Refurbished organ no longer a pipe dream
By Nick Hytrek, Journal columnist | Posted: Saturday, November 08, 2008
University of South Dakota Department of Music chair and associate dean of the College of Fine Arts Larry Schou can't wait to once again play and teach with the pipe organ in the Slagle Hall auditorium. Built in 1926, the organ is going to be cleaned and refurbished during the next couple years. (Photo by Nick Hytrek)
VERMILLION, S.D. -- For now, only construction sounds fill the air in the auditorium in Slagle Hall on the University of South Dakota campus.
Power tools. Workers yelling out orders. Just your general banging around.
But when it's all done, Larry Schou hopes to once again fill the room with the deep, rich sounds of the E.M. Skinner pipe organ that has been inside the room since 1926. The organ, built by the man who's considered the grandfather of American organ building, will be dismantled, cleaned and refurbished along with the rest of the auditorium.
When it's back up and running sometime in 2011, it will once again sound like it did when it was installed, said Schou, chair of USD's music department, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and an organ professor.
"My excitement is to have other people hear it," Schou said. "This is a small organ, really, with a nice big sound."
Other than a few minor tweaks here and there, the organ is in much the same condition as it was when built in 1926, Schou said. That's part of the problem. It didn't get the regular maintenance that these musical instruments require. It still works and sounds great, for the most part. Schou fired it up Thursday and played a little on it. But a few settings produced a squealing sound, evidence that some of the pipes need some work. Other settings don't work at all. Schou quit playing it about five years after he arrived at USD in 1988.
"It was in such disrepair that it wasn't worth playing," he said.
Bids aren't in yet, but it's estimated that it will cost $700,000 to take the organ apart, replace the original cotton-covered copper wiring and dried-out leather mechanisms with modern parts. Each of the 2,000-3,000 pipes will be taken down and cleaned with a special solution and repaired, if needed.
It's a labor-intensive process, one that brings a big smile to Schou's face when he thinks about the end result.
"For me, it's an excitement to finally again be able to use it, to teach with it," he said.
It will be part of concerts, theatrical and musical performances. There's talk of showing old silent movies in the auditorium and playing accompanying music on the organ. It will be returned to its original glory from the 1920's and '30s, when it was a prominent part of the entertainment scene in Vermillion.
"We're very fortunate," Schou said. "Some of the consultants we hired to look at it said this is one of four or five in America that hasn't really been altered."
In the big picture, the organ is just a small part of the $7 million in renovations to the Slagle Hall auditorium. But it's much bigger than that. Once humming, the organ makes the room come alive. The beautiful tones make the room feel bigger, grander.
If you close your eyes, you can almost hear it now.
Making it last
When properly maintained, pipe organs can last for generations, said Larry Schou, USD music department chair and associate dean of the College of Fine Arts.
He's played pipe organs in Europe that are 300-400 years old.
The key, he said, is regular maintenance, cleaning and tuning. At some point, maintenance of USD's pipe organ in the Slagle Hall auditorium stopped. But once it's cleaned and refurbished, that will change. Schou said the music department plans to budget money for regular maintenance so that it never again falls into its present condition. That constant care will ensure that the organ will continue to sound just as good as it did when it was built in 1926.
Power tools. Workers yelling out orders. Just your general banging around.
But when it's all done, Larry Schou hopes to once again fill the room with the deep, rich sounds of the E.M. Skinner pipe organ that has been inside the room since 1926. The organ, built by the man who's considered the grandfather of American organ building, will be dismantled, cleaned and refurbished along with the rest of the auditorium.
When it's back up and running sometime in 2011, it will once again sound like it did when it was installed, said Schou, chair of USD's music department, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and an organ professor.
"My excitement is to have other people hear it," Schou said. "This is a small organ, really, with a nice big sound."
Other than a few minor tweaks here and there, the organ is in much the same condition as it was when built in 1926, Schou said. That's part of the problem. It didn't get the regular maintenance that these musical instruments require. It still works and sounds great, for the most part. Schou fired it up Thursday and played a little on it. But a few settings produced a squealing sound, evidence that some of the pipes need some work. Other settings don't work at all. Schou quit playing it about five years after he arrived at USD in 1988.
"It was in such disrepair that it wasn't worth playing," he said.
Bids aren't in yet, but it's estimated that it will cost $700,000 to take the organ apart, replace the original cotton-covered copper wiring and dried-out leather mechanisms with modern parts. Each of the 2,000-3,000 pipes will be taken down and cleaned with a special solution and repaired, if needed.
It's a labor-intensive process, one that brings a big smile to Schou's face when he thinks about the end result.
"For me, it's an excitement to finally again be able to use it, to teach with it," he said.
It will be part of concerts, theatrical and musical performances. There's talk of showing old silent movies in the auditorium and playing accompanying music on the organ. It will be returned to its original glory from the 1920's and '30s, when it was a prominent part of the entertainment scene in Vermillion.
"We're very fortunate," Schou said. "Some of the consultants we hired to look at it said this is one of four or five in America that hasn't really been altered."
In the big picture, the organ is just a small part of the $7 million in renovations to the Slagle Hall auditorium. But it's much bigger than that. Once humming, the organ makes the room come alive. The beautiful tones make the room feel bigger, grander.
If you close your eyes, you can almost hear it now.
Making it last
When properly maintained, pipe organs can last for generations, said Larry Schou, USD music department chair and associate dean of the College of Fine Arts.
He's played pipe organs in Europe that are 300-400 years old.
The key, he said, is regular maintenance, cleaning and tuning. At some point, maintenance of USD's pipe organ in the Slagle Hall auditorium stopped. But once it's cleaned and refurbished, that will change. Schou said the music department plans to budget money for regular maintenance so that it never again falls into its present condition. That constant care will ensure that the organ will continue to sound just as good as it did when it was built in 1926.
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