Transcript Pipe Organs-Kelsey Aadland

Pipe Organs
By: Kelsey Aadland
Historically,
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Pipe organs stretch back to
around 200 B.C.
Ctesibius of Alexandrea is
generally credited with
building the first pipe organ,
the hydraulis.
He employed an ingenious
system using water pressure
to regulate the air pressure
which may have been
pumped by a windmill.
Modernly,
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Pipe organs consist of :

Keyboards, called
manuals
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Set of pedals
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Complete sets, or ranks
of pipes
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Windchest (reservoir),
which holds
compressed air to flow
into the pipes and
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Stops, which are levers
that control which ranks
are actuated by each
manual
Pipes
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Organ pipes are made from either
wood or metal and produce sound
when wind is directed through
them. One organ pipe produces
one tone at one pitch, and since
there is just one pipe for each
note, a keyboard with 61 notes (5
octaves) would have 61 pipes,
one for each note. The one set of
pipes for each note on the
keyboard makes just one kind of
sound. The organ will have
several sets of pipes; which as
stated before are called “ranks”,
which can make different sounds.
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The volume of the sound produced
by a pipe depends on the pressure
of the wind flowing to the pipe and
how the pipe is voiced (adjusted by
the builder to produce the desired
tone and volume). Thus, a pipe's
volume cannot be changed directly
while playing.
Organ pipes are divided into flute
pipes and reed pipes according to
their design and timbre. Flue pipes
produce sound by forcing air through
a fipple, like a recorder, whereas
reed pipes produce sound via a
beating reed, like a clarinet.
To make sound,
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An organ contains two
actions, or systems of
moving parts. When a key is
depressed, the key action
admits wind from the
windchest into a pipe. The
stop action allows the
organist to control which
ranks are engaged. An action
may be mechanical,
pneumatic, or electrical.
How it works
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The air enters through the
bottom of the pipe and hits the
sharp edge at the front of the
pipe making the air vibrate.
Those vibrations that do not fit
exactly in the pipe drown
themselves out as they interfere
with themselves. In the
animation on the left, the blue
curve is the wave that bounces
up and down in the pipe, and
the red curve is the net result:
the sum of the blue curves.
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The length of the pipe
determines which waves
fit exactly inside and thus
the pitch of the tone the
pipe makes. Several
wavelengths fit—the
pictures to the right show
the first few. The blue
curve is the primary
tone, the remaining
curves are overtones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhakZPMjPKE
Fun fact
The largest pipe organ in
the world is located in
Philadelphia, PA. (In a
Lord & Taylor
Department Store.)
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It has:
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461 ranks
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6 manuals
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28,482 pipes
Sources
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http://lawrencephelps.com/Documents/
Articles/Beginner/pipeorgans101.html
http://www.virtualorgan.com/default.asp
?page=116
http://www.danishchurch.vancouver.bc.
ca/history/organ.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_organ
#Pipes
http://theatreorgans.com/laird/top.pipe.
organs.html