Tuning in the Loft
Up in the loft, the pipes are separated from the choir space behind narrowly slatted walls on the east and west. I sit at the two manual pipe organ, pulling stops and holding down the keys one at a time, as instructed. The keys trigger the air that blows through the pipes, and Dan, his ear trained through decades, adjusts them until the sound is clear, free from any hint of vacillation. I am a musician and have tuned instruments and learned to hear differences in tone and pitch, but this skill is different. I attend church with Dan. He is an organ builder, which fascinates me, and has asked me to help him with a tuning today.
“Bassoon!” Says the voice. With many of the low stops pulled, a deep, booming, throaty thrum bounces through the rafters of the Nave. I turn my head to watch it, and imagine the sound floating down on the heads of the parishioners in a different time…
Echoes of 1958
It’s fall, 1958. The first hymn in the newly dedicated Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, accompanied by this giant organ in its loft, has just finished. Two stories up, the smooth, arched ceiling rebounds their voices. I can only imagine the way that would have sounded to these faithful parishioners, who had been using this organ, parts of it anyway, since 1890, tucked away in a basement.
For many years before that, they used a small pump organ that had been donated. The pump boy must be enjoying his break. The old hymnals still have some German verses under the English ones, in italic type. The names in the congregation reflect the heritage of its founders: Keiner, Waddell, Eisenburg, Lobban, Killian, and Henkel. Scotch-Irish and German settlers from the 1800\’s. I can almost hear their intermingling accents.
Many of these immigrants worked on the railroads, in lumber yards, and in mines. They were hard times. The people heated bricks to keep their feet warm during the long drive to services, toes freezing on the way home. It was worth braving the cold to warm the spirit. What balm and comfort a common faith must have been.
Photo courtesy of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Ship of Grace
Grace is unique in its design and construction. “Grace’s sanctuary is shaped like a ship, symbolic of Jesus Christ leading our ministry of faith and action into the community and the world.” – Curtis Bowman, 131 Years of Grace. From my position, the sun shines through stained glass “port holes” on the east side, glowing across the pews in purple, green, blue, and red. The hanging conical pendant lights offer focused illumination, as have Grace’s Pastors.
Photo Courtesy of Daniel K Smith
Tales from the Pipes
Nothing pulls a community together like worship, and nothing pulls worship together like music. Hymns are such a marvelous mashup of faith, heritage, local tradition, and hope. Perhaps the organist is the most often overlooked contributor in a worship meeting.
Photo by Daniel K Smith
Not to mention the organ builder. Dan Smith comes out of the pipes, dusty from head to foot, with a bead of sweat on his glasses. He has to crawl and climb through precarious places to do what he does. He was commissioned to rebuild this organ in 2015 and has tuned and maintained it since. He’s got some fun stories to tell.
Photo by Daniel K Smith
“Once, many years ago, I helped work on an organ in the mountains of Kentucky. In 1936, the organ was sent up the mountain on a long-abandoned logging rail line. It was evidently quite precarious, as the tracks were in very poor condition. It was then taken from the tracks to the school chapel by wagon.” He went on to tell me, “There was a story about the organist coming in to find a rattlesnake coiled up next to the organ bench. I’ve never seen a snake in an organ. Plenty of bats, though.”
I suddenly appreciate the well-kept loft I’m sitting in, and throw an impulsive glance at the foot of the bench. I picture the organist letting out a scream and running for the Pastor. That story survived 90 years, made it all the way from Kentucky to Virginia, and helped foster a sense of community between cultures. See? Organists.
Listen to what a Barckhoff organ sounds like:
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