Title: Vogel on farm
Author: Bryan Gerlach
Last saved by: lschulz
Company: WELS

Pipe Organ Sticker Shock and Economic Insights

Bryan Gerlach

"Half a million dollars for a new organ! You're kidding, right?"

"No. That's actually a midrange price for 32 registers."

"You've got to help me understand this."

"Well, the cost of a large, high quality grand piano can exceed $100,000. Does that help?"

Every organ committee must cross this hurdle. Every interested parish must find ways to evaluate organ costs based on something more objective than sticker shock.

Organ cost equals sixty-acre farm

In 1987 Harald Vogel, Director of the North German Organ Academy, lectured at the California State University at Chico. He referred to the explosion of organ building in the last half of the seventeenth century. This boom coincided with the growing use of organs to accompany hymn singing. Small churches too acquired significant instruments. Vogel pointed out that organs in the seventeenth century cost six to eight times what they do in ours, a small instrument then having the value of a sixty-acre farm.

	So what's the value of a sixty-acre farm? A recent Internet search turned up an eleven-acre organic farm in Oregon with buildings and equipment: $525,000. Two contacts from Wisconsin help provide a fuller answer. 

Example One

"A sixty-acre farm is not a viable business today. Sixty acres of land in most cases would not be able to support the investment of buildings and machinery necessary for farming today. But here's an attempt to answer the question. Farmland is worth about $1,500–$2,500 per acre, depending on the quality of the land and where it happens to be located. A barn, a shed or two, a dwelling on the farm would quickly add up to three or four hundred thousand dollars. Add in the investment in animals (a good dairy cow can be worth $2,000) and machinery, and we are talking a pretty major chunk of change. Certainly enough to purchase a fine pipe organ."

Example Two

“By today's standards, a sixty-acre farm is almost too small to be a working farm. It lies somewhere between a working farm and a hobby. Of course, if Harald Vogel was referring to a sixty-acre farm in 1700, that would be a much different story. A farm of that size in an era without electricity or engines would be an enormous piece of land to manage. An acre is equal to the area of land that could be plowed with one ox in one day. Perhaps a parcel of farm land that "large" would have been more valuable three hundred years ago, relatively speaking, than the same parcel of land today.”

Quite possibly the sixty-acre farm of 1700 could be compared to a large-scale farming operation or even a ranch of today. In that case, the value would be much higher.

Here are some numbers. A sixty-three-acre dairy farm was recently appraised at $ 3,500 per acre. This included a sixty-five-cow barn, a fair house, and some buildings. This figures out to $210,000 for sixty acres.

A twenty-three-acre "hobby" farm with horse barn and a building or two and a very nice house was appraised at $355,000. The value here was due to the house. That is over $15,000 per acre, making an equivalent sixty-acre farm worth $900,000.

At any rate, the organs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were very expensive due to the many man-hours of labor required to fabricate them entirely by hand. The use of modern woodworking tools and transportation has drastically reduced the labor factor, which is still high when compared to an electronic substitute with mass-produced parts and assembly-line production.

Comparing the cost of an organ in our economy with a seventeenth-century economy suggests that the pipe organ remains a viable option in twenty-first-century churches. Other economic analyses also support this opinion. 

Short- and long-term cost comparisons

Organ committees often compare the short-term and long-term costs of electronic organs and pipe organs. The following figures come from one parish's actual 1997 calculations based on firm proposals from three companies. Costs are given in thousands of dollars. "Pipe 1" is a proposal from one of the more expensive pipe organ firms. "Pipe 2" is from a mid-range firm with a reputation for high quality. Two electronic organ proposals were submitted, one standard and one custom.

	Pipe 1	Pipe 2	Elec	Elec
			Custom	Standard
Purchase	507K	326K	148K	100K
1st 30 years	  21	  13	268	180
2nd 30 years	  41	  26	485	327
60 year total	569	365	901	607
Assumptions: 
For pipe organs: 3 manuals, 32 ranks, tracker action; yearly tuning and maintenance based on 0.1 percent of purchase price, subject to 2 percent annual inflation.
For electronic organs: 3 manuals, 54 stops, 20 100-watt amplifiers and 43 speaker cabinets; replacement each thirty years based on purchase price, subject to 2 percent annual inflation; no repair costs.
[See chart at end of file.]

