Calvary Baptist Church - Little Rock
Arkansas, USA
In December 2008, Saied Music was contacted by Fennell Purifoy Architects of Little Rock, Arkansas. Through many inquiries they had heard that Saied Music was experienced in the art of interfacing real windblown pipes to 21st century digital technology organs. Fennell Purifoy would be building a new church building for the Calvary Baptist Church of Little Rock, that would include a pipe organ - one that had been in storage since 2004.
This pipe organ's first home was at the old Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock. It was originally a Kilgen, built in 1939. Then in 1977, local builder Lecil Gibson, keeping only a few original Kilgen stops, built a new three-manual organ utilizing the finest Stinkens pipes from Holland and high quality slider chests. When the old church had a serious sanctuary fire in 1985, causing some smoke damage to the pipes, local pipe organ builders Nichols & Simpson were contracted to clean and revoice the entire instrument and replace the reed stops with more robust voices.
When Immanuel Baptist Church moved into their new building in 2003, Calvary Baptist bought the Kilgen/Gibson/Nichols and Simpson pipe organ and asked Mr. Gibson to place all the pipes, chests and accoutrement in storage. This was accomplished with great care.
When Saied Music was awarded the contract to proceed with a custom three-manual pipe and digital interface instrument to be installed in the new sanctuary of Calvary Baptist Church, Mr. Mark McCrary of Oklahoma City was brought on board to handle “all things pipe.” So now the work began with the architects, and then the construction contractors, to provide all the preparations and necessities of a pipe organ… and a digital organ…including chamber design/wall surfaces/access and lighting, conduits, electrical needs, blower, wind lines, wiring, interfacing, software, driver boards, scaffolding, rigging, hoisting and a thousand additional details.
Mike Bennett of Saied Music headed the installation crew with assistance from organ technician John Birdsong. The long and arduous planning paid off with a beautiful organ design.
This custom three-manual Rodgers organ was dedicated on Sunday, November 13th, 2011 with David Pettit, organist. The instrument is wonderfully matched to the acoustic of the room, which approaches two seconds of ambience. Pipe organ voicing and digital voicing by Mark McCrary and David Pettit, respectfully, were very successful in that both pipes and digital came together with real warmth and clarity.
The Rodgers Masterpiece Model 958 includes 53 main stops, with access to 56 additional Voice Palette™ stops and 16 orchestral voices, for a total of 109 stops. The digital instrument has resources equivalent to 120 pipe ranks. A Rodgers MX-200 sound module adds 1,122 total sounds from the incomparable Roland Sound Library. These sounds include 76 additional pipe organ voices, designed from samples taken around the world and selected by Maestro Hector Olivera. The pipe organ, installed and finished by McCrary Pipe Organ Company, comprises 40 ranks, situated over all three manuals and pedal.
How another pipe organ was saved for generations to come. Soli Deo Gloria!
Additional Rodgers pipe-interfaced digital instruments designed, installed and voiced by Bennett and Pettit, Saied Music Company, may be heard and viewed at Asbury United Methodist Church, Tulsa – First United Methodist Church, Bartlesville – First United Methodist Church, Sapulpa – and Wesley United Methodist Church, El Reno, OK. Saied Music may be contacted at 918-742-5541 or at:
mike.bennett@saiedmusic.com
david.pettit@saiedmusic.com
To view the entire specification of this customized Trillium Masterpiece 958 organ with 40 pipe ranks, please click here.
