The Great Stalacpipe Organ
Encyclopedia
The Great Stalacpipe Organ is an electrically actuated lithophone
Lithophone
A lithophone is a musical instrument consisting of a rock or pieces of rock which are struck to produce musical notes. Notes may be sounded in combination or in succession...
located in Luray Caverns
Luray Caverns
Luray Caverns, originally called Luray Cave, is a large, celebrated commercial cave just west of Luray, Virginia, USA, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The underground cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems...
, Virginia, USA. It is operated by a custom console
Organ console
thumb|right|250px|The console of the [[Wanamaker Organ]] in the Macy's department store in [[Philadelphia]], featuring six manuals and colour-coded stop tabs....
that produces the tapping of ancient stalactites of varying sizes with solenoid-actuated rubber mallets in order to produce tones. The instrument's name was derived from the resemblance of the selected thirty-seven naturally formed stalactites to the pipework of a traditional pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
along with its custom organ-style keyboard console. It was designed and implemented in 1956 over three years by Leland W. Sprinkle inside the Luray Caverns near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, USA.
History
Two accounts of Sprinkle's conception of the instrument are known. From the discovery of Luray Caverns in 1878 onward, the favorable attributes of the formations for creating musical tones were well known. One of the earliest references to performances of lithophone music in Luray Caverns comes from the tour led by co-discoverer Andrew Campbell for a group sent by the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in 1880. According to a summary of the report incorporated into the earliest printed guides to Luray Caverns, Campbell surprised the group by playing a tune on a formation, probably the one that came to be known as the Organ. By the early 20th century, performances of folk tunes, hymns, and other well-known pieces were a regular part of guided tours. According to the modern guided tour, Sprinkle is said to have conceived the idea for the Great Stalacpipe Organ during one of these performances when he toured Luray Caverns on his son's birthday in 1954.
A variation of the story of the instrument's conception is that Sprinkle's son Robert hit his head on a stalactite, producing a tone that inspired Sprinkle to invent the instrument. This account is the one published in a Meccano Magazine
Meccano Magazine
Meccano Magazine was an English monthly hobby magazine published by Meccano Ltd between 1916 and 1963, and by other publishers between 1963 and 1981. The magazine was initially created for Meccano builders, but it soon became a general hobby magazine aimed at "boys of all ages"...
article from 1961 and in an article in the 1959 Rosicrucian Digest
Rosicrucian Digest
Rosicrucian Digest is a publication of AMORC, published continuously from 1915.It is sent to members via correspondence, but it is also available to the general public.You can read Rosicrucian Digest issues at the web site of the ....
.
Construction
Sprinkle created the Great Stalacpipe Organ over three years by finding and shaving appropriate stalactites to produce specific notes. He then wired a mallet for each stalacite that is activated by pressing the correct key on the instrument's keyboard. The stalactites are distributed through approximately 3.5 acres (14,164 m²) of the caverns but can be heard anywhere within its 64 acres (258,999 m²) confines.The organ console was constructed by Klann Organ Supply of Waynesboro, Virginia
Waynesboro, Virginia
Waynesboro, deriving its name from General Anthony Wayne, is an independent city surrounded by Augusta County in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 21,006 in 2010.....
. The original console design featured volume-control switching cylinders actuated by pedals and ranks of draw-knobs designated "Pedal," "Harmonic," "Solo," and "Echo" which altered the amplifier settings, but this feature was subsequently removed in favor of the aesthetics offered by amplifying every note at a constant level. The organ can be heard throughout the caverns without use of the loudspeaker system, though it is not typically operated this way when open to the public.
Recordings
During its first three decades, vinyl records (both 7-inch 33 rpm and 45 RPM) of the Great Stalacpipe Organ were sold in the Luray Caverns gift shop. These early recordings featured Sprinkle at the organ manual. Later recordings of Sprinkle's performances were sold on cassette tape before organist Monte Maxwell created his own arrangements and recordings of the organ which are currently sold on CD at Luray Caverns.While earlier gift shop recordings were created live during a performance of the organ, Monte Maxwell's recording was produced via sampling; the tracks on this release are the result of using a synthesizer to create each song from the original samples. Some details about this process are available in the booklet which accompanies the CD.
In 2011, the Finnish/Swedish music collective Pepe Deluxé
Pepe Deluxé
Pepe Deluxé is a Finnish electronic music oriented band, formed in 1996 by DJ Slow JA-Jazz and James Spectrum in Helsinki, Finland. They started to experiment with sounds of hip hop, big beat, breakbeat and downtempo. DJ Slow departed the band in 2001 to pursue solo projects. JA-Jazz has been...
became the first artists to write and record an original composition on The Great Stalacpipe Organ . After extensive repairs to make the Stalacpipe actually playable again, Paul Malmström (one half of the group with Jari Salo) played and recorded "In The Cave" which is featured on Pepe Deluxé's album "Queen Of The Wave".
External links
- UbuWeb's 365 Days Project – April 26 features an overview of the instrument and a recording taken from a gift shop cassette tape
- sweet thunder – tape findings – Week 15 features a Great Stalacpipe Organ cassette with images and MP3s
- OddMusic: Stalacpipe Organ
- stalacpipe.net
- Atlas Obscura: The Great Stalacpipe Organ
- Audio and video on Sound Tourism site