Rodgers Instruments
Encyclopedia
Rodgers Instruments Corporation is an American manufacturer of classical and church organs. Rodgers was founded in 1958 by Rodgers W. Jenkins and Fred Tinker, employees of Tektronix
, Inc., of Portland, Oregon, and members of a Tektronix team developing transistor-based oscillator circuits. Rodgers claims to be the first manufacturer of solid state
oscillator-based organs, completing their first instrument in 1958. Other Rodgers innovations in the electronic organ industry include solid-state organ amplifiers (1962), single contact diode keying (1961), reed switch
pedal keying for pedalboards (1961), programmable computer memory pistons (1966), and MIDI support (1987).
Rodgers' primary factory is located in Hillsboro, Oregon
with additional manufacturing done in Japan
and Italy
. All full size, American Guild of Organists
standard 32 pedal note classical organ models are built in the Oregon factory.
switched to digitally sampled tone generation as early as 1972, Rodgers sold exclusively analog tone generation instruments until 1990.
Rodgers introduced its first digital organ on November 20, 1990, using a tone generation system Rodgers has dubbed Parallel Digital Imaging (PDI). Rodgers PDI organs use Roland DSPs and digitally sampled organ pipes for tone generation.
A feature introduced in 1993, which Rodgers has termed "Digital Domain Expression," offers swell box
effects such as expression delays, high frequency dampening and phase shifts of sound across a stereo field as expression shoes are opened or closed, similar to the effects produced by the swell shades on a pipe organ's swell box.
Today, Rodgers' Trillium Masterpiece Series instruments are custom designed through Rodgers' Organ Architect, while some smaller models remain as standard specification products.
Although known primarily for its electronic organs, Rodgers has built many pipe organs and pipe/electronic combination organs.
Many Rodgers organs support the playing of actual pipe ranks in addition to their normal, electronic ranks. The first electronic organ to successfully integrate pipes and electronic tone generation was a Rodgers Gemini with Fratelli Ruffatti
organ pipes installed in the Atlanta area home of Dr. Walter and Emily Spivey. It included a tuning control so the pipes and electronics could stay in tune with each other.
The largest full pipe organ produced by the company was the Second Baptist Church Houston
, Texas organ with five manuals and 193 pipe ranks. It was dedicated on August 23, 1987 and featured concerts on August 23 and 24th by organist Frederick Swann
. In addition, it was the featured organ of the 1988 Houston National Convention of the American Guild of Organists where it was played by organist Diane Bish.
In August 1991, another large all-pipe Rodgers organ installed at Glenkirk Presbyterian Church, Glendora, California was the cover feature of The American Organist, official journal of the American Guild of Organists.
Originally controlled by officers of Tektronix and the founding engineers, in September 1977, Rodgers became part of CBS
Musical Instruments along with Steinway & Sons
pianos, Fender guitars, Rhodes
electric pianos, Gemeinhardt
flutes, and a number of other instrument brand names. In 1985 CBS, divested itself of Rodgers, along with Steinway and Gemeinhardt, all of which were purchased by Steinway Musical Properties. Since May 1, 1988, Roland Corporation
has been parent company of Rodgers, and Rodgers is now a subsidiary of it. In addition to its own Rodgers organs, Rodgers produces Atelier home organs and digital pianos for Roland Corporation as Roland's North American manufacturing facility.
helped bring Rodgers organs into the limelight in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he used a Rodgers Touring Organ, built in 1966 and known as "Black Beauty," for his "Heavy Organ" concerts, including a 1970 all Bach
performance that included a light show at the Fillmore East
Auditorium in New York
.
On October 1, 1974, Rodgers’ five manual Carnegie Hall
organ, designed by Virgil Fox, debuted in a sold-out Fox concert. The organ and Fox were praised by Time
, United Press International
, Ron Eyer in the New York Daily News, New York Post
and by noted critic Harold Schonberg in The New York Times
'. Carnegie Hall’s International Organ Series for the Inaugural 1974-1975 Season included Fox, Pierre Cochereau
, Claire Coci, Fernando Germani, Herman Berlinski, George Thalben-Ball
and Richard Morris. This was the world’s first five manual and most powerful electronic organ
at the time and was listed as such for a number of years in the Guinness Book of World Records.
