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GREAT STALACPIPE ORGAN

The ultimate in lithophones can’t be heard on tour, you’ve got to travel to it — the Great Stalacpipe Organ inside Virginia’s Luray Caverns. Pentagon scientist and amateur organist Leland W. Sprinkle got the idea during a 1954 cavern tour when a guide tapped a stalactite with a hammer. The stalactite’s musical properties had been known since the 1880s, but Sprinkle carried the idea further, spending three years searching out 37 ideal stalactites and shaving them down to produce specific notes.

The stalactites are sounded when struck with rubbertipped pistons connected by electric wires to the organ’s console. They’re spread over 3.5 underground acres and can be heard throughout the cave’s 64-acre expanse. Sprinkle played the first 100 percent organic organ concert in 1957 and continued to concertize underground for many years, with records of his performances sold in the cave’s gift shop. Because Luray Caverns is a humid “live cave” where the rock formations continue to grow, the organ and its stalactites require constant maintenance and retuning.

For a PBS NewsHour feature on the stalacpipe organ, go to youtube.com/watch?v=YXnb6QKNMPE

GREAT STALACPIPE ORGAN

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2021-06-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://enewmexican.pressreader.com/article/281724092492412

Santa Fe New Mexican