Organ of the Finney Chapel of Oberlin Conservatory

The Organ of the Finney Chapel of Oberlin Conservatory is Fisk Opus 116, built in 2001. It is modeled after french-romantic instruments of the 19th century, notably those of Aristide Cavaille-Coll. It replaced Aeolian-Skinner Opus 230-A(1955), which was itself a rebuild of Skinner Opus 230 (1915).

## Description

This organ has four divisions, labled in the French rmantic style: Grand-Orgue (G.O.) Positif, Recit, and Pedale. The Positif and Recit are under expression, although the Positif shades, at the fully open position, are perpendicular to the front of the case so that the sound may escape minimally shuttered (unlike the Recit swell-shades which are approximately 45-degrees open at their most open position).

The Fisk organ has two seperate modes that govern registrations. American mode uses pistons and sequencers to program registration changes, like any American church or concert instrument since the 20th century. French mode disables the pistons and activates ventil pedals in the same way that French Romantic organs operate. The G.O. division has real ventils for the Fonds and Reeds, but the other divisions simulate ventils (incidentally, the G.O. reed ventil pedal must always be pushed down when the organ is in American mode).

It has mechanical key action and electric stop action. Some ranks which are extensions and borrowed, such as the 16-Montre in the G.O. and Pedal and the 32-Montre which is an extension, or the 16 and 32 Bourdon which is similarly an extension, are tubular-pneumatic action.

The organ is built upon the foundation of the French "Fonds": Montre, Harmonic Flute, Gamba, and Bourdon. All four ranks can be found at the 8-foot pitch in the G.O. and Recit. The Grande-Orgue is firmly grounded in a 16-foot Montre and Bourdon, features a brilliant 5-8 rank Petite Fourneture, and a 2-rank Grande-Fourniture which adds a 5-1/3' rank for gravitas, in addition to 16' 8' and 4' Trumpets. Besides a 16' Basson and 8' 4' Trompettes, the Recit has a Basson-Hautbois and Voix Humaine. The Pedal division boasts a full battery of Bombardes from 32' to 4', and full Fonds at 16' pitch.

The G.O. Action, and divisions coupled to it, are controlled by the Kowalyshyn Lever, a Fisk specialty that uses wind power to assist the action similarly to a Barker Lever, but in a way that is more refined. The Octaves Graves is operated by the Kowalyshyn Lever, which plays the G. O. and all divisions coupled to it an octave lower.

## French Mode Pedals

 Tr. P / Tr. R
 T. R. / T. P. / T. Go.
 O. G.
 Ped. / G. O. / Pos. / Rec.
 C. Go. / C. P. / C. R.
 R. P.
 Rev.
 + / -

## American Mode

The Fisk organ has hundreds of memory levels available for students and guest organists to use. There are 15 general pistons, and 6 divisional pistons for each division including pedal. A sequencer is available to use, which cycles through each general, and automatically moves to the next memory level when it reaches the end.

However, the sequencer has a list mode available, in which the organist can choose the order of general pistons to cycle through instead of starting at general one and simply going to the next. This mode makes 40 general pistons available per memory level instead of 15, but generals 16-40 must be chosen or set by a seperate screen instead of being selected by one of the buttons 1-15. In List and regular modes there is a "All piston is +" button, where pressing any piston including general pistons cycles to the next the same as hitting the "next" button.