The Kay Africa Memorial Organ at Finney Chapel in Oberlin, Ohio, built by
C.B. Fisk, Inc.
(Opus 116), is the instrument played during the Friday Night Organ Pump.More information about this organ
Friday Night Organ Pump History
How this mess got started
The Friday Night Organ Pump was established by a group of organ performance majors in early 1992. Back then, the club in the student union (the 'Sco) charged admission before midnight. As a result, a long line of people waiting for midnight to come would form at the door, snaking out of the building and towards Finney Chapel. Two intelligent and resourceful organ majors, Erik Suter (OC '95) and Michael Paul Lizotte (OC '93), decided to take advantage of this crowd and hold a midnight organ concert to entertain the people while they waited to get into the 'Sco. These concerts eventually became publicized monthly events, and the Organ Pump was born.
The purpose of the Organ Pump was to portray the organ as an instrument independent of religious services, and, of course, to have a good time. Former Organ Pump host David Kazimir (OC '99) described the event as Off-Broadway meets Sunday morning church.
Likewise, today the Organ Pump thrives as an entertaining method of exposing the general public to the organ and its music.
The Oberlin College Marching Band performs at the April 1999 Organ Pump. Note the original E.M./Aeolian Skinner organ in the background.
Seven years later, the Organ Pump Committee of Oberlin (OPCO) was formed and made an official organization of Oberlin College. The general faculty approved the OPCO charter on April 11, 1999. To this day OPCO remains devoted to the promotion of the organ and organ literature through the Friday Night Organ Pump.
The Organ Pump was originally held in Finney Chapel, but in the summer of 1999, the organ in that building was replaced by a new instrument built by C.B. Fisk, Inc. Since that time, the Organ Pump has been held on other fine instruments on the Oberlin campus, including the Flentrop organ in Warner Concert Hall and the meantone Brombaugh instrument in Fairchild Chapel. In April of 2005, First Church in Oberlin (UCC) hosted an Organ Pump for the first time on its new instrument built by Hal Gober.
The new $1.9 million Fisk organ in Finney Chapel was dedicated in September 2001. After the organ's inauguration, the Friday Night Organ Pump made a triumphant return to its home in Finney Chapel, hosted by organist extraordinaire David Sinden. Sinden remained host until his graduation in 2004. As Organ Pump host, Sinden was known for his outlandish Hawaiian shirts and crazy hijinx—on one occasion he read from the Security Notebook of The Oberlin Review in the style of an operatic recitative while accompanying himself at the piano. After Sinden's graduation Will Parks (OC '06) took over the hosting duties of the Organ Pump. With the beginning of the 2005–2006 Organ Pump season, David Crean became the sixth regular Organ Pump hostAfter the Right Reverend David Crean hosted for a year and a half, Clayton Marcinak took over for Spring 2007. He was known for introducing themes to the pump. Thanks to him, we had a Pump Francais, a 50's pump featuring the rivalry of E Power Biggs and Virgil Fox, and many other great themes. Another interesting bit, he was not actually president (and normally president=host). Glenn Hunter was serving in that capacity. They both served through the 2007–2008 school year, and Charlotte Beers took over presidentialship for the 2008–2009 year. During that time we had several hosts. Heather Kirkconnel stepped up spring 2009 to host the two pumps and the commencement pump. Heather is the Host/President for the 2009 2010 season.
The reading of the security notebook has been continued since David Sinden's departure from Oberlin. Until his graduation in 2007, our former secretary/general affairs manager Noah Horn took over the duty with style, grace, and ridiculousness. This last year, Charlotte Beers has continued that tradition.
The Smoking Pipe
Long-time visitors of the OPCO web site may remember The Smoking Pipe, the online journal of the Organ Pump Committee of Oberlin. It contains exclusive coverage of the Friday Night Organ Pump's tenth anniversary event. To our knowledge, it is the only issue ever published. Read and enjoy! (Disclaimer: The Smoking Pipe is provided entirely unedited from its original published state. As it was published in early 2002, some of the links may be broken.)
The Original Oberlin Organ Web Site
In 1996, when public use of the Internet was just beginning to skyrocket, the Oberlin organ department put together a Web site containing information on the organ program and pictures of all the organs on campus. This site remained virtually unaltered and was long forgotten until one intelligent organ major found it lurking in a directory on the Oberlin web server. We have moved it here in order to preserve it for posterity. Note the extensive information on the original E.M./Aeolian Skinner organ in Finney Chapel and early information on the new Fisk. Please read and enjoy! (Disclaimer: The original organ department web site is provided entirely unedited from its original published state. As it was published in early 1996, some of the links may be broken.)
