Forbes Pipe Organ

Took the kids to see the Forbes Pipe Organ during the PAC Open Keyboard event. We only heard four of the local keyboardists before the youngest one got restless and we had to leave. They started the event with a brief video on the history of the organ, it had to be brief since it only about two years old. It was surprising to hear that it takes about 9 months to just tune the organ once it is installed. After the video we heard some the keyboardists.

The first two looked very professional in tuxes with tails and played some old tunes. The first seemed to have played this type of organ before and used both his feet and his hands. If you are wondering about the feet, there are some keys at the feet level which are used to play the pipe organ. The second one was really into it but only used his hands. They played mostly stuff from long dead old people. The third one was a young girl who played a more contemporary song. The last person was just a person who signed up to play improve, which turned out to mean he didn't know how to play. It was cool to see that they let ordinary people who are brave enough to play in front of an audience. We also heard the resident organist play some tunes. The kids seemed to like most of it, though the youngest one was a little tired and stir crazy.