COVER FEATURE

26 THE AMERICAN ORGANIST

HE TOWN of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, is located ashort distance northwest of Pittsburgh along theOhio River. Although the town was officially in-

corporated in 1853, Presbyterians had been meeting forworship in the area since the early 1800s. Worship serviceswere held first in a log cabin and then in a brick church untilthe present stone building was completed in 1861. A chapelwas added in 1953. The church remains a vibrant part of lifein the community.The small chapel is Gothic in design and seats 80 wor-

shipers. Although the central aisle is carpeted, the highceiling and plaster walls create a good acoustic environ-

ment. The furnishings are richly carved with liturgicalthemes. Jewel-toned stained glass windows adorn the rightside of the chapel. A small balcony is located over the rearof the nave.During the academic year, traditional worship services are

conducted in the chapel each Sunday. A small group ofsingers or an instrumental soloist joins the organist in thebalcony from time to time. The chapel is also used for smallweddings and funerals. The musicians and leadership had long dreamed of com-

missioning a pipe organ to lead worship in the chapel. R.Craig Dobbins, director of music ministries, first contactedour firm in 2003. Discussions were enthusiastic, but a num-ber of factors prevented the project from materializing at thattime. The conversation resumed in 2016. With preliminaryfunding in place, the organ committee was seeking proposalsfor the new organ.Pipe organs are designed and crafted to meet the unique

needs of each client. Through discussions with the organcommittee and the musicians, we are able to gain a sense ofthe role the organ must fulfill. By visiting the church andspending time in the space, we come to understand the par-ticular acoustic qualities and visual characteristics of theroom. We then develop a concept for the instrument—drawing from our own experience as organ builders andchurch musicians—that meets or exceeds the requirementsof the client.Inspiration for the organ was found in instruments de-

signed by English builders in the 18th and 19th centuries.These small organs served the needs of their congregationswell, being designed and used primarily for accompanyingcongregational and liturgical singing. Organs were keptphysically small in order to fit in the relatively small Englishparish churches. The voicing of these organs is gentle yetcolorful. Each stop has its own character and beauty, yetthey combine seamlessly to create rich choruses. We wantedto incorporate that sound quality into this new organ.

T

SEWICKLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHSEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA

BEDIENT PIPE ORGAN COMPANY • LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

BY RYAN LUCKEY

The new organ was to be lo-cated in the balcony of the chapeland this presented our designteam with a number of chal-lenges. The chapel is very sym-metrical and we wanted the or-gan to maintain that symmetryand carry it into the balcony;however, the available space waslimited by a hallway wall nowprotruding into the balcony fol-lowing remodeling in the spaceadjacent to the chapel. Our solu-tion was to build the case overand around the wall. Essentially,the lower case has two sides andthe upper case has three sides.The organ is attached to the backwall, so there are no rear case pan-els. The original door to the bal-cony was retained to provideaccess to the mechanical compo-nents in the lower case and a new doorwas constructed for the musicians toenter the balcony. Service access is another priority in

any new instrument we design. A rearwalk-board provides the best access,but it would have occupied preciousspace so we considered several alterna-tives. We settled on arranging the wind-chests in an “A” layout with the largestpipes at the center, increasing in pitchdiatonically on either side. This allowedus to place access doors on either side ofthe case so the pipes can be tuned byreaching in toward the center. Thewindchests are of traditional pallet andslider construction.A new organ should look like it was

designed as an integral part of the spacein which it resides. In a traditional, his-toric chapel, this is especially true.Again we looked to the English organfor inspiration. Often in these instru-ments we find three towers with threeto five pipes in each, connected by flatsof smaller pipes. This arrangement wasideal for the chapel, taking full advan-tage of the height in the ceiling andechoing three stained glass windows atthe front of the chancel. The chapel’s

existing furnishings are made of oak,but bear various finishes. We chose tobuild the case of American red oak tocompliment the other furnishingswhile providing its own warmth andcharacter. The organ committee re-quested that the case be kept relativelysimple with no elaborate carvings orornamentation. We were happy to ful-fill this request but decided to add poly-chrome accents to the cornices for atouch of elegance. The music desk isredwood burl with holly accents.

