A New Dobson Delivered...

[KB7DQH]

http://blog.al.com/mhuebner/2011/10/dobson_organ_to_enliven_music.html

As a bagpiper played outside Independent Presbyterian Church on a recent morning, clergy, staff and church members carried pipes of a different sort from an 18-wheeler to the church's sanctuary.

The procession, in which each participant carried a single pipe, was followed by a short prayer service, marking the beginning of a new era for music at the Highland Avenue church. Between now and May, workers from Dobson Organ Builders will install a new organ to replace an instrument that served the church for 85 years.

The church has received two truckloads of pipes, cut and welded frames, a three-keyboard keyboard console, pedals and a host of other parts from the company's shop in Lake City, Iowa. Following the assembly, technicians will begin the all-important task of "voicing" the new instrument, a process that includes tuning, adjusting volume and brightness, and fitting the sound to the instrument's acoustical space.

"Today they're unloading all the heavy stuff -- the wind chest and the reservoirs," said IPC organist and choir master Jeff McLelland after the Oct. 12 ceremony. "The heaviest pieces -- the 500-pound pipes -- will have be hoisted up with all the equipment into the chambers."

Betty Schreiber.jpegBetty Schreiber was on hand for a dedication service for the Joseph W. Schreiber Memorial Organ, named for her late husband.
The instrument has been named the Joseph W. Schreiber Memorial Organ, to honor the IPC organist and choir master who died in 2007. Schreiber, who served the church for 34 years, established the annual Religious Arts Festival and November Organ Recital Series. The organ series has grown to become one of the most respected in the nation, having brought 150 of the world's finest musicians during the past 45 years.

Schreiber's widow, Betty, was on hand for the Oct. 18 ceremony.

"He loved the church, and making music to the glory of God," said Mrs. Schreiber, who sang in the IPC choir, took piano lessons and played duets with her husband. "The people of this church couldn't be more supportive of the things he did. It's overwhelming."

Mrs. Schreiber was particularly grateful to initial donors who gave $3 million, but McLelland was unable to estimate the final cost because installation includes construction in the sanctuary. A $1.8 million capital campaign was started in 2010 for sanctuary renovations to accommodate the new instrument.

"The cost is based on the complete restoration of the sanctuary," he said. "The whole thing is one big project."

IPC organ 1.JPGIPC music director Jeff McLelland tests out the action on the yet-to-be-installed console.
From 1925 until its retirement last year, the church's Aeolian-Skinner organ has served faithfully. A 1969 expansion and 1974 addition of an antiphonal organ brought it to 75 ranks, making it servicable for IPC's prestigious series. But it never entirely recovered from fire damage in 1992, and mechanical failures have set in.

"It reached the end of its useful life," said McLelland. "There were so many mechanical problems. We had people come in to advise on rebuilding the organ, and their advice was to replace it. They wouldn't be able to make it sound as good as it needed to sound. By the time they replaced everything, we would have a new organ, so we might as well start over."

An intensive search for a builder followed.

"We were looking for a builder who would build a symphonic design organ, a very eclectic instrument that could play all of the literature," McLelland said. "It was between two or three builders. Dobson is the premier organ builder in the country, and the committee decided that this was the best route for our church."

After signing up Dobson in 2007, the design process began. Lynn Dobson, who founded the company in 1974, has made "at least a dozen" trips to Birmingham. Once the installation is complete, he will travel to the next project in Oxford, England.

"In this situation, there was building renovation involved, so we had to measure the building as it was, specify the modification of the building, then build the organ," he said. "It's all coordinated. There were years of planning and design, and almost a full year of construction in the shop. We have 20 people who make the parts, assemble it and test it."

Dobson estimated that assembly will last until Thanksgiving, with several months needed for voicing. When completed, it will add to the company's already impressive portfolio, which includes organs in Kimmel Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. Dubbed "Op. 90," the IPC instrument will include three manuals, six divisions, 82 ranks, and 4,917 pipes. Although it will not be the largest in Birmingham, it will be a unique fit for the new space.

"All organs are unique," said McLelland. "All are designed for specific spaces and acoustics. The foundations will be bigger and broader and full than we have ever had."

Michael Huebner is classical music and dance critic and fine arts writer for The Birmingham News. E-mail him at mhuebner@bhamnews.com.

Eric
KB7DQH

[AnOrganCornucopia]

I'm certainly looking forward to the installation of the new Dobson at Merton College, Oxford...

[KB7DQH]

With the sanctuary being renovated and a new organ being fine-tuned, Independent Presbyterian Church has adopted the theme of "Craftsmanship: In Service to the Church" for its 2012 Religious Arts Festival.

The six-day festival, which begins today, will feature lectures on arts and aesthetics in building construction and organ pipe voicing, an ongoing process as the Highland Ave. church prepares for a scheduled May unveiling of its new Dobson organ.

"We always try to have some sort of theme, and the building restoration and the new organ seemed to be something to celebration," said Jeff McLelland, IPC's director of music and fine arts.

John Paul Huguley, from the American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, S.C., will speak about his design of new acolyte doors. John Panning will explain and demonstrate the art of voicing for adults and kids.

"I can't tell you how many times I've been asked about voicing. I try to explain how they manipulate a pipe to make a certain sound, why it's done and why it takes so long," McLelland said. "John Panning will discuss that in a more detail, and bring some sample pipes and manipulate them."

As in past years, the festival will close with music from a renowned early music ensemble. On Friday, New York Polyphony, a male vocal quartet that has produced three CDs, sung on National Public Radio, appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and tours extensively in North America and Europe, will sing a program of mostly 15th and 16th century music. Titled "Secret Love and Private Devotion," the program is centered around Elizabethan composer William Byrd.

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/02/arts_craftsmanship_celebrated.html


Eric
KB7DQH