Seibert Losh's Descendents Play His Giant Pipe Organ

[warlockmohl]

I think its important to remember that they are kids. If you take any child who doesn't play an instrument to any organ anywhere this is what the result would be. As tragic as this great organ's condition is that fact that it's being played at all is a step in the right direction. The only way anyone is going to feel any better about it is by putting forth an effort in helping further it's restoration. Is it so bad if this video inspires at least one person to help? That's what's important.

[mitchtay99]

Click the soccer ball button to make it sound better

[danielmkubacki]

WOW I don't like this organ but no organ should be played like this.

[greenspacesforever]

@danielmkubacki - With due respect, this kind of comment is one of the reasons why we don't have an abundance of organists playing for church services in rural (and many urban) parishes. The organ is locked up to "protect" it. When kids want to try to play the organ after mass, I welcome it. Draw some pedal stops and a manual chorus + reed. Noise - perhaps, but it is a "joyful noise" that one day may lead to a career as a professional or volunteer organist. You can't touch it, why bother-sad.

[mitchtay99]

Hope they can get it fixed.

[mitchtay99]

That needs some serious tuning!

[danielmkubacki]

Go to Macy's Philadelphia and listen to Peter Conte play The Wanamaker organ.

[NAMETYR]

Ant then we wonder why it is not fully operational!

[lithium3fun]

No parts were sold for scrap. This is a myth.

[mistycusa1]

omfg...

[ThePipeorganman]

ok get the smuck idiots of the world largest organ and put some one on who can acualy play

[harktheherald]

ugh... get someone on there that know how to play...

[Raffallos1411]

Szkoda organów :/

[hordelymus]

@Raffallos1411

Tak!

[Raffallos1411]

omg

[carlsjoseph13]

COOOOLLLL!!!

[glenn3rd2004]

We need to take whatever steps necessary to fully restore and preserve the Midmer Losh pipe organ on the Boardwalk of Atlantic City, NJ. I am dismayed that some of this organ's parts were sold for scrap. The local, State, and Federal governments as well as some rich benefactors need to declare the Midmer Losh organ a national landmark and national treasure and their full resources be utilized to fully restore, preserve, and maintain this magnificent pipe organ for generations to come.

[ccoraxfan]

@glenn3rd2004

Please name the parts you say were sold for scrap, and tell how you know this. Others who should know say this is not true.

[mikeyboi24]

What the ??? lol

[bombarde1701]

I'm bummed they didnt want to turn on the blowers during my tour of the organ...even if i ciphered I wanted to hear those 100' reeds

[Tom1980nj]

I have a sample of it going on my you tube site.

[willowthebored]

Is that a Tibia or is something just REALLY out of tune?

[12pianoman24]

Take your pick... pretty much everything is out of tune. If you want to hear the full organ in tune, there's a recording of 'Abide With Me' played on this organ.

[fabinhuuutecladista]

bando de filha da puta

[fabinhuuutecladista]

Cambaba de filha da puta do caralho, vai tocar no cu . Não sabe tocar porra nenhuma nem punheta, aliás sai das fraldas primeiro antes de querer tocar alguma coisa. Cambada de Cuzão.

[FREDMTXJackHammer]

How fucking boys are playing there!!!

Die arme Organ!!!!!

[12pianoman24]

The kids aren't the reason it sounds so bad. The organ itself is in an unbelievable state of disrepair. Even if they were playing a melody, it wouldn't sound anything like it should.

[fabinhuuutecladista]

silence!!!!I saw that know nothing about organs

[12pianoman24]

???

[mortson978]

Man those kids suck. Play a melody for christ's sake.

[BiggySn1p3r]

whatever you do, don't listen to this with ear plugs and the volume turned up all the way. i almost had a heart attack.lol

[vegunited06]

i just thought but would the purist moan if they ever fixed it all up with a MIDI system?

[vegunited06]

how come it sounded ok in 1998? this video confuses me? how old is this video?

[compton357]

This Video is fairly recent. Between 1998 and 2000, the organ was badly damaged due to workmen being careless in the organ chambers. THe intrument has been unplayable scince.

Currently, the curator is making good progress to having the Right stage chamber fully playable.

[foogaly]

well we will need more people to maintain it because when I visited many years ago I played it and there was one person maintaining it and it was not even sounding like a train and cars honking horns. If someone paid me I would devote my life to this organ but there was one care taker that I think is dead now

[hootinouts]

Amen brother, That would make two of us.

I could be happy if they would put me on the payroll to restore and maintain this treasure.

I got to hear it played in the early 90's and it sounded good. Only a few ciphers. I also got a good four hour private tour of the right and left stage chambers by the former curator Dennis McGurk. Dennis retired no so many years ago.

[Jacobre156]

That makes me sad to hear the world's largest and loudest instrument sound so bad. Please tell me that someone is working on getting those horrible ciphers fixed and the tuning up to par.

[GrandMasterIV]

I think that all the organ needs to make it cipher-proof is to install a solid-state relay not only in the Left Stage Chamber, but in all 8 chambers as well. .

[spootyrat]

The organ proper utilizes Aeolian-style lever-arm chests with pitman and unit actions that are very difficult to regulate once they are assembled; coupled with the magnet/primary units which are troublesome. I doubt that the relays are to blame for the ciphers, because they are exhaustive pneumatic motors operated by the afore-mentioned magnet/primaries; even if they were, making them not cipher is not terribly difficult thanks to the decidedly accessible construction of said relays.

[spootyrat]

Just an update; the latest press release for the organ suggests that indeed those magnet/primary units are to blame for the ciphers. I believe they are made from cast pot metal like other magnets, and were made in Alliance, Ohio by a company whose name escapes me at the moment. What's strange is that you would think that a bad primary pouch would lead to a dead note - perhaps some other part of these units is at fault.

[orgatrain]

Oh yeah....umm.......that sounds real nice......TRUMP owns the place now......why not ask his tight ass to restore the place nd the organ?

[KE5RHD]

Trump is rarely ever for heritage and legacies. He's in it for the quick buck and turnover. If he had his way, the whole instrument would be removed for scrap metal value. Just look what he did to The Ambassador Hotel in L.A. Its gone and a billion dollar unusable school sits in its place.

[caliopterix]

Well I'm glad that your kids are into something good. Perhaps it's all the ciphers that bother me so much. Being an "organ man" I feel compelled to fix them no matter where I hear them. If I win the Mega Millions Lottery the very first thing I'll do is restore the ACCHO. In the mean time I'll have to be content that someone is preventing it's complete destruction. We are on the same side. Please don't give up.

[caliopterix]

This is all rather sad. Siebert Losh was eventually banned from the auditorium and escorted out of the building (ordered by Sen. Richards) by Atlantic City Police or the Auditorium Guards according to whose story you believe. Now his descendants are playing with the mangled organ like it's a toy. I find this very disturbing.

[lizlosh]

I think his descendants, perhaps better than most, are cognizant of this tragic history and its conflicting narratives.

We hardly think of it as a toy. I write about auditory culture and have published many articles and a forthcoming book from MIT Press about media history. My older son, who appears here, studies electronic music and was chosen as one of 63 kids in a nation-wide search for intensive study at the Grammy foundation. We take this very seriously.

[Sesquiltera]

@lizlosh Then why are so many people here saddened by what they're doing with it? With all due respect (and almost tears in my eyes concerning that tragic story) why do many of us get the idea they are raping it?

[greenspacesforever]

@Sesquiltera -- I think it's great. If this doesn't inspire someone to want to master the instrument, what will. After playing around with the stops, etc... when an organist sits and produces glorious sound, who wouldn't want to study and be able to do the same?

[spootyrat]

It is very difficult to even attempt to play an instrument in this sort of condition; it is for all intents and purposes completely unplayable. I wouldn't expect anything musical to come out of it until the ciphers are repaired and pipes tuned. Regardless, Mr. Losh bore the responsibility for this instrument on his back and his conscience; it is every bit his and his descendant's instrument as it is Senator Richard's - if not more so.

[jmdavison62]

@caliopterix When you say that "his descendants are playing with the mangled organ like it's a toy," I'm sure you don't mean that they are treating the instrument in an inappropriate manner or with any disrespect. There is nothing objectionable about what these kids were doing.

At the time that recording was made, there were ciphers galore, and the stops you're hearing were badly out of tune.

[jmdavison62]

@caliopterix When you say that "his descendants are playing with the mangled organ like it's a toy," I'm sure you don't mean that they are treating the instrument in an inappropriate manner or with any disrespect. There is nothing objectionable about what these kids were doing. They're certainly not causing further damage.

[jmdavison62]

@caliopterix When you say that "his descendants are playing with the mangled organ like it's a toy," I'm sure you don't mean that they are treating the instrument in an inappropriate manner or with any disrespect. There is nothing objectionable about what these kids were doing. They're certainly not causing further damage.

[witexdaw]

he has an destroyd the AC ORgaN!

[simonsteam]

If they can get the 2 chambers either side of the stage fully operational and the first pair of chambers up in the roof each side of the stage the organ would be realy good for concerts. once that happens.they can bring the other sections back in bit by bit.

[acchos]

well, if they get the right stage tuned, and working properly, it can be used for concerts then each section of the organ can be put back online, just like what happened with the wanamaker organ.

[ccoraxfan]

It might not sound so nice now, but that sound is amazing to hear, considering what this organ has been through and how long it sat silent. I understand that all of the right-front chamber is now operational, and just that chamber by itself is an amazing organ!

[spootyrat]

Are there any symposia happening concerning the playability issues of the Great/Solo chamber demonstrated here?

[rybapan]

kurwa kto pozwolił takim śmieciom małym grać na tak wspaniałym instrumencie

[maciej852456]

popieram!!!

[s1cobra]

Maćku - nie

[maciej852456]

Czy oni potrafią grać na organach?!

[Patriot1776]

What is the constant drone over everything?  Is that one of the ciphers?

[Brandotuomikoski]

oh my god that is out of tune! at least it plays

[ttay1122]

its not out of tune they just dont know what there doing

[Brandotuomikoski]

oh! It is definatly out of tune and it has alot of ciphers too. The organ is in such bad shape that it is almost unplayable at this moment. very sad to see a great piece of instrument in ruins

[ttay1122]

well the instrument is so big by the time they get it back in tune it will go back out of tune where they started

[Brandotuomikoski]

Haha! That is quite funny! I just hope it gets fixed!

[kinura26]

one day that Organ will play again in full and in tune. it is to great an instrument to lie in disrepair

[theblackhand2]

Last I heard anything about this organ, dust kicked up by a renovation that took place at the Convention Hall not too long ago silenced the instrument. There is an ongoing effort to raise money to get the organ back on its feet. I don't know if anything has come of that though.

[acchos]

this is whats come of it. More and more of the organ is becoming operation every day, but there are still alot of proplems to iron out, then theres tuning it too. Hopefully, this year, it will be played in public at some point.

[theblackhand2]

That's good to hear that some headway is being made. To lose a unique interment would be a serious blow to the world of music and an irreplaceable loss to the history of the organ.

[Branchporter]

It's sad to hear the ciphers and out of tuneness.I heard that one division of this monstrous organ had been made playable.

[acchos]

at least its getting back on its feet again.

[acchos]

ITs ALIVE!!!!!! Plenty of ciphers, but its sound all the same.

[11thFloorCreative]

When was this filmed?