Local group celebrates art of playing the organ


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It may not have been well-known that Saturday was International Organ Day, but a local group made an effort to celebrate in a big way.

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For two hours on Saturday at nine locations across Windsor and Essex County — primarily churches — an invitation was extended to anyone from the community to come in and play the large-scale organs themselves.

The goal was an attempt to set an unofficial world or national record for the most people playing an organ over a two-hour time frame — although it is believed the local group was the first attempting to do so.

“Today is about celebrating the organ in all its glory — pipe, digital and electronic,” said Dale Burkholder, a local organist and an organizer of Saturday’s event. “You have church and theater organs.

“We were looking at ‘what can we do as a group to celebrate the organ and draw attention to it?’ We came up with how many people can we get to come in over two hours to give it a try. In Canada, we don’t believe this has ever been done before.”

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It was estimated by organizers that 131 people of all ages showed up to give it a try. Four churches, a school and funeral home participated in Windsor, plus three church locations in towns across Essex County.

Dale Burkholder (left) one of the participants in a world-record organ-playing attempt, assists Moira (middle) and Beatrice (right) Cool in playing the organ at Westminster United Church on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Saturday marked International Organ Day, and the Windsor Essex Center of the Royal Canadian College of Organists set out to have a record number of people playing the organ across the region Saturday afternoon.
Dale Burkholder (left) one of the participants in a world-record organ-playing attempt, assists Moira (middle) and Beatrice (right) Cool in playing the organ at Westminster United Church on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Saturday marked International Organ Day, and the Windsor Essex Center of the Royal Canadian College of Organists set out to have a record number of people playing the organ across the region Saturday afternoon. Photo by Kathleen Saylors /Windsor Star

The event was supported by the Windsor-Essex Center of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO).

“We are excited about this,” said Burkholder, who hosted visitors at Westminster United Church in the 1600 block of Dougall Avenue. “The nicest thing was our goal was to reach as many people as we can. Most people think an organ is only played for church, but it has been used in theaters and rock music.

“We have some new organists (locally) coming up — some real talent. My goal today is to have people who have never touched an organ and getting them to play. It’s demystifying the instrument.”

Participants on Saturday were also able to learn about the services of the RCCO, its scholarship programs for students and how to become a member.

“We seek to engage the wider public in Canada’s rich organ heritage and the vibrant organ culture in Windsor-Essex,” said Paul Wharram, president of the local RCCO who also helped organize Saturday’s event and hosted visitors at Church of the Epiphany in Kingsville.

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