It’s even harder than it looks

Each standard musical instrument has its own quirks, while others are totally quirky from the moment of conception. This week, Pasatiempo looks at four of the former and five of the latter, including the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia’s Luray Caverns. Its inventor, Pentagon scientist and amateur organist Leland Sprinkle, is shown on the cover fine-tuning one of its 37 stalactite pipes. Sprinkle played his first concert in 1957. Since it’s a living cave, the pipes still have to be tuned — a la Sprinkle — for concerts today, although business attire is no longer de rigueur.