Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (West Point Cadet Chapel Organ) 

We had an associate organ curator (full-time person tuning and maintaining the organ) who drove trucks, also. He was pretty solid, too. I never drove a truck, though I did have to learn driving as a teen on a manual transmission, and still drive a 5-speed standard. 😉

A man after my own heart. I have never owned an automatic. I don't like a machine to tell me what to do. I now drive a six speed manual. Love your manual organ playing too! @@kupferdulzian16

That's trucking awesome. Cheers! Amen.

Thank you for your kind words! I agree that Winkworth was highly instrumental in bringing German hymnody first to Victorian England and then to the United States. A great legacy indeed!

Thank you very much! I wrote out an arrangement of this hymn for a student, which I played yesterday to open the morning service. However, today I decided to do something different and record more of an improvisation. The hallmark of a great hymn is how much flexibility one may enjoy when interpreting it!

Thank you, Louis. It was fun being able to improvise on this a bit.

Thank you for listening!

You're correct. The pedalboard is just another keyboard, played with the feet. In a hymn, the bass line is usually played on the pedal. It is an independent division of the organ, just as each keyboard (known as a "manual" in organ speak) is an independent division, with each division having its own unique voices (called "stops"). The pedal division has the deep bass stops of the organ, which sound an octave below the note being played, though it also has stops that can play the melody as well (some organ music actually puts the melody line in the pedal). A very large instrument like this one has some stops that sound 2 octaves below unison pitch, which can really "shake the floor." It was that sound, which you can actually feel, that made me want to start learning the organ when I was a teenager.

Thank you, Bob. I am using Orchestral reeds as manual ensemble and in the pedal. The big reed heard here is the Chamade. Right now, we aren't using the Swell, Choir, Chancel Great, or Harmonic divisions. All the West... We are still using the German Hauptwerk in the west balcony, along with the 32' Ophicleide bottom octave under that balcony, which are all winded (albeit insufficiently) from an auxiliary blower placed under that balcony.

@@janebarsumian2585 You are so kind, Jane. Thank you!

Thank you for listening!

Thank you, Rori! It has been fun listening to each other's social media efforts.

@@tandyedwarddix3668 Great to hear from you, Ted. I hope all is well!

Thank you for listening.

The West blower is offline, as the motor is being replaced and the rest refurbished - and a new static bellows provided. This means there is no wind to the Swell, Choir, Harmonic, or Chancel Great divisions. The German Great (Hauptwerk) is also on the west but is being provided wind by an auxiliary Laukhuff blower. The Positive is also being winded by an auxiliary blower. The Dutch Great division is working, winded by the East blower now fully refurbished and in operation.

Thank you!

Vielen Dank fürs Zuhören.

Yes. With the Solo division down since the lightning strike in 2008 (dreams deferred but still active!) and now the Harmonic reeds down, because of the West blower being offline, the Chamade is really the only thing going now in the "heroic reed" department. Hopefully, we will have the Harmonic division back up by the fall - with some improvements. And I would like to think the Solo will be up and running again before I retire. Thank you always for listening, Tom.

I'm supposed to give away all my secrets??! 😅 Well, actually Charles, you are almost right! It is an E Major chord, but it is over the D Pedal - giving it a bit of a dominant seventh inverted sound. When I move through the circle of fifths from that E chord back to the D suspended, that is all over D in the bass - which gives a powerful sustain through the whole sequence.

your secret is safe with me! 😂 thank you for sharing, It is so powerful. Looking forward to hearing/seeing all your uploads. (And perhaps in person again soon!)

Thank you very much!

Thank you! Right now we have one of the blowers being refurbished, so about 40% of the organ is currently offline. But what we still have is very strong for congregational singing.

I look forward to hearing the organ when the work is completed Craig. Perhaps you'll be able to put together a program to showcase the organ at that time which would be super.

Thank you very much, Steven!

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for listening!