The Charles G. Barley Memorial Organ
by
Thad Reynolds


On November 19, 1928, thousands of Marion area residents turned out to hear, for the first time, the magnificent new municipal pipe organ which had recently been installed in their new Memorial Coliseum building.

The Coliseum had been built as a combination field house and community center in 1927-28, on the heels of Marion's state basketball championship in 1926. The facility was designed to be the latest, greatest, and one of the largest such structures in Indiana. The building had a large stage, and was planned to house school and community cultural activities, as well as athletics.

Mrs. Mae Harwood Judge had for sometime been seeking to donate a fitting memorial to her late husband, Charles G. Barley. Although Mrs. Judge had remarried and settled in San Francisco, California, she had maintained contact with Mr. Barley's brother-in-law, friend, and business associate, J. W. Stephenson of Marion. Mr. Stephenson was interested in organs and organ music, and was knowledgeable about current trends in organ construction.

Marion school officials wanted Mrs. Judge to donate a swimming pool to the community for the Coliseum. The cost of a pool that would be adequate for instructional use would have cost in excess of $40,000. Mae Judge therefore determined to purchase an organ to be installed in the now Coliseum building. The organ was to be a recital organ (as opposed to a church or theater instrument), and was to be capable of accompanying school and community events. More important, however, in Mrs. Judge's view, was the wish that the organ could be used for instruction- providing lessons for high school students, and rendering transcriptions of the great orchestral works so students could hear live musical performances.

During late 1927, J.W. Stephenson interviewed several of the leading organbuilders of the time, including M.P. Moller, Wurlitzer, Kimball, and others. He finally settled on the Estey Organ Co., of Brattleboro, Vermont.

Estey had previously installed three organs in Marion, at First Presbyterian Church (1904), the Masonic Temple (1912), and the Christian Science Church (1915). Presumably. Mrs. Judge had become familiar with Estey through the latter church, as she was a devout and life-long Christian Scientist. Estey’s Chicago representative, Arthur R. Dolbeer represented the company in Marion, and played the major role in writing the specification. J.B. Jamison, Estey’s west coast representative, and a noted organ designer and salesman of the time, represented the company to Mrs. Judge in San Francisco.

The Estey Organ Company was founded in 1846, and remained in existence until 1957, when an unfortunate manipulation of its stock ruined the company financially. The company was managed by five generations of the Estey family. It was the world’s largest maker of parlor reed organs (pump organs), and also the major supplier of pump organ parts to other cabinet makers. During World War 11, Estey was noted for the small portable organs it produced for chaplains.

In 1901. Estey entered the burgeoning pipe organ business, and quickly became one of the leading builders in the world. The company was known for its fine woodworking and the excellent quality of the pipes in its organs.

The early twentieth century was a time of great innovation in the pipe organ industry. The advent of stable wind supplies and higher pressures brought about by the electric blower, as well as new and improved applications of electricity to the pipe organ, led to inventions and developments that had both negative and positive influences on the future of organ building.

Estey was quick to embrace many of these innovations. They hired William E. Haskell, a master voicer, and encouraged him to develop new sounds for their organs. The emphasis was on tones that imitated those of the orchestra. In its Catalog of Music for the Estey Organ, the company expressed the philosophy of organbuilding which was prevalent. The organ, it said, “embraces all the instruments of the orchestra-even the violin and the piano. It approximates the human voice with wonderful fidelity. It has qualities which no other instrument has; tones which no other instrument produces."

In the design of these coloristic orchestral voices. Haskell was a genius. H particularly concentrated on stops that imitated the woodwind family, such as the clarinet, saxophone, and oboe. Haskell imitations of all these orchestral instruments appear in the Coliseum organ. He is also remembered for the development of the Haskell "patent bass," a unique acoustical design for bass pipes that allowed an open bass pipe to produce tone equivalent to a pipe twice its length. "Haskell basses" are still used by organ builders today.

