Germany and the Netherlands the pedalboard became standard, long before it was univer- sally adopted in other countries.7

The first

documented organ installation occurred in Germany in 1361. Guillaume de Machaut described this organ as the “King of Instru- ments,” a term also later used by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and still frequently applied today.8

By the seventeenth century, most of the sounds available on the modern classical organ had been developed. The pipe organ was the grandest and most complex human-made machine in history until the late nineteenth century, when the field of communications developed the telephone exchange system.10

By about 1500, the large church organ was similar in essentials to the instrument we know today.9

NOTES 1 The History of the Pipe Organ.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe organ#

The organ in church. Historically the

organ has always been most closely associ- ated with the Church. Descriptions of the organ in churches date to the Middle Ages, from about the seventh century and later. By the end of the Middle Ages, very large organs were being built in both abbey churches and cathedrals, and the organ appears to have been an expected part of any such new building. The organ went through a process of development that ultimately is responsible for all the great instruments that have appeared since that time.11

The principal purpose of the organ is to play in religious services. Due to its ability to simultaneously provide a musical foundation below the vocal register, support in the vocal register, and increased brightness above the vocal register, the organ is ideally suited to accompany human voices, whether a congre- gation, choir or soloist. Most worship services also include opportunity for solo organ repertoire, such as a prelude at the beginning the service, an offertory, or a postlude at the conclusion of the service.12

Without the encouragement of the Church, it is probable that the “King of Instruments” may have never developed beyond the scope of the earlier organs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.13 from the King James Bible affirms:

Psalm 150

Praise him with stringed instruments and

organs;

Praise him upon the loud cymbals; Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals; Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD!

WORSHIP ARTS • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2010

2 Corliss Arnold, Organ Literature: A Comprehensive

Survey Vol.1 (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995), 2.

3 Jim Henry, Brief History of the Organ: from Hydraulis to Miditzer, http://www.virtualorgan.com/

Default.asp?page=116.

4 Ibid. 5 James H. Cook, http://www.concertartist.info/ organhistory/begin.htm

6 Ibid.

7 Corliss Arnold, Organ Literature: A Comprehensive

Survey Vol.1 (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995), 3.

8 Pipe Organ History and Development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pipe_organ#History_and_development

9 Donald Grout and Claude Palisca, A History of Western Music (New York: W.W. Norton and Co. 1996), 220.

10 Nicholas Pippenger, “Complexity Theory,” Scientific American, (1978), 239:90-100.

11 James H. Cook, http://www.concertartist.info/ organhistory/begin.htm

12 Church Organs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Organ_%28music%29

13 James H. Cook. http://www.concertartist.info/ organhistory/begin.htm

Fellowship member JANE KIMBREL serves as Director of Music Ministries/Organist at the Perry United Method- ist Church in Perry, GA, where she directs two adult

choirs, two handbell groups, a graded children’s choir program, and oversees a staff of three part-time musicians. She is a May 2010 candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Organ Performance at the Univer- sity of Kentucky, and holds a Master’s degree in Church Music from Concordia University Wisconsin. She is the chair of the South Georgia Annual Conference Worship Commit- tee and serves as The Fellowship’s piano and organ chair of the Music Interest Area.

First United Methodist Church,

Thomasville, Georgia, Moller pipe organ, 33 ranks

19

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36