The more I have tried my hand at organ pipe voicing or regulation the more I respect the work of the professional voicers. This is often referred to as an art and this is certainly the correct word, often akin to magic. Not everyone can succeed and as well as a craftsman's skill a keen ear is also needed. Remember the words of Edmund Schulze who was always willing to discuss his voicing methods with his admirers but whose technique they could never match, "but they have
not my ears".

Today has been a most useful and stimulating event, rather different from our usual visits to organs, but judging by the very large attendance perhaps something we should do more often. Perhaps when we next hear an organ we will listen more accurately to the voicing. Keith Bance is one of our leading voicers of both flue and reed pipes, each of which requires quite different techniques. His intention was to show us the general direction the trade is now moving in. As a warm up act he passed round samples of organ leather, ranging from wafer thin for motor hinges to substantial material for reservoirs and then several grades in between for other specific functions. We then inspected various types of felt used in the trade.

Keith then started on a kaleidoscope of fascinating matters of critical importance to organ design and construction. I can only give a brief list of some of them. The best run firms are those run by voicers. Both classical and romantic designs are not good in a dead acoustic, which has now produced a good compromise somewhere in the middle, first the 19c English organ and we are now veering slightly back towards romantic influences. Large scale pedal stops are at their worst in dead acoustics. West end positions are best and no more chambers. How big need an organ be? In an advantageous position a 10 stop Great really covers everything and 20-30 stops should be enough, except for very large buildings. The doctrinaire period of tracker only has softened and electro-pneumatic actions are more accepted for difficult situations. In a large building heavier wind pressures are sometimes desirable and this may give a heavy touch with tracker.

Regarding pipework, scaling is all important, ranging from a Large Open Diapason at 6½ to 7" down to a narrow string at 2", or with Hope-Jones, 1½ " Wind pressures should relate to scaling. We looked at samples of pipe metals, plain metal, spotted metal and tin. The old Cornish tin with its impurities was harder and modern tin from Europe is now too pure causing pipe feet to collapse. Now only 18% tin is used. A question on copper had the answer, very hard to work so the mouth has to be in pipe metal anyway.

Tonal finishing needs to be flexible, adapted for each location and scaling needs to be varied. In smaller new organs stops must have more than one function. For example a string and flute might be designed to combine to make a diapason. This is most critical in 4' and 2' pitches. Modern stops should blend well in several combinations. Temperament is a matter of choice, eg. John Mander likes Youngs, Peter Collins favours Werkmeister. In building for the tropics it is best to allow for pitch difference in humid conditions. Action materials have varied from fishing wire (Merton College, Walker, 1968) to aluminium (St.Vedast Foster Lane, Mander, 1962) but pine has proved the most reliable. English builders usually bush actions but those on the Continental do not.

We saw various shapes of flue pipes, wood, metal, wide and narrow, cylindrical, tapered, harmonic, stopped or with chimneys. We were given explanations of how all these different shapes affected their various tonal qualities, together with the effect if nicking and the variation of tip hole sizes. Keith had prepared two long pipes on the voicing machine carefully voiced so they could be taken from a string at its initial length then cut down to a Principal and finally to end as a lovely toned Chimney Flute. The other pipe of different scale was likewise cut down but with a different end result, illustrating what scaling is all about. He illustrated how the high cut up of this second pipe will stop it sounding if cut too short and that a higher pressure could return it to speech but louder in tone. We were shown lip tools, knocking up cups, and tuning brasses, all employed in pipe finishing. It all looks so easy when observing the upper lip of a flue pipe being cut up, the languid and lower lip adjusted and the size of the foot hole decided upon. Other critical factors are the height to width ratio of the mouth and the amount of nicking, if any. To get a musical result from all this is quite another matter.

We then turned to the reeds and were shown how the shape and length of resonators is critical to their tone and power. We looked at the parts of reed stops and the type of shallot was explained. French shallots give a fiery sound and are usually quicker, but are best on lower pressures but if a Tuba is needed a closed English shallot must be used. We were then shown how the thickness of the brass tongue governs the type of tone and how this varies with the pitch of the pipe. The degree of curve and where it curves are critical. Finally to sum up all this we were treated to the voicing of a Trumpet pipe.

There is no more effective way to demonstrate how much skill is actually needed to achieve even a moderate result than to be shown it at close quarters. We had a splendid and informative afternoon and are most grateful to Keith and Jane for giving up part of their weekend to demonstrate how organ pipes are voiced, especially as Keith had been in the West Country the day before. As someone remarked, it is best not to practice any new found skills on the church organ. We don't want to put organ builders out of work. On the other hand perhaps a little DIY might in the end actually provide more work for them!

Thanks to Richard Shipman for arranging this memorable event.