Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1920-03-31
THE MODERN ORGAN
AND ITS ANCESTORS

Once upon a time a youth passing
through a thickst cut a hollow reee
and carefully blowing into the enc
discovered that he was producing q
sound, a musical note, possibly the
first he had ever heard aside from ths
song CT the birds round about him.
Cutting another reed he fount
sound, again, but of a different pitch
and by combining a number of these
reeds, after probably many efforts, he
evolved a set of perhaps>a an octave OF
consecutive tones, and thus developed
what we now call Pans Pipes, the
first organ.
Then some one discovered that t
adding Of q moutllpiece made the
blowing easier and that instead Q
many tubes, one alone could be
enlightened or shortened by the use
if finger holes, and 50 the Shep.
herds Pipe. The shepherd sooE
earned that by using a pipe in eac'
land he could produce two tones a
The same time, and here we have tn:
beginning Of harmony.
The invention of the bellows, prob
lh!y in connection with the black
smiths forge, furnishing a means for
obtaining more wind made it possible
20 use larger pipes, and more of them,
md in this with the addition of 2
:csnCard we have the foundation c
he modern pipe organ.
The organ of today has three de-
2artncnts, blowing plant, action am
,ipes. The first usually consists Of {
an blower, the wind at a pressure
# frc@l 4 to 10 inches by the blower
gauge, being conveyed to the organ
hest. a box of about eight feet ir
eng:h containing the valves which
admit the wind to the pipes which
est upon the top in double rows.
The organ keyboard contains the
Keys. from two to five sets of five
,ctlvcs each; the Pedal keys, which
ire the bass Of the instrument, and
which are played by the feet; the
top knobs or tablets one for each
CIV Of pipes, the couplers for con-
lectiny the different keyboards or for
adding octaves to the notes played;
nd the combination pistons for bring
ag CT certain selected combinations
f steps. This keydesk is connected
o the chests by a cable of hundreds
# separate electric wires.
Each keyboard controls a s~acticn
f the organ called according to TIE
Iuai:ty of its tone the Great, Swell
1hoi~. Solo, Echo, or Pedal organ.
n the Great organ are the full round
:ones Of the instrument, in the Swell
organ are the finer, more expressly:
stops while the Choir organ is a col-
'ecticn CT smooth toned pipes of med
UNI scales. The Solo organ contains
few stops but of large scale and upc
! high pressure of wind which makes
hem very assertive. The Echo organ
s generally at a distance and sub
lued in tone. The Pedal organ l.
he lass CT the instrument and con-
airs large pipes mainly sixteen feet.
through sometimes thirty-two and sew
n sixty-four-four feet in length.
The pitch is regulated by the
eN%.h Of the pipe, the normal or
,iano pitch being produced by a pipe
measuring eight feet in length en- the
i!3waSt note. A four foot pipe pro-
luccs \ note an octave higher and 4
wo f2ot pipe two actaves higher.
The largest possible pipe is sixty-four
'act in diameter, and vihratcs four
iM"s q second. The smallest is three
quarters Of an inch in length with five
thousand vibrations per second.
Tie great variety Of tonal qualities
.ontaircd in the modern organ ant
he ease with which it may be cen
rolled renders it quite distinct from
lie %p>nderous Cathedral instrument
# our fcrcfathers, and makes posi-
! lie is use as a concert instrument
IS VII .ch it is becoming very popular.
The possibilities of the contrasting
If the various departments of thu
organ, the combinations of the won.
icrful assortment of tones, the ef-
Sects of coupling the various key
boards. arc almost endless and call
COR a lifetime Of study to properly
manipulate the organ, well called tn,
King CT instruments.
rIJEv al IARRIFn NJ