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A churchs new voice
The pipes are in place at Grace Episcopal Church. Now the fine-tuning begins.
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The organ is located on the second level at the back of the church. The choir loft will surround the organ, which will be played by Grace Episcopal director of music and organist David Burton Brown. - photo by Robin Michener Nathan

1110OrganAUD

Hear the new organ at Grace Episcopal Church.

GAINESVILLE David Burton Brown said any good organist wants to play a piece by composer Johann Sebastian Bach on a new organ.

And that is exactly what he will be able to do in just a few weeks.

"We are in the second phase, it is physically in place now," said Brown, director of music and organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Gainesville. "Now they have to go through the tedious process of getting all the pipes to speak the same vowel."

To make sure the organ — which has been two years in the works — sings perfectly, Jacquelin Rochette is on hand to finish the instrument.

"(It will take) approximately about three to four weeks to finish the instrument," said Rochette, the tonal director of Casavant Frères, the company that built the organ. "It will be really an asset for the church. This one is a very large instrument and within the room the acoustic is wonderful — it’s supporting the sound. When we play, we can hear the crisp sounds and that is what is so exciting, the part of making music."

Brown added, "This is really the tedious stage, getting all the vowels and the qualities of all of the volumes of the pipes to match, it’s really grueling work."