Pipe Organ (An instrument the size of a building)

because that that is a really far fall down it's it's in a way it's like a giant tree house every single pipe is accessible with these ladders and walkways [Music] you [Music] [Music] is pretty amazing yeah all right I am so excited to be filming this video today in that we're kind of known on this channel for showcasing really large instruments and this is by far the largest like I think even just this control panel would probably I mean one of those pipes would be the biggest instrument that's ever been on the channel we're here at the fourth Presbyterian Church right here in downtown Chicago with John Shearer talking about pipe organ you would talk about these pipes each one of those pipes weighs a thousand pounds and how many pipes this organ has over 8,000 pipes in oh my god each one of those weighs a thousand pounds and they're up to 32 feet tall and what notes like what notes did those play so the really low notes the bigger the pipes the lower the note and some of the pipes are like as small as my little finger and so that was play the really high note where it where them they're scattered all over the place so this isn't just like the instrument is just back here so you got pipes here in the front you got pipes in the back and you got pipes Orval on the side there's a blower in all three locations blower for the main organ here is in the basement and it goes all the way up to the ceiling so the organ is really like surround sound around the whole room basement to ceiling front to back side to side this instrument is literally the size of a building it is can we see the yeah we're taking up in the pipe chamber we can see the inside of the organ where all the pipes are located this is the largest pipe organ in Chicago with over 8,000 pipes a hundred and forty two ranks no rank is like one set of pipes for all the the notes on the keyboard so you've got the five keyboards yeah and a pedal board for the feet so the the five keyboards control different sections of the organ so you've got the choir division the great division the swell division the orchestral division and the internal division and then there's a couple sections of the organ that you can flow to any of these keyboards like the fanfare and the pose of teeth you said this is the largest pipe organ issue yeah yeah that also means this is the largest instrument in Chicago yeah it is so maybe we'll start just with absolute basics what is a pipe organ pipe organ is a wind instrument because it it relies on wind going through each pipe people see the keyboards and they think it's a keyboard instrument but it's really really a wind instrument there's so many this kind of reminds me of like a guitar players pedal board just like so many different right all those like a cockpit of an airplane yeah you sit down here and you're absolutely surrounded by control devices all of this just makes the organ function and you makes the sounds of the organ happen do you use all of this all of this you got 204 stops this is where the phrase pulling out all the stops comes yeah so yeah and what does it stop so the stop controls the pipes so when you pull out a stop and you press down on the key the air goes right through the pipe and you get the sound and if you turn that off then you don't get any right now it's gone and if you turn them all on you get the whole thing so if whoa that's amazing where is that below each keyboard you have these white buttons and these are called Pistons and they they control the the sounds of the organ the organist presets sounds into the Pistons so that as you hold a chord and press the piston you get a different sound and this organ has an unlimited capacity of pistons there are over 10,000 memory levels in this organ and once it's made this organ was finished in 2016 I thought you were the fourth presbyterian has had artists Skinner organ in 1914 an alien Skinner organ from 1971 and now the quimp II organ from 2016 because I imagine they probably require a lot of maintenance they do yeah ongoing maintenance yeah it's a big machine mm-hmm and the pipes too or often a lot of the pipes are new we recycled about 25% of the pipes from the alien skin or organ from the 1971 England scanner I know I know the building is the building was finished in 1914 d14 so when I pull out this stop it's controlling a pipe that's lower oh my yeah yeah so I don't even know if that's piggy there's no way you're gonna hear that on a phone like you got to get your subwoofer he's out for the hour is that as low as it go that's the one of the lowest notes in the whole organ wow so I pull out that stuff I add another step I get an octave higher I for another stop I get another octave [Music] so I'm only playing one note but I'm actually hearing forums because I have four different stops I always assumed when I heard a sound like that coming from a pipe organ that's right well that's part of the magic of a pipe organ is when you play a chord you're not just getting those three notes you're you're getting three times four so it just keeps getting exponentially bigger yeah and when you have all the stops yeah Wow that definitely rivals any like huge guitar can yeah if you open up the doors everybody on Michigan Avenue would hear that yeah and that's another thing that's really interesting about this building is that it's right across the street from Johnny right right so there's these two monumental Chicago landmarks right next to each other but very very different now we try that one again I wish I could translate how loud that that's about a hundred and fifteen [Music] [Applause] look beautiful yep you're playing the entire building right right right right it's like having a whole Orchestra right now right at your fingertips so this is one of the