A change in the air temperature of 1°F will cause a corresponding change of about 0.1% in the speed of sound and hence also a change of about 0.1% in frequency of a note. Since 2.7/440 is about 0.005, this suggests that if you drop the temperature by about 5°F, the organ should perform very close to A440. Put differently, if the temperature was about 5 degrees cooler than when you measured A442.7, then the organ was probably tuned to A440 at that time.

Thus, if maintaining a constant fixed pitch is your concern, it is imperative (1) to maintain a fixed temperature for performances, and (2) to have the organ tuned at that performance temperature (or an adjustment made of about 2.2Hz from A440 per 5 degrees difference in temperature at time of tuning).

Temperament (such as equal, quarter comma meantone, Kirnberger II, etc.) is an entirely different matter.

Yes, in the organ chamber. But assuming the organ chamber is pretty much connected to the entire space, it means lowering the thermostat by about 5 degrees. That is something that may or may not be acceptable.

As for aiming for a "brighter" sound, I understand tuning to a higher pitch, although I don't subscribe to it. There are a number of professional orchestras now that tune to A442 or higher for that "brighter" sound.

I have always played organs that are a440. I am going to go by my organ tuner friend says and what he thinks is the best idea. He is the one tuning, knows the instrument and is helping me out on getting this project going, so what he says "goes" in my mind! :-)

Wow. It's really amazing anything ever sounds right.

Given the ridiculous number of factors involved in making instruments sound good, it's amazing instrumental music exists at all. A testament to the combination of divine inspiration and human ingenuity.

If the church heat is set around 65-66 for a weekend mass and lowering it to 63, that will make the organ sound closer to a440?? When the heat is around 65 in the church, it's probably close 66 or 67 in the loft.

The current plan is to go to the music ministry meeting and tell them what we (myself and the organ tuner) have done with the organ and how we want it tuned for Holy Week and Easter. From there, I would also like to look at getting the organ pedal chest rebuilt as a priority, so that we don't have anymore pedal cyphers!

Does that sound like a good idea from both of you based on what I mentioned about the organ so far in our chat and previous posting regarding the organ in the loft/YouTube video's etc??

Does that sound like a good idea from both of you

I have no idea what's a good idea or not. I know almost nothing about organs.
I'm just here out of curiosity.

That being said, here is what I would do in your situation:

-Don't attempt to re-tune the entire instrument. Someone in the past thought the sharp-tuning sounded better. It seems too much work and too much money to reverse that decision. If you ever need to play the organ along with a string ensemble or something, they can tune to it- happens all the time.

-Figure out what the minimum amount of work/effort/expense is needed to make it usable for regular services (fixing the pedal chest?) and do that. If you can afford to pay for yourself, do it. (Reserve the money from your regular tithe if you have to.)

-Put together a presentation for the decision makers in your parish about how awesome the organ is, along with an incremental plan for fixing it. ($500 for this; another $1000 for that, etc...)

-See if there are any grants you can apply for- historical preservation stuff, cultural foundations, whatever. There may be free money for the asking.

-Find out if there are any rich music-lovers in the parish.

"I have always played organs that are a440." Sorry, but you have not taken a tuner with you and checked the pipe organs you have played.

2.7 is nothing...it's not "tuned" to 442.7. It was 442.7 at that time It will be lower than 440 and higher than 440 depending on the season and the temperature and the humidity.

I'd back off on the "historical interest" aspect because the builder you have mentioned is virtually unknown - which means there is little historical interest in his work, and the pipework has been "messed" with which further reduces the historical and actual value of it. There are many instruments around like this, unfortunately. You have to think of it as being like a choir hace has had three or four different directors, each trying to take it in a different direction and the effects show.

A pipe organ of value is one that has been designed by a real expert in tonal design, possibly using some original pipes of value, but filling the holes in the tonal scheme with new pipework, to create an overall ensemble of beauty. You will find that even Aeolian-Skinner organs, considered by many to be the finest are judged to be different in quality depending on which person did the final voicing. Even Moller, which was considered to be an "average" builder, had some instruments that excelled because of the voicer.

