Tuning the Organ

A Day Spent With Xaver Wilhelmy, Master Organ Builder


First Presbyterian Church in Staunton.

It was a bright sunny morning when I arrived to help my friend Xaver Wilhelmy tune the great pipe organ at First Presbyterian Church before Christmas. My job was basically to work the keyboard as Xaver tuned the pipes. Pipe organs are an amazing invention and the technology goes back hundreds of years. Some of Xaver's tools, I'm sure would be the same as generations before him used.

Organ pipes are made of wood and metal for the most part. The sound of each pipe is a function of its length. The day proved to be most instructive.

The pipes must be tuned at the temperature that the sanctuary will be when the organ is played. We wait while the space heats up. Then we begin a work that joins Xaver with master craftsmen through the ages. There is a joy in a process so timeless taking place. In our day of planned obsolecence it is especially wonderful.

Master craftsmen work until they are satisfied. The sun grows long on the sanctuary floor and then fades away. It is dark in the great sanctuary behind us as we run through the last set of pipes. I feel that this is the satisfaction G-d meant for us to feel in our work.