The college is negotiating with Paul Fritts & Company Organ Builders, based in Tacoma, Washington, to design and install a state-of-the-art, world-class organ for the planned chapel.
“Our organs are classically-inspired, with an eye to both authenticity and the future,” Paul Fritts, director of the firm, said.
Design work on an organ can take upwards of 700 hours and is a significant part of the yearslong process of organ building. Fritts said that his firm and the college are finalizing the details of the relationship, and his company is working through a backlog of other projects, but design will begin as soon as possible.
“When we complete an organ, we want it to be timeless, to have broad appeal,” Fritts said. “The Hillsdale project excites us because the chapel is such a well-designed building.”
“We hope our organ is truly outstanding,” he added. “We really want it to be a destination point.”
He identified the vaulted ceilings, the shape of the building, and the position of the organ as aspects of the chapel’s design he and his team will have to take into consideration when designing the organ.
“Currently we have an organ in the McNamara Rehearsal room in Howard. We are in the process of purchasing a practice organ for the Howard building as well,” Music Department Chair James Holleman said. He also said that some students practice organ in area churches.
“I know that many people have complained about the quality of the organ in McNamara because it is often out of tune and sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity,” freshman organ student Tom Ryskamp said. “A new, well-constructed organ would be a blessing to students of the instrument, and even encourage others to learn to play it.”
Fritts & Company Organ Builders began in the late 1970s, and has been striving for high standards ever since.
In 1983, the company established a pipe shop and expanded its research. Since the company completes so much of the work for organs in-house, it has greater control of every aspect of the organs produced. After constructing the organ parts in Tacoma, Fritts and his team travel to the site to install the instrument.
“Building organs is a little like violin-making,” Fritts said. “If you want to make a great violin, you first have to find the great ones made by earlier masters, like Stradivarius. Likewise, if you want to make a great organ, you have to study the art of earlier masters.”
Fritts said he and his team often travel to Europe to study the organs of the Old World.
He added that his firm bases many of its designs on Northern European and Dutch organs, because of their versatility and functionality for a number of different styles.
