso, anyway. In the
! Iirst place, what / had always thought
OF as the organ, isn't the organ AT all
3 y IS called the console. or KEY board
As TINS is an electric organ. Is really
almost like an electric switch board
me console is situated on the opposite
side OF the chancel 30 feet from the
I organ, which is the name applied TO
me pipes Connecting the console with
ne pipes are approximately $50 miles
OF electric wire. These wires are run
lnrough II cables. eacn cable carving
. strands Of wire. The organ includes
-FOUR organs. the swell organ, the great
organ, the choir organ and the pedal
organ The swell and great organs in
clude all the stringed instrument
tones. reed tones and woOdwind and
flute tones. The choir organ has the
plccolo- clarinet and Inuted and viola
tones, and the Quintadence notes. The
pedal organ controls 4 variety OF these
same tones and the chimes as well.
There are three keybOards. or manuals.
The stops. which are arranged on each
side. on vertical jambs. set at an angle
OF - degrees, may be worked indi-
s va any by as and when desiTed- They
pistons, or little electric push buttons.
directly below each key board. Above
the upper manual is 4 row Of couplers,
by which any combination Of keyboards
or stops may be connected, and also
any adjustment Of octaVes, either above
or below The pedal keyboard con-
troled by the feet has 90 notes Il is
built radiating and cOncave so that any
note on II can be easily reached, with
out strain or effort. by the feet There
are little electric meters above the up
per keyboard to indicate the full pres
sure OF wind coming to the organ and
also indicating the amount of cres-
cendo. The wind is blown into the
organ from 4 three and a half horse
power motor. IN the basement of the
church. This motor makes 1855 revoiu-
tons minute, with pressure OF five
and a half pounds to the square inch
The organ proper is composed Of 223f ]
pipes and nine chimes covering % I
notes. The largest pipes are 1G fee
are square in shape instead of round
The smallest pipe is 7-16ths Of an inch o
in size and Is the highest g on the
scale, two OCtaYes above the top c on
piano. The pipes are made OF wood. [
zinc, and zinc mixed with lead. The art
istry of the manufacture of these pipes I
lies IN the skill OF this mixing Of lead 1
and zinc for the production OF tone
When all the pipes are IN place. nicely :
gilded pipes on the exterior cover up all D
the interesting part Of the orgal. Be (
hind these is a fascinating room Of sew
eral stories. to which one gains entrance I
by means Of small LADDERS. The pipes
are assembled in groups in this little /
room with shutters. opening by cleo
tricity, by which the organist, Operat- /
ing the key board, controls the volume /
of sound emitted. Each individual pipe /
requires 10 be skilfuily placed. adjusted /
and tuned and in the assembling Of /
these, Two skilled workmen are devOt- \
ing their time. These are H. r TOeu1er 4
and George Bolinger, OF the NJ p. !
MOller organ factory Of Hagerstown,
Maryland, where the organ was made I
The organ has been built to order. ac- /
cOrding to specifications provided by /
H c. Bastow. so that It viii be suited /
TO the size OF the church and the needs (
OF the Episcopal church ritual When
assembled. the weight OF the organ Is
ten tons.
After having turned an iuvestigative
and inquiring eye on all the intricate
of this magnificent instru-
ment 7 then sat on The organ bench
and watched the orgalist- We all ad-
mire the ability Of an orchestra leader {
but hereafter, I shall hold IN most lofty
awe any human who can play an organ
The organist Is whole orchestra bT
himself, as well as the director. When
) on think OF reading ana know ing the