Organ Fund - Third Challenge Announced

An anonymous patron of First Congregational Church’s sacred music program has agreed to provide a third Organ Fund challenge. The benevolent individual will match dollar for dollar new or increased gifts to the Organ Fund not to exceed a total of $5,000. 

 

Are you able to help FCC reach this goal by July 15? Please contemplate how your generosity will help the fund approach its $500,000 goal. Inch by inch, the project proceeds.

 

 

Continuing Swell Matters

Restoration work in the swell continues as captured by Stephen Warner, organ technician.  Descriptions of each photograph are listed, in order, as follows: the pitman rail with new pitmans installed and being attached to the pouchboard; the finished pouchboards being wrapped for transport back to Saginaw; the cleaned armatures and magnet caps being replaced on the swell primary magnet board; the bottom board screws before polishing; the bottom board screws after polishing – almost all screws are polished on a wire wheel; the pillow gasket going on the main stop action; the new wiring for the offset action that has spreaders outside – the internal stop action has been removed.

Isn't It Swell

Stephen Warner, organ technician, documents the restoration of the swell primary action.  Take note (sequentially) of the valves, the delicate 1960s leather, the two halves apart, the gluing on primaries, the finished primaries and secondaries, the two halves assembles with new copper tubes, the valves cleaned and restored, the alignment of the secondary pouch, the cover returned.

The Best Visit to Tennessee - Consoled

Jonathan Best, Chairman of the Organ Committee, enjoys his personal tour of the shop of builder R. A. Colby, Inc., Johnson City, Tennessee.  First Congregational Church's new four-manual console is reaching the autumn of its construction.  Snapshots of the tour are courtesy of Jeanette Best.

Organ Console Takes Shape

View exciting progress related to the four-manual organ console being constructed by the skilled craftsmen at R. A. Colby of Johnson City, Tennessee.  Photos can be accessed via Facebook.

Memories of FCC's Music Ministry (Part II) - James and Tammy Royle

James and Tammy Royle share memories of their involvement in the sacred music ministries at First Congregational Church. Recollections of the 1970s fire, pageants, and chorister direction fill the three-part video interview filmed and edited by Jim Hargett.

First Congregational Church Receives Commissioned Composition “Invocation” By Bernard Wayne Sanders, Renowned Composer

Nicholas Schmelter, Director of Music Ministries at First Congregational Church, Saginaw, Michigan, announces the receipt of a commissioned composition written by composer Bernard Wayne Sanders.  Scored for brass quintet, tympani, and organ, “Invocation” is penned for the rededication of the congregation’s 1928 organ built by Ernest M. Skinner.  The composition is 8’30” in duration. 

Bernard Wayne Sanders (b. 1957) is a native of De Pere, Wisconsin, where he completed his Bachelor of Music degree at St. Norbert College in 1979.  Graduate study in composition and organ at Wichita State University led to the MA degree in 1983.  Postgraduate study in Germany culminated in a further degree in organ performance form the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg in 1989.  He has also completed examinations for church music in Hamburg and Cologne.  Sanders’ activities as a composer have been recognized in competitions and through representation in American and German publishing houses.  Since 1974, he has been active as a church musician in Tuttlingen, Germany and as a diocesan liaison and official organ consultant (Baden-Wurttemberg).