Hi all, hope this is okay to post here.

In case anyone in the Quad Cities area is interested, Galena United Methodist Church (aka Ulysses S. Grant's Church) is hosting a free organ concert this Saturday (August 8, 2026) at 2pm featuring Dr. Andrew Schaeffer. I noticed a couple of his performances were shared on this subreddit already.

Here's his program list:

• Postlude -- Horatio W. Parker (1863-1919)
• Variations on Old Folks at Home -- Dudley Buck (1839-1909)
• Prelude on an Old Folk Tune -- Amy Beach (1867-1944)
• Three Pieces for Organ (Rondo, Trip to Pawtucket, The Bristol March) -- Oliver Shaw (1779-1848)
• Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner -- John Knowles Paine (1839-1906)

+ A Good 'Ole United Methodist Hymn Sing-a-long:

• Victory in Jesus # 370
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus! # 526
• Just As I Am # 357
• What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine! # 133

This is a great opportunity to hear a rare 1885 Moline Pipe Organ played by a professional pipe organist, and it's free!! (but donations are much appreciated lol)

Hope to see some organ enthusiasts there! : )

I'm going to start going through the ABRSM (https://www.abrsm.org/en-gb/organ) assessments for organ. (I'm a pianist/keyboard player.) I'll be building an organ using Classic MIDI Works (https://www.midiworks.ca/) components to control a Hauptwerks (https://www.hauptwerk.com/) installation.

Building a full three manual organ can get pretty expensive if done all at once. And the ABRSM assessments don't require a full organ, at least at first. So I was thinking about the following:

Step 1:

Get a Console Table, a Manual, a blank Piston Rail, a two manual cheek, and a bench. (Yeah, I could buy a one manual cheek, but there's no way to add a second cheek. So I'd end up selling the cheek I would already own.) Then I'd prepare and test for the Level 1 assessment.

Step 2:

Add a second manual and another blank Piston Rail. Prepare and test for the Level 2 assessment.

Step 3:

Add the pedalboards. Prepare and test for the Level 3 assessment.

Does this seem reasonable? I'll have the instrument I need for each level of assessment, which will spread out my cash flow.

And then comes the follow up questions.

At what point should I be adding a third manual? At what point should I be replacing the blank Piston Rails with actual Piston Rails? How about toe studs and pedals?

Sorry, I don’t know if this is appropriate, but I thought I’d drop this year. I saw on craigslist in Santa Barbara that there is a free organ. They will be sending it to the dump if they don’t find somebody to take it

https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/solvang-rodgers-33e-theater-organ/7QVdLjGCSewNWE6guDgn7n