most famous organ pieces ever was written eyes by johann sebastian bach he was about 17 18 years old when he wrote this this is the the toccata in D minor [Music] [Music] there's a lot of switches down here by your feet too you also have full four of these pedals the Pistons underneath the keyboards for when you're you've got a free finger but as you're playing if you if you have a free foot you can grab a toe stud with your foot you can change the sound as you're playing with your fingers or with your feet that's the thing about playing the organ you got to be in really good physical condition because you you're you're always holding your yourself up with your core playing with your hands moving your feet you got hands feet going all different directions yeah could we hear just these petals on their own yeah so some pieces call for just a pedal solo just with the feet alone this is a little piece by deitrick bucks to tie that that shows that [Music] just like an orchestra you've got lots of families of sound here an orchestra has this the woodwinds and so does an organ a clarinet bench horn [Music] you've got all the reads of the orchestra you've got the brass section of the orchestra flutes of the organ lovely flute sounds but then you've got the great strings section of the organ these strings are from 1914 the Skinner organ [Music] [Music] lush rich sound of strings and you're always changing throughout what part of the orchestra all the time yeah you're always changing the sounds you want the organ to be as expressive as possible that's why it's great to support a thousand people singing their hearts out because the organ can can support them and make them sound better what exactly do these buttons do oh there's even more knobs tonight right right right there's knobs for the left foot and right foot and you just have the muscle memory - oh yeah yeah you just learn where all these things are yeah and then these these control shades inside the organ that allow it to get louder or softer so when their clothes [Music] all sinners there's four because there's four different sections divisions of the organ that are under expression do you find yourself using those while you've all the time you're constantly so much going yeah and you're playing any song yeah you're you're always trying to bring out a certain note a certain phrase by moving these shades the pipes actually don't get louder or softer but as the shades closed room to it's entirely enclosed it closes down the sound so it makes it softer yeah we did the lowest note what is the hyatt what's the full range so the lowest note really really low yo just lay on that right there the dogs come running yeah you got your earthquake to mosquito everything you've got just this big spectrum of sound the unique sound of a pipe organ is what's called the the principal the the die pays and the foundation sound of an organ and this organs got some really beautiful dye paesan's [Music] that's just the 8-foot die paesan's from the organ it's just a rich rich foundation of tone that that's just sold so beautiful yeah so unique to a pipe organ can I play it it has a key you start it up like a kite right so I'm going to turn the organ back go on now the organ blower starts to turn it's pushing air through massive wind pipes up into the wind chest and the Winchester are opening up right now the organ yeah comes alive it takes about a minute for the wind to get into the organ so you can start using it so we're even right now there's no wind yeah going into the now we have win anywhere you grab with any little other than behind you you're doing something okay I think I'm gonna start with [Music] a powerful I can see why you like this oh my god [Music] that's incredible that is so cool [Music] [Music] I'm not very good very good player Wow that just sounds a mess yeah could we pull out all the stops and all the stuff all the stops if we can and I'm just gonna do a C chord there it is yeah where where do you suppose this is the mate this is the greatest of the me yeah this is where you normally this is called the great division because it's it is great it controls everything this is when I want the whole Orchestra playing right right right this is when I want to just use this section or that exactly oh yeah all right so we're all the stops just that one button is so great I'd love to be in a band geez never play instruments with my feet of the drums [Music] organist wear special shoes thin soles lots of leather so you can really feel nice pointed yeah also you hopefully hit one yeah cuz that's not what I'm doing like if you just stand up here yeah just spend so much time just here like this is this is just one instrument [Music] I stay in C major and I can improvise you know you try that tread on this then on the ground hand 101 hand here [Music] no there's a little bit like playing this one and the different ones that you can tell there's a little bit of a delay on the attack most of the delay is just the wind going into the pipe oh yeah what are these you were talked about pipes and ye oh here's a pipe there's the pipe arcing tuning these seems like that would be really late this is this moves okay and that's how you tune it pipes are made of lead and tin and some pipes are made out of wood but it's it's an ancient ancient combination of lead and tin and you just want to get that perfect balance between the two actually this is a sound organs go back to the second century BC it was the Greeks that invented it and this is basically the sound that they would have heard the on a second century organ is this them this isn't the MIDI I'm familiar I'm seeing many other I don't know what the MIDI is I don't use the MIDI do you do that why you --fill do you hold a card and then go through the UK yeah let's try that