A “Pipe Dream” Comes True
New Pipe Organ for Larchmont Avenue Church

by Joan R. Simon, photos by Ron Sizemore

(September 30, 2004) “I think I now know the meaning of a ‘pipe dream,’” said David Brandom, a Larchmont musician and chair of the Organ Implementation Committee at the Larchmont Avenue Church, as he introduced the new Konzelman pipe organ to the congregation on Sunday, September 26. Reverend Bill Crawford, pastor at LAC, added his accolades from the pulpit. “Such gifts of music stir and lift us, awaken and inspire us,” he said, adding that it is “such a beautiful sound, indeed a joyful noise.”

The Blessing of the Pipes at Larchmont Avenue Church, September 26.

The new pipe organ project at LAC has been seven years in the planning and building – so far. When it is completed sometime in late 2005 or early 2006, the organ will have 3642 pipes, ranging in length from ¾ of an inch to 16 feet. Only six of the 57 ranks, each of which contain 61 pipes (one pipe per key), have been installed, but even this relatively small number filled the church on Sunday with a full and glorious sound.

All of this, however, does not come cheaply. The organ itself will cost $700,000, which has been already been secured by a special fundraising campaign. Money was also needed to refashion the sanctuary acoustics and prepare the housing for the pipes. And fund raising is still ongoing to establish an adequate maintenance fund for the organ. If properly cared for, the pipe organ will last 100 years or more.

The LAC pipe organ project began in 1997, when a small group of church members started to research a new organ. At the time, the church was using an electric organ purchased in 1972, when it had replaced an aging Aeolian pipe organ in need of serious repair. Minister of Music, Judie Brown, explained that in the ‘70s the new digital technology was making electric organs very popular. But she noted, “the energy that a pipe organ generates is not reproducible.”

LAC junior members test out a few of the thousands of pipes going into the new organ.

The process was long and involved, according to committee member Mary Joyce Beringer. “We trooped all over Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Westchester, listening to organs in many different churches.” They also went up and down the east coast, as far south as Washington DC and as far north as Toronto. In addition, organ manufacturers and builders came to the church to discuss different options.

Ultimately, the church signed a contract with the Konzelman Organ Company in 2001 and the custom pipes began to be built in locations as far away as Germany. The decision on which ranks to select was difficult, according to Ms. Brown, but “the addition of extra ranks adds richness and a variety of sound,” she said. “It’s like the whole palette of an artist’s paints; they add different hues and different colors.”

When the Konzelman pipe organ is fully installed it won’t be the only one in Larchmont. Both St. Augustine’s Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church have pipe organs and Paul Martin Maki, the music minister at St. John’s, has been a consultant on the LAC project.

In addition to Sunday services, the pipe organ is an integral part of the Festival Choir, a concert of religious music held every April with singers and instrumentalists from all over Westchester. It is open to the public and free of charge. Past classics that have been performed by the Festival Choir include Mozart’s Requiem, “Elijah,” by Mendelssohn and Brahms’ Requiem.

Other past community events include a “sing-along” of Handel’s “Messiah” with soloists from the church choir supporting participation from “lay” singers. With completion of the new organ on the horizon, more community events are being planned.

On Sunday, congregation members were thrilled by the sound of the fledgling organ. Jane Hewson, who was part of the original organ planning group, as well as a long-time choir member, said that at choir practice “we burst into tears” on hearing the organ for the first time. “It was magnificent.”