Randall Dyer & Associates, Inc.

At long last, our new IV/79 organ at the First United Methodist Church in Orlando, is finished. Soon after letting the organ contract in 2004, the church began negotiations to sell much of its property for use in construction of a new Performing Arts Center, and work on the organ became encumbered in the planning of replacement buildings. Indeed, final stages of completion on the organ occurred with the building being torn down around us, as all but the beautiful Harold Wagoner sanctuary and bell tower were demolished to make room for a new educational-office building and underground parking garage.

On April 4, 1960, as plans were being made for the present sanctuary, Mrs. Jesse Baker, organist/choirmaster at First Methodist Church, sent a letter and $500 deposit to Aeolian-Skinner, informing them that they were the builder of choice for the new organ (see Callahan: Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, page 177). The result was an instrument of 4 manuals and 71 ranks, designed by Joseph Whiteford and sold by John Tyrrell, who also drew the mechanical layout.

By the late 1990's, realizing that the organ was beginning to fail, the church engaged a local organ person to commence releathering the organ. Parts that were easily accessed were repaired, but a failure to follow through with proper adjustments resulted in frequent ciphering on the repaired sections and continued dead notes in unrepaired chests, relay switches and console.

Following our successful rebuilding and addition to the organ at Rollins College, in Winter Park, we were asked to assess the First United Methodist organ. Once again, John Tyrrell, now our representative in Forida, was involved from the start of the project.

We found an instrument in need of serious mechanical repair and tonal upgrade. While possessing the indigenous Aeolain-Skinner sound, the organ was thin by today's standards, and there was no "lead", that effect that enables one to hear ascending treble notes over underlying chords.

As has been our custom in projects of this size, we prepared a master plan that included complete releathering of the entire organ. Parts previously releathered were evaluated and when found to be usable, were adjusted for proper operation and seating of valves.

A new tonal plan was devised which took advantage of much of the fine Aeolian-Skinner pipework, with selected rescaling and revoicing, and some reassignment. Existing pipes were removed to our shop for cleaning and revoicing, and a total of 15 new ranks were added to fill out the design and replace less effective stops. The final step was a complete on-site tonal finishing. If there was an advantage in the delayed completion of the organ, it may have been manifested in an ongoing development of the final stoplist as the project progressed.

The Great has rescaled 8' and 4' Principals, new 16' and 8' Violone (replacing the 16' Quintaton rank), new 8' Flute Harmonique, new 2 2/3' Quinte and 1 3/5' Tierce of Principal character. The existing Choir Solo Flute became the new 4' Hohlflote. Shared and enclosed with the Choir for dramatic crescendo effects, a new 16' and 8' Trumpet with English shallots has also been added.

The Swell has a new 8' Montre of slotted construction, and an 8' Voix Humaine, the latter a legacy E. M. Skinner stop. The original 16' Dolcan unit was replaced with the former Choir Erzahler, really a Flauto Dolce, to which we added a tapered 16' extension. Its companion Celeste rank was added on a new chest with the other new ranks. Existing 16' Hautbois, 8' Trompette and 4' Clarion stops were cleaned and revoiced.

In the Choir, the 16' and 8' Trumpet rank replaced the 16' Fagotto, a new 8' Cromorne replaced the thinner original Krummhorn, and the 8' Cor Anglais replaced the 4' Rohrschalmei. The original Great 16' Quintaton was placed on a new chest in the Choir box, and the Great's 8' Gemshorn, rescaled and revoiced as a light Principal, became the unison for the 8' Spitzgeigen Celeste pair. The Erzahlers moved to the Swell as the Flauto Dolces, were replaced with new Erzahlers of later Aeolian-Skinner "Kleiner Erzahler" style. The pitch emphasis of the IV Acuta was adjusted through revoicing.

The Positiv may have had the most dramatic change of all. This division was located on the fourth manual and was very difficult to reach for playing against the Great in Bach preludes and fugues. In addition, the tonal design, more of a "Brust Positiv", failed to provide the body of sound required to convincingly foil the Great, and the Zimbel was of such high pitch as to be almost useless. The new design takes advantage of the unification of the Great 8' Violone to provide the Positiv with a firmer 8' foundation stop. The original 8' Nason Flute was rescaled and revoiced for a fuller sound, as were the 4' and 2' Principals. New 1 1/3' Quinte and a Zimbel stop of lower pitch (the 1' is a double-draw from the Zimbel), complete the ensemble. Weight is available by borrowing the Choir's 16' Quintaton; now every division in the organ has 16' flue, as well as 8' open sound, and all but the Positiv have 16' reed available.

Because the layout of the organ did not allow for the inclusion of a Solo manual, and for the flexibility to play the color reeds from Swell and Choir divisions while accompanying them from within the same division, these reeds were added to the Positiv. In its normal position on the console, these stops are on the "Solo" manual, as is the Trompette-en-Chamade, playable through the Antiphonal. For the flexibility of being able to play the Positiv against the Great in the German manner, a Positiv/Choir transfer has been provided to shift the Positiv to the bottom manual.

Except for a general boost in the overall power level, the Pedal has had the least change. A new 32' Posaune extension, sorely missing from the original organ, was added and the Whiteford shallots in the 16' portions of the rank were replaced with leathered English shallots for a broader sound.

The swallow's nest Antiphonal, also designed by John Tyrrell and neatly tucked in a back corner of the room, remains as is with pipes cleaned.

As with new chests and other mechanical equipment, a new four-manual console has been built in our shop. Constructed of cherry and finished to match the wooden portion of the pews, it has internal casters to allow movement throughout the chancel. Manual keys are provided with our standard ivory naturals and rosewood sharps. The solid-state control system connects to the organ via a single fiber-optic strand, and features multi-level memory, transposing, record and playback capability, and MIDI interface.

An organ for the 21st century, the instrument's new broad, full sound, retaining the essence of Aeolian-Skinner, is an ideal and exciting vehicle for congregational and choral accompaniment, as well as for playing the literature. David Higgs will perform the Dedicatory Concert on Sunday 21 November 2010 at 4:00 PM.

William Shortal is Director of Music and Worship Arts; Linda van Niekirk is Organist.

Key to stoplist:

N=new, V=revoiced, S=rescaled, M=moved from another division