the organ
The use of the organ in Christian worship has a history stretching back to the 1400s. The breadth of music required in today’s worship demands an instrument capable of both subtlety and strength. The Incarnation Organ, built by the Noack Organ Company in 1994, admirably fulfills these roles. Its 58 stops are distributed among four keyboards and a pedal clavier. Of the 4,105 individual pipes, 2,218 come from Incarnation’s first organ, a 1960 Aeolian-Skinner. The instrument has an electric playing action, with the console located in the loft opposite the organ case.
The sound of the Incarnation organ was designed to support robust congregational and choral singing, finding parallels to classical organ design as well as certain details of 19th-century English cathedral organs. The result is an instrument that balances warmth and color with brilliance and excitement.
In 2015, responding to two decades of experience with the organ’s musical performance, Noack returned to undertake a thorough renovation. Portions of the mechanism were re-engineered to improve sound egress and dynamic range, and seven new stops replaced earlier, less satisfactory ones. In the process, the organ was cleaned, and every pipe adjusted and tuned. Richard Houghten of Milan, Michigan supplied the console with new keyboards, a rebuilt pedalboard, and a new complement of playing aids based on the guidelines of the American Guild of Organists.
the bells
The Incarnation bell tower houses twenty-five bells. The oldest bell was cast in 1887 by the Meneely Bell Foundry of Troy, New York for the then Cathedral Chapel of the Incarnation. The inscription on the original bell bears witness to the rural location of the first church, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” In 1963, a twenty-four bell carillon was installed by the Van Bergen Company on the current Incarnation campus. All of the bells are playable both automatically and from the organ console. In 2014, the bells were fully refurbished by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.