A Proposal to Innovate: I Found the 43-Note a Home

Earlier this summer, I decided to stop by a church to get a photo of an organ I played for almost eight years but hadn't seen in well over that time. The organ, a gallery installation, had extensive repairs done about twenty years ago to make it playable. However, it wasn't in playing condition when I returned. I felt detached and objective as I saw the instrument again, wondering if it now seemed like a good idea in hindsight to have invested money in its renovation, or to spend further money on repairs or a substantial rebuild. It was an early twentieth-century industrial-era organ with no upperwork on two manuals and pedal, not counting a mixture stop added later, though without producing a cohesive plenum. With a congregation and liturgy far removed from the symphonic-industrial era of pipe organ construction, I employed coupler gymnastics to lead hymns and play improvisations. I had to shake my head at that.

Two years ago, I developed my post-pandemic 43-note continuo concept, one that evolves tradition by recycling old pipework with new to produce a blended, culturally eclectic tonal design, an instrument both cost-sustainable and space-efficient. And by adding a mobile platform, the 43-note became, to some degree, location agnostic. I discuss it in more detail here, asking the reader to consider the organ in the context of a tradition that must evolve to remain relevant.

Well, I got an idea in my head. What if the church I reference here opted to commission a new 43-note frontal organ built from three or four ranks of pipes recycled from their upstairs organ, while adding some upperwork to make the organ more tonally versatile? I drew up the following specification.

Stopped Diapason 8' bass

Stopped Diapason 8' discant

Gamba 8' discant

Flûte triangulaire 4' bass

Principal 4' discant

Melodia 4' discant

Mixture III

If you read the next post down, you'll see that I've essentially done this before.

With that, I plan to conceptually build the church an organ it didn't ask for as a design study, allowing me the opportunity to build out, if only on paper, an example of my 43-note continuo for a space I know well, from material I know well. I have the design tools I need and have already completed much of the work. I only need to translate and modify that work to a new specific use case.

Please come back here from time to time to see progress on this assignment as I build it out. If you have a question or suggestion, feel free to contact me.

Posted August 7, 2025 19:04