There is the need for a new vision for the pipe organ in the 21^st Century.  At a time when pipe organs and organ departments are fast disappearing, the University of Oklahoma's School of Music is implementing a comprehensive vision as both a solution to this problem and as an avenue for unique growth and vitality for the pipe organ art and craft.

Churches have long been the base of job placement for organ students.  In recent years the demands on church musicians have undergone many changes.  It is no longer sufficient for an organist trained solely in historical performance practice to provide adequate musical leadership in these multi-stylistic church settings.   

In the past, under the leadership of Mildred Andrews Boggess, the OU Organ Department grew to become one of the most highly regarded organ programs in the United States.  Many of Professor Andrews' students, including Dorothy Young Riess, Clyde Holloway, and Diane Bish, went on to become significant leaders in the music profession.  During her thirty-eight year tenure she produced the highest number of Fulbright Scholars and national organ competition winners from a single school, published numerous articles, and is a co-author of "Church Organ Method". 

Ms. Andrews teaching philosophy was simple;  “The successful teacher is demanding; he or she never tolerates anything less than a student’s best efforts and insists on accuracy and proper fingering.  The organ must be presented as a musical instrument.  It is a fallacy that the organ is not a rhythmic instrument, for no instrument is of itself rhythmic or non-rhythmic.  If the performer lacks a basic sense of rhythm he alone is responsible for the result.  The same organ may sound vitally alive or deadly dull, depending entirely on the performer’s ability.  But teaching is more than a matter of technique; it is an art.  The one unchanging fact is that the truly great, the inspired teachers are those stimulate and challenge the strong student, support and encourage the weak, and by their own ideals and enthusiasm instill in all their students a love for the best in their art.”

The AOI's focus is to build on Ms. Andrews legacy of excellence and to bring the study of the pipe organ into the 21st century.  To this end the American Organ Institute seeks to provide an unparalleled experience and training for organists and organ technicians through a broad based curriculum.  While there is still a great emphasis on the traditional approach to organ instruction and the repertoire it embraces, the most unique aspect of the AOI vision is the inclusion of Theatre Pipe Organ study to the OU School of Music degree programs.  The theatre pipe organ is one of only two instruments invented in the United States (the other being the Banjo).  Study of the theatre organ offers a unique opportunity for insight and preservation of yet another aspect of America's rich musical heritage, as well as opening the doors to new musical skills and techniques which have a great relevance to the wider aspects of today's organ profession.

The Atlanta Fox In the late 1920's the Fox Corporation included the Fox theater chain in addition to Fox Films.  With over 1,100 theaters scattered across the country, their Atlanta Fox would become an icon with its Yaarab Temple mosque architecture.  Opening in 1930 and showcasing a 4/42 Möller Theatre Organ, the theater's 4,000 patrons sat under a simulated starry sky as multiple Brenograph magic lantern machines projected an ever-changing illusion of clouds, constellations, and celestial effects on the blue night sky.  One of the few theatre organs in its original installation, the Fox Theater along the "Mighty Mo" is a testament to the efforts of preservationists.

What is the Theatre Pipe Organ?
With the invention of "moving pictures" in the early 1900s, it was soon realized that the deafening silence would be a major detractor to widespread acceptance of motion pictures.  The solution was to add musical accompaniment to contribute to the film's atmosphere and to prompt the audience with emotional cues.  Initially simple piano accompaniment was employed because it was easy to accomplish.  Soon simple movie houses sprung up for showing "silents" and orchestras replaced pianos to greatly enhance the mood and atmosphere of a silent movie.  As the neighborhood movie houses gave way to "Cathedrals of the Motion Picture", movie palaces were forced to employ armies of musicians for the late morning, afternoon, and evening shows.

Knowing the expense of paying numerous musicians, pipe organ firms quickly seized the business opportunity and began installing classical and concert pipe organs in smaller theatres as a cost effective alternative to employing an orchestra.  Robert Hope-Jones, born in the UK but now a US citizen, had recently invented the "unit pipe organ".  Entrepreneur Rudolph Wurlitzer saw an opportunity to apply Hope-Jones' ideas and transformed the unit pipe organ concept into the Mighty Wurlitzer Unit Orchestra with Hope-Jones' assistance.  By the mid-1920s an industry was born with the instruments being referred to as both Unit Orchestras or Theatre Organs.  Major pipe organ builders including Möller were soon pumping out as many as five theatre pipe organs per day!  Theatre marquees routinely gave top billing not to the star of the movie but to the house organist and the instrument they played.  Organist salaries in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and other major cities often matched those of the leading men and women of the silent screen during the "Age of the Silver Screen".  The instruments they commanded not only rivaled the best orchestras of the country, they included varied sound effects and complete percussion divisions.  The theatre organ had come of age and had evolved into the undisputed King of Instruments.

A Wonder Morton Console In moderate and large cities the "Motion Picture Cathedrals" boasted marble columns, intricate plaster sculpture, and if it wasn't painted it was gold and silver leafed to attract the movie-goer.  Every theatre organ manufacturer of the era offered deluxe instruments with vast tonal resources controlled by ornately designed consoles to complement the buildings they were installed in.  The console pictured above controls a 4/26 Robert Morton Theatre Organ in a private residence outside of Chicago where the owner routinely hosts concerts, silent film screenings, and educational opportunities for interested students.

