Vox humana

[vaneramos]

Reed pipes of an organ produce sound by a similar mechanism to the clarinet, but the reed is actually a delicate piece of brass called a tongue, which vibrates against another brass piece, the shallot (analogous to the clarinet's mouthpiece), to produce sound. The entire mechanism is normally enclosed in the toe of the pipe, so you'll never see it unless you take a pipe apart. The sound is amplified by the resonator, a long piece extending upward. It may be conical or cylindrical, closed or open.

In this case it is cylindrical and closed. I spent most of this afternoon carefully disassembling and cleaning this particular rank of reed pipes, called vox humana for its supposed resemblance to the human voice. Typically it produces more of a bleating sound, although the manufacturer of this 1927 organ was famous for the mellowness of his vox humana. Inside we discovered part of the secret: the edges of the shallot against which the tongue vibrates bear an extremely thin skin of leather, at least in the larger pipes.

"How many pipes does this organ have?" I asked Les.

After a quick calculation he replied, "451, give or take a few."