Pipe organ players: organizers believe they’ve set a world first in Windsor

Trudy DiCarlo, the organist at Church of the Ascension in Windsor participates in a world record attempt by local organists. (Michelle Maluske/CTV Windsor)

Organists at nine different locations across the region played music Saturday, in an attempt to reach a world record.

“We did set the record,” Dale Burkholder tells CTV News. “Although we are the first to set it.”

It’s an event organized by the Royal College of Canadian Organists, of which Burkholder is a member.

“I think it's a great thing to do,” says Trudy DiCarlo, organist at Church of the Ascension in Windsor.

“A lot of people don't know about the organ or are intimidated by it. So I think it's a nice way to introduce it to people.”

DiCarlo says the world record would be nice, but believes today’s event is really more about educating people about the difference between a pipe organ and a traditional piano.

“The keyboard setup is the same,” says DiCarlo who adds thats where the similarities end.

“You also have a pedal board that you play along with the keyboards. There's multiple manuals on this organ, we have three,” says DiCarlo.

Pipe organs also have three separate settings: choir, great and swell.

Burkholder is eager to hear from organists at all nine locations, to get a better sense for how many people played and how many people learned about the pipe organ.