again that's so cool [Music] so cool Wow awesome can we see the matter we're taking up in the pipe chamber we can see the inside of the organ where all the pipes are located yeah so you get this old skeleton key to get into the approaching book there it is Wow this is the fanfare Division right here and then we that's the choir division down there there's a thousand or more pipes just in the fanfare division don't trip here oh these are the [ __ ] yeah what all of this when you move your feet move all this whole wall are movable shades like venetian blinds can I get that wide angle lens from Kyle okay yeah we needed to get that fisheye lens it's such tight quarters one of these wooden wooden pipes so those those are like flute stops for the organ oh those are these imitate flutes yeah so the pipes are made of lead and tin and every pipe has a moveable sleeve on it which allows the organ tuner to adjust the pitch that's how you tune the organ it's really small I can't even imagine the task of like first getting this and tuning it I have an eighth string and I kind of complain about this is bad times a thousand literally it takes days yeah the wind pipe for the air yeah Wow how many of those are there Oh a lot interesting is that all these different shapes and make those different sounds some of the pipes are capped like this some of them they taper up to the top Kyle could you I'm looking boom again in that room - it's entirely enclosed yeah we're gonna go down and through organ blower fills these reservoirs up with air and then goes through these metal pipes up up into the pipes themselves so you pull out a stop the air shoots through here and then up into the pipe whoa that ladder goes all the way to the top of the building yeah it's really tight court maybe I'll move I'll move down here these they're 32 feet tall all the way floor-to-ceiling there's so many different types of pipes yeah because these are a lot different than the other room you want the camera Jake nice so cool whoo I didn't realize I'm standing on something I thought I was on the ground I am not had enough they John yeah all right I'll hang up with you I want to get a shot looking down at just how high up I am right now Jake you down there that is a really far fall down did you shine some light on your face there Jake it's like a giant tree house but every single pipe is accessible with these ladders and walkways and is this where you tune these pipes and these are the that use the 32 foot ones you got to climb up here to get to these and I'm gonna make sure I don't fall to my organize eat people have been building pipe organs since the 2nd century BC and over time they've learned how to make different sounds by shaping the pipes in different ways could you turn on that it'd be the the volume pedal yep yeah oh and is that that facade over there yeah we're right at the front here so you're down at the sanctuary now do you even remember what's in Sherman those are I think that's the French horn and all the just imagining like what you'd have to do to tune like that little pipe oh yeah open up this [Music] in a swell division what floor are we on where is it that you don't really have about the fifth floor and were we playing that guy earlier we were yeah wasn't due to happen to know what noticed that a problem two and two thirds MS arm stop I'm not sure which note that is this is the Vox Humana the human voice [Music] this is actually an important part that these don't ya hold it - haha we try to keep the temperature 72 piece if you are really interesting wow these are interesting too I mean they're also dinner all it's funny helmets how many different sounds you can get from just putting air through a pipe you got it she said we're five stories up right now definitely by far the biggest instrument that's been on a channel if I fell into a pipe organ and died now that would be that would be quite a way to go if I had to die falling down something you'd be falling down any gigantic instrument takes a while to get up there it's not that's not like oh we wouldn't we opened another room we've been climbing through pipe organ for a while thanks for not playing any note file this is like an entire apartment building filled with pipes so is there anything I mean there's nothing here they're about 15 percent is up here in the north balcony in the back you've got the internal division it's right just that little square here yeah you can fly a whole piece of music just in the back you can play a whole piece of music on the north in the main section so it's really like having three pipe organs you see this is the oldest playing pipe organ in Chicago Wow it's from 1850 somebody has to pump the air there's no electricity in 1850 18:50 I love no no just 1850 all right I'm gonna scream these are some of the trumpet pipes right up front like falling that way these wood ones in the back are really interesting oh wow I didn't realize those big ones were pipes big yeah it's also really intimidating because to see those I need to like crank my head up a lot but if I'm leaning back yep there's some really tiny pipes back here and I can just barely see the pipe organ at the end do you play it what are these bells symbols for that they will turn and make a tinkling sound there was a simple storm in the front and one in the back area watch your heads thank you [Music] it looks like it's about to close everything shaking [Music] the kids the way adults before that's the video thank you so much for watching if you like TV here's a playlist of other instruments and thanks so much to the people on patreon maybe one other instrument you've been inside of I've tried with some acoustic guitars that you know I always ruin them can't curl it yeah you probably crawl inside a piano wouldn't you know recommend it

