By TERRY BRLAS

Strongsville Post editor

The pipe organ has been called the king of instruments. Strongsville United Church of Christ has restored the beautiful machine that takes up residence in the church at the corner of Pearl and Royalton roads to lift the spirits of congregants who worship the king of kings every Sunday.

A Pipe Organ Rededication service was held during the Oct. 2 morning worship at 10 a.m. The organ had not been played since Feb. 21, 2010.

There are over 1,500 pipes in the UCC organ. All the pipes were retained. In the grand scheme of things it is a medium to medium-small size pipe organ, but fairly large for a church according to Jim Heinrich, chairperson of the organ restoration committee.

"It is increasingly harder to find churches that are respecting the tradition of the pipe organ because it is not the cheap route to go," he said. "While this is costing us a little bit more, the quality of sound and longevity of the instrument is something that can't be replaced with modern technology."

The restoration is being conducted in phases. Phase 1, which replaced the electronics that carries the signal from the console to the pipes, cost $60,000.

To complete all three phases the price tag is anywhere between $150,000 and $250,000. Going forward the organ remains playable as the other phases of work are conducted.

All pipe organs need to be restored every 30 to 40 years. The Strongsville UCC organ, which was installed in the early 1970's, is a composite organ consisting of pipes and other equipment that was 100 years old at that time.

Susan Tressa has been organist for the church since 1983.

"It fills the person's space and that's the point of it," Tressa said. "I have played a lot of different pipe organs. There are some that are bigger and some that are voiced differently. This one is very unique because it was built in this worship space."

With any project of this cost and magnitude there are bound to be dissenting opinions. However, there was very little of that. Numerous congregational meetings were held with both sides of the coin being presented. In the end the overwhelming majority, via a congregational vote, felt restoring the pipe organ was the thing to do.

Rev. John King, Strongsville UCC interim pastor, knows the pipe organ is a machine. But it has come to mean much more to the 194-year-old church at the center of the city.

"For the congregation it was an experience of coming together. Like most congregations there have been some experiences in the past that led to division," he said. "To do this project in the way it was done everybody felt they were part of it. Everybody came together to do the work and to make the contributions. Some people gave of their time, some people gave financially and some people gave of their talents. We achieved something that for a long time a lot of people thought was unattainable."

A special choir anthem was put together for the special rededication and Tressa composed an original piece of music titled "Reawakening" that she played. The piece began with the two-feet pipes and gradually ascended to the 16-feet pipes.

"It's like coming back in across the meadow. By the time I'm done they are all playing," she said. "I want to bring the congregation into the reawakening. Let's hear it all the way to the top."

Pipe organs are built for the space they occupy. A pipe organ is considered part of the physical structure of the building for insurance purposes. All the pipes and instrumentation have been retained. There is room for growth such as pipes that can be exposed.

Tressa will have a laptop where she can augment the pipes with digital sound. Midi outputs has been added so another instrument such as a keyboard or guitar can be played.

"That's a very cool additional thing that this organ didn't have so that's preparing for the future," she said.

What is it like to play this particular pipe organ?

"Awesome," Tressa said. "It's like playing an orchestra. Every one of these pipes and stops represent instruments unique to the pipe organ and also from various periods of music history. You have French instruments, English instruments, German instruments in the piping so it's better than being the director of an orchestra."

Leek (pronounced Lake) Pipe Organ Company of Oberlin took the console to their shop in June and brought it back to Strongsville UCC in early September. Weeks of testing led up to the Oct. 2 service.

The organ console was gutted. All the electrical mechanical switching was moved to install a solid-state processor. Additional function switches were added below so Tressa could keep her hands on the keyboard and press toe pistons. The restoration was an extensive one according to James Leek, president of Leek Pipe Organ Company.

"This was very dated but if you were to buy a brand new organ console it would contain the same control system," he said.

The pipe organ ceased to function to the point that one did not know what the result was going to be when it was turned on. The organ began playing on its own during two services at the beginning of Lent in 2010. A speck of dust called a cipher can cause such an occurrence. There is a disc and a coil that turns air on and off. If the dust speck gets in there it will not shut off and keep going.

"It was always during the quietest part of the service," Tressa chuckled.

Heinrich added, "Susan would play a note and it wouldn't get there. It would be good on Wednesday, but it wouldn't be good on Sunday so it was erratic."

For the past 19 months congregational hymns were sung accompanied by the piano. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the pipe organ adds to worship. The choir seems to sing better, the congregation lifts their voices higher and the sounds resonate through the body.

"It's wonderful to have it back. It adds so much to the service, especially the congregational singing. Everyone gets more involved because they feel that presence," Music Director Andrew Purdum said.

"When I am sitting in the sanctuary I can hear the difference," Heinrich, who is a musician, said. "A lot of people will say it's part of the service, but to me it's a little more than that. It's part of the church. One of the most enjoyable things for me is to be standing in the pipe chamber when it's being played and being inundated by the sound."

For Tressa it is similar to having a child come back from college.

"I also think that's true for the congregation," she said. "What brought me to this church 20-some years ago was this organ. This is a small and old church. It's an historical church very proud of its roots, proud of the organ. I saw that in my first audition."

The restoration was a high priority according to Bruce Keenen who is in the choir and on the organ restoration committee. The decision to go forth with this project was ultimately with the people sitting in the pews. He views this project as taking something of value and bringing it back to usefulness.

"A lot of people likened this to having a Mazeratti in the garage, it just wasn't working," he said. "We needed to tune it up and getting it running versus going out and buying something like this off the market. That would be totally prohibitive. Our goal and objective was to make sure we maintained this beautiful instrument."

People who do not attend Strongsville UCC on a regular basis may be familiar with the pipe organ within. It is but one part of the history of this almost two centuries old church.

"This church is so much a part of the Strongsville community," Tressa said. "There are a lot of people that attend different churches in the area, but they come here on special occasions to hear the organ. It goes far beyond the walls of this church."

King takes the pipe organ and its meaning one step further.

He said, "There is a sentimental feeling attached to it. At the end of the day it's a machine and the project was about replacing old mechanical electrical switches. But that machine exists to lift our spirits in song and praise and worship... The experience of coming to Sunday worship and hearing that great, marvelous sound coming out of that instrument as it lifts your spirit is something else. The machine doesn't praise God. People praise God. As much as this machine lifts our spirits it's part of our congregation and part of our family."

Plans are to play Christmas music on the restored pipe organ during the city lighting ceremony on the Commons the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25. Speakers atop Strongsville UCC will amplify the music to flood the area for holiday revelers to hear.