Although the Casavant voicers are finishing their work these weeks, yet we have planned a choir performance this Sunday night in Langley church.

The Laudate! Young Adults Choir will sing a short program. We started this season with a good number of people, and the pieces were challenging. However, after loosing serveral members, we had to drop these pieces (one Cantata by Buxtehude we had pretty much finished - quite frustrating).

Now we are singing a light repretoire of just 7 songs:

God is my Refuge 

Jesus is my Lord
Why o why
Soon and very soon
Glory, glory, halleluia

On that great and glorious morning

House of Jacob

All of these pieces have something to do with renewal... renewal by the Holy Spirit, the ongoing renewal today on this earth, and the final renewal when the Lord returns on the new earth.

Feel free to join us... refreshments are served after...

Did I say that....?

When I got the call back from the Vancouver Sun last week, it was Pete McMartin. He wanted to visit our church and see the new organ. If it would be playable... "Yes, but it is not tuned yet".

Pete McMartin is a columnist with the Vancouver Sun. I don't read his writings often, maybe it is because of the language he uses, and probably because my approach to life is different than his. Pete tends to look at the world somewhat sarcastic, ironic, to which he ads his own style of humor.

So what should I say? "Dear Pete, I don't like you, could you please send someone else?" I choose not to do that, and I wanted to show him our church building, tell him about our church community, our church life, our membership and regular worship services, that we have the pulpit and Word in the center for a reason, and much more. So, we made an appointment.

We arrived at the same time at the church. He drove a blue minivan, and had a half open leather briefcase. After he got is recorder working - he did not seem too technical - we had a 10 minute conversation. He started asking the question: "Tell me about the organ - why a new pipe organ", followed by questions about the church and electronic organs. The questions seem to be somewhat strange, and I tried to answer them the best I could, without giving him too much information.

I recall the question "What is so religious about the organ" to which I replied "Absolutely nothing". Or the question what the organ has to do with faith, to which I responded that the organ is just an instrument that supports the worship service, but it has nothing to do with our faith. And that how we filled 10 minutes.

Next his video man comes in. He asks the organbuilders, who are busy tuning, if they could play something. They make room on the organ bench and point to me. I played a few things for them, which were incorporated in a video. Later Pete McMartin redid part of the interview, putting me in front of the organ, and again the questions had sharp edges.

Asking several questions about the investment of the congregation, the membership and fundrasing activities, he challenged the organ builders as well, and when they mentioned their work around organs of millions of dollars, thousands of pipes and months of installation work, he got the proper perspective and that we did not go overboard here.  

So, what did I say? Is the organ the voice of God? That's totally Pete McMartin's swing on the story - I did not mention it or hinted at this term at all. I am sure Pete made the story after visiting our church, and picked this phrase up somewhere (maybe here).
In the literature people have spoken and written about the organ as the Vox Populi (the voice of the people) leading the praise, prayer and thanksgiving of the people. The organ has also been characterized as the Vox Dei (voice of God), because of the increadible power of the sound that (especially in large instruments in cathedrals) can be felt as much as heard.

In light of this, I don't think that the article was totally off-key, but certainly the last sentence is!

Obviously I got some calls today about this article - some people even called me at my office.

• "Pete McMartin wrote a nice article, considering how he normally writes", was one reaction. 
  
• "The article is good, but the way he finished does not make any sense. I wondered if it bothered me as an organist, but I now I am sure that it bothers me as a regular Sun reader", said one of the Vancouver organists.
  
• "The last line is very strange, but it is clearly Pete McMartin, and he does not do himself a favour. But he would care less.", commented one of my co-workers.
  
• "Did you say that the organ is the voice of God?", asked a concerned member of our congregation by phone tonight, to which I could heartely respond "no, not at all".

So, what do I conclude?

- Pipe organ publicity in general is good, and the experts think that this is actually a pretty good article, yet the writer Pete McMartin concludes with a weird note - he is off-key in the end.

- Agreeing to an interview could have an unexpected twist, depending on the interviewer, and next time it could be better to refuse the interview if I don't think that the interviewer can do justice in this writings. (The writings in the local newspapers are much more accurate and real.)

- I still would like to open the churchdoors for anyone, whether on a Sunday or a weekday, for the Worship service or for an organ, to the neigbour or to the newspaper. In the end, I hope that other people feel that our church building is used to the glory of God and to worship his name, and I am convinced that even a man as Pete McMartin must have felt this, even on a weekday!

For your reference: article, video

PS1 If you want to tell me that don't like (part of) the article, or the video - I don't either. I made a comment in last Sunday's liturgy sheet about the Vancouver Sun, which I regret now. But I can't turn the clock backwards...

PS2 The photographer took many pictures. On request I raised my arms for one picture, and that one they choose (I was prbably too serious on the other ones). Some people commented that it shows a. enthusiasm and b. it compliments the front of the organ.

The Casavant people have been working hard, and they completed the assembly today! They are going back to Quebec next week. They have done an increadible job. Some pictures...

The organ cannot be played yet. The voices are scheduled to arrive June 2nd.

Today the organ builders added more components of the facade.
They worked hard as they plan to go home on Saturday already.
That would give us an extra week before the voicers show up.

The console is now connected
(I am very happy with the extra long cables).

The facade pipes were added. First the centre section.

This looks great already, but then tonight they installed also the remaining facade pipes.

