Organ building is one of the few areas of our society today where fine craftsmanship
still is the order of the day.
And it gives us a great deal of satisfaction to be able to practice our craft and to make
something not only that will last for a long, long time, but will be finally crafted as
well or better than anything you can find made today.
Gene Beedient was going to be our builder as soon as I went up to Ripon College and
was able to play the organ up at the university.
And he probably had to tear me off of it after about an hour and a half.
I knew right then that was one of the loveliest sounds and most articulate stop action and
keyboard action that I had the privilege of playing.
It's interesting that it's not as hooty sounding as other tracker instruments.
The strings are really warm and the trumpet is really pretty forceful and it just doesn't
sound wimpy.
We can have really wonderful, lush, soft sounds as well as full organ, very powerful, cathedral-like
sounds here.
The Beedient Organ Company uses concepts and techniques of the master builders of the Golden
Age to create modern pipe organs for today's churches and concert halls.
It is a very challenging and demanding task to equal in modern form the work of French
romantic builder Aristide Cavillet-Cole or German Baroque builder Arp Schnitger.
One fascinating thing to me about the pipe organ is the legacy of people that have designed
and built them over the centuries.
I have spent a great deal of time in Europe actually visiting old organs.
The oldest organ that I have ever personally played was made in 1471 and it's been used
regularly ever since that time.
It's very fascinating to see technically how builders of that time solved their problems,
what materials they used, how they created sounds and how beautiful they sound in the
church.
It's fascinating for me to draw on all these various resources to see what I can do to
design an organ for a church for our modern time.
But we pride ourselves on our mastery of this challenge as we specialize in creating beautiful,
ageless works of art that you can be proud of for generations to come.
The obedience sound can be heard from New York to New Mexico and from Maine to Michigan.
It is our sincere belief that the success of any instrument begins with the solid trusting
relationship between builder and client.
For this reason, we dedicate as much time and effort as needed to learn and understand
the dynamics of the congregation and the church we will be working with.
The king of instruments, such as the grand pipe organ, becomes an important focus of
the church and its community.
Therefore, it is imperative that we work closely with the people who will be identifying with
the image and culture the instrument creates.
At Beatient Organ, our process begins with education.
We welcome the opportunity to meet at length with the church committee or other decision
makers and explain in detail what is all involved in the year-long process of building a pipe
organ.
Gene was very clear in his discussions with the search committee about what the process
of the organ would be, how long it would take, what our financial commitment was at various
stages and also gave us a good idea of the completion date.
In fact, the organ was delivered within a couple of weeks of the original completion
date.
I felt very much included in the organ building process.
I think Gene respected me as an organist and between my work and that of the consultant,
we were able to meet and negotiate with Gene over specific stops that we wanted on the
instrument and where we even wanted little accessories and all of that.
He was very helpful and very good about listening to those of us who would use the organ for
years to come.
Selecting a builder can be an ominous task.
There seems to be so much at stake when making this decision.
You need to find a builder you can trust, who you feel comfortable with and a builder
who puts your needs and goals for your instrument first above all else.
You could tell that Gene had handpicked each one of these people to work with his philosophy
and they're extremely hardworking.
They would work hours and hours and hours and still be fun to talk to after it was over.
I felt like I was a lot more involved.
I mean I could stand over them while they did anything and I didn't feel that way with
other companies.
Once you have decided on a beading an organ, the decision process begins.
It takes months of intense effort to create and design each organ.
It is very important that every detail be carefully considered to ensure success of
the function and sound of the completed instrument.
Because of the different sound languages that are available as a vocabulary to design an
organ, it's possible to make organs sound in many different ways.
And when we decide what an organ is going to sound like in a different church, it's
basically based on drawing from this vocabulary and deciding for that particular church what
sounds are going to be most appropriate for leading him singing, for accompanying the
choir, for accompanying soloists, accompanying the liturgy, and then playing organ literature.
The possibilities are endless and it's my job to limit those possibilities and sift
them down into a design for a specific church and for their use and that's what I do.
The time has arrived to build the masterpiece.
The building of the instrument is carefully orchestrated in stages and phases.
Each element or phase is critical to the ultimate quality of the instrument.
