Organ Pipe Families

Over the course of 1,000 years, four different types or families of organ pipes emerged: (1) Principals, (2) Flutes, (3) Strings, and (4) Reeds.  The families are distinguished by the timbre or quality of sound they produce, as well as the manner in which they are constructed.

THE REED PIPES

The pipes of the fourth family, the "Reeds," produce their sound in way that is different than the Principals, Flutes, and Strings.  Rather than setting into motion the air column in the pipe body with pressurized air passing through a narrow flue and hitting the upper "lip" of the pipe mouth, the sound of a Reed pipe occurs when pressurized air sets into a motion a brass tongue (a reed) that vibrates against a something like a mouthpiece called a shallot (similar to a Clarinet reed and mouth piece, in turn setting into harmonic motion the air within the top part of the reed pipe called a "resonator."

The shape of the shallot, the thickness and curve of the brass tongue, and the shape of the resonator all contribute to the unique tone color of each set of Reed pipes.  Like Strings and Flutes, Reeds imitate other instruments such as Trumpets, Oboes, Bassoons, Trombones, Clarinets, and all sorts of historical forerunners of these modern instruments.  The new St. Michael organ will have several reeds, with names that will be explored and explained in a future PIPELINE installment:  Trompet, Claron, Posaun, ​Dulcian, ​Chalumeau, Vox ​humana, and ​Huboa.

Listen HERE to Dr. Ben Keseley demonstrating the colorful reed pipes of Martin Pasi's Opus 28 at St. George's Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia.  These are among the kinds of sounds we will hear from the new St. Michael organ when it is finished.