Stambaugh's Mighty Skinner

Tonight I experienced again why this is a great place to live. Stambaugh Auditorium, a local treasure in its own right, showed off its own masterpiece: the newly renovated 3600 plus pipes Skinner organ. The renovation literally was finished this morning, and a dry run free concert was offered by Organist Dr. Edward Moore, originally from Girard, and now a world renowned organist and professor at Catholic University of America. It was a stunner.

Like most of you, my experience with organs has mostly been in churches. Those organs range from barely working old pipe organs, to newly installed new fangled pipe organs, to electric organs that sound like pipe organs. We semi listen to a church prelude, and then sing a couple of versus of Rock of Ages, with the pipes of the organ decoratively gracing the rear wall of the church balcony.

That isn’t what this is. It was build in 1926 as an integral part of the newly constructed Stambaugh Auditorium. Pipes range from pencil thin to 32 feet tall. I was fortunate enough to be given a tour of the organ structure last week, and it is beyond description, including a turbine engine that provides the air flow and sounds like a jet engine taking off when powered up.

Skinner was the crème de la crème of American organ builders. The Stambaugh organ was one of his larger and better efforts with consultation regarding its construction from organ experts in England and France. The 1920’s was the golden age of organs as they were installed in movie houses all over the United States to accompany silent movies, and in auditoriums for organ recitals.

But the local Skinner organ had problems from the beginning as the roof leaked above the pipes, and wasn’t repaired, and it fell into complete disuse 50 years ago as large parts of it became unusable. The Stambaugh Board of Trustees beginning in 2003 led the charge to restore this magnificent instrument, and secured $1.25 million in financing primarily from a California foundation designed specifically to restore Skinner organs, as well money from individual contributors and the State of Ohio.

What we have now is a masterpiece. It is one of the few Skinner organs in the United States that has been restored to original condition, not altered electronically or totally reconfigured. It is now what it was then…making Youngstown a mecca for organ enthusiasts and educators from all over the country. This organ represents an era when organists had to do by hand and by their wits what electronics do now. To play this thing, you got to know what the hell you are doing.

This isn’t your father’s Hammond. This is a mammoth organ in an acoustically perfect auditorium. The sound blows you away. It was the rock concert of its day with bass notes that shook the building just as bass guitars shake rock venues. Although I don’t know if this is true, I suspect that the organist tonight held back on what this baby could do. It is the original wall of sound…and it smacks right into you. When you hear it, you will never think of organs the same way.

The official dedication of this music thumper of an instrument is scheduled for September 18 in a joint concert with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, playing at Stambaugh Auditorium for the first time since the late 1960’s when it moved its venue to Powers Auditorium. It should be a humdinger. Check the Stambaugh schedule for other organ recitals where you will be able to hear the full range of what the Mighty Skinner can do.

$1.25 million? You can hear every cent…and it was worth it.