"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing." (Psalm 100:1-2)

Serving the Streetsville and Meadowvale communities since 1836.

Phoenix Organ Installation Diary at Streetsville United

At a special congregational meeting held December 15, 2002 the congregation of Streetsville United Church approved the purchase and installation of a Phoenix PD-351 Digital Organ to replace its current Keates Pipe Organ with some components dating back to 1920. This diary will attempt to log the progress of the organ's construction and installation during the spring of 2003.

Wednesday, April 30, 2003

And now for a literally Hot organ technology .....

Not a lot to report so far this week: Rob is working on finishing the organ loft enclosure and final voicing will commence at the end of the week.

In the course of this experience I have determined there are three general categories of organs used by churches:

Saturday, April 26, 2003

Another Installation Log

An interesting contrast is provided by the Installation Log for a new traditional pipe organ being installed at La Cathédrale de Lausanne, Switzerland. With over 6500 pipes, 120 ranks and 100 speaking stops the basic installation of this organ required over three months (along with cranes and other assistance devices); the subsequent voicing is anticipated to require about eight months. Looks like they are targeting first formal use for this year's Christmas season. For our organ the time from initial delivery to completion of voicing will be less than one month; the installation will have required in total the assistance of ten to twelve people with only five doing the majority of the work.
Posted 4/26/2003 11:40:00 a.m. by Jim Courtney

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Updated Pictures

Check out some new pictures of our new digital organ at the Tolton Organ page. Don't forget to click on any of the pictures in the right hand column to get not only an enlarged picture but also some descriptive narrative. Enjoy!
Posted 4/24/2003 10:29:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Toccata and Fugue: a Little bit of Bach to check out for Acceptance

Today was one of those days for administrative activity. Jim Anderson from Phoenix arrived to tie down the speaker wiring, deliver the Sequencer and tidy up some other loose ends in preparation for Don's return next week to carry out the final voicing.

This evening John Shillingberg, our Music Director, arrived early for choir practice in order to do acceptance testing. For over half an hour we were mesmerized by an ad hoc recital as he worked through several very demanding J. S. Bach pieces, including the very familiar Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV565. It is interesting on how organists pick up on small but critical nuances. When he finished, he commented on how the pause between depressing a key and hearing it from the speakers was identical to what his experience on traditional wind-driven pipe organs has been for a similar action.

In the end, John and Bernie Brennenstuhl agreed that we could officially accept the organ with the understanding that Don will return next week for final voicing.
Posted 4/23/2003 10:05:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Monday, April 21, 2003

Going, going, gone...

Today we sold the previous Keates traditional pipe organ components to the successor Keates-Geissler Pipe Organs Ltd. and assisted clearing them out of various storage locations in the church and loading them onto a truck. Being with an organ manufacturer they have become a resource available to be used for some other party's benefit and musical inspiration. The Keates-Geisler personnel were very gracious and professional in their dealings and certainly can be recommended for consideration by those who are looking for a traditional wind-driven pipe organ.

Our thanks to Les Cunningham, Bruce Emerson, Doug Hitchcock, Bruce, Robbie and John Sparrow, and Diane Wilton for their assistance.
Posted 4/21/2003 06:20:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Sunday, April 20, 2003

Easter Sunday: A Full Sanctuary

Over the past three years we have acquired a (traditional) acoustic piano, built up three bands and now installed a new organ. At our Men's Club breakfast a week ago Friday, Jim Anderson of Phoenix discussed the North American trend he was seeing where many churches (especially those with larger and younger congregations) were forsaking the traditional music accompanied by an organ for bands with guitars, electronic keyboards and other contemporary instruments in an attempt to stem declining participation. His feeling was that in today's music ministry there needs to be a convergence of traditional and contemporary church music to provide the mix of inspiration needed to keep congregations covering all age groups vibrant and active.

Today's Easter Sunday worship service demonstrated the power of such a "converged" music ministry. It combined pre-service contemporary singing, led by our Boomer Band, followed by a traditional organ prelude, an introit and initial hymn followed by more singing led by the Boomer Band, a trio employing special features of the new organ and an anthem accompanied by our piano. The service demonstrated the inspiration generated by this powerful music combination; having the new organ was the final pillar that brought music to life for the entire congregation throughout the entire service.