A sister five manual instrument to the Carnegie Hall Organ, named by Fox the "Royal V", served as Fox's touring organ for the 1975-76 concert season, but proved unwieldy to tour with. The Royal V was used at Fox's funeral in the Crystal Cathedral
after he died on October 25, 1980.
A second black Rodgers touring organ was active in the 1970s. The "American Beauty" was based on Rodgers's then premium three manual model, the "American Classic". Concert organists who played on this instrument or "Black Beauty" (which continued touring under Roberta Bailey Artists International well into the 80s) included Ted Alan Worth
, Joyce Jones, Pierre Cochereau
, Herman Berlinski, Richard Morris, Keith Chapman, Douglas Marshall, John Grady, Frederick Geoghan, and Diane Bish
.
The Royal V was, in 1983, refinished from black to white and permanently installed in the Meishusama Hall of the Shinji Shumeikai in Minsono, Japan. In mid 2004, this same organ was updated to newer Rodgers technology. Dan Miller and McNeill Robinson, consultants on the project, revised and updated the organ's tonal specification during the update to Trillium level Parallel Digital Imaging technology.
The current Rodgers touring organ is Hector Olivera's "The King", a black four manual organ featuring a custom French specification that Olivera plays in various concert venues nationally.
's highly rated Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
.
Previously, John Ratzenberger's Made in America
Travel Channel
show featured at segment on Rodgers filmed at Rodgers’ Hillsboro, Oregon plant. That episode still appears from time to time on the Travel Channel.
Rodgers factory is also featured in Karen Axelrod and Bruce Brumberg’s popular “Watch it Made in the U.S.A.” books profiling interesting factory tours of American manufacturing facilities.
Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc. is an American company best known for its test and measurement equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. In November 2007, Tektronix became a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation....
, Inc., of Portland, Oregon, and members of a Tektronix team developing transistor-based oscillator circuits. Rodgers claims to be the first manufacturer of solid state
Solid state (electronics)
Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...
oscillator-based organs, completing their first instrument in 1958. Other Rodgers innovations in the electronic organ industry include solid-state organ amplifiers (1962), single contact diode keying (1961), reed switch
Reed switch
The reed switch is an electrical switch operated by an applied magnetic field. It was invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1936 by W. B. Ellwood. It consists of a pair of contacts on ferrous metal reeds in a hermetically sealed glass envelope...
pedal keying for pedalboards (1961), programmable computer memory pistons (1966), and MIDI support (1987).
Rodgers' primary factory is located in Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
with additional manufacturing done in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. All full size, American Guild of Organists
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
standard 32 pedal note classical organ models are built in the Oregon factory.
Technology
Rodgers' success was largely due to their early innovations with solid state analog tone generation technology. Despite the fact that competitors such as AllenAllen Organ
The Allen Organ Company builds classical digital and combination digital and pipe organs, as well as digital theatre organs. Its factory is located in Macungie in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.-History:...
switched to digitally sampled tone generation as early as 1972, Rodgers sold exclusively analog tone generation instruments until 1990.
Rodgers introduced its first digital organ on November 20, 1990, using a tone generation system Rodgers has dubbed Parallel Digital Imaging (PDI). Rodgers PDI organs use Roland DSPs and digitally sampled organ pipes for tone generation.
A feature introduced in 1993, which Rodgers has termed "Digital Domain Expression," offers swell box
Expression pedal
An expression pedal is an important control found on many organs and synthesizers, as well as in the pedal steel guitar, that allows the volume of the sound to be manipulated...
effects such as expression delays, high frequency dampening and phase shifts of sound across a stereo field as expression shoes are opened or closed, similar to the effects produced by the swell shades on a pipe organ's swell box.
Today, Rodgers' Trillium Masterpiece Series instruments are custom designed through Rodgers' Organ Architect, while some smaller models remain as standard specification products.