The key action and stop actionare entirely mechanical. A well-regulated mechanical playingaction offers the organist unpar-alleled sensitivity and musicalexpression. Bedient’s suspendedkey action and the especiallyshort tracker runs in this organgive it a responsiveness uniqueamong other organs in thegreater Pittsburgh area. The nat-ural keys are covered in cow boneand the sharps are ebony. Al-though traditional wood track-ers would have served admirablyin this small organ, we decidedto take this opportunity to ex-plore carbon fiber. We made sev-eral experimental models andtested them for strength anddurability. We were very pleasedwith the final results and we look

forward to using the material on futureprojects! The mechanical stop action(with no combination action) simplifiesthe design and increases the instrument’sreliability. Drawknobs feature hand-let-tered porcelain stop faces.Our process of selecting and recom-

mending particular voices was closelyguided by the preliminary stoplists pro-vided to us by the organ committee.The organ had to be relatively small inconsideration of the space available, butthat does not mean the organ lackstonal resources The Great division is a complete Prin-

cipal chorus. It is based on an 8' OpenDiapason, whose largest pipes form theorgan’s facade. This is voiced with therichness and warmth for which BedientPrincipals are known. It is able to leada small congregation in song just by it-self. It can also serve as a solo voiceagainst one of the softer stops in theSwell. The 4' Principal and 2' Fifteenthare lighter in their voicing, adding depthand clarity to the chorus. The 2 ⅔'Twelfth is gently voiced so it can beused with the Principal chorus and beeffective when coupled to the flutes inthe Swell. Although the organ commit-

Swell installation

Sewickley Presbyterian Church, designed by Joseph Kerr and completed in 1861

AUGUST 2018 27

28 THE AMERICAN ORGANIST

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason (Sw.) 4 Principal2⅔ Twelfth 2 Fifteenth Swell to Great

SWELL (enclosed) 8 Stopped Diapason 8 Salicional 4 Flute 8 Oboe Tremulant

PEDAL 16 Bourdon Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal

Sewickley Presbyterian Church Chapel

Sewickley, PennsylvaniaBedient Pipe Organ Company

Opus 90Two manuals, 9 ranks

tee’s initial stoplist had noflute in the Great, we felt itwas extremely important forthe organ to have an accom-panimental stop in that divi-sion. Space in the case was ata premium and there was noroom for an additional stop.Our solution was to duplex the StoppedDiapason to both the Great and Swellmanuals. The duplex is entirely me-chanical using check valves inside thewindchest. The Swell division has the 8' Stopped

Diapason as its foundation. This wood

flute stop has a smooth, velvety color,enabling it to blend very well and en-hance the other stops in the organ. Thiswas the first full-compass wood manualstop to be built by our firm in manyyears and it was quite successful. TheSalicional is mild and rich, and pos-sesses an Echo Diapason quality. Inkeeping with English nomenclature,we have included a 4' Flute. This rankis actually a Chimney Flute, designedfor clarity and brightness when addedto the Stopped Diapason or for its del-icate color as a solo voice. Finally, the 8'

Oboe is the classic English Swell reed,full of dark richness and fundamentaltone. It is useful as either a chorus orsolo voice. The Pedal is the simplest division

with only one stop, a 16' Bourdon pro-viding clear bass tone to the ensemble.The organ features the typical couplersfound on a mechanical action organ.The pipes give the organ its voice and

we give great care to their constructionand voicing. All the metal flue pipes aremade of 98% hammered lead alloy forits richness of tone. The Oboe is spot-ted metal (52% tin) for the brightnessafforded by the higher tin content.Wood pipes are made of poplar. The or-gan committee was especially interestedin using an unequal temperament forthis instrument. We agreed to tune theorgan in the temperament devised byBradley Lehman based on the orna-ment at the top of the title page ofBach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. It hasproven to be musically satisfying in allkeys. The pipes are cone-tuned in thetraditional manner.The chapel organ was dedicated in

September 2017. The celebratory recitalwas played by R. Craig Dobbins andhighlighted the many tonal colors of theorgan. It featured works by Lübeck,Bach, and Mozart, as well as contempo-rary composers Andrew Clarke, PietPost, and Myron Roberts. The Robertspiece offered a Nebraska connection,as Roberts taught organ and musictheory at the University of Nebraskafor 34 years.We would like to offer our sincerest

thanks to the organ committee mem-bers, musicians, and leadership ofSewickley Presbyterian Church for en-

trusting us with this impor-tant project. Many thanksare also due to each of theBedient crew members forall their contributions tomaking this project a suc-cess. Finally, our apprecia-tion goes out to several of

our colleagues for their collaboration.Our entire team takes pride in knowingthat this organ will be leading people inworship for generations to come.

Ryan Luckey is vice president and projectmanager of Bedient Pipe Organ Company.Website: Bedientorgan.com

Great pipework

Bedient crew:Jasmine BeachTodd BruecknerMatt BukreyGuy DavenportIan Fralick

Joseph HolmesChad JohnsonRyan LuckeyMark MillerFred Zander