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Music to their ears

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Two weeks before Easter, Marilyn Grove, organist and director of music for Hickory United Evangelical Presbyterian Church, rehearsed with the bell and adult choirs, but she was unable to practice her own music on the church’s pipe organ.

But Grove will be playing “Sacrifice and Splendor: An Easter Suite for Organ” on Easter morning, the first time the instrument will be heard in four months.

Since Christmas, the church’s 90-year-old pipe organ has undergone an extensive renovation, and while 75 percent of the work will be completed by Easter, some of the pipes will not be installed for another three weeks. Grove plans to work around that, much like she’s done for the past four months, at the 11 a.m. worship service. The church has a praise band that provides music for its 8:30 a.m. worship.

Anticipation is rising as the return of the pipe organ nears. The organ, Grove explained, not only is an integral part of the church’s history, but some worshippers also favor it over any other instrument.

“When you have a piano in a church this size, to me, it’s like eating a snack. When you have the organ, it’s a full meal,” said Lou Templeton, who served as the church’s choir director for a decade.

David Richards, owner of Allegheny Pipe Organ Co. in Valencia, is overseeing the organ’s renovation, which has included refurbishing of all the pipes, the addition of others and new electric motors, blower and air reservoirs.

“Every pipe organ is a complicated musical instrument,” said Richards, who also is an organist. “For over 1,100 years, it was the musical instrument of choice in churches.” He prefers the sound of the natural pipe organ to electronic organs many churches use today.

Grove agrees. “Many people think it’s not modern enough,” she said. “But there’s so much variety to it. You can make it sound like anything.”

The pipe organ was manufactured by M.P. Moller Pipe Organ Co. of Hagerstown, Md., which built 12,000 pipe organs until the business closed in 1992. Hickory’s pipe organ was originally installed in 1924 in the former Mt. Pleasant United Presbyterian Church.

That church, which has since been razed, and the former Mt. Prospect Presbyterian Church merged in 1968 to become one church in Hickory. Eventually, the organ was installed in the balcony of the current building.

Work was done on the pipe organ in the 1970s, and in 1996, Richards, who tunes the organ four times a year, replaced the console so the organ can be preset with instant switches and relays.

But the pipes themselves finally needed attention. Grove was sometimes forced to compensate for a dead pipe by selecting music without that particular note. And, occasionally, there would be a cipher, meaning a pipe would play continuously beyond Grove’s control.

“Everybody notices it, even people who know nothing about music,” Richards joked.

The congregation raised the $105,000 for the refurbishing.

Richards had the wooden pipes refurbished at Erie Organ Supply Co., and the metal pipes were taken to Ohio.

To those pipes, he is adding five more sets: one from his own Moller pipe collection, one set of trumpets made in Ohio and three other sets made in Czechoslovakia that will be part tin and part lead.

Once the installation is completed, about half of the pipes will be exposed, Richards said.

“It’s going to look huge, and it’s going to look much prettier,” Grove said. Also the larger pipes, which are made of zinc, will feature metal flake and new silver collars.

There will be a total of 1,247 pipes in the organ, with a grate in front and the wooden pipes behind a set of louvers that will allow the organist to increase or dampen the sound.

And the sound, Richards said, will be a noticeable improvement. “It was very limited before. There was not a lot of variety,” he said.

The new pipes add trumpets and deep bass sounds. Richards said the refurbished pipes will outlast the entire congregation.

“Which is why it’s such a big deal,” Grove said. “It’s lasted 100 years now, and it will last another 100 years.”

An organ dedication service will be held at 3 p.m. May 25. Church member Connor Fluharty, an organ and piano major at Grove City College, also will give a recital at that time.

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