Pipe organs
Many Rodgers organs support the playing of actual pipe ranks in addition to their normal, electronic ranks. The first electronic organ to successfully integrate pipes and electronic tone generation was a Rodgers Gemini with Fratelli Ruffatti
Fratelli Ruffatti
Famiglia Artigiana Fratelli Ruffatti is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Padua, Italy.- History :...
organ pipes installed in the Atlanta area home of Dr. Walter and Emily Spivey. It included a tuning control so the pipes and electronics could stay in tune with each other.
The largest full pipe organ produced by the company was the Second Baptist Church Houston
Second Baptist Church Houston
Second Baptist Church Houston is a megachurch in Houston, Texas, USA affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention that has a membership of over 53,000. Its senior pastor is Dr...
, Texas organ with five manuals and 193 pipe ranks. It was dedicated on August 23, 1987 and featured concerts on August 23 and 24th by organist Frederick Swann
Frederick Swann
Frederick L. Swann is a prominent American church and concert organist, recording artist, choral conductor, and former president of the American Guild of Organists . During his career spanning more than a half-century, he has performed on most of the well-known pipe organs in the world and made...
. In addition, it was the featured organ of the 1988 Houston National Convention of the American Guild of Organists where it was played by organist Diane Bish.
In August 1991, another large all-pipe Rodgers organ installed at Glenkirk Presbyterian Church, Glendora, California was the cover feature of The American Organist, official journal of the American Guild of Organists.
Corporate affiliations
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Musical Instruments along with Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...
pianos, Fender guitars, Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
electric pianos, Gemeinhardt
Gemeinhardt
Gemeinhardt Co. is the music industry's largest manufacturer of flutes and piccolos. These musical instruments are developed by this company for all levels of musicians, beginners to professionals.History of the Gemeinhardt Company...
flutes, and a number of other instrument brand names. In 1985 CBS, divested itself of Rodgers, along with Steinway and Gemeinhardt, all of which were purchased by Steinway Musical Properties. Since May 1, 1988, Roland Corporation
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
has been parent company of Rodgers, and Rodgers is now a subsidiary of it. In addition to its own Rodgers organs, Rodgers produces Atelier home organs and digital pianos for Roland Corporation as Roland's North American manufacturing facility.
Touring organs
Organist Virgil FoxVirgil Fox
Virgil Keel Fox was an American organist, known especially for his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach. These events appealed to audiences in the 1970s who were more familiar with rock 'n' roll music and were staged complete with light shows...
helped bring Rodgers organs into the limelight in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he used a Rodgers Touring Organ, built in 1966 and known as "Black Beauty," for his "Heavy Organ" concerts, including a 1970 all Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
performance that included a light show at the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
Auditorium in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
On October 1, 1974, Rodgers’ five manual Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
organ, designed by Virgil Fox, debuted in a sold-out Fox concert. The organ and Fox were praised by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
, Ron Eyer in the New York Daily News, New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
and by noted critic Harold Schonberg in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
'. Carnegie Hall’s International Organ Series for the Inaugural 1974-1975 Season included Fox, Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Eugène Charles Cochereau , was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.- Biography :Pierre Cochereau was born on July 9, 1924 in Saint-Mandé, near Paris. In 1929, after a few months of violin instruction, he began to take piano lessons with Marius-François Gaillard...
, Claire Coci, Fernando Germani, Herman Berlinski, George Thalben-Ball
George Thalben-Ball
Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball CBE was an organist and composer who, though originally from Australia, spent most of his life in Britain....
and Richard Morris. This was the world’s first five manual and most powerful electronic organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
at the time and was listed as such for a number of years in the Guinness Book of World Records.
A sister five manual instrument to the Carnegie Hall Organ, named by Fox the "Royal V", served as Fox's touring organ for the 1975-76 concert season, but proved unwieldy to tour with. The Royal V was used at Fox's funeral in the Crystal Cathedral
Crystal Cathedral
The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant Christian church building in the city of Garden Grove, in Orange County, California, United States. It is the headquarters and principal place of worship for Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a church founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and affiliated with the...
after he died on October 25, 1980.
