A Trip to the Organ

During Week 2, the class went on a trip to the St. Mary’s Church organ. This was a very interesting trip because the organ was big enough that we were able to crawl inside, and examine the vast number of pipes within the organ. We learned that the organ contains hundreds of pipes varying in shape and length. The largest pipe was 16 ft long and had a width that resembled that of a small tree, and the smallest pipe was about the size of a straw. Each pipe releases a completely different sound from one another. There are so many pipes that you need to use knobs (called drawbars or stops) and pedals to be able to access many sounds able to play in the organ’s vast range of musical sounds.