Tonal Philisophy

The aural sensation of a well-crafted and artistically voiced pipe organ can be one of the most exhilarating experiences for the musician and listener.  As the Tonal Director, each instrument and project undertaken by our firm is tailored to the needs of the church, institution or residence for which it is built.  While it is easy to visualize with photos and artwork the appearance the organ, to understand the tone of the organ one must listen.

Years of my career have been invested in the study of organ design and voicing.  Each style of organ design have been seriously examined and considered in the construction of our own instruments.  The flavor and sense of presence of an organ in the room are carefully structured with specifications and scaling practices in our firm.  We do not ascribe to the one format fits all.  The consistency of blend, presence, and clarity remain the hallmark of our tonal design.

Church organs of modest stature are often the most challenging to build.  Leading congregation singing is a core requirement of the church.  This is then coupled with the needs for weddings, funerals, and choral accompaniment.  The 18^th Century designs of Gottfried Silbermann established solid principal choruses for congregational singing.  These differ from the Neo-Baroque German principal scales associated with American organbuilding of the mid 20^th Century.  Henry Willis of England gave us another facet of design that worked well for Choir accompaniment.  Each of these builders lays the ground work for our own scaling and voicing of Principals.