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The Shalom Choir
The Shalom Choir sings for services every Sunday
between Labor Day and mid-June. We sing a wide range of styles, from 16th Century polyphony through the21st century, including a traditional Lessons and Carols service on Christmas Eve. We have for many years participated in the annual American Guild of Organists Christmas Choral Festival early
every Advent season, which raises money for the local food bank. We have sung for the Conference
Annual Meeting, presented a program of South African Folk Hymns at a local folk life society coffee house, and participated
in exchange events with church and community choruses.
Membership is open--come and sing with us! We have a wide range of age and experience in the choir, and we work to
improve everyone's skills. Come to a rehearsal sometime, and try it out.
We rehearse in the sanctuary on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8:30, and on Sunday mornings from 9 to
9:30 in preparation for the 10 AM service. We sit in the congregation during the service, so families can more easily participate.
About The Organ
Specifications
GREAT ORGAN
8’
Rohrflöte 56 pipes 1-12 wood, 13-56 50% lead
4’ Principal 56 pipes 1-3 copper, 4-56 75% tin, part facade
2’ Octave 56 pipes notes from Mixture III
2’ Mixture III 168 pipes 75% tin
SWELL ORGAN
8’ Dolce 56 pipes 1-12 zinc, 13-56 50% tin
8’ Gedeckt 56 pipes wood
4’ Koppelflöte 56 pipes planed lead
2 2/3’ Nasard 56 pipes
from Cornet II
2 2/3’ Cornet II 112 pipes planed lead
2’ Blockflöte 56 pipes planed lead
8’ Schalmei 56 pipes 50% tin
PEDAL
16’ Rohrbass 12 pipes wood, extension of Great 8’ Rohrflöte
8’ Principalbass 12 pipes copper, extension of Great 4’ Principal,
facade
4’ Octavbass
12 pipes 75% tin, extension of Great 2’ Octave
8’ Great to Pedal 8’ Swell to Pedal 8’ Swell to Great
Tremulant to entire organ
Installation
The week of April
10-16, 1995, was a time of great excitement at Shalom.
On that Monday morning, several volunteers from Shalom helped the Marçeau team
unload the truck and roll
the main body of the organ into the sanctuary. By
Wednesday evening, René Marçeau and Mark Dahlberg could demonstrate most of
the sounds to a large group of fascinated members
of Shalom. Local television
showed scenes from the installation on the evening news and two pictures of the
organ appeared on the front page of the Tri-City Herald on Easter morning,
when it
was used for
the first time. We celebrated with a new anthem, “Gloria in excelsis
Deo,” composed for the occasion by Reginald
Unterseher, and sung by the Shalom
Choir accompanied by Dick Gilbert, who played that first service.
On May 19, we celebrated with “A Festival of Hymns” played
by Dr. Paul
Manz, Professor
Emeritus of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. The service
was given by Mike Brown in memory of Kay Brown. Dr.
Manz was Kay’s organ
instructor at Concordia University. The sanctuary was filled to capacity.
Description
This all-mechanical key- and stop-action two-manual and pedal organ was
designed and built by Marçeau and Associates of Portland,
Oregon. It contains 540
pipes, arranged in 10 voices by use of double-draw stops and extensions. It is
prepared for 168 more pipes arranged in 3 voices. The organ components
and
“Mission”
style case was constructed in Portland, as were pipes 13-24 of the Rohrflöte.
The case is made of quarter-sawn white oak. The naturals are lemon
wood, and the
accidentals
are ebony. The stop knobs are ebony with engraved bone. Some of the
pipes are recycled from other organs. They came from a Kefer organ at the University
of Washington, from a Casavant-Frères
organ at Community Presbyterian Church in
Ventura, CA, from an Estey organ at First Presbyterian Church in Spokane, from
an
Estey organ at Gethsemane
Lutheran in Seattle, and from an M. P. Möller organ at St.
Paul Lutheran Church in Portland. The rest, including the flamed
copper facade
pipes,
were made for this organ by Stinkens in Holland. The console and pedalboard
were built by August Laukhuff in Germany. The unusual side-mounted
key desk
conserves seating
space.
Committee
The Organ Committee was formed in September, 1991. During the next
year, the committee studied electronic and pipe organs and visited other churches.
The committee members began the process expecting to purchase a digital organ.
After a year of traveling
around the Northwest, hearing the difference between pipe
organs and electronic organs, committee members felt that the difference
in sound
was much greater
than they previously believed. Despite the higher initial cost, the
committee was felt that the purchase of a fine small instrument that could
conceivably last hundreds
of years represented better stewardship that purchasing an
electronic instrument that would have to be replaced in 20-30 years.
The committee solicited bids from organ builders,
and engaged in
educational
activities for the congregation. These activities featured an Evensong on
Friday, November 13, 1992 at St. Paul’s Episcopal, Kennewick. Dick Gilbert
and Mary
Esther Lippold
played the organ in leading congregational singing, accompanying
the Shalom Choir, and in organ solos.
At the annual congregational meeting in January, 1993, the congregation
voted to commission the
building of an organ for approximately $76,000. The final
cost, including tax, was $78,300. This included a rank of pipes that had been
prepared for but not originally included in the
first phase. At the time of the
congregational vote, $35,000 had been pledged. Donations to cover the entire
amount were collected by the end of 1996.
Committee Members: Steve Baker, Dick Gilbert,
Martha Jack, Kathy Olson,
Paul Reeder, Rachel Reeder, Reginald Unterseher, Bob Watrous.
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