A second black Rodgers touring organ was active in the 1970s. The "American Beauty" was based on Rodgers's then premium three manual model, the "American Classic". Concert organists who played on this instrument or "Black Beauty" (which continued touring under Roberta Bailey Artists International well into the 80s) included Ted Alan Worth
Ted Alan Worth
Ted Alan Worth was a prominent American church and concert organist, recording artist, and entrepreneur of the pipe organ....
, Joyce Jones, Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Eugène Charles Cochereau , was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.- Biography :Pierre Cochereau was born on July 9, 1924 in Saint-Mandé, near Paris. In 1929, after a few months of violin instruction, he began to take piano lessons with Marius-François Gaillard...
, Herman Berlinski, Richard Morris, Keith Chapman, Douglas Marshall, John Grady, Frederick Geoghan, and Diane Bish
Diane Bish
Diane Joyce Bish, born on May 25, 1941, in Kansas, is an organist and composer as well as executive producer of the Joy of Music television series. As a concert organist, she performs frequently at recitals throughout North America and Europe....
.
The Royal V was, in 1983, refinished from black to white and permanently installed in the Meishusama Hall of the Shinji Shumeikai in Minsono, Japan. In mid 2004, this same organ was updated to newer Rodgers technology. Dan Miller and McNeill Robinson, consultants on the project, revised and updated the organ's tonal specification during the update to Trillium level Parallel Digital Imaging technology.
The current Rodgers touring organ is Hector Olivera's "The King", a black four manual organ featuring a custom French specification that Olivera plays in various concert venues nationally.
Television
In 2006, a Rodgers Allegiant 657 was installed in the family chapel of the White Family on ABC TelevisionABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
's highly rated Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for less fortunate families and community schools etc...
.
Previously, John Ratzenberger's Made in America
John Ratzenberger's Made in America
John Ratzenberger's Made in America is an American documentary television series hosted by John Ratzenberger. The series premiered January 6, 2004, on the Travel Channel. Ratzenberger visits various American manufacturers, taking the show's viewers along on the tours and showing how various...
Travel Channel
Travel Channel
The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...
show featured at segment on Rodgers filmed at Rodgers’ Hillsboro, Oregon plant. That episode still appears from time to time on the Travel Channel.
Rodgers factory is also featured in Karen Axelrod and Bruce Brumberg’s popular “Watch it Made in the U.S.A.” books profiling interesting factory tours of American manufacturing facilities.
See also
- Cameron CarpenterCameron CarpenterCameron Carpenter is an American organist known for his virtuosity, showmanship, technique and arrangements for the organ.-Biography:...
- Frederick SwannFrederick SwannFrederick L. Swann is a prominent American church and concert organist, recording artist, choral conductor, and former president of the American Guild of Organists . During his career spanning more than a half-century, he has performed on most of the well-known pipe organs in the world and made...
- Pierre CochereauPierre CochereauPierre Eugène Charles Cochereau , was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.- Biography :Pierre Cochereau was born on July 9, 1924 in Saint-Mandé, near Paris. In 1929, after a few months of violin instruction, he began to take piano lessons with Marius-François Gaillard...
- Roland CorporationRoland Corporationis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
(Rodgers builds Roland Atelier organs and digital pianos) - Virgil FoxVirgil FoxVirgil Keel Fox was an American organist, known especially for his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach. These events appealed to audiences in the 1970s who were more familiar with rock 'n' roll music and were staged complete with light shows...
played Rodgers' "Black Beauty" and "Royal V" organs in his "Heavy Organ" tours.
External links
- Roland US website
- Rodgers Organs in Canada
- Rodgers Organs in Germany
- Rodgers Organs in the UK
- Frog Music Press - Independent Rodgers Organ Users Group, Music and Books on Playing Rodgers Organs and MIDI
- David Frick's www.OurRodgersOrgans.com Pictures and Audio of Rodgers Organs
- Hector Olivera, who plays a Rodgers Organ "The King" in national concert tours
- Dan Miller, who plays Rodgers concerts nationally
- Rodgers Marine Electronics, also founded by Rodgers Jenkins
- Rodgers Instruments on the Travel Channel
- Factory Tours USA
- Via Magazine
- Oregon Forest Industries Directory