Q: What makes the pipe organ a remarkable invention?

A: The pipe organ was considered the most complex machine ever built until the invention of the computer.

Q: How did the pipe organ serve a similar role to modern instruments like the synthesizer?

A: Long before Robert Moog’s synthesizer, the organ could imitate the sounds of strings, woodwinds, brass, and even percussion through its different pipes.

Q: What was the earliest version of the pipe organ?

A: The earliest form of the pipe organ was the hydraulis, invented in Ancient Greece during the 3rd century BC.

Q: How did the hydraulis work?

A: It used a hydraulic system where the weight of displaced water created air pressure in an airtight container to power the pipes.

Q: When did the organ begin using bellows instead of water pressure?

A: During the Byzantine era (6th or 7th century AD), air was supplied by bellows similar to those used in fireplaces.

Q: When did organs start to become larger and more complex?

A: By the 12th century, organs were growing in size and complexity.

Q: How did people initially feel about organs in churches?

A: Ironically, there was tremendous resistance to the introduction of pipe organs into churches. Organs were considered at best secular instruments, and worst devilish ones. (After all, organs had been played in the amphitheaters to accompany feeding Christians to the lions!)

Q: How did attitudes toward the organ change by the 20th century?

A: By then, organs had the opposite problem – they were associated almost exclusively with churches.

Q: What major development occurred during the Renaissance?

A: Organs were equipped with keyboards, allowing players to control more complex sounds.

Q: What happened when more sets of pipes were added to organs?

A: Each key could trigger multiple pipes at once, producing a fuller but sometimes monotonous sound.

Q: What invention helped solve the problem of monotony?

A: The stop was invented. The word stop is a misnomer; it doesn’t actually “stop” anything, but instead allows air to flow to only the sets of pipes that the organist specifies, creating dynamic and tonal variety.

Q: What does “pulling out all the stops” mean?

A: The expression “to pull out all the stops” refers to opening all the stops to let every pipe sound, producing the loudest and fullest tone possible.

Q: Why were additional keyboards (manuals) added to organs?

A: Each manual could control a separate set of pipes with its own tonal character, letting the organist play multiple “organs” at once. This is why, to this day, the French word for organ is plural: Les orgues.

Q: What is the keyboard for the feet called?

A: It’s called the pedalboard, which plays the lowest notes, often one or two octaves below the manuals.

Q: What is a coupler in organ design?

A: A coupler allows the organist to connect different keyboards, enabling them to play multiple manuals or pedals simultaneously.

Q: How was air supplied to large organs before electricity?

A: Before electric blowers, bellows required one or more people to pump them manually while the organist was playing.

Q: How is air supplied to modern pipe organs?

A: Today, the air is provided by an electric blower, a powerful fan that blows air through wind ducts into the bellows.

Q: What are the two main types of pipes in an organ?

A: The two types are flue pipes and reed pipes.

Q: What are the three families of flue pipes?

A: The three families of flue pipes are:

• Diapasons (Principals)
• Flute Stops
• String Stops

Q: What are Diapasons or Principals?

A:  These are the pipes in the façade that are visible to the audience. They sound at various pitches to reinforce the different pitches in the harmonic series. When they are pulled together, it is called the Diapason chorus or Principal chorus. This is the characteristic sound of an organ. These pipes are usually made of a combination of tin and lead. The higher the lead content, the mellower the tone, but the weaker the pipe. The higher the tin content, the brighter the tone, but the stronger the pipe. For this reason, pipes larger than 16 feet in length cannot be made with pure lead without collapsing after only a few decades. Zinc, which is much stronger than lead, is often used for the largest pipes. Copper is also occasionally used. It is stronger than zinc but is very expensive.

Q: What are Flute Stops?

A: These pipes, which, true to their name, imitate the sounds of flutes. They vary significantly in tone color. They can be made of metal or wood, and can be open or closed at the top.

Q: What are String Stops?

A: These pipes imitate the bowed instruments of the orchestra. They are usually thinner and more tapered than Diapasons. A Celeste is a rank of string stops that is intentionally tuned sharp or flat to the rest of the organ, to create the undulating effect of an entire string section.

Q: How are reed pipes different from flue pipes?

A: Reed pipes produce sound through a vibrating metal tongue rather than air flowing over an edge.

Q: What are the main parts of a reed pipe?

A: A reed pipe has two parts: the boot (which houses the vibrating tongue) and the resonator (which amplifies and colors the sound).

Q: How does the reed pipe produce sound?

A: Air causes the tongue to vibrate inside the boot. The resonator amplifies the sound, much like the human larynx works in conjunction with the head cavity.

Q: What kinds of tones can reed stops produce?

A: Reed stops can range from soft and clarinet-like to extremely powerful, like a trumpet or trombone.

Q: What are some examples of reed stops?

A: Examples include trumpet stops (often installed horizontally and made of brass) and trombone stops (usually made of wood or, if metal, called Bombardes).

Q: Where is the oldest playable organ in the world located?

A: It is in Sion, Switzerland, built around 1400 AD.

Q: Where is the largest playable organ in the world located?

A: The largest organ is in the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium in Atlantic City.

Q: How large is the Atlantic City organ?

A: It has seven keyboards and over 30,000 pipes, making it the biggest playable organ on Earth.