Page 32 - ATD19DEC2015
P. 32
A32
FEATURESaturday 19 December 2015
Steven Ball, staff organist with the Historic Organ Restoration Committee, plays the console of the Boardwalk Hall organ in Atlantic City, N.J. The large openings, top
right, contain rows and rows of pipes for the organ, that experts describe as the largest musical instrument on the planet. The massive organ at Boardwalk Hall hasn’t
functioned at its full capacity since a hurricane in 1944.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Those Are Some Pipes: Immense Organ’s Restoration Underway
KATHY MATHESON percent by the summer, Yet over the past several soundtracks for stage shows have been replacing criti-
Associated Press when hundreds of organ and movies in a world be- cal mechanical elements.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — aficionados expect to visit. years, the restoration com- fore amplifiers. Some organ fans fear At-
It’s described as the larg- The 150-ton instrument, built Ball described organists as lantic City’s economic
est musical instrument in by the Midmer-Losh Co., mittee’s painstaking efforts one-man orchestras, creat- struggles — including sever-
the world, yet an audience hasn’t been fully opera- ing music from a range of al casinos closing in recent
can barely see it. tional since 1944, when the have partially revived the sounds — trumpets, strings, years — have hampered
The historic organ at Board- Great Atlantic Hurricane piano — in the same way their ability to attract wide-
walk Hall in Atlantic City swept through the sea- instrument. Now Ball, who an artist mixes paint on a spread attention and sup-
boasts more than 33,000 side resort, causing flood- palette. The sound palette port. Ball hopes people will
pipes, all concealed be- ing that ruined mechani- also serves on the group, is built at Boardwalk Hall re- see the bigger picture. The
hind the walls of the cav- cal equipment. But for 12 mains unparalleled be- former University of Michi-
ernous auditorium best years before the storm, the trumpeting its 10-year fund- cause of its stellar cohort of gan music professor insists
known for hosting the Miss organ’s unequaled power designers, he said. the mammoth project is
America pageant. But the and tonal range represent- ing campaign, which so far James Weaver, execu- not simply a nostalgic quest
sound is robust — even ed the pinnacle of the art tive director of the Organ to fix “an antiquated piece
while operating at only 25 form, Ball said. Unfortunate- has raised $2 million of its Historical Society, said his of sound equipment.”
percent of its capacity. ly, no recordings exist from group is excited to see the When fully functional, he
“I tell people it’s sort of that time — only written $16 million goal. instrument’s inner workings said, the organ will be “tru-
like a race car running on accounts that he said de- during a planned visit July ly capable of changing
two cylinders right now,” scribe “the most impressive The money will help refur- 1. It’s like going into an old the public’s perception of
said staff organist Steven sound on Earth.” steamship or something,” what the art means.”
Ball. “It’s also terrifying how The organ was never com- bish the Midmer-Losh — Weaver said. “You just mar- Former church organist
powerful it is — even just pletely repaired, accord- vel ... how did they even Nancy Herb of Hatfield,
a quarter of it. So I can’t ing to Ball. It was played which is currently played manage to do all of this?” Pennsylvania, heard Ball
imagine what half of it is sporadically until the 1970s, So far, restoration funds play a 30-minute recital af-
going to do.” when, he said, it largely fell during Miss America, on have included private do- ter taking a recent behind-
He hopes to find out soon. silent because of electrical nations, as well as federal the-scenes tour.
The nonprofit Historic Organ problems. Deterioration en- building tours and at other and state grants. Hundreds “It’s just fantastic, all the
Restoration Committee, sued due to neglect, disuse of pipes were recently sent intricacies of it,” Herb
which has been refurbish- and accidental pipe dam- hall events — and a smaller to be overhauled at Oys- said. “You feel like you’re
ing the hidden gem, plans age caused by contractors ter Pipe Works in Louisville, in heaven — heavenly
to have it functioning at 50 working in the hall. W.W. Kimball organ in an Ohio, and workers in-house music.”q
adjacent ballroom.
Beth Ryan, coordinator at
the Atlantic City Histori-
cal Museum, said she was
blown away when she first
heard the main organ.
“The air around me got very
electric — the sound just
filled the room,” Ryan said.
“It’s like a time machine. It
really does transport you
back into a different era.”
Organs used to be essen-
tial equipment for large
theaters and municipal
auditoriums, providing