Note some key points in this comparison.
1.	The inflation figures are modest. A higher inflation factor would increase the long-term value of a pipe organ.
2.	No repair costs are included for the electronic options.
3.	The 60-year cost of the more expensive pipe organ is less than the 60-year cost of the standard electronic organ.
4.	If a 30-year replacement factor seems too short, use 40 and run the figures out to 80 years.

A similar analysis draws from another parish's 1996 report.

A well built pipe organ can last 50 to 100 years; there are pipe organs in Europe that are 200 to 300 years old and some in the United States that are 150 years old! On the other hand, an electronic organ has a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years. In addition to superior musical sound and quality, a pipe organ much better supports the worship experience of our liturgical worship tradition.

Let's look at some numbers: 

Life expectancy:  
  Pipe: assume 75 years
  Electronic: use 25 years
  Maintenance costs: about 2 percent of initial cost every ten years

Inflation: 	3 percent per year

Pipe organ cost over 75 years

	Purchase:	$275,000 

	Maint:		25 yrs	18,230
			25 yrs	38,170
			25 yrs	79,920

	Total		$411,320 or $5,420 per year.

Electronic organ cost over 75 years

	Purchase:	$90,000

	Maint:		25 yrs	7,290
			25 yrs	15,270

	Replace		$394,550

	Maint:		25 yrs	31,970

	Total		$727,520 or $9,700 per year.

(Based on a study from Roman Catholic sources.)

The electronic is about 80 percent more costly than the pipe organ.

A 3 percent inflation rate is quite low; higher inflation rates favor the pipe organ even more. 

Many people have asked "Is it really good stewardship to buy such an expensive instrument?" The answer is "Yes!" A quality pipe organ is an excellent investment over the long term. It can provide many long years of fine music at a reasonable price.

	While these analyses favor pipe organs over the long term, notice that this approach does not include the "cost" of money. If a parish borrows money to fund a pipe organ project, it will cost more. But it may also be true that a quality pipe organ attracts bequests and special gifts more readily than an electronic organ. 

"The reason fund raising for pipe organs so often exceeds expectations is that congregations of all denominations readily appreciate the more spiritual and intangible aspects of pipe organ value. The majesty of the instrument expresses desires to glorify and worship God with the very best."  (from www.pipeorgans.com/ )

	The cost comparisons above are provided not so much as incontrovertible proof that a pipe organ is always the better choice but rather as one approach a parish might follow to balance initial negative sticker shock. Parishes will consider other factors beyond cost such as available space, permanence of current sanctuary, other priorities, and trends in worship music. But in many cases a pipe organ remains a viable option even when these factors are considered. For example, new trends in music appropriate for worship are most desirable alongside the heritage of the past, not completely replacing the past. 

Stewardship, economics, and the Gospel

One Wednesday during Lent I heard compelling input on pipe organ economics. The sermon, "Only Jesus Is Worth That Much," was based on Mark 14:3-9. Mary, sister to Martha and to Lazarus, poured an entire bottle of incredibly expensive perfume on Jesus' head and feet. A whole year's wages in one utterly impractical act! The disciples were indignant and said so. This woman's exuberant gift made them uncomfortable. 

	Jesus said, "Leave her alone." Her act was not wasteful. It was not bad stewardship. "She has done a beautiful thing for me." Read the entire account and see how Jesus accepted her exuberant gift in spite of other needs and "programs." Christian stewardship today must balance needs. But true Gospel-driven stewardship is also eager to provide the very best for God's glory and for God's people.

	This kind of stewardship is a dramatic contrast to one electronic organ company's ad campaign. "Cost-effectiveness is the essence of good stewardship," the 1991 ad proclaimed. "And [our]organ is the most cost-effective organ on the market."

	I willingly grant a place for the electronic organ in our economic and technological culture. (Years ago in a California parish I played both an electronic keyboard and a pipe organ.) But I object strongly: No! The essence of good stewardship most certainly is not "cost-effectiveness." Jesus himself praised Mary's stewardship. The essence of her stewardship was a thankful sacrifice from her extravagant best. A small instrument with the value of a sixty-acre farm can display the same stewardship. And if someone objects like the disciples did, "Why this waste?" (Mk 14:4), tell them that this beautiful instrument is for our Lord, and trust that you can hear echoes of Jesus' defense: "You have done a beautiful thing for me" (cf. Mk 14:6).

