FAYETTEVILLE -- Revving motorcycles, live bands and the calling of the Hogs can routinely be heard coming from downtown depending on the time of year. Add the sound of 3,500 wind-blown pipes to the list.
Central United Methodist Church on Dickson Street is having the finishing touches put on a pipe organ engineered and built by renowned specialist John-Paul Buzard. The organ, made possible through an anonymous $1.4 million donation, is the piece de resistance of a larger renovation at the church. The $5 million project includes improved music facilities and work on the sanctuary.
A Festival of Lessons & Carols
What: Christmas music service and an opportunity to hear the new pipe organ at Central United Methodist Church.
When: 8:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Dec. 9
Where: 6 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville
Churches often face the tough question of how best to spend their money, and Central United is no different, said Brian Swain, executive administrator.
"My general answer is that it is imperative that we keep our worship at the core of everything we do," he said. "It has to be excellent, it has to be spirit-filled and it has to be life-changing."
Keeping that sort of mindset helps attract people to the church who will carry out generous deeds, fueling the church's charitable endeavors and impact on the community, Swain said.
The organ, with its combination of digital and traditional components and separate chambers holding 44 links with about 60 pipes apiece, surely is one of the most complex instruments in Northwest Arkansas, if not the state, Swain said.
Some churches may opt for an entirely digital setup with sound pumping through speakers. But nothing touches the walloping breath of a wind-blown pipe organ, by Buzard's estimate.
"Think of it this way -- you're sending thousands of cubic feet of air moving through those pipes per minute," he said. "There are 3,500 pipes in this organ. Each one of them has one song to sing. One note, one tone color.
"You combine all those together to make one of those most complicated, rich, satisfying sounds known to human beings," Buzard said.
Church members heard the organ at a soft debut Nov. 4. There's more work to go, but the organ is playable.
Without it even churning at full power, choir member Debby Gordon said hearing the organ is like an other-worldly experience. Gordon, a soprano and soloist who sings the national anthem for Razorback baseball, softball, women's basketball and swimming matches, has heard her fair share of instruments.
"I moved here from Texas from a big church. I'm used to this kind of music," she said. "The first day that I heard the organ, I was moved to tears."
Of course, no organ is complete without a virtuoso at its keys. For Central United, it's Scott Montgomery.
Montgomery has been playing since he was 11 years old. He likened the organ console to a cockpit, like flying an airplane with 90 knobs.
"It's a beast of an instrument," he said. "It can be as quiet as a mouse or as loud and dramatic as a freight train."
Montgomery and Buzard have a coincidental link. Montgomery hails from Champaign, Ill., home of Buzard's operation. Montgomery said he grew up with Buzard's instruments, which Montgomery described as the Rolls-Royce equivalent in the pipe-organ world.
Bobby Sullivan, with the American Institute of Organbuilders, said it's a big deal when anyone decides to invest in a new pipe organ. The instrument serves as a form of outreach for a church, he said, that will likely get the attention of worldwide players and enthusiasts.
"Next to the church building itself, the purchase of a pipe organ is the next most expensive asset," he said.
Buzard and his team arrived in Fayetteville three months ago and aren't finished yet. Work should wrap within a week or two. However, there's an extra component, played through the bottom keyboard, that's scheduled to be added in spring or early summer.
Buzard doesn't do all the work on his own. He has a tonal director, Brian Davis, who creates the sounds that clients want. His chief engineer, Charles Eames, designed the windchests specific to the Central United organ.
The pipes sit on the windchest. Along with the keys and stops, all three components direct the wind into the pipes to create the sound.
The setup at Central United was especially challenging because the guts of everything had to be divided into two chambers, for spatial reasons. All told, the organ should have a lifespan of about 100 years and have the sound capability of playing any piece written for the instrument.
An organ builder never stops learning his craft, Buzard said.
"This instrument will be very, very special -- not just for the church, but I think for the whole area," he said. "There's nothing quite like it around here."
NW News on 11/23/2018