Estey also developed new systems for controlling the stops of the organ. Here, unfortunately, their vision ran ahead of the available technology. Estey equipped the Coliseum organ with a "luminous" console, on which the stops were controlled by pressing pushbuttons that lighted when the stop was on. For several technical reasons, this system, which looked very high-tech in its day, did not work out well in the Coliseum, with its high levels of dirt and vibration. The original console has since been replaced.

In planning for the Coliseum organ, J.W. Stephenson was adamant that the instrument would be a recital organ, and would avoid many of the extravagances and excesses of theater organs. He stressed that Mrs. Judge would pay up to $25,000 for the organ, a princely sum in those days, but that the money was to be invested in quality, rather than gadgets.

One gadget, however, that Mrs. Judge particularly wanted was an automatic roll player for the organ. This device, housed in its own console played rolls similar to those used in player pianos. A large library of rolls was available from Estey, recorded by some of the most famous organists of the day. Rolls were available for classics, standards, and popular music. Interestingly, and again indicative of the musical tastes of the time, the catalogs contained very few selections of music that was actually composed for the organ. Most were transcriptions. Mrs. Judge envisioned a permanent roll library as an instructional tool for school music classes. The player portion of the organ accounted for $7,500 of the cost of the instrument. During the entire life of the organ, the school corporation owned exactly one roll.

On January 31, 1928. with much florid fanfare, the announcement was
made that Marion was to be presented with a "$25,OOO Gift Organ.”
Behind the scenes, hurried revisions were made to the nearly-completed
Coliseum building, including the construction of organ chambers to the
right and left of the proscenium arch, provision for a blower room, and
lofts on either side of the stage to house the consoles.
        
The one dark cloud on this otherwise happy scene was that the Coliseum
Board, established to oversee construction of the building (and really an
extension of the school board), was required to pay for the modifications to
the building. These modifications were expensive, and caused some
muttering among the local luminaries, especially in light of their original
wish that Mrs. Judge donate a swimming pool. The organ company
eventually agreed to pay for the installation of the electrical conduits and
galvanized wind lines for the organ.
        
Construction of the organ was delayed for several weeks because of
problems housing the console. The original plans had called for the
console to be in front of the stage, on the level of the cinder track which
then circled the hardwood playing floor. When it was decided that this
placement was a poor plan, Estey was asked to provide dimensions for
elevated lofts to be positioned on either side of the stage. Although this
positioning was poor from the organists’ standpoint, it did protect the
consoles from much damage.
        
Unfortunately, there was confusion between the Coliseum architect, Robert
Frost Dagget, the building contractor, and Estey on the console
dimensions, and the console which had originally been planned for the
organ (probably not a luminous design), had to be abandoned in favor of
the more compact luminous console. In this way, the Coliseum organ
became one of the last Estey instruments to be equipped with this ill-fated
console design.
        
The inclusion of the automatic player mechanism, although it was never
used, greatly influenced the tonal design of the instrument. For the player
to work properly, it was necessary for the organ to be highly imitative of
orchestral instruments, and to have both solo and accompaniment sounds
in all divisions. This left relatively little room in the organ for the stops of pure organ tone, the Diapasons.

J.G. Estey commented about this concern in a letter to Arthur Dolbeer in February, 1928, shortly after the contract was signed. Estey was concerned that the organ might not have enough “fundamental tone” for an auditorium seating over 4,000. Dolbeer countered this concern, along with another that the entire organ should not be under expression, by mentioning that the organ would be under relatively high wind pressures for the time (10" in the Great, and 6” in all other divisions), and that the scales (diameters) of the pipes were planned to be very large. Besides, he commented, the organ would mainly be used with the automatic player, and so fundamental power would be less of an issue.

