Like any other birthday party, there was cake. But this one also featured compositions from Bach and Bruhns. SOU鈥檚 Dr. Margaret Evans, an adjunct professor of organ at SOU, played 鈥淧raeludium in G Major鈥� and 鈥淐lair de Lune鈥� among a series of other organ numbers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 worked very hard for many, many years,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e lucky that it is still with us and still working well.鈥�
SOU鈥檚 pipe organ was the wish of Dr. William Bushnell, who conducted SOU鈥檚 concert choir in the early 1970s, when the university was called Southern Oregon College. Evans said Bushnell liked to perform Messiah at Christmastime, and wanted organ accompaniment.
At the time, the college鈥檚 new music recital hall was being constructed.
鈥淲hen they built the hall, they prepared the space for the organ, the pipes, and all the mechanisms behind the back of the stage,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淏ut there was no money in the state.鈥�
Agnes Flanagan of Medford privately began raising funds to build the organ, after being contacted by Bushnell. She had previously supported the construction of Lewis & Clark College鈥檚 organ and began reaching out to possible donors.
One was Worth Harvey, a banker in Cottage Grove and Eugene, and a 1906 Southern Oregon College graduate. Harvey agreed to pay $40,000 of the $67,000 needed to build the instrument. In 2024 dollars, the total costs would have been just over $500,000, with Harvey donating over $300,000.
With his help, Flanagan was successful in raising the funds. Harvey became the namesake of the new pipe organ because he had the largest donation. Other donors had their names engraved on the instrument鈥檚 2,000 pipes.
Evans,a professor of organ, said students need to be able to practice on the real instrument.
鈥淵ou can do some of the work on the piano, but the technique is different,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淥rganists tend to creep and crawl along the keyboard, whereas pianists have to have the weight of their arm to get dynamic difference.鈥�
She said that you could drop a cement block on an organ key and it wouldn鈥檛 sound any different than putting it down with several feathers. The organ also has a different pedal technique and programming system that allows its player to control its sound.
Since being built, the organ has been used by professional organists, ensembles and university students in the music recital hall.
鈥淚t takes constant maintenance, upkeep and making sure that it鈥檚 treated nicely,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a musical instrument with hundreds, probably hundreds of thousands of parts. But if it鈥檚 treated well and maintained, it should last for some time.鈥�
