Nichols & Simpson Pipe Organ

In 2012, St. Monica began a major renovation of the church building, which had not been updated since its construction in 1965. One goal of the renovation was to improve the sanctuary acoustics and the organ. The church’s dry acoustic character had, for decades, been seen as an impediment to music-making. The previous organ, a 1968 3-manual Wicks of 47 ranks, was a limitation on the parish’s music ministry due to its small scaling and stylistic inflexibility. The Parish contracted with Scott Riedel and Associates of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to provide acoustical and organ consultation. Riedel worked closely with the architectural firm, Fischer Heck, in designing interior features designed to extensively improve the acoustical environment of the church.

From the beginning, Scott Riedel articulated the goal of the project to include, “helping all worshippers to hear clear and intelligible speech throughout the room, to assist musicians in developing well balanced, blended, and projected music, and especially to enable the assembly to hear each other for wholehearted participation in sung and spoken parts of the liturgy.” Riedel’s obstacles were visible simply by walking into the church; thick, red carpet covered the floor and concave-circular wall forms covered with sound-absorbing asbestos, a textured ceiling covered with asbestos and thin wood lattices and walls. The choir and organ were hidden behind a large wooden lattice that had once served as a silent protest in the early days of Vatican II. These decorative elements all served to hinder the distribution and diminish the quality of sound in the space.  Fortunately, asbestos abatement resulted in the church removing and replacing nearly all of those features.

Scott Riedel set out to create subtle, attractive design elements that would achieve his acoustic goals. The church’s greatest permanent acoustical challenge is its round shape, causing the sound to reverberate back into the center focal point rather than mix and distribute. For this reason, the Riedel design includes what he has called, “a sound supportive ceiling deck (to) allow the tone to blend in the room, and the custom-designed acoustic wall panels between glass facets (to) diffuse, reflect, and temper sound in proper proportion.”   Other acoustical improvements, as described by Mr. Riedel, include, “new hard surface flooring throughout the room to reinforce and reverberate music and sung and spoken participation by the assembly. The sound obstructing lattice wall has been removed from the choir and organ space, allowing unimpeded tonal egress to the assembly.  The façade of organ pipes and hard-wood diffusers on the wall behind choir singers also function to mix and project music throughout the room.”

In consultation with Scott Riedel, and under the leadership of Director of Music Jeremy Wirths and Organist Guillermo Martinez, the parish decided that a large American Classic instrument would best serve the musical needs of the parish. The committee identified choral accompaniment as a priority; the inability to crescendo and lack of ensemble reeds of the previous instrument had been an impediment to St. Monica’s music for decades. The musicians of the parish felt that a moveable console would be absolutely necessary, as the church’s music space needed flexibility for different types of ensembles. The Organ Committee believed the parish’s liturgies suffered from muted congregational participation and hoped a new organ would encourage congregational participation in the music of the liturgies.

The Organ Committee selected Nichols & Simpson of Little Rock, Arkansas to construct the new instrument. The Committee was impressed by the wide diversity of design and tonal beauty found in the previous instruments of Nichols & Simpson. The Committee recognized that the unique modern architecture of the church would require design creativity on the part of the chosen builder. The church hoped that, in addition to providing beautiful musical leadership, the organ would compliment and enhance the character of the unusual church.    

As Nichols & Simpson began to develop a stoplist, several new challenges emerged. The St. Monica musicians wanted at least one real 32’ stop and the chamber did not have sufficient height. The musicians hoped for an instrument with five divisions including a well-equipped solo division, and the organ chamber was not large enough for such a large instrument. Two of the chamber walls are curved, which limits efficient use of the space because organ cases generally are not curved. After months of work, a final plan emerged that includes 54 stops and 71 ranks of pipes, and is enhanced by a few other digital stops in order to maximize the use of chamber space. There are 4,218 pipes.

The organ is played from a four-manual moveable console, the outer case of which is constructed of oak to match the other furnishings of the church, and the interior of which is made of burl walnut.  The manual keys are of polished bone and rosewood, the pedal keys are of maple and rosewood, and the drawknobs which control the stops are made of rosewood with bone faces engraved with the stop names.  The combination action features 256 levels of memory and a MIDI sequencer with a USB port used for backup of the combination action settings. 

The Swell division is located on the left side of the organ chamber. This division features warm flute stops, three luscious strings/celestes, and an extensive reed chorus. A unique feature of the Swell division is the inclusion of an independent 4’ celeste. The boisterous character of the independent 8’ Trompette and the smoother English-styled 8’ Trumpet allow two distinct reeds on which to build a reed chorus. The division includes a full principal chorus, as well as a cleverly split Plein Jeu, proving extremely useful in accompanying.

The Great division is located in the center of the organ chamber. The Great principal chorus is built on the 16’ Double Diapason; which is makes up the façade. The pipes of the Great division are unenclosed. 

The Choir division includes two celestes and a full array of chorus and solo reeds. The Petite Trompette serves as a well-balanced chorus reed for accompanying, while the Trombas provide pungent reeds for French literature or solo reeds to cut through a full ensemble. The smooth and centered Clarinet and the Krummhorne-Esque Cremona contribute to the overall color palette of the organ. The Choir division located on the right side of the organ chamber; the effective swell engines, as well as those in the other divisions, work most effectively.

The pipes of the Pedal division are spread throughout the chamber, with the largest pipes reaching from floor to ceiling in the area behind the Swell pipes.  The creative design in the borrowed and independent ranks of the Pedal division provides a solid foundation for this substantial instrument. Three digital 32’ stops are effectively voiced with extremely smooth transitions from pipe to digital ranks. The 16’ Open Wood is an impressive foundation for the large space of St. Monica Church.

Click here to view Stoplist