Left and right some panelling will be installed tomorrow probably.
They are running through the entire organ for troubleshooting to make sure everything works as it should.

Waiting takes a long time and now it seems to be a really long time...

 Today the outline of the facade (front of the organ) became visible. Many people recognize an angel in the design.

The organ builders are working steady and putting even in some overtime.

Much of the electrical work has been done as well.

This is the conduit from the console going up to the organ loft.

The left system is located in the organ loft connected to the one side of the cables,
and the right part is one of the components in the console.

From underneath the Swell we can see the bottom part of the pedal pipes on the left.
In the mean time, more wires and hoses for compressed air are installed.

This is the back of the Swell boxes.
The small door at the bottom is for easy access to tune the reeds.

Looking up, from behind the Swell...

Tomorrow the facade pipes will be installed.

 Friday there was some help needed.
The pipes were all over the sanctuary, and Sunday was approaching...
We were not going to cancel the services...
The organ builders needed some hands...

So with a couple of individuals we "quickly" handed over the pipes to the organ balcony,
after organ builder number one checked them out and "fixed" some of the metal,
we handed the pipes to organ builder number two who placed them on the pipe rack.

After that they worked hard to get the heavy pieces up
so that we could return the lift and part of the scaffolding.

Then there was a problem with all the materials.
We knew that the assembly was going to take 2 weeks,
but now we needed to think about Sunday...!
Where to leave all the materials???
The organ builders were also looking at the carpet: how soft was it,
would it damage or leave stains, or would the pipes leave stains.
The foyer was selected,
and this is what we will see tomorrow.

The organ shows a clear outline already and I think that we will get a good idea on Sunday.
Pastor Bredenhof will lead the services in front of the scaffolding.

These pictures were taken Friday and Saturday.

Saturday night I took the following pictures.

Sorry for just two spotlights...
(There is a discussion going on about different lights as these light are apparently not good enough.
In the mean time we have only the two lights on the right side).

Monday morning there will be an early start again,
while the rest of us celebrate our stat. holiday...

The end of this coming week should reach 95% completion of the assembly.

Today the Swell box was installed around the Swell chest.

This ladder leads up to the walk board behind the Swell. Also have a look underneath the Swell chest.

The Swell box fits perfectly behind the support pillar. Looks like it was designed with this in mind . Also notice that if you access the organ floor from behind, you can't go around the Swell box anymore. In the design it was determined that one needs to crawl underneath the Swell box to get to the front part (Great).

On the right picture you can see clearly a piece sticking out on the front of the balcony. That is where the tall center pipes will be installed, hanging in front of the balcony, onto this piece.

Some Music Committees of our churches in the Fraser Valley have been talking about how to engage the younger generation in organ playing, piano playing, all with congregational accompaniment in mind.

In my opinion making music should be part of life of Christians, music should be promoted and stimulated in Christian families. Psalms, hymns and music of the church should be favoured.

The interest and stimulation for making music can start in the family, be fostered by the Christian school, and encouraged during home visits by the elders.

Enough statements... I thought about this, also in light of our new organ, and because I saw this video. I have seen similar videos before, but this event was held not to far from here (SF). This is a massive event and difficult to organize, but we could organize a smaller scale event. We have organ builders around us, large and small organs, old and new organs, and many great organists who would welcome us. Interested in co-organizing?

Today the organ builders continued their efforts. I did briefly meet them at the end of the day again, and as far as I can see they are first working on all the chests and wind channels and reservoirs. Let's check it out...

This is the main wind reservoir or "bellow". It will be installed in the "blower room", which is located behind the pulpit. The blower will blow air in the reservoir and with some weights it will create pressured air (150 mm) which will go up to the organ through the large pipe and hole in the floor.

Up in the organ the air will be contained in other reservoirs or bellows, with different wind pressure for different types of ranks. The wheels and wire on the floor are for a mechanism to regulate the air input from the blower. When the organist does not play, the air input will be shut off by a valve. The valve is connected through the wire with the top of the reservoir.

The organ will be completely symetric with a C and C# system. The small windchests on the floor are for the large wooden pedal pipes. The Swell chest is yet without the Swell box and wrapped in packaging paper (feels like Christmas in more than one way...).

Slowly there are more components added. You can see how in the center some things are installed that will carry the 15 feet tall center pipes, to be "hung" in front of the balcony.  

Couldn't resist checking out a few wooden pedal pipes in boxes. The console (where the organist plays) is still wrapped, as well. Can't wait...

If you have a chance, check this Friday's newspaper. The reporter was around on Monday morning, took many pictures and asked many questions, about our church as well as the organ builders. The newspapers plan is to have a follow up finishing with a full page photo collage, with 'before' and 'after' pictures.

This article is not outreach, but people will know that we are worshipping the Lord here on Sunday. A curious individual might visit us for the new organ, and we pray that Word and Spirit might work so that they may join us in the Lord.

This morning the Casavant crew started at 7:00 AM. Later in the morning the people from Bandstra Moving assisted in unloading the trailer.

The church changed into a storage place of crates, boxes and parts...

On the organ loft we saw the windchests at the end of the day.

The organ's pedal board was also somewhere to be found.

The area around the pulpit can still be recognized, but the sancturay is more a workshop right now...

It is very exiting to see the components and parts show up in our church. To have Jean-Nicolas Poulin from Casavant Freres lead the installation. To have the Langley Advance taking pictures and interviewing several people for a story...