St. John in-the-wilderness Anglican Church High Level Opportunity Assessment Installation of Thedford Church Organ in St. John-in-the-Wilderness

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1 St. John in-the-wilderness Anglican Church High Level Opportunity Assessment Installation of Thedford Church Organ in St. John-in-the-Wilderness Opportunity and Methodology Thedford Church closed and in about January 2012 St. John-in-the-Wilderness Church worked with Donald Pole of Pole and Kingham Pipe Organs based out of Chatham, ON to dissemble Thedford s pipe organ and move it to St. John-in-the-Wilderness where we have stored it until now. Cost from Pole and Kingham for this service was $2,580 + tax (Attachment 1). Donald Pole provided a computer mocked up photo of our church with the pipe organs installed (Attachment 2) The organ is a 2-manual with pedals and electric pipes. It is roughly 45 years old (est from Halliday) The board asked Gord Mackenzie, Bill Pedlar and Deb Walker to investigate high level costs associated with installation, as well as bring any other high level relevant information such that the board can bring this to the congregation to assess if they want to pursue installation or remove the organ from storage in the church, as the church has limited storage capacity (it takes about 1/3 of the space of the main storage room in the church). The board wants to make a decision to install or move it out. Due to timing, and with agreement from Bill Pedlar, Deb and Gord pursued this without Bill s involvement. This report contains the finding of Gord and Deb. Main sources of information included conversations with Susan Halliday (our Electric Keyboard Player she can also play this organ), Brenden Fraser (our Music Director) and Donald Pole. In addition, in order to ensure we were asking representative and appropriate questions we had ad hoc conversations with a number of folks in the congregation. Space 1. Organ Keyboard, Seat and Piano: The organ can remain in its current location in front of the front pew on the lectern side. There is a desire to have the keyboard in the same location to provide more space for the choir and to have the keyboardist have access to both instruments seamlessly. This would be very tight. It would still be tight if the front pew were removed but more viable. Footprint of organ and bench: 53 x 57 (longer distance includes the bench, back of organ facing east wall of church) Footprint of electric keyboard: 55 x 20 Footprint of space without front pew removed: 108 (east/west) x 63 north/south (church aisle is north/south) G. Mackenzie & D. Walker June 14, 2012 Page 1

2 2. Pipes and Ancillary Equipment: Per Attachment 1 a room needs to be placed over the south wall of the church; 4-feet deep, platform to ceiling on either side of the south window and about one to two feet tall between the pipes. 3. Other: Pole did comment that if the church were thinking of expanding in size, then that would be a very good time to think about installing a pipe organ if it were not done now. Cost and Other Information from Donald Poland 1. Cost of a Brand New Organ: All are custom-built, this is a small organ and would cost $150,000 to $200,000 to make new today 2. Cost and Availability of a Different Used Organ: Because churches are closing often (about 1/week in Canada United Churches) used organs are available, a used organ is about $20,000 (plus installation etc). It could take a couple of years to find one small enough for our church but likely one would come up. 3. Resale/Salvage Value of Current Organ: Pole indicated that the church might be able to find a buyer to take the current organ for $2,000 to $4,000. Pole would be willing to pay a token amount to take it away for salvage (we sense about $500 but did not pursue this with Pole) 4. Installation of current Organ from Thedford: (Attachment 1 from Pole and Kingham) a. $7,640 For expertise in installation, voicing and tuning. Assumes church would install cable between organ and pipes (Pole & Kingham supply it), 4-foot platform and 4-foot deep room set on top of platform per photo (Attachment 2) b. $2000 to $10,000 - There could be a few improvements to organ to increase versatility and tonal specification c. Likely, given construction and electrical costs...unless the church did this work, the cost would be $25,000 to $30,000 total (including costs from Pole and Kingham for (a) and (b)). This was a rough estimate from Donald Pole. Structural capability would require an architect to validate safe structure, particularly given people will sit under this structure. d. Pole estimated that the 4-foot deep platform for the pipes would need to support 1,350 lbs. People will be sitting under this platform. We would need to work with an architect to establish a safe design. 5. Maintenance a. $600/year to tune (done by Pole and Kingham) b. Leather replacement once every 20 to 100 years depending upon things like air pollution - $3000 to $4000. Leather in current organ is in good shape. G. Mackenzie & D. Walker June 14, 2012 Page 2

