Pipe organs have worked the same way for nearly two thousand
years. Air is blown into the pipe organ, stored in reservoirs,
and delivered to windchests upon which the pipes sit. When an
organ’s key is depressed, it causes a panel to open in the
windchest, allowing air to be blown through a given pipe. In
pre-electricity days, air was pumped by hand. Nowadays electric
blowers do the pumping. The pipes, from 32 feet to smaller than
a pencil, are made of various materials to produce a variety of
tone qualities. The largest pipes that produce booming bass
notes are made of wood and metal, and can be up to thirty-two
feet long. The size or scale of the pipe determines its tone
quality and intensity. Other pipes are made of different
combinations of metals such as tin and lead alloys, zinc and
copper. Some pipes are designed to mimic various instruments.
Flue pipes, for example, work like a whistle; air rushing over a
lip in the pipe can be made to produce flute-like tones. Reed
pipes work like clarinets; air flows