Tag: organ

Posted in music

Back in the balcony, back on the horn

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It’s been four years since I played trumpet for Easter Sunday. After that hiatus, I’m at a new church that has a pipe organ in the balcony with a talented organist. I introduced myself and said, “If you a trumpet player for Easter, I’m willing to play.” She immediately accepted my offer, got me some music, and we set up a rehearsal time.

As we ascended the steps into the loft, I thought, “It’s been fourteen years since I played in a church balcony.” That was for my son’s wedding. In the meantime, I usually played hymns and descants for Easter worship. But since my retirement, I didn’t have those opportunities. Until this year.

I started getting into shape after Christmas, hoping I’d have the chance to play. Playing at home is different than playing in a church. At home, my sound easily fills the bedroom where I practice. In an empty sanctuary, standing in a balcony, in front of ranks of organ pipes, it’s different.

As a rehearsal begins, I fight the temptation to over blow, thinking I have to fill the room with sound. I forget how far the sound of a trumpet carries. I’m behind the sound, not out in the space. It’s hard to relax, getting used to a new accompanist.

But after a few minutes, it feels familiar. Air fills horn and the pipes. Music fills the air. I can feel the vibrations from the big pipes. From the corner of my eye, I follow the head and shoulders of the organist. The notes fit together. It’s thrilling and motivating. I love this.

What an enjoyable gift from the Lord to be able to make music. What a gift to give it back to the Lord, too!

Posted in Stories

The day we discovered the United States Pipe Organ Company

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I grew up in the southwest corner of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, and in throughout my elementary years, my friends and I would frequent a creek about a quarter-mile down Chester Pike from my house. It’s official name was the Little Crum Creek through which Ridley Park Lake emptied into Crum Creek and out into the Delaware River. We simply called it the “creek.”

I remember spending amazing amounts of time catching minnows, building dams using all kinds of rocks in and around the creek, and tossing the biggest rocks we could find off the bridge to see how big of a splash we could make. Every once in a while we would explore a little further down the creek which ran alongside an old Boeing plant.

One exploration took us through a fence to an abandoned building that was littered with old wood and metal organ pipes. We blew through some of them and made all kinds of sounds. We didn’t take any of the pipes and didn’t stay very long, which is good because we were probably trespassing. I didn’t realize then what we had stumbled upon. Later when I went to churches that had actual pipe organs, and saw all the ranks, I had a better idea of what we found.

Every once in a while that memory pops back in my head, and I wondered who had left a bunch of organ pipes in an old building somewhere near Ridley Park. The Organ Historical Society has a database of pipe organ companies, and sure enough, the United States Pipe Organ Company had a theater organ fabrication plant in Crum Lynne, a tiny town and a train stop adjacent to Ridley Park. They build about 200 theater pipe organs, then spent time maintaining them till about 1970. We had stumbled upon what was left of that company.

I’m not sure why we never went back there. We either forgot about it or got interested in something else. I kind of wish I had brought home a few relics from our very cool discovery that day.

Posted in creativity, Stories

Taking it to the streets

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Someone left an organ out on the curb for pickup by whoever. There has to be some kind of story that goes with this…

“After squandering most of his earnings from a long Broadway run, the phantom of the opera jumped on a Craigslist curb alert…”

“Kids playing ball in the street were treated to genuine stadium organ music…”

“These folks didn’t quite understand the question when asked, ‘Would you like to be an organ donor?'”

“Break a leg!”

“This is our choir loft. Now all we have to do is build a church around it.”

“Pastor, we thought the church might be able to use an extra organ. You can pick up it in front of our home…”

“That’s it. We are finally getting ‘organized.’ I have the perfect place for this beauty.”

I’ll leave the comments open for this one. How would you start your story?