Daniel Angerstein was a voicer at A/S. then came in Moller and revoiced some average instruments into grand organs. Now he's still doing that for organs all over. His ears, and those of experts like him, make golden organs. But they choose wisely, for failure on their part is bad for business. Silk purses are never made out of....

If you want to get a good idea of what the value, musically as an organ, is, contact John Bishop at Organ Clearing House. He may already know of the instrument, and he is in a position to tell you the strong and weak points and even, if you are interested, in developing a plan to improve the organ and explain what needs done to your parish.

Relying on your friend is not going to help you a lot in dealing with the pastor, since he's come in as your friend, unfortunately. Going to them and telling them what you want them to do for two weeks out of the year that are coming up is going to sound like a waste of money to them - and why spend the money to rebuild the pedal chest when they are paying you to play the organ that works already?

If you were to volunteer to pay your friend to do the work....I'll guarantee they would refuse to let you do that.

A parish is a business. Money comes in and goes out. Disturbing the flow of money can very quickly cause an employee to actively improve the retention of parish money - when the pastor call you in and fires you and finds someone willing to play the organ you have now.

I had an organist, we'll call him Andy 'cause that was his name, come to town and I got him an interview at a Catholic church. After 6 months, he went to the pastor and insisted they spend $200,000 on a pipe organ (25 years ago) so that he could teach organ lessons on it and afford to stay there. Pastor solved the problem by firing him.

Friends who knew him used to say that during music school Andy seemed to just spend way too much time in the practice room....and not enough stepping back and analyzing what his job was and how to satisfy his boss.

The best way to improve the organ is to find out if it deserves being saved and then creating a long-term plan to improve it and do your job so well that people will want to join your effort. They have to come to you. Now, if they have asked you to come to the music ministry meeting to discuss ways to improve the pipe organ, go for it, the time is right. But if not you may put your position in jeopardy.

You sound rather young and this position is just another stepping stone on what we hope will be a long line of churches that you will serve so, though I may sound negative, keep your chin up. There may be a better organ in another church just waiting for you!

If you have an iPhone there is a great strobe tuner you can get and begin going from organ to organ - and checking the tuning. I assisted in the presentation of a faculty paper at Baldwin Wallace College involving digital and pipe organs by a professor. We pulled the strobe out and kept retuning the digital to the Casavant --- for half an hour as students came in and out the back door, each time changing the tuning of the A on the C up and down...it was amazing...up an down more than 2.7...

For reference (and for fun), you can see how a change in temperature affects the speed of sound, and consequently how it changes the resonant frequencies of air columns in cylinders:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/waves/opecol.html

Thnks, jczarn! I was looking for that link.

For A440 at a temperature of 20C (68F), enter a length of 0.390568 meters. Change the temperature to 15C (59F), and the frequency drops to A436.0956. Bump the temperature up to 25C (77F) and the frequency goes up to A443.9047.

As for bells, although they are affected by temperature changes (increasing temperature lowers the pitch), the amount is quite small, roughly -0.24 cent per 1C change in temperature. A 1C change in temperature will cause a change of a little more thann 2 cents (higher for a temperature increase). The effect is thus about 7 to 8 times more drastic for flue pipes than for bells.

Organ tuners should note the temperature and humidity on the day that they come in to tune the instrument. Last Christmas, in the few hours before midnight mass there was a massive drop in temperature (about 15 degrees celcius) and a huge increase in humidity (from about 60% to 90%). In those scenarios little can be done.

Our organ is also tuned to about A=446Hz. This is because it was rebuilt from an instrument made in 1898 - many years before pitches were standardised. It is a factor that other instrumentalists have to deal with. It also means that I tend to sing slightly on the sharp side - at least I don't sag in pitch in other places.