Musical Journey #2

Prof. Schaller here with another musical journey taken by one of our students. On Saturday, April 26, the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists hosted an "organ crawl" in the St. Cloud, MN area. Organ student Anthony Garibay and I took the day to go to the event which included visiting five historic pipe organs and touring a builder's shop.

We toured the shop of organ builder Martin Pasi at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville. Pasi builds pipe organs from the ground up, woodwork, keyboards, pipes, and all. We saw the pipe casting room, assembly hall, and many other aspects of the organ building process. Pasi himself showed us around and then there was an opportunity to hear and play the large organ he had built in the Abbey church next door to the shop.

It was a great day for great music. Six hours in the car listening to organ music then another six visiting the instruments and listening to more.

The next day we did it again on a smaller scale, going to a local organ scholarship concert in Eau Claire and meeting other area organists. After the recital, we asked if Anthony could try out the organ and he spent a half hour playing Bach on the large instrument at First Congregational.

In the photos you'll see 1) Anthony playing an 1888 Joseph Lorenz organ, one of only two left in the world by this builder. It had a sweet and mellow American sound. Standing next to Anthony is Michael Barone, the host of Pipedreams on National Public Radio (pipedreams.org), the only nationally syndicated program featuring the pipe organ. 2) Playing the four-manual Martin Pasi organ at St. John's Abbey. 3) Trying out one of the largest pipe organs in Eau Claire at First Congregational.