On our recent trip to Minnesota to see the Sox play the Twins at the new Target field, I was able to hear my uncle play the awesome pipe organ at the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul. The church opened in 1875 and at the time had one of the most impressive pipe organs in the Midwest. He plays there every Sunday morning at 10:45, driving in from his home in Excelsior, about 45 minutes away.
My Son, Brother, Nephew and I had the pleasure of hearing him play for about 30 minutes before we had to hit the road to head back to Chicago. I recorded his practice session on my phone and posted the 7 minute video of him getting his practice in before the service.
The first half of the video is him explaining to us, how all the different knobs, buttons and keyboards have an affect on the sound that comes out of the massive pipes at the front of the church. The second half is him practicing his opening song for the service. The sound is a bit low in the beginning but once he gets playing you may want to turn it down as that organ has a big, big sound.
In the church I grew up in, the organ and pipes were at the back, but he explained that the setup can be in the front, in the back or on the sides of the church as it is up to the discretion of the architects and organ designers where to put the hardware. The placement of the pipes and the shape of the space work together to give each organ a unique sound and this old girl was pretty impressive.
Check out the video below.