Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church is purchasing, reconfiguring, refurbishing, & repurposing a pipe organ for our worship space. This blog chronicles the journey of a "Green" Organ.

Friday, April 29, 2011

A sample of items for upcoming auction

Here are a few of the items you can bid on at the live and silent auctions on Saturday, May 14 from 6:00 - 9:00 PM:

  • Piaggio motor scooter
  •  a one-week stay at a private townhouse in Rancho Mirage
  • a night at the St. Paul Hotel
  • an afternoon of sailing on Lake Pepin
  • 3 hours of a live harp performance for a private event
  • Fitness Club memberships
  • gourmet food and wine baskets
  • artwork, books & CD's
  • much, much more!
Download and share our PDF flyer for our May 14 Dinner and Auction. Click here to register for what promises to be an amazing evening!

For more details about our fundraiser, click here.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Tour of Holtkamp Organ Company

Cindy Winslow and her husband, members at Shepherd of the Valley, were traveling recently near the facility of the Holtkamp Organ Company in Ohio where our pipe organ is currently being renovated and refurbished. On a whim, they called to see if they could see the organ work in progress and take photos. Holtkamp welcomed them with open arms, and so the Winslows--and us--get a rare treat of seeing some behind the scenes work at an organ builder. Below are some of the photos from their visit as well as some Cindy's impressions. Enjoy!


Everyone at The Holtkamp Organ Company was very welcoming and accommodating. The owner, Chris Holtkamp, gave us a long and detailed tour around the entire factory for about an hour. Although the building seemed old, and it was not a fancy facility, they had all up-to-date tools and the latest technology and equipment; whatever they need to do the work that they do. Holtkamp does not get a whole lot of visitors, but they took our visit in stride.

You can tell how much pride Chris has for his company and his workers are like one big family. We met all the workers that were there that day—12 craftsmen, metal workers and voicers. Everyone was very nice and answered all our questions. We were really impressed with their craftsmanship. They are very good at what they do and it is amazing how they keep track of all the wood and metal and different parts of the organ. At the time of our visit, they were only working on Shepherd of the Valley’s organ. This really gives you a scope for the magnitude of the project, as there were parts of our organ all across the facility. Simultaneously, they were constructing the wind chest and the blower, refurbishing existing pipes, building new pipes by hand, and doing the voicing [making sure the pipes will acoustically sound right for our sanctuary]one pipe at a time.


That’s Danny in the plaid shirt working on our console.




The stacks of wood that look like bookshelfs are parts of the wind chest, made of poplar wood.


These are shiny, brand new pipes. The pointy parts on top are all hand soldering.



More pipes for our organ. Everywhere you look there’s pipes- they’re all labeled- some 3,000 pipes. It's amazing that they keep track of them all!

Chris, the owner, in front of crucible- working with molten zinc, tin and lead to make the metal sheets.



The tin that’s rolled and stacked are brand new metal sheets of tin made in the crucible shown in the other picture. After they’re made, they let them sit and age so they’re easier to work with.
 
Super tall pipes- the largest pipes from the Macalester organ- are waiting to be cut down to fit for our organ.

Joe is working on the blower that creates the wind for the organ.



Sean, one of the voicers, working on a wooden pipe to make sure it fits- and tuning it so it sounds the way it is supposed to.


George is one of the voicers. He started out as a high school music teacher, but decided working with pipe organs is what he really wanted to do. In the photo some pipes are ours, but most are Holtkamp’s factory voicing system. George is testing the sound of each of our pipes against the others. That’s not our console or keyboard either, just what George uses for the voicework.
Michael is the designer- he visited SOTV last week to work with the contractors doing construction in the Sacristy area.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

April Update from Our Organ Builder


April 11, 2011

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church
Attn: Christopher Smith
12650 Johnny Cake Ridge Road
Apple Valley, MN 55124

Dear Pastor Smith:

Our work progress at this point includes the following: our design engineer continues to communicate with the architects to resolve several issues that have come up related to the pipe organ installation. Drawings continue to be produced for the construction and assembly of your pipe organ. The swell box enclosure has been set up in our erecting room. The wind system has progressed rapidly—several windlines have been constructed and fit to specifications. Concussion bellow assemblies have been constructed—fourteen in all. Fan enclosure boxes have also been constructed. The unit windchest components have been constructed and fit together—including the large pedestal unit windchest components.

The new console for your organ has progressed well, most notably the keyboards are now being worked on. Each of the 183 keys mechanisms require special attention. The larger wood pipes are being fitted for use in your pipe organ. Pipe surfaces requiring refinishing have been stripped of their old finish.

Currently, two sets of organ pipes are being worked on—the 8’ Flauto Dolce and the 8’ Spitzviol. Both sets require modifications so that these pipes may fit in the organ chamber. Additionally, the voicing of organ pipes continues—our voicer has been working on several sets of pipes—namely the 8’ Crummhorn, the 16’ Subbass, and the 8’ Tuba. All of the reed pipe sets for your pipe organ are now on our site. Lastly, the releathering of all your existing windchests has been complete.

Sincerely,

F. Christian Holtkamp, President

Friday, April 8, 2011

Tickets on sale for "Get ORGAN-ized!"

Tickets are now on sale for $25 per person and can be purchased online, or in person at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church--either at the Welcome Center or at our Narthex table on weekends.

Click here to register online.

"Get ORGAN-ized" is our Dinner and Auction Fundraiser for our Pipe Organ. It will be held at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church on Saturday, May 14 from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.

Payment for auction items at the event is by cash or check only.

More details can be found in this previous post.