3 Resource to Play the Organ Brenden pointed out that a pianist can play the keys of an organ, just not the pedals not to focus on What happens if our current organist, Susan, retires as much as the benefits of the music itself and tradeoffs in dollars invested and changes in appearance to the church. The Music Itself Unanimously Halliday, Fraser and Pole all indicated the music from the Blue Hymn book is designed to be played by a pipe organ it sounds wonderful with a pipe organ. When each was asked: If you had $20,000 to $30,000 to invest in music infrastructure for the church what would you do. One had just not thought of this and truly showed love for the pipe organ music. One clearly stated a baby grand piano, the building is a good size for this and it has a wonderful sound...something an electronic instrument can never give. But the pipe organ would be fantastic also it brings the sound of non-electric music to us and you can do cool things with it! One said oh don t ask me that, I am in the organ business...when the concept of a baby grand piano was mentioned he repeated oh don t ask me that, but it is a preference the church size lends itself to (a small organ or a baby grand piano). Several folks from the congregation approached Deb and Gord as well as board members to indicate that in order to attract younger people to the church they believe we should pursue guitars, drums etc rather than a traditional organ. Brenden Fraser articulated that attracting young people may have more to do with the kind of music itself (blue book vs other sources) rather than the instruments involved. The main benefit of the pipe organ is that this is the instrument that the blue hymn book was written around...it s music sounds fantastic with a real stringed instrument such as a pipe organ or grand piano. Respectfully submitted, Gord Mackenzie and Deb Walker G. Mackenzie & D. Walker June 14, 2012 Page 3

4 Attachment 1: Quote from Pole and Kingham Pipe Organs Pole and Kingham Pipe Organs January 7, 2011 The Reverend Jenny Sharp The Anglican Church of St. John-in-the-Wilderness Brights Grove Ontario QUOTATION FOR PIPE ORGAN REMOVAL 1. Detach cables between console and organ chamber 2. Dismantle components, clean and label parts 3. Pack pipes and small parts in suitable containers 4. Supply packing material such as bubble wrap and plastic 5. Supply truck to move parts to storage area provided by the church Cost: $ 2, tax The quotation assumes that some volunteer help [1-2 people] would be available for a few hours over 2 days, and that the plywood panels surrounding the organ in the Thedford church would not have to be replaced after organ removal. One level of scaffolding will be needed, and we haven t included this cost, in case a church member can provide the unit. The installation in St John s will require some reconfiguration of parts, minor repairs, a new cable between console and organ chamber, and some revoicing of the pipes to suit the new acoustics. The cost is estimated to be $7, $ This estimate assumes that the church would build the platform and walls [chambers] for the organ, and assist in running the new cable between console and chamber. The church would also need to bring in an electrician for the blower and lights in the chambers. There are a few improvements that could be made to the organ to increase its versatility and tonal specification. These improvements could cost an additional amount between $2, and $10, We can remove the organ to storage at any time. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to provide these quotations. Donald Pole Pole and Kingham G. Mackenzie & D. Walker June 14, 2012 Page 4

5 Attachment 2: Schematic of Pipe Room and Pipes on 4-Foot Platform in St. John-in-the-Wilderness Pole and Kingham G. Mackenzie & D. Walker June 14, 2012 Page 5

First Congregational Church United Church of Christ Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Director of Music. Job Description and Information

First Congregational Church United Church of Christ Sioux Falls, South Dakota Director of Music Job Description and Information First Congregational Church United Church Of Christ Sioux Falls, South Dakota