An organ transplant is a surgical procedure that replaces a damaged or failing organ with a healthy organ from a donor. The goal of an organ transplant is to save the life of the recipient. 

In this case, it was to save the organ music at Nuuanu Congregational Church when the Rodgers organ began the process of “dying,” which started on Christmas Eve with a full church! As I was playing the Christmas carols, and in spite of my best efforts to keep the volume up, the organ suddenly got very soft even when I pushed the volume pedal to the max and it became barely a whisper!

Yesterday, Bob Alder and Jude Oliver of Church Organs Hawaii brought in a replacement for the dying Rodgers organ at Nuuanu Congregational Church. Bob called the replacement an “organ transplant,”

In anticipation of this “procedure,” last Sunday the following prayer was said during the service. Wouldn’t you know it, last Sunday the organ behaved and worked perfectly! I did play the prelude on the piano, but was able to finish the rest of the service on the Rodgers.

Our Prayer to Decommission our Rodgers Church Organ

Friends, we have just heard the last music our Rodgers Church Organ will play. Next Sunday, we will have a new organ. Today as we ask a blessing on our gifts and tithes, let us also give thanks and decommission the instrument that has served us for so long. Let us pray.

Lord, we ask your blessing on these gifts and tithes, and all that they may accomplish in your mission and ministry through us. This morning, creative and loving God, we also celebrate the gift of music with which you continue to bless us. We celebrate and affirm the way in which music helps us pray to you and praise you. And so, as we retire our Rodgers Church organ, we recognize that it has, for many years, filled a particular space here in our Sanctuary, and very ably fulfilled a sacred function in our worship. We give you thanks for all who have played it, and all of the beautiful music that has risen from it. We give you thanks for all that its music has accomplished in us as we sang sacred songs and hymns to worship , rejoice, and even to grieve. Today as we decommission this organ, we securely consign it to its place in our gratitude, adn in the history of our church and the faith journey of this congregation. Amen.

Bob Alder and Jude Oliver of Church Organs Hawaii installed the replacement Allen organ which is approximately 18 years old. It formerly resided in a Latter Day Saints church in Kaneohe which has now replaced it with a newer, upgraded model. I have to say that it is almost like a new instrument because it was meticulously cared for in its previous home and is in pristine condition.

Goodbye, Rodgers organ!

Meanwhile, across town at my other church job, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, where there is a Walker electronic instrument, Steve Hoover was in the process of moving the organ speakers so that a new air conditioning unit may be installed behind the console. The idea is that instead of blasting the organist from behind, the speakers will be turned to face outward towards the congregation. People have complained that I don’t play loudly enough, but I have only been trying to protect myself and my ears! (Soon I’ll be blasted by cold air—a welcome change from the blast from the speakers, as it is sometimes like a sauna back there!)

The following slideshow shows the location of the speakers BEFORE being moved.

Now, with the speakers moved in a new location to face the congregation, the volume of the instrument hopefully will better support the congregational singing, PLUS the choir loft will truly be a cooler place, in many more ways than one! (The photo below is a little misleading; in total there are 19 speakers for this organ.)

A couple of weeks ago, there was a discussion on the Facebook Organists page about Walker digital organs because that was what was played at President Jimmy Carter’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral while the Aeolian-Skinner organ is being renovated. Someone commented: “The Walker Technical Company organ was magnificent.” A number of people commented on the authenticity of sound that a Walker has, in fact, real organists have come into St. Mark’s and thought it was a pipe organ! I found this quote: Joe Average won’t own a Walker organ. That is pretty true.
Also true, is Joe Average won’t own a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari. (because the cost of Walker digital organs are considered higher than Rodgers or Allen.)

Click here to read about the Walker organ at Washington National Cathedral.

This afternoon Fr. Paul Lillie (an organist!) played some of my hymn registrations with the speakers in the new location while I went downstairs to listen. People will definitely hear an improvement to the sound!

I feel like I’m playing a new instrument.