Given the response of our music leadership, the choir and the congregation today, we look forward to many similar inspiring worship opportunities.
Posted 4/20/2003 12:45:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Saturday, April 19, 2003

Not to be Overlooked: High Quality Woodwork Craftsmanship

For all we admire the music put out by our new organ, one other aspect has received enthusiastic praise: the quality of the workmanship in the console. Phoenix's close attention to the woodworking detail has resulted in a piece of furniture that is a very welcome addition to our oak-paneled choir loft and pulpit stage woodwork.

As one example, the colour match of the stain to that of the new pulpit stage addition built last summer is as perfect as one could expect; it blends right into the surroundings. But other details, such as the unique design of the music rack lamp which illuminates both the music and the manuals as well as the inclusion of a "pop-top" storage area in the organist bench, simply add to the organist's ability to comfortably deliver quality music. The day before delivery Phoenix found a minor fault in the rolltop cover and completely replaced it, working through the night to ensure that there was no compromise in its appearance, while delivering on schedule. I know of another instance where a wood component was replaced to meet their quality standards.

As mentioned previously, the majority of the time spent in preparing and building the console is related to the woodwork; in the end, it is an appropriate complement to the quality of music provided.
Posted 4/19/2003 10:06:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Friday, April 18, 2003

First Service

Today (Good Friday) marked our first worship service employing the new organ. After the first hymn, Rev. John mentioned in the course of the announcements that the atmosphere during the hymn was "electric". Robin then pointed out that she had not really opened up yet. Providing a prelude and postlude, accompanying hymns and other aspects of the worship, the organ was well received across the congregation; hymn singing was certainly more robust. For those of us in the south balcony, there was definitely a noticeable difference in the "presence" of the organ due to the new pipe chamber openings. Easter Sunday, with a full house, will provide the final answer as to what acoustic adjustments will need to be made, if any.

Comments after worship included: "Are we arranging to remortar the bricks? (last done ten years ago in a building restoration project)" and "Finally we can now compete with those teens stopped at red lights!". As mentioned previously there are still some minor adjustments to be completed; as well we have discovered a building fundamental resonance at the FFF keyboard pedal on the 32' Bourdon stop. (This just proves, however, that our 1876 structure is largely earthquake-proof as the resonance is above frequencies associated with earthquakes since the resonance did not occur on lower notes.) Being the church's problem, we will investigate the source and damp it out.
Posted 4/18/2003 01:10:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

First Choir Practice

Voicing continued throughout the day, concluding with the programming the rise in volume associated with the Crescendo pedal. All three tonal specifications have been voiced; it turns out that, using all the stored stops for the other three manuals, they can create a fourth tonal specification representative of a theatre organ, incorporating effective use of the Tremulants. Don spent an hour giving Robin, our organist, a guided tour of the Tolton Organ, explaining parameter setting and stop changing in detail. During the afternoon Don incorporated reverberation effects (yes, there is a use for that embedded reverb box); it gave a whole new definition to the musicality and poignancy of the resulting notes.

Tonight our choir had its first exposure to the organ with very favourable feedback. On arriving at the sanctuary, John Shillingberg was explaining how he would need a couple of weeks to explore its many features and options. But then he sat down at the console and played Saint-Saens Organ Symphony (well, at least the organ part) and a couple of other favourites, bringing the sanctuary to life. While the choir initially practiced in the Choir Room to allow Robin some familiarization time, they eventually returned to the main sanctuary and rehearsed an anthem and several (Easter) hymns, accompanied by the organ.

I used the opportunity to explore the impact of the resulting music at various locations in the sanctuary, especially the balcony. The main impact is that just about everywhere, there is a fuller, richer organ sound experience. At my normal seat on the south side of the balcony, we will actually hear the fullness of the organ sound for the first time; having pipe chamber openings that face the sanctuary makes a big difference. Keep in mind that there are still adjustments to be carried out next week; we look forward to your feedback following our Easter weekend services.
Posted 4/16/2003 11:09:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

The Organ Arrives

Monday night was spent cleaning up a variety of uncompleted tasks prior to arrival of the organ: this involved laying carpet on the new organ pit floor, ensuring the pipe chambers were free of encumbrances, finalizing electrical connections and preparing for new grill covers for the two pipe chambers.

