|
|
| |
|
|
|
Vol. 45 No. 1
March 29, 2006 |
|
|
Tuning business grows into a musical
legacy
By Lena Pennino
Staff Reporter |
As a 15-year-old girl, JoEllen Elsener played the pipe organ
at her home parish of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Deer Park
with a sense of dread, intimidated by the power and
complexity of the instrument.
Years later, she is the president of the only pipe organ
factory on Long Island — Elsener Organ Works in Deer Park.
At the company’s 5,000 square foot factory recently, her
brother Paul Elsener stood patiently peeling off old and
cracked leather from the inner workings of the E.M. Skinner
organ that will find a home at St. William the Abbot Church
in Seaford. The old leather was causing kinks in the airflow
process, preventing certain pipes from sounding and causing
some pipes to speak continuously.
In another corner of the room, Bill Stimpson, the general
shop supervisor, placed one pipe at a time on a blower so
the pipe would speak. If it sounded out of tune he removed
it from the blower and tapped a sliding metal band up or
down with a small hammer to adjust the pitch.
|
|
|
JoEllen Elsener and her brother
Paul Elsener inspect wooden organ pipes that are more
than 100 years old at the Elsener Organ Works factory in
Deer Park. |
|
JoEllen Elsener didn’t plan to open an organ factory. She
had happily worked at an organ company called Midmerlosh.
But when it closed in 1991, she decided to go into business
for herself. She started Elsener Organ Works initially as a
tuning and maintenance business, but soon it became clear
that Long Island parishes wanted more. Now, the company
continues to make approximately 100 tuning visits a year but
also restores and rebuilds approximately seven pipe organs
each year. She also builds and installs new instruments.
“With each pipe organ we build or restore, I know that I am
leaving a legacy behind,” she said. “When I am not here, the
organ will continue to play. And the next time it needs work
will be many, many years from now.”
This year, SS. Cyril and Methodius parish invited her to
restore and expand the parish pipe organ she played as a
girl. “I am very excited,” she said. |
|
|
|
Send
questions or comments about this web site to
webmaster@licatholic.org
E-mail intended as a Letter to the Editor
goes to
editor@licatholic.org
Last modified:
11/17/2007
© Copyright 2006 The Long Island Catholic |
|
|
|
|
