Ronald P. MacQuinn Memorial Organ Dedication

The Ronald P. MacQuinn Memorial Organ was dedicated on Saturday, August 13, 2011.The congregation of the Bar Harbor Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, gratefully acknowledges this new Allen Organ, which is given in loving memory of Ronald MacQuinn by the MacQuinn Family. The music that will come forth from this wonderful instrument will be a continual gift to all who worship within our church. Our grateful thanks go to the MacQuinns.

Thanks to Ed Gormley of Allen Organ of Maine, Doctor Reed, Kimberly Haller and the members of the Music Committee for their diligent work in finding this organ.

The MacQuinn family helped dedicate the organ at the August 13 service. Mr. Gromley described the organ and demonstrated its capabilities.

The organ is an Allen Quantum^TM Q210D featuring two manuals, 29 stops, external speakers and the Vista option. This organ is all electronic and uses multiple Digital Signal Processors. The manuals on an organ are keyboards. Classical organs like the Quantum^TM Q210D usually have pedal boards in addition to the keyboards. The sound produced when a key on a keyboard or a pedal is depressed is usually generated by a series of pipes on a pipe organ called a "rank." The timbre of the note can be varied by deactivating one or more pipes in a rank. The mechanism to deactivate/activate pipes is called a "stop." The more stops on an organ, the more variation in sound that can be produced. The Quantum^TM 210D, being an electronic organ, produces these variations electronically. However, the capability of an electronic organ is described in terms used for centuries to describe pipe organs.

The four large external speaker systems can produce independent sounds for results that are purer and closer to the sounds produced by an equivalent pipe organ.

The Vista feature of the Quantum^TM 210D enables the organ to simulate other musical instruments and record pieces for playback without the need for a musician. Entire orchestral pieces can be produced by this option.

More detailed information about this organ, photographs and a demonstrations of its capabilities can be obtained from the Internet at allenorgan.com/www/products/q210d/q210d.html.