At 12:35 p.m. today, under record high temperatures for April 15 (27C) and clear blue skies, our new Phoenix Digital Organ finally arrived at the church doorstep. Seen at left are several of the keen members who came to provide assistance with getting the console into the sanctuary: Bruce Emerson, Dianne Nowoselski, David Penty, (Rev.) John Tapscott, Charlie Walsh, Gary Clipperton, Jim Anderson (Phoenix) and Les Cunningham. Kerry Poulsen is also hidden behind David; Don Russell was there somewhere. With so many assisting, the console was on the main sanctuary level within minutes. and rolled right up to its newly renovated organ loft. It was initially placed in the center of the pit to leave room for the speaker cable attachment. At this point Peter Mara arrived to connect the designated (but standard) outlet to the church power panel.

Prior to its arrival, Bruce and Don Russell removed some of the pipes at the rear of the choir loft to prepare for arrival of the replacement Great Division speakers to accommodate the dimensions available. One of the greatest challenges was getting the 25 cu. ft. sub-woofer into the right (north) pipe chamber; only removal of the door permitted unfettered access. One other preparation detail: Les Cunningham and I assisted with the mounting of the panel covers to cover the newly created hole in the pipe chamber front walls to ensure minimum interference with generated sound.

Within two hours of its arrival, upon completion of the speaker wiring, notes were being generated on the Great Division. After moving the console into its final position and installing the pedalboard and bench, Don Anderson, Phoenix Organ's Chief Organist and Technology Officer, commenced his voicing activities, initially on the Great Division whose speakers are mounted behind the pipes behind the choir loft. Most interesting aspect here was the ability to hear the notes of a Diapason stop run across the entire physical width of the choir loft pipe chest and back (and alternating notes from side-to-side as a traditional pipe organ might). Subsequently Don moved onto voicing the Swell, Choir and Pedal Divisions for the English tonal specification.

The entire evening was spent voicing the organ, getting initial settings for each of the stops to ensure better fidelity of sound. Before leaving, Don played a hymn that literally shook the choir pew I was sitting in. (Managing volume is probably going to be one of our organists' major challenges.) Tomorrow Don will continue voicing and spend some time with our organist, Robin, in preparation for the first choir practice.

Pictures on the Tolton Organ page have been updated to reflect the final console and configuration.
Posted 4/15/2003 10:44:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Friday, April 11, 2003

Speaker Installation

Thursday night simply resulted in laying the floorboard for the new organ loft as well as bring the speaker wiring up into the organ loft.

Today (Friday) started off with a presentation to 31 members of the Men's Club with some anecdotal stories about church organs. Three key points he made:

Church music is in decline; many churches are losing their membership because they cannot balance youth's need for "band" music with an older generation's need for traditional religious music.

The Phoenix Organ design, with its digital pipes and instruments, can contribute to bringing a church music ministry into balance without sacrificing quality of sound.

Following breakfast many members assisted with unloading Jim's van containing our speakers. We then progressed to installing the speakers -- the antiphonal speakers at the rear balcony; a set of four speakers for the Swell Division in the south pipe chamber; a set of four speakers for the Great Division behind the pipes above the choir loft and a set of three speakers for the Choir and Pedal Divisions in the north pipe chamber. The latter will be supplemented with a sub-woofer for the Pedal Division also located in the same chamber. Jim was ably assisted by Les Cunningham, Gary Clipperton and Bruce Emerson, moving shelves, installing mounting plates onto walls, removing pipes and connecting the wiring.

To install the speakers into the Great Division at the rear of the choir loft, we had to remove not only the rear sets of traditional pipes but also the front row. Howver, this left too little distance (by about an inch) for some of the speakers and their depth. Jim will bring suitable replacement speakers of at least the same cu. ft. volume on Tuesday. The picture on the left shows the location for the two small speakers that are still capable of delivering 100 watts each for the Great Division.

Work continued for cleaning up the sanctuary for Harry Mitchell's memorial service tomorrow and our Palm Sunday services. Work to complete the organ loft, especially the finishing wood work and trim, will resume on Sunday afternoon. The console, along with the sub-woofer, will arrive Tuesday morning. It is expected that sufficient installation to permit use for our Easter services will be completed Tuesday evening.