The correspondence between Estey and its representative, Dolbeer, reveals much about tonal design during the early twentieth century, when organs were orchestral in nature. The need to provide harmonic development to the ensemble sound of the organ, which had for centuries been accomplished with mutations and mixtures of principal tone, was fulfilled in the orchestral organs with narrow scale, keenly voiced string stops. Dolbeer’s answer to the need for stronger tone in the Coliseum organ was to provide a loud string (the Viol) in the Swell, and two loud strings (the Contra Viol, and Viola d’Orchestra) in the orchestral division. The rationale was that, since strings form the backbone of the symphony orchestra, and provide the bulk of the orchestra’s harmonic character, so it should be in the “scientifically designed” pipe organ.

In the end, it was agreed that, in addition to the very powerful Open
Diapason in the Great division, the organ would also have a loudly voiced
Violin the Swell, and that several other stops would be voiced with
unusual strength.

After numerous delays, caused by concerns about how the automatic device would perform with this particular design, as well as difficulties surrounding the design and positioning of the console, Estey finally shipped the organ on Friday, June 8, 1928. The instrument completely filled a 50 foot freight car, and the estimated weight was twenty tons.

Estey sent its regional installer, F.R. Warren, to Marion to begin
installation on about June 11. When the organ had not arrived by June 14,
Estey had the railroad trace its location. The freight car was finally found
on a siding in Brockton, Ontario, and was immediately routed to Marion.
It finally arrived in Marion on Saturday, June 16.
        
Installation began the following Monday, June 18, and continued
throughout the hottest months of the summer. The organ chambers, as
constructed, did not agree with the plans in several respects, necessitating
some revision to the layout of the organ. The large scale Pedal Bourdon.
which had been planned for the Great/Orchestral chamber, was relocated to
the Swell chamber. The layouts of the other offset chests, as well as the
harp and chimes, were then changed, making the instrument more
serviceable.
        
Throughout the summer, Earl S. Watson, a Marion High School student.
was an eager, though unpaid, assistant. Earl lived one block north of the
Coliseum building site, and had watched its construction with enthusiasm.
An aspiring and talented young organist, he had eagerly awaited the arrival
of the new organ. For almost forty years, Earl Watson would be the
organist most closely associated with the Barley Memorial Organ.
        
F.R. Warren and his crew completed installation of the Coliseum Organ on
Monday, August 6, 1928. Much of the finishing and tuning had been
accomplished at night, when the temperature of the Coliseum moderated.
The excessive temperatures encountered during the installation may
account for the fact that the Coliseum organ has always been slightly flat to
A-440.
        
The total cost of the organ was $23,960. The final payment of $20,366 was
made on August 8. 1928 to A.R. Dolbeer by J.W. Stephenson. Company
records also indicate that “Mrs. Barley has left a little fund for the
maintenance of the organ.” Presumably, this fund was the approximately
$1000 difference between the actual cost of the organ and the total amount
of the gift, $25,000. There is no indication in the records that this fund
was ever used to care for the instrument. Research has been unable to
uncover the actual amount of the fund, or who had responsibility for it.

As plans were being made for a fall dedication for the organ, it was discovered that a serious threat to the new instrument already existed in the Coliseum. The metal plaster lathe was sagging from the ceiling in both chambers. particularly the west, which contained the pipes of the Great and Orchestral divisions. A serious fall of heavy plaster on the new and delicate pipework would have ruined most of the pipes, and damaged many of the mechanical actions.

The sagging ceilings in both chambers were shored up with timbers, and a regional crew from Estey was sent in immediately to remove all the pipes from the west chamber, so the repairs could be made. The repairs were never made in the east chamber, which contained the pipes of the Swell division, and seventy years later, the shoring timbers are still in place, the ceiling still cracked and sagging.

The Charles G. Barley Memorial Organ was finally dedicated on Monday evening, November 19, 1928, in a concert featuring the Marion High School Band and Ernest L. Mchaffey, head of the organ department at Capitol College in Columbus, Ohio. The program was part of the school’s celebration of “Schubert Week,” commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Franz Schubert. The recital program featured seven transcriptions of Schubert compositions, along with works by Rogers Lemare, and Guilmant.

