My Organ Story.

My Organ Story.

No, I am not talking about my kidneys.

It's about the musical instrument.

You most often find one in a church, but you could find them in homes, theatres, schools and concert halls.

What I am really talking about is my own fascination with the organ.

It goes back a long way, from even before the time I went to school.

I was born just as WW II broke out, and I have memories, admittedly pretty fallible memories, that go back to when I was probably four years of age.

Little did I know then, but I know now, that it was war time.

It was hard for my parents to put food on the table.

We had no running water, no telephone and no electricity.

We had no radio, and I'm not sure whether we had a harmonium in our house at that time, although we did later.

But we went to church every Sunday, twice.

And in church there was this big machine that could make lots of noise.

The congregation would sing along with it.

I loved it.

When I got a little older, my mom said: "if you like that so much, ask the man who plays it if you can go with him to where he plays it."

Turns out it was the son of the grocer just across the street from us who was the organist, and sure enough, one Sunday afternoon he invited me to come along.

It turns out that not only was there someone to play the organ, behind it there were two men pushing down on two big levers. It turns out they provided air for the contraption. It needed a lot of air!

And while the minister preached, the organist and the two pumpers sat behind the organ for a smoke. Talk about exciting!

So in church I had this kind of exposure to music, the only available music in our village as far as I know.

Firsts often make a lasting impression. The organ was my musical first, and I have been fascinated with it ever since.

You can listen to an improvisation on this organ. The organist is Jan Jongepier. Copy into your webbrowser: . http://www.organumfrisicum.nl/Radio%20opnames/Radio_opnames.htm

The organ was made by Bakker and Timmenga, in the late 1890s, for the Ichthus Church in Heeg, Friesland, the Netherlands.