[rodgersorgan] Locked consoles / stolen equipment
- From: William E Ehrke <diapason@xxxxxxx>
- To: "rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:29:27 -0500
Since we're trading stories, a few incidents come to mind at the end of
a hard day (everything that's been a minor annoyance for three months is
suddenly an emergency the week before Easter).
Many years back when Baldwin 5A's were common one of my customers
suffered ten or a dozen broken stop tabs during Vacation Bible School.
That could have been prevented by better supervision, but maybe there
are "times" when it's judicious to lock everything in sight anyway.
As for intentional vandalism, two local churches have had organs heavily
damaged by intruders in years past. In one of those cases the piano and
organ as well as other equipment were trashed by someone wielding a
microphone stand as a sledge hammer. The organ was a total loss. It
was locked, but that was no hindrance to the vandals.
My favorite tale took place 30 years ago at a church where I played a
Rodgers 22B. Someone broke into the organ chamber intent on taking the
speaker cabinets - each of which was pretty large and contained an
amplifier in those days. They came prepared with a pair of wire cutters
but didn't know the difference between signal cables and power cords,
and lacked the smarts to find the other end of the cords and unplug
them. They must have gotten a dramatic surprise when their cutters bit
into the cord of one of the amplifiers. They left the speakers behind
as well as the cutters with strands of melted copper clinging to pitted,
smoked jaws. It really tickled the cops who responded the next morning.
As for sheer meanspirited possessiveness, some organists do operate in
that swamp. We have a local church with a very classy pipe organ built
along northern germanic lines. In a nice nod to modern convenience it
features a combination action with 8 memory levels. Unfortunately no
one but the church's own organist gets to use the memory. The organist
allows others to play for weddings or funerals but shares only the power
key, not the memory key, leaving the pistons nonfunctioning. This
person also generally "forgets" appointments when guest organists are to
practice, and typically shows up with the power key about 10 minutes
before a wedding. The church secretary says they put up with all of
this because the organ is so good that no one else is qualified to play
it!
Now - something constructive to counteract the "locked console"
syndrome. If your church has a children's choir program, let the kids
from the various choirs come to you for regular organ tours. Show them
that the organ can whisper and shout. Show them its different sounds
and different moods. Let them operate the stops and play the keys. Do
a little fancy pedaling for them. Invite them to watch you play the
postlude on Sunday. Pick someone to push the cancel piston when you're
finished. Maybe you'll spark interest in some potential organist's
soul!
B.E.
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