Again, the program reveals the kinds of organ literature performed at that time. The music was almost exclusively orchestral transcriptions, utilizing the tremendous wealth of tone colors in the organ. The music for the program was almost exclusively secular, except for Ave Maria, played because it was written by Schubert, and gave the organist the opportunity to feature the organ's Harp and Vox Humana. Again, consistent with organ programs of the time, the program contained very little music that was originally written for the organ.

News stories of the time reported that 4,000 people attended the dedication

Less than one year after the dedication of the Barley Memorial Organ, the international financial cataclysm occurred that would launch two decades of depression and war. Two years after that, an event would occur in Marion that would leave a deep emotional scar on the community for generations. In 1931, a mob lynched two young black men, accused of rape and murder, from a tree on the courthouse square. This brutal act would affect Marion's image of itself for decades.

Meanwhile, as the depression deepened. the Barley Memorial Organ continued to be played for sporting events, commencements, and other community programs. Service was provided in 1929 and 1930 by Estey, under the terms of the purchase contract. Beginning in 1931, however, budgetary problems in the school system began to reduce the amount of care that was provided for the organ. These financial problems would eventually cause the near ruin of the instrument.

Local churches were also squeezed by the Great Depression. Unable to
afford to heat or light their buildings for more than the minimum number
of hours required for Sunday morning worship, the churches were forced to curtail Sunday evening youth group activities.

Out these dark events emerged a dedicated group of young people whose enthusiasm and creativity would have a far-reaching effect on life in Marion. In about 1934, several of these displaced church youth groups (many of whose members would eventually become leaders in the community) banded together, and met in a different church each week

They developed a strong camaraderie and ecumenical spirit. Eventually. they began plans for a Christmas Pageant that could be held in one of the churches. They sought help from their churches and teachers, and, providentially, from Mrs. Merrill Davis.

Josephine Davis was a dynamo. When presented with the idea of an Easter Pageant (they had started too late for Christmas), she saw spectacular possibilities in the idea. She advised her young committee that they should expand their thinking from a church program to a grand spectacular. With its huge spaces and splendid new pipe organ. Memorial Coliseum would become the home of the Marion Easter Pageant.

The first Pageant was held in 1937. With a cast of 800, a chorus of 600, at orchestra, and Earl Watson at the console of the Memorial Organ. the Pageant was a symbol of community and religious vitality in the city which had so recently witnessed the violence of the mob. The organ quickly became an indispensable ingredient in the music of the Pageant. and became closely associated with it.

Early in 1941, Elbert E. Day, the superintendent of schools, sent a letter to the Estey Company asking for an estimate to have the organ “thoroughly overhauled.” The organ had begun to develop problems stemming from the luminous console systems, and from the fact that the switching pneumatics had been installed in a room with east facing windows, which allowed the morning sun to bake the leather pneumatics, causing many of them to fail.

Although there is no record or indication of a major renovation effort, some repairs were made before the war.

During the period from 1941 to 1961, the condition of the Coliseum organ underwent a slow but steady deterioration. The school corporation lacked the funds, and possibly, the interest, to improve or maintain its memorial to Charles Barley. During those years, Earl Watson complained bitterly and continuously that there never seemed to be enough money to take proper care of the organ. Watson had learned to avoid many of the organ's mechanical problems, however, and continued to play it each Easter, and for the annual high school commencement exercises. Earl Watson later recalled that playing the Coliseum organ during these years often taxed his musicianship and his ingenuity. With its control systems in disarray, the organ would often behave unpredictably, leading to potentially embarrassing musical situations.

By 1962. the organ had become unplayable, and, reluctantly, the Pageant abandoned it in favor electronic substitutes. These organs, which were borrowed from local music stores each year, were completely inadequate for either the Pageant or the vast Coliseum room.
The Marion Community Schools sought bids during this time to renovate the organ. When it was found that the costs of renovation would be in the $50,000 to $75,000 range, the idea was quickly abandoned.

