O, for a thousand pipes

The installation of a huge new organ at a Raleigh church is a major undertaking

RALEIGH -- The Bible says to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Members of Edenton Street United Methodist Church have taken that to heart.

Last Sunday, more than 100 members unloaded two tractor-trailers full of pipes, wooden cases, blowers and steel beams that will be assembled over the next month as part of the downtown Raleigh church's new organ.

When finished, the organ will rival the one in Duke Chapel. It will include 97 ranks, or sets of pipes, equaling about 6,000 individual pipes. That's nearly twice the size of the old organ built for the church 50 years ago.

"It's a crucial component of our worship experience," said Bill Cross, chairman of the committee that undertook the organ project. "The organ is used in every Sunday service."

Six pipe organ technicians from Quebec, Canada, are assembling the mammoth instrument, with the goal of having key components in place for Christmas. Meanwhile, worship services have moved to the fellowship hall for at least the next two Sundays.

Several members of the choir stepped gingerly into the sanctuary Wednesday to take a peek at the work under way.

"We're so excited we're beside ourselves," one said.

"This is an event of a lifetime," said Greg Hunt, a member of the chancel choir, as he gazed up at the scaffolding above the church altar. "I won't see it again I'm sure."

It took the committee nearly three years of study to figure out the logistics of replacing the old organ, whose mechanical elements were falling apart. The committee was able to salvage nearly 80 percent of the old pipes, but it is adding nearly as many new ones.

Shopping for an organ is not as easy as buying a piano. Organs are custom built to fit a particular space. As workers moved around the sanctuary Wednesday, they made their way past buckets full of rolled up architectural drawings.

The new organ will cost the church $1.8 million, but members think it is well worth it. More than 400 church members participate in the church's musical programs, and many others appreciate the sonorous sounds of the organ on Sunday morning. The church employs a full-time organist and a full-time music minister.

A formal dedication will take place in March, followed by a concert series. Sometime afterward, the church hopes to add a new antiphonal division at the rear of the sanctuary. That will bring the number of organ ranks to 113.

"This is a watershed event in the life of the church," Cross said. "We've ended up with something I fully expect to be truly magnificent."