Channel: Rob Scallon

Views: 4,886,217

Rating: 4.9661655 out of 5

Keywords: Pipe Organ, Rob Scallon, music, instrument, musical instrument, biggest instrument, instrument the size of a building, organ, bach, john sherer, fourth presbyterian church, chicago pipe organ, biggest pipe organ in chicago, largest instrument, large, song, performance, making music, lesson, how to play, guitar, guitarist, big instrument, huge instrument, huge, worlds biggest, wind instrument, orchestra, keyboard, organ music, hymns, pipe organ music, chicago, theremin, hurdy gurdy, theorbo

Id: JeB3JnKp8To

Length: 29min 52sec (1792 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Caligula-]

Fascinating. I like the organist, very informative. Thanks for sharing.

[u/JasonHorsley_Tech]

It's so great so see a video like this! I used to be an Organist a few years ago. I played for a Grace Lutheran in St. Pete Florida. They had a good little Schlicker. My favorite part was doing this kind of "demo" for any kids that came up after the service.

I think the best way to imagine an organ is "Steam punk synthesizer". It's what you'd get if you asked brilliant and maybe mildly autistic engineer to build you a one man orchestra, without using electricity. And gave him infinite money to do so.

The old time bellows were pumped by an assistant, and the keys themselves physically connected to a stopper underneath. You pressing a key on the instrument would pull a string that rolled a roller that pressed a level... That eventually opened the airway from blower to pipe. More stops meant more levers associated with each individual note, and more pressure required to actually depress the key. If you ever wondered how Bach built up his finger strength, that's how.

Most modern organs are electric, meaning you press the key and it sends a signal to a motor to uncover the right pipes. But they still make trackers. They're great practice instruments. You can usually find a few hanging around big arts universities. And you can get some unique sounds out of them. Pressing a key down REALLY fast means the air rushes in, making a "chuff" sound. Pressing a key slowly means the air comes in more gradually. There's a whole technique to it.

Unfortunately, no one really goes to church any more. My Grandfather made a career out of church work. My Dad did it part time, both for churches and sports arenas. I stayed at Grace Lutheran for a few good years, and I think I'll always keep playing weddings, but there just isn't a future in it. A small classic organ can cost well over a million dollars. Alan and Rodgers make good electric models, but they're still 200K+. And there just isn't enough demand for churches to support that kind of expense. Lots of churches are opting for the "praise band" route, and I can't blame them. A guitar player and a few volunteer singers can get the job done for way waay less hassle.

There might always been a need. Most brides want that "big church sound". And hopefully the cost of electric instruments continue to drop. Changing times.

[u/HouseCravenRaw]

Somewhere there is some little old lady that can use every function and feature on this device, seamlessly, who can't operate a smart phone.

[u/ThisIsActuallyMine]

Yeah, organs are gigantic instruments. This guy found a bed inside an organ: https://youtu.be/ywxFfTHLF_s?t=605

[u/KaladinStormShat]

Visiting the cathedrals in Europe it occurred to me just how powerful the church was. Imagine being a poor peasant, the cathedral is by far the largest structure in the city, the largest structure you've ever seen, and when you walk inside you see this cavernous, daunting entity from which the very power of God is expressed. Then during mass this monstrous wall of sound comprised of the most beautiful works ever composed absolutely assaults you.

You'd be on your knees praying for salvation and pledging your undying servitude.

[u/TxNgringo]

The dude looks like a well kept Bam Margera!

[u/Terinekah]

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing. I was learning to play the piano by ear when I was little and my dad sold it for an organ. I HATED its sound, but this is something clearly next level (obviously LOL!)

[u/Another_Bryan]

Best video I've watched for some time. Well done.

[u/Dk-79]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY

It's a shame vampires had to steal the glory from this absolute shred beast of a song.

To be among the pipes while all the stops were pulled out would be a real bed wetter.