The school system then sought to sell the organ. To do this, it was necessary to obtain an appraisal of the value of the organ. Since the school administration could not find an appraiser qualified to appraise a pipe organ locally, they obtained from a local music dealer the retail price of that dealer's largest church organ, $5,000, and used that figure as a selling value. When newspaper advertisements failed to produce an interested buyer, the school system devalued the organ to zero, and sought to give it away. Because of the instrument's condition and its immense size, however, no takers were found.

In about 1967, the Superintendent of Schools ordered the school maintenance department to remove the main console from its loft. The player console had been removed several years before, and local radio stations wished to use both lofts as vantage points from which to broadcast high school basketball games.

The console cables, which connected it to the organ, were disconnected (and, in some cases, cut), and the console was removed from the loft and loaded on a truck to be taken to the city dump. At the last minute, the school corporation's business manager decided that someone might yet offer to purchase the instrument, and that the console should be saved. It was placed on its back in a box high above the stage. The manhandling the console received during this process did severe damage to both the structure of the cabinet and its internal workings.

From this point forward, much of the history of the Barley Memorial Organ must be told in first person. The day the school maintenance crew labored to remove the console, I was a student taking a physical education class at the Coliseum.

I had long been interested in the pipe organ, and had also been involved in the Marion Easter Pageant, starting out turning pages at the organ for Earl Watson. During these years, Earl related much of the story of his involvement with the Coliseum organ— his work on its installation, the
years he had played for the Pageant, and all the various frustrations and
difficulties he had faced trying to keep the instrument playing. One interesting detail he had related was that the school corporation had been told that all the leather in the organ was bad, and that the chests would “probably fly apart if the blower was turned on.” Happily, this statement was an exaggeration.

I became the Pageant's “organ expert,” helping locate and secure an electronic organ to use each year, and trying to work out amplification schemes that would work for the Pageant. Compared with the sound of the pipe organ, these attempts, which often involved hoisting heavy speaker cabinets high into the rafters of the Coliseum, failed to produce a good sound for the Pageant. During these years. while still a student at Marion High School. I began to work out various schemes to renovate the Coliseun pipe organ.

Through Jim Moritz, the Pageant's music director, I sought and received permission to explore the organ. Having heard stories that the organ was a nesting place for a large bat population (I do not like bats), it took considerable fortitude for me to even enter the chambers, especially since the light bulbs had long since burned out. Fortunately, after the light bulbs were replaced, the organ chambers proved to be uninhabited.

Surprisingly. I found that the old organ was intact. Although terribly dirty it appeared that the pipes had been largely undisturbed. Old football uniforms and discarded PA gear were piled in the East chamber, but I actually found only two pipes that were seriously damaged.

In 1975, a year in which the electronic organ sounded particularly bad in the Pageant. I approached the school corporation for permission to try to rebuild, or at least repair, the Barley Memorial Organ. I also discussed the project with my organ professor at Ball State University. Dr. Kirby Koriath Dr. Koriath agreed to allow me to pursue the renovation as a senior project

The Marion Community Schools, having ascertained that the organ had no real value anyway, gave me permission to proceed, with the understanding that they could not provide any funding for the project. They did offer, however, to place both consoles back in their lofts, and to remove the scoreboards that now completely covered the tone openings for the organ.   

I worked on the project throughout the spring and summer of 1975. The first step was to reconnect the consoles, and to clean generations of dirt and coal dust from all the working parts of the organ. Once this was done, I was able to determine what had actually been wrong with the instrument when it was last played more than thirteen years before.

I found that the internal chest leathers, which had been thought to be in tatters, were, in fact, still in remarkably good condition. The switching relays, however, after five decades of roasting in the morning sun, were in poor condition, and would need complete rebuilding. There were also numerous small but serious problems in the console and windchests. I also found that disconnecting the automatic player had created many problems. So, it, too, was reconnected.

The special rubber bellows cloth needed to recover the switching relay pneumatics, cost $28. This sum was the only actual money spent during the initial renovation of the organ.

