Technology Upgrade to a Classic Instrument

Taking a look at the large and ornate Casavant pipe organ in the choir loft of the Minneapolis campus, one would never guess that electronics play a big role in how it works. But, in fact, over time, it’s gotten some technical and technology upgrades. The latest one debuted this spring with the help of a grant from the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Foundation.

While the last major upgrade to the organ came over 20 years ago, this time, the organ received an upgrade to its solid state logic system, which electronically controls the interactions between the organist’s actions on the console and the organ’s sound-producing elements. This system is the key to being able to change multiple settings on the organ with the push of a button, and you can hear it when the organ changes its sound and volume even within a single song.

Technology is always emerging, and this element has improved significantly since the organ was last upgraded. Now 256 memory levels can be saved at the same time, an increase of 80%, up from 32. Several organists can use the organ and save their unique settings without affecting others. Mark Paisar and Diane Tuseth share the Minneapolis organ bench with a few others who use the instrument for their own practice. In addition, an organist can now cycle through selected memory settings with a sequencer button near the pedal board.

Director of Music and Organist Mark Paisar provides a quick overview of the new system and then puts it to use in a song on Palm Sunday on a short video. Watch the organ’s pulls as they automatically change multiple times through this choral piece.