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Nostalgia

2008-06-01 13:45:00

Remember...

Question: What do you remember about the progression of the musical instrument, the organ?

Answer: This question came to me when my wife and I were invited by Norma Gamble to attend a tremendous organ concert at Century II, one which left us thoroughly entertained. I first remember playing on an organ at my uncle’s farm home near Chanute, Ks. He had one of the original pump organs you know the one that had two big pedals that you had to work up and down constantly to get music as you played the keys. We would gather around the living room and sing and have enjoyable evenings with the old pump organ. Many churches had this model also until the pipe organ came along. The great pipe organs were powered by huge pumps and became the sound behind the silent movies. That was the intrigue, the amount of stops and the acquisition of all kind of sound effects to go with the films. Train sounds, all the orchestra instruments, various kinds of drums, and so many varied shifts that could be preset. That made the films come alive. There are so many great and talented organists that still can sit at the console and actually outdo a complete orchestra with that great instrument. Wichita had such a man who had that ability and he shared his talent with not only Wichitans…but folks across the nation. His name was Raymond Shelley. I became acquainted with him during the 40’s when he was music director at KANS radio. He had a traffic time show that featured his pop and classical stylings on the big Hammond organ that was in studio A that featured a Leslie speaker. I will never forget his theme on that show…Hands Across The Table. He was also featured many times on community sings that were accompanied and directed by Raymond at the keyboard of the big Miller pipe organ. These community sings were featured on film in theatres across the country. I remember him maintaining that organ. He would climb through the attic to the pipes and clean them…many times unblocking the dirt and even pests that had crawled in them. What a talent! I was still in high school with aspirations of being a radio announcer. He was so talented and always took time to teach me about the radio business. After the pipe organs came the electric organs. Many of these were used at baseball games, auditoriums, ballrooms and roller rinks. Nearly all churches without the capacity for a pipe organ had one…and many homes had the smaller spinet size. Back to the organ concert I attended at Century II… My wife and I had two very talented organists and pianists as our guests to the concert and the city. They were Jim Riggs from Wichita and Jonas Norduall from Oregon. Michael Coup put the program together. There was a computer change to the program. The Steinway was also a player piano and it had been joined with the organ so they were synchronized in performance. What a sound! The big Paramount pipe organ and the Steinway united together electronically with the computer. Many bands, organizations and even churches have abandoned the organ for an electronic keyboard. It might obtain a similar sound but in my opinion, it cannot come close to duplicating the glamour and sound of a pipe organ and the fascination of the gigantic and powerful presentation of really fine music. What a great concert…and what wonderful memories.