I decided that it would be helpful to find out any technical information that might still be available, especially about the very complex automatic system. I knew that Estey had been out of business for many years; but, on a hunch, I called directory assistance in Brattleboro, Vermont. I thought it was possible that there might still be a listing for the Estey Organ Company.

The operator was very helpful. Her father had worked for Estey, and she gave me the phone number for a gentleman named Hyacinth Rcnaud. Mr. Renaud had also been an Estey employee, and had sought to preserve what he could of the history of the company.

Renaud had purchased a number of the plant buildings in Brattleboro, as well as the entire remaining stock of automatic player rolls. He offered to send me a few rolls to use on the automatic player. He also told me that all the company records were held in the archives of the University of Vermont. Mr. Renaud eventually sent me over three dozen Estey player rolls.

Writing to the university. I learned that they did, indeed, have a thick file on organ number 2727, which had been built in 1928, for Memorial Coliseum in Marion, Indiana. These archives were copied and sent to me, and it is from these, together with newspaper and verbal accounts, that I was able to piece together much of the early history of the organ.

I also received a letter from Judith Marshall, a doctoral student who was studying the history of municipal pipe organs in America. Ms. Marshall wanted to know if the Coliseum organ still existed, and something of its history. She told me that her research indicated that Marion was probably the smallest community in the United States to have a municipal organ, and certainly the smallest in which such an instrument still existed.

Work proceeded, and, finally, on November 18, 1975, one day short of the forty-seventh anniversary of the dedication of the organ, the instrument was rededicated in a concert which was attended by over 2,500 people. Articles in the Marion Chronicle-Tribune and the Indianapolis Star had awakened a remarkable interest in the old organ. Many came to hear the instrument for nostalgic reasons, and came away impressed by its beauty and power.

Beginning with the 1976 production, the organ was once again used to accompany the Marion Easter Pageant. To prevent light spill from the music lamp, the console was encased by a structure that the Pageant officially called the “gazebo,” but which was unofficially referred to as the "outhouse.” As organist. I had to follow the music director through a mirror mounted on the side of the console loft.

Over the next several years, a series of concerts was held to showcase the Coliseum organ, and also to raise small amounts of money to further the cause of its preservation. A small group of friends and supporters, loosely organized as the Barley Organ Society, gave valuable help in planning and staging these concerts. On September 9, 1976, the Marion School Board approved a special Barley Organ Fund to receive donations, gifts, and the proceeds from programs to be used for the organ.

I wrote an article in January, 1977, which appeared in the April issue of Music, the national journal of the American Guild of Organists. This article gave the preservation project a national notoriety which was very helpful in arousing the interest of organists, organ builders, and those interested in American romantic organs.

On March 18, 1977, Dennis James, a nationally known theater organist, and resident organist of the Ohio Theater in Columbus, Ohio, donated his services for the first of two silent film festivals which were held at the Coliseum. Although the organ was not designed to be a theater organ, in the hands of a skillful theater organist, it was easily capable of accompanying silent movies. The first film festival featured Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks. The following November, James returned to accompany Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera. The events each drew audiences of more than 1,500.

On Mother's Day that same year, Dr. Fred Binckes, of Rocky Mountain College, Billings, Montana, performed a Sunday afternoon concert of music that was appropriate to the instrument.

Other concerts followed over the next several years, including performances by Dr. Samuel Walter of Rutgers University, Anna Louise Goodman of San Diego, California, and nationally-known organist and composer Dr. Donald Hustad. One unique concert that was held during this time involved the Marion High School Orchestra performing works written for organ and orchestra, with Dr. John Maher at the console. This concert gave the students a unique opportunity to perform with the organ, and was the first such concert in almost forty years.

The organ continued to be used annually for the Marion Easter Pageant.
Because the console enclosure was unacceptable musically, and detracted from the appearance of the Pageant set, the console was removed from the loft, electrified, and placed on a movable platform in 1979. This allowed it to be rolled from place to place at the end of a one hundred foot umbilical cord.