	St. Paul urges us to pursue, among other qualities, "whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy (Phil 4:8)." In 1991 these words shaped a sermon for the dedication of a new pipe organ at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Here are some sermon excerpts. (The full sermon, by James Tiefel, is available at www.wels.net/worship)

We dare not compromise our stewardship of God's lovely and praiseworthy gifts simply because something less lovely might seem just as effective. 

This is an appealing temptation. It seems as though everything we do these days has to be cost-effective and task-efficient. In the technological world we live in, loveliness and nobility do not fare very well. The question comes from all over, even from inside the church, and it usually sounds like this: "Could not something else be just as effective—and certainly less expensive?"

The question is well-intended, but does it not really miss the point? Believers pursue loveliness because this is God's will; believers proclaim the love of Jesus because this is God's will. And then believers are confident, as St. Paul was, that as they do both with heart and mind and soul and strength, God will surely give his blessing, and he will give it very effectively!

And so we install and dedicate this new instrument. As we do, we are putting into practice in a very tangible way the encouragement which St. Paul has set before us in God's Word. With our money, our time and our abilities, we have put our minds on things which are lovely, noble, admirable, and worthy of praise by the highest standards of human comparison.

	Mary's perfume does inform pipe organ economics. But critical spiritual factors must be in place. Only God sees these factors. They are heart and faith and sincere inner motivation.

	When these are cleansed by God and sanctified by his Spirit, a glorious instrument will be truly Soli Deo Gloria: to the glory of God, and not merely a testimony to:
•	consensus building
•	fundraising potential
•	the booming economy
•	the persuasive power of a great musician
•	or any other secondary motivation.

	Mary's gift of perfume for Jesus' feet was not an exercise in cost-effective stewardship. The disciples' sticker shock reaction is one we can understand. New pipe organs in today's churches cannot be judged merely by cost-effective measurements. Pipe organs can be sound investments judged by many standards: musicality, longevity, beauty. And, like Mary's perfume, they can be gifts to a gracious God, for his glory and for the edification and delight of his people. 

========

Bryan Gerlach was a parish pastor and musician for thirteen years. Since 1996 he has served WELS as Administrator for the Commission on Worship.

[This article -- without the material below -- was published in the Summer 1999 issue of Cross Accent, journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. It is shared with kind permission of ALCM. By double clicking on the graph, you can change the numbers to create a revised version of the graph.]

[Sidebar below did not appear in published version:

"Purchasing a Pipe Organ" is a useful brochure available from Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America. It includes "The Value of a Pipe Organ for the Dollars Spent: Seven Benchmarks."

At < www.apoba.com > one can read this document or order a two-color printed version. Or call 800-473-5270. Here are the beginning and the benchmarks.

"VALUE MEANS MORE THAN PRICE. In providing for your church something as important as the organ, true value can be determined best by considering long-term advantages. A generation from now, as the congregation considers the work of your organ committee, will you be remembered for the price you paid, or for having the wisdom to invest in lasting value?"

1.	Value in tradition
2.	Value in longevity
3.	Value in substance
4.	Value in visual beauty
5.	Value in custom design
6.	Value in distinction
7.	Value in timelessness

Under "Value in longevity," the brochure states:

Your pipe organ will last as long as the building in which you place it – perhaps longer. Some organs are moved to second and third buildings to continue service. Can that be said of the church's computer, heating system, kitchen equipment – or an electronic organ? …

The pipe organ is made of solid materials which have proven their durability. Pipe organs have proven to operate with no repair, except for routine tuning and minor adjustments, for at least two or three generations. If refurbishment is required, it costs a small fraction of the organ's replacement. Then, another two or three generations of trouble-free performance await the church that is wise enough to have invested in a fine pipe organ.

Greater longevity means lower cost. Take a period of 100 years: In the worst-case scenario, the well-built pipe organ might require one or two refurbishments. Electronic substitutes usually fail after one generation of use, or less. Over a century, the electronic organ might have to be replaced four or five times. On this basis alone, the pipe organ is a far superior investment.

END