Harmony United Church Organ, Brantford, ON

The Organ History

The organ was originally built by Gabriel Kney and John Bright, of London for Cainsville United Church of Brantford. Almost half the pipework (as well as a swell box) planned for the organ was prepared for, but never installed.

The Current Work

When the Cainsville Church joined with Marlborough United Church to make Harmony Church in the Marlborough building, it was decided to bring the Kney and Bright organ along from Cainsville to Marlborough. Because the Marlborough building was larger, it was decided to enlarge the organ and modernize the console. Some new pipes were added, the console rebuilt, a larger blower and new swell box installed. Unfortunately, the Mixture, Nazard and Tierce remain prepared for.

The Rebuilt Console

Six Swell, six Great, six Choir, six Pedal and six General thumb pistons were provided, along with the usual reversible thumb pistons, Set, Cancel, full organ thumb pistons. Six General, plus Full organ, and the Gt/Ped reversible toe pistons were also included. At the time of installation, the combination action had 25 memory levels, but has now been upgraded to 50 levels

One of the interesting changes was the addition of six MIDI stops which control a Roland "Sound Canvas" synthesizer and 300 watt sound system. By selecting a MIDI stop, the organist has the choice of several hundred new electronic voices, such as Harpsichord, Timpani or solo Trumpet. Each MIDI stop can be preprogrammed with its channel, voice or other information.

A built-in recording and playback device, called a sequencer, was also installed. It is like a player piano, except that you can record as well as playback on the organ, and it records on computer disks instead of a punched paper roll. The sequencer actually plays the organ, it's not just a recording of the sound.

Tonal Improvements

We wanted to preserve the bright, clear Germanic voicing of Mr Kney. However, since the Marlborough building was larger, we gave the pipes a warmer, fuller sound to help fill the building. To give a solid foundation to the singing a Pedal Bourdon 16' and Great Open 8' were added. A Celeste was also added and several ranks extended to allow some borrowing. Thus, we have the following new pipes:

• Pedal: Bourdon 16', 44 new oak pipes
• Great: Open 8' #1-12 used pipes, #13-61 new pipes
• Great: Flute, 12 new treble pipes
• Great: Fifteenth, 12 new treble pipes
• Swell: Rohrflute 8', #1-12 new bass pipes
• Swell: Spitzprincipal 4', #1-12 new bass pipes
• Swell: Celeste #13-61 good used pipes

Participants in the Organ Project:

• Blair Batty: design, pipemaking, voicing
• Roger Bayley: wiring, woodpipe parts, voicing
• Greg Smith: general construction, wood pipes
• Clare Churchward: Swell box
• Minister: Rev. Nora Futon
• Chairman: Clare Churchward
• Advisors: Rodger Swinton, Roger Bayley, Lawrence Lougheed

Original Kney and Bright Organ Specification, 1950's

The New Specification (1998)