Following the completion of the new Jones Junior High School (later, Jones Middle School), in about 1980, the Marion Community Schools discontinued using the Coliseum building as an instructional facility. They continued to maintain their administrative offices there, as they had since the building was built in 1928, but eventually moved to a new facility, leaving the building virtually empty.

A new roof was installed on the building in about 1988, because of extensive water leaks that threatened the hardwood gym floor. Other than this repair, however, the school corporation was unable to commit large sums of money to a building that did not contribute to the educational process. The Coliseum continued to be used by intramural sports teams during this period.

Although it was possible to keep the organ playing for the Marion Easter Pageant, its condition, too, began to deteriorate. The windchest leathers, which had led to the condemnation of the instrument in 1962, actually were finally needing replacement. More of a problem, however, was the condition of the console and switching systems.

The damage which had occurred when the console was moved in 1967 had led to a weakening of the cabinet, and to many broken solder connections inside. Over time, the cabinet weakness became so severe that the electrical contacts would not stay in alignment. The switching systems in the east organ chamber, which I had laboriously repaired in 1975 were also feeling the effects of age, sun, and dirt. If the organ was to continue playing, the console and switching systems needed to be replaced.

Finally, in 1993, I proposed to the Marion Easter Pageant that we replace the old luminous console with a good second-hand console (if such could be found). The Pageant, wishing to see the organ preserved both for its own use and for the community, agreed to provide $4,000 funding for the project.

A four-manual Schantz console was located for sale at a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With a rented truck and a team of Pageant volunteers, we traveled to Grand Rapids, loaded the console, and brought ii back to Marion. Because of its immense size and weight, the new Coliseum console became know as the “white mountain.”

My son, David. and I set to work installing the new console. Without the funding necessary to completely rebuild the console and control systems, we were forced to adapt this equipment to the Coliseum organ, always hoping that someday there would be funding to make the permanent revisions that were needed.

At the suggestion of Dr. John Maher, the Pageant organist, we installed a rudimentary MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) in the console. This system allows the Coliseum organ to play electronic instruments, such as synthesizers. It has allowed the organist to provide sounds, such as the sound of a harp, for the Pageant. Enhanced, the MIDI system could allow the organist to record music on the organ, which could then be played back at a later time. Thus, modem technology would bring the Coliseum organ full circle. Mrs. Judge's dream of an automatic player organ that could render great works of music at the touch of a button, would be realized.

Mae Harwood Judge's great gift to the “school children of Marion” has had a long and sometimes difficult life. It has survived, however, and remains a fine example of early twentieth century American organbuilding. As of this writing (1998), the organ is in need of serious renovation. Finally. thirty-six years after the organ was given up as unrepairable, the windchest leathers need to be replaced.

In the seventy years since Estey built its Opus 2727, new technologies have been developed in the organ industry. Organbuilders routinely and successfully use many of the ideas that companies such as Estey proposed decades ago.

The real magnificence of a great pipe organ, however, is in the happy combination of pipes and room. Although the Coliseum was not designed to be a music hall, its open, reverberant space, lined by brick and hardwood, is actually a wonderful environment in which to play and hear organ music.

The long overdue renovation of Memorial Coliseum comes at an opportune time in the history of the Barley Memorial Organ. Financially and logistically, the renovation of the building and the renovation of the organ can and should dovetail. The installation of new technology in the organ, along with thorough restoration of the existing instrument, will make the organ like new again. And, after a seventy year “trial run,” a few of the tonal improvements first suggested by J.G. Estey in 1928, and others suggested since, can be evaluated and included.

A great pipe organ seems to take on a spirit of its own. It is a spirit that grows over the years, first created by master craftsmen who work with wood and metal, and later nourished and refined by the musicians who find the music hidden in the instrument. The C.G. Barley Memorial Organ is such an organ. Sitting in mighty repose, high in the north wall of Memorial Coliseum, it waits to be renewed, brimming over with a thousand songs yet to be sung.
-by permission of the author    
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