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Gradual Progress

Yesterday (Wednesday) Gary completed the speaker shelves in the pipe chamber, Peter rewired the organ pit and environs (for instance, we needed some outlets for our bands) while Rob and Bernie built the supporting framework for the new organ pit floor. You will notice exposed (1876) brickwork on the wall at the previous location of the "Clarkson Gate"; that gate will be reinstalled in the new south wall of the choir loft/organ pit. Speaking of 1876 construction we have uncovered the original lathe and plaster ceiling of Heritage Hall and found several square hand-forged square nails left as construction debris.

The recent inclement weather over an extended period of time caused delivery delays for one component of the organ; we have rescheduled its arrival to next Tuesday while the speakers will be installed and wired this Friday. This past Tuesday Phoenix performed the complete installation of a similar organ at a church east of Toronto. Apparently near the end of the day, the minister asked Don to play a hymn, passed out hymn books to about 15 or 20 congregants who were present and away they went. The minister wanted a preview of what it would sound like at its first service this Sunday; his subsequent comment was to the effect that this organ will enhance the singing amongst his congregation; this mirrors a comment made by a minister at an installation we visited when evaluating organs. Get ready to sing, folks!

Jim Anderson of Phoenix will be the guest speaker at our monthly Men's Club meeting Friday morning. I am sure he will have some interesting anecdotes to relate.

Finally in closing, the purpose of this diary was to allow our members to continue to be informed on a daily basis due to the latent enthusiasm I had been sensing around the church. From comments I have heard over the past few days, we are achieving this objective; I am constantly amazed at the number of people who come up to me and are following this diary. As a secondary objective I hope its record can help other congregations anticipate and resolve issues that may arise in the acquisition of a new organ (of any type); in our original investigations we found a significant dearth of independent information to assist us with our acquisition decision.
Posted 4/10/2003 07:00:00 a.m. by Jim Courtney

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

Quiet Day

Today we completed arrangements for the electrical outlets and switches. With so much exposed area it is an opportunity to also install additional outlets for use by our various bands as well as improvements to the PA system and elimination of those ugly industrial grade enclosures by moving the associated switches and outlets to more appropriate post-installation locations.

Tomorrow: completion of shelves in the pipe chambers for the speakers as well as laying out the floor joists for the enlarged organ pit. Still expect delivery of the organ Friday, provided the forecast improvement in the weather actually occurs.
Posted 4/08/2003 10:31:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Monday, April 07, 2003

Sanctuary Preparations

Today was largely spent cleaning up final items remaining in the pipe chambers, removing the floor of the previous organ pit in preparation for its expansion, cutting out the pipe chamber openings to allow better sound distribution from the new speakers and installation of the first speaker shelf. The first involved removal of one final large windchest and endless pulling of various wires and cables from the former organ. We got good news on removing the floor of the organ pit; we will be able to make the new floor as deep as we had wished while making allowances for new wiring and outlets; also there are no obstructions to brining the speaker cables through the floor. But I think we also uncovered construction junk from previous projects; if the hand forged square nails are any indication, some may go back to the original 1876 construction. This would be consistent with construction junk -- broken bricks, etc. -- we found stashed inside the outside buttresses and brickwork openings in 1994 when we had to carry out major renovations on the church brickwork.

It now appears that, due to all our inclement weather, the new organ console will arrive Friday morning but this still does not put us off schedule. In the interim we will complete the speaker shelf installations and the expanded floor area of the new organ's pit. We are targeting to have the sanctuary in good shape for a memorial service on Saturday; this means we will not complete a new wall for the organ pit/choir loft until next week. Tomorrow involves completing the electrical arrangements.

We have announced availability of over 500 pipes associated with 8+ standard pipe ranks and have received some initial indications of interest. Thanks to Gary Clipperton, Les Cunningham, Bernie Brennenstuhl and Dave Faulkner for their assistance today.
Posted 4/07/2003 09:47:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Sunday, April 06, 2003

It's a Miracle that the old Organ ever Worked!

Today we decommissioned and removed our Keates traditional pipe organ, originally cobbled together in 1960, using parts from a 1920 organ, and refurbished again in 1980. (But not before Robin gave it one rousing rendition of Holy, Holy, Holy as its last organ postlude.) At about 12:15 Peter Mara made the electrical disconnection. As we dissassembled the console we uncovered a maze of wires, several boards of diode matrices and a wiring connection job that would have stressed out even the most demanding technician. Not one main cable to the pipes, but rather a maze of cables that would confuse even the most diligent wiring technician. Definitely 1960's electronics at its best (and let's face it .. this organ turned out to be electronic in many ways except for the sound generation). At the end of the day we have available for sale an organ console shell, a two manual keyboard and a RCCO standard pedalboard; whoever acquires them will be able to take advantage of digital technology to create a new pipe organ.