In the heyday of silent films, music schools such as the Eastman School of Music were founded for practical training of organists in the art of silent film accompaniment.  The heyday of the theatre organ lasted a mere ten years as by 1928 "talking pictures" had arrived.  With the Great Depression occurring soon after, not only was the movie industry devastated but sound had made theatre pipe organs silent.  By the end of the depression theatre organs sat covered and neglected and the silver screens not only talked but would soon transform from tones of silver to hues of color.

As time passed, the rich orchestral organs uniquely built in the United States and the curricula designed to teach students how to effectively utilize their vast varied tonal resources were abandoned in favor of instrumented and pedagogy focusing on historical performance practices of the 17th and 18th Centuries.  Thus the "theatre organ" and the "classical organ" were to be forever separated.  The theatre organ was on its deathbed while classical organ struggled on finding use in churches.

With the coming of Hi-Fi stereo vinyl recordings in the 1950s an interest in the theatre organ was reignited.  It was soon rediscovered that the tonal resources of the theatre organ were more expansive than the best orchestras and ideally suited to showcase the tonal reproduction capabilities of the newest recording medium.  In the 1960s a further resurgence of theatre organ interest occurred when the instruments found an ideal showcase in pizza parlors around the country.  The old masters who once earned their living playing theatre organs in accompaniment to images dancing on the silver screen were around to educate a new generation of organists now playing these instruments in eateries across the country.

Dickinson High School 3/3/66 Kimball Theatre Organ Many theatre organs have found homes in churches and schools as a means to preserve them for future generations.  Installed in 1970 by a group of students from the school, the Dickinson Kimball has gained a worldwide reputation for "Premier Performances on an Internationally Acclaimed Instrument".  Numerous LP, cassette, and CD recordings have been released on this instrument and its concert series routinely attracts audiences of 750 and more to hear artists from the United States, England, and Australia.

As time passed, the rich orchestral organs uniquely built in the United States and the curricula designed to teach students how to effectively utilize their varied tonal resources were abandoned in favor of instruments and pedagogy focusing on historical performance practices of the 17^th and 18^th centuries.  In recent years however, there has been a paradigm shift where performances on 20^th century built theatre and symphonic organs have become increasingly popular.  A clear need exists for a place where organists can be formally trained in a variety of organ performance styles. 

What of  the Theatre Organ today?
In recent times the theatre organ has come back to its roots as premier vehicle for the accompaniment of silent films which are undergoing restoration.  The theatre organ also enjoys success as a solo concert instrument at venues across the country.  The American Theatre Organ Society and its chapters are dedicated to the preservation of the theatre organ and our American musical heritage.  Many instruments are being returned to the movie palaces that were once their home.  With this new lease on life a clear need exists for an institution where organists can be formally trained in all aspects of theatre organ performance including proper silent film accompaniment.

Uniting the study of classical and theatre organs gives students unparalleled experience, excitement, and comprehensive study in improvisation, composition, registration, arrangement, and performance.  In addition to the disciplines demanded by its classical counterpart, mastering the theatre organ requires the student to have a greatly increased degree of flexibility in many of the same areas of technique and interpretation.  In addition the student learns how to be musically spontaneous through translating the live action of the silver screen into emotion and feeling for the audience while watching a movie instead of reading sheet music.

Coupled with theatre pipe organ performance will be a student's exposure to just what makes pipe organs of all designs function.  Just as a pianist must understand and appreciate the mechanical attributes of a piano, the same is true for the organist.  While a pianist learns to control expression and convey emotional feeling through how his fingers play the keys, moving to a classical pipe organ adds the dynamics of stop registration and the use of expression controls which must be mastered.  Unique theatre organ features such as 2^nd Touch keyboards and Pizzicato couplers and stops will be expose the organist to even more greater rewards and an appreciation of why the theatre organ became known as the 'Unit Orchestra'. 

The AOI program will also introduce interested students to the history of organ building.  Contributions by famous organ builders such as Earnest Skinner and Rudolph Wurlitzer will be studied.  The historical marriage of a classical pipe organ with a player piano for silent film accompaniment that eventually evolved in the what we now know as the theatre organ will be explored.  The differences in pitman, duplex, amplex, and unified chestwork will be explained using Möller Opus 5819.  The physics of pipe speech and the physical attributes which make a string pipe different from a flute are explored and can be experimented with in the Pipe Shop's voicing room.

Nowhere is the vision and facilities for teaching a diversified and comprehensive pipe organ curriculum as strong as the program offered by the University of Oklahoma's Weitzenhoffer Family School of Fine Arts.  In addition to the University's expanding collection of the finest examples of American Organ building, AOI's goal is to become the leading center for the art of American organ playing, composing, pedagogy, and organ building.  AOI graduates will be well equipped to serve as concert musicians, teachers and instructors, silent film accompanists, and organ technicians.