the.com/organ
the only instrument that breathes, with lungs of leather and a voice that fills cathedrals.
means A self-contained part of the body that performs a specific function, like the heart or liver; also a large keyboard instrument that produces sound by forcing air through pipes; and, by extension, a means of communication such as a newspaper that voices a group's views.
from From Greek 'organon,' meaning a tool or instrument — anything you work with — built from the root 'erg-,' to do or work (the same root behind 'energy' and 'ergonomic'). It traveled through Latin 'organum' and Old French before settling into English. The musical sense and the bodily sense grew from the same idea: each is an instrument for a job, whether making music or keeping you alive. The 'newspaper as organ' meaning is a later figurative bloom — a publication treated as the working mouthpiece of a cause.
- king of instruments
- Mozart's words, and he was rarely wrong
- pipe count
- largest organs exceed 30,000 individual pipes
- hydraulic ancestor
- ancient Greeks powered theirs with water pressure
- foot work
- players use pedals like a second keyboard
- silent giants
- some pipes are too low for human ears
sydney opera house — iconic building in australia completed in 1973 with a mechanical organ
royal albert hall — concert venue in london, england with a 4,000+ pipe organ installed in 1871
notre-dame de chartres — medieval cathedral in france with a historic pipe organ dating to the 16th century