Another crew worked on removal of the pipes in the pipe chambers; here we were easily able to remove the pipes and lay them out on the pews but the challenge lay in removing the associated wind chests. In the picture on the left, Les Cunningham is diligently trying to figure out how many additional screws are holding down this windchest that held part of the Bourdon Pedal Rank. The pipes are either laid out on the pews or, to keep the smaller ones sorted out by rank, stored in plastic boxes pending their sale. The availability of the pipes for sale will be made known tomorrow on some pipe organ discussion forums on the Internet.

Pipe organ builders take great pride in their work; what we uncovered today demonstrated that they required significant dedication and focus to complete a fully operational pipe organ, capable of responding in a timely manner to every keystroke of the organist. However, this comes at great expense -- not only monetary but also highly demanding, detailed manual labour to build a quality instrument. Today's digital organ (and certainly the Phoenix model we have acquired) not only delivers authentic pipe organ sound but also significantly reduces both the complexity of installation and the space requirements. We really had an opportunity to appreciate this first hand today.

Tomorrow construction of the speaker shelves in the pipe chambers commences along with the first work on the choir loft modifications. By the end of the day tomorrow we should have a handle on how low we can make the floor of the organ enclosure after having a chance to observe the structure below the organ pit. To accommodate the new console work will also commence on expanding the organ pit to the south by about 20 inches. We thank Bernie Brennenstuhl, Rob Butterworth, Gary Clipperton, Les Cunningham, Dave Faulkner, Peter Mara and John and Dianne Wilton for their assistance today.
Posted 4/06/2003 10:31:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Friday, April 04, 2003

Organ Components for Sale

Information about our traditional Pipe Organ Components for Sale. Check out what is available and see pictures of the various ranks and Keates Organ Console. Make us an Offer; first review of offers will occur April 30, 2003; conditions and contact information are available on this page.
Posted 4/04/2003 10:37:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Learn More about our new Phoenix Organ

See the latest pictures of our new Phoenix Organ. When visiting the Phoenix factory yesterday I took several pictures related to the new organ. Meet the Phoenix Crew; learn about the Trompette en Chamade stop that John Shillingberg requested; check out the keyboards; have a look at the digital electronics and more.
Posted 4/04/2003 10:27:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Thursday, April 03, 2003

First Notes: Assembly Nearing Completion

Today I visited the Phoenix factory to have a first hand look at progress to date. As can be seen it is now possible to put together an assembled console (although they still need a day or two to complete some internal work). The first point I checked out was the colour compatibility of the stain; there is an excellent match to the choir loft woodwork. Don commenced configuring the stops yesterday evening. While many stops have been configured, he needs another day to complete this (about 125 stops across the three organ tonal specifications). But I did hear the Harp, the Instrumental Cello/Violin, the Cathedral Choir as well as many standard pipe organ stops such as Open Diapason, Leiblich Gedeckt, Trumpet and several others. At the moment Don is simply using the test speakers; however, the speakers for our configuration are all completed except the sub-woofer for which a decision on whether to use a 10 cu. ft. or 20 cu.ft. enclosure will be made upon receipt of a component for the 10 cu. ft. candidate; the challenge here is to accurately reproduce the lowest note down to 16Hz of the 32' Sub-Bourdon on the Pedal Division. The picture on the right shows the two candidates for the sub-woofer along with the Pedal Division woofer. The Antiphonals are also completed and ready for testing and installation.

The Phoenix team responsible for the assembly includes Don (at the keyboard), who supervises overall design and personally attends to configuration details related to the digital stops; Scott, the meticulous wiring master; Kirk, a very skilled carpenter responsible for a lot of the detail on the woodwork (the main panels are initially created using NCC machinery) and Jim, who looks after all the operations details. They certainly have earned our respect for quality and completeness of workmanship. Some final details related to the delivery and installation were coordinated. While the choir loft and pipe chamber modifications will commence after Sunday's service we expect to take delivery of the console and speakers next Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon.

Posted 4/03/2003 08:35:00 p.m. by Jim Courtney