The pace of the work is picking up. In week two of the Schoenstein & Co. installation, the Main Church began to look unmistakably like a building in the middle of something significant — and the organ is starting to take on real structure.
At Sunday’s forum, Joseph Arndt shared an update on the console: the new organ will be played from a three-manual console controlling all five divisions — Great, Swell, Choir, Pedal, and Nave/Antiphonal. It is from this console that the organist will shape the full sonic range of the instrument, from the softest whisper of the Swell to the full weight of the Great and Pedal divisions filling the nave.
Here is what Schoenstein’s team accomplished between August 17 and 22:
- Steel beams were installed to support the organ casework — the structural backbone that will hold the instrument in place for generations.
- More pipes have been set in the north chamber, adding to the work begun in week one.
- The lower Swell shades are in, the mechanism that will allow the organist to open and close the Swell division and shape its volume and expression.
- The return hallways — pathways that carry wind from the blowers to the Nave and Sacristy — are largely installed.
Watch the week’s progress unfold in our latest timelapse below.
We will continue sharing weekly updates here and in the e-letter as the organ grows. Thank you for following along with us.
