Klarinet Archive - Posting 000213.txt from 2000/03

From: "Dodgshun family" <dodgshun@-----.nz>
Subj: Re: [kl] Falling in love
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 01:24:43 -0500

<snip>

> There's another group of wind players that's got us all beat, though: the
> pipe organists. On the Pipeorg-L and Pipe Chat lists, almost every time
> someone writes about a gig or even a church service, the report includes a
> run-down of what parts of the organ didn't work this time. Those guys
tinker
> or die.

My dad's a pipe organist. I'm regularly called in to help him fix bits and
pieces of his church organ, not to mention tuning....it's seeing this that
makes me realise that I'm really rather lucky in the lack of problems I
have....

> Organists have their wish lists the same as clarinetists, except an
organist
> can forget about setting up the instrument just as he or she likes it or
or
> even setting up the best possible maintenance schedule, because the
condition
> of the organ is totally at the mercy of a budget committee. A whole new
> organ of any impressive size costs anywhere from US$250,000 to well over
US$1 > million. We gripe about the cost of new pads and corks. Restoration
of a
> deteriorated old organ can easily run into tens or even hundreds of
thousands
> of dollars. If the budget committe fails to come through, of course,
> there's always "Midnight Organ Supply." Conventional wisdom among organ
> builders is that a third of all organ pipes have been stolen at some
point.

Dad is actually in the process of building an organ here at home, which
means I stand and hold pieces of wood while he drills lots of holes in
them. The organ easily wins as the most complex instrument of all. Just as
an aside to this thread, can anybody enlighten me as to why church organs
are so rarely at concert pitch? My orchestra played a concert using the
organ in St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, and I've NEVER had to pull my
clarinet out that far before. Organs in concert halls are at concert pitch,
so why not church organs?

Anna

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