Equipped with everything from traditional hand tools to state of the art computerized
equipment, our shop provides everything needed to carefully craft your pipe organ from start
to finish.
Each of our employees are intimately involved with every organ we produce.
Each of our talented craftsmen adds their own bit of experience and expertise to every
instrument making every beady and organ a one of a kind masterpiece.
Each hand that touches and shapes the materials lends a little bit more to the musical quality
of the piece.
The beady and artisans create beautiful wood cases and workings of the instruments in our
shop.
Each and every step of the process is checked and rechecked for accuracy and optimum design.
But not only could we easily call and say how's it going, but we got pictures and I
don't know the intervals how often, but we had, you know, whenever something new happened
we had pictures sent to us and it was like looking at pictures of a child growing up.
I mean, it was exciting.
As the pieces of the organ begin to come together, our team of craftsmen carefully assemble each
instrument in our shop to ensure quality and performance before it ever leaves for its
permanent home.
After thousands of hours of loving work and precise designing, the organ is ready to be
taken to its new home.
But the project is nowhere near completion.
The instrument needs to be carefully disassembled from the beady and shop, packed and shipped.
The arrival of the organ is always a much anticipated and grand occasion.
The day the organ was delivered was a major event in our church.
We had a huge congregation attendance that Sunday and everybody stayed and we waited
for the truck to come down Lake Road and when it came down Lake Road, oh, I was so excited.
People still tell me about that.
But the whole congregation was excited.
We stayed and unloaded the truck.
The ladies of the church were sitting on the porch overlooking Lake Erie singing hymns
as the men took the big pieces out and carried them into the sanctuary.
After an organ is designed and built and installed in the church, it at that point has a great
deal of raw potential.
And bringing it to its full fruition is a matter of handling the voicing of each organ
pipe.
And if an organ has 1,000 pipes, for example, we might spend 10 or 15 minutes on average
on each pipe and this takes several weeks of time.
Since the organ dedication, I think people have gained a greater appreciation of what
the instrument can do for worship, both in helping the congregation to sing and it really
has allowed us to do much more important choral literature.
We also have started an art series largely due to the organ's arrival and that has allowed
us to bring music of our heritage to life in St. Rita and that has really changed people's
perception as to the importance of music here and to what music, what a gift St. Rita can
give to the community through its music.
At Beatient, our work is in creating musical and architectural masterpieces.
The pipe organs of Beatient are recognized around the world by famous composers and organists.
They are recognized to be the most artistic, reliable, and responsive pipe organs available.
I think it provides a lot of support to singing in general, whether it be choral singing or
congregational singing, and so people are comfortable singing out.
It does not overpower.
Well, I'll tell you, I am so hooked on this Beatient sound that any CD that I had previously
bought that had another organ company or it didn't matter on the performer but another
organ company, I have thrown out.
I now only play Beatient organ CDs because it is such an incredible tonal concept that
you can just latch onto.
As an organist myself, I found this instrument to be a good teacher.
It has a lot to tell me about how to play music of various styles.
It also has a great deal of warmth and color and variety.
I can practice for hours, and in fact would if I had time, I could practice for hours
on the instrument and never get tired of any sound.
And I think that says something about the Beatient organ company and about this instrument.
He's got models that he can adapt that are already designed that can be adapted, so you
don't have to start really from scratch.
You can start with a basic instrument and add to it or take away from it depending on
what your needs are.
And I don't know of another company that does that.
Because the organ is going to be in this church for a long, long time, it's very important
that we do all aspects of our work right so it will last a long time, it will be trouble
free, it will be something of beauty and pride for the congregation for centuries.
In this age of throw away everything, it gives us great satisfaction that we're able to do
this and on any given worship day we know that across the country there are literally
hundreds of people using Beatient organs to support their worship services and that gives
us a great deal of satisfaction.
Let us create for you your own masterpiece, a gift to your community and to generations
to come.
A Beatient organ is more than just an instrument.
It is truly a timeless work of art to be enjoyed and cherished in your place of worship for
hundreds of years.
We look forward to serving you in building your masterpiece, your Beatient organ.
multinational.org
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
aremos comem fisicamente.