【初因初音】第三篇〜管風琴是從哪裡來的〜(part I)

上一篇介紹中提到氣流如何經過管風琴的送氣系統而進入音管、再回到空氣中,描述了管風琴有複雜的送氣系統。但整座管風琴當然比送氣系統更大多了,所以這整組樂器也更加複雜。說句公道話,管風琴建造家很喜歡指出,管風琴是一種非常精心設計的機器,只要你有正確的了解,就會明白它確實是簡潔優雅的化身。不過,大部分的人和管風琴家都覺得管風琴比較像是個複雜的龐然大物。我彈管風琴已有多年,但每當被找去為管風琴做估價或維修時,仍經常感受到它的複雜性。例如,最近我應邀整修一台因為颱風降雨而受損的老舊管風琴,在拆解的過程中,我再次覺得管風琴真是一種非常奧妙的樂器!
管風琴就像很多傳統的東西一樣,在漫長的歲月中曾遭遇兩大天敵:火災與水災。最近有一樁舉世聞名的實例,就是今年四月發生在巴黎聖母院的大火,雖然火勢並未擴及管風琴,濃煙卻烘乾了一些皮革零件而且損壞一部分木料,造成送氣系統內部受損。這座大型管風琴有一部分遠從十七世紀使用至今,目前正在進行評估,這幾年內會加以修復。正如火災會損壞皮革與木料,水患則會導致這些材料彎曲變形或發霉,最終變得太乾而易碎。基於這些可能的問題,今天要介紹的是建造管風琴所使用的原料、這些原料被選用的歷史因素,以及它們對於現今的設計和建造的影響。為了進行探討,我們就來參觀一座遠離市區的管風琴建造工作室,看看有哪些人在其中的工作、他們究竟在那裡做什麼。
經過一段令人心曠神怡的田園風光後,我們看見遠方的地平線上有一小叢建築物,看起來像是一棟穀倉和幾間比較小型的公用設施建築,而穀倉的一側則樹立著一棟塔樓。等到靠近一點時,卻沒有看到任何動物或農作,原來這裡不是農場!其實我們從外面根本看不到人,而且有個招牌說我們已經抵達管風琴建造家的工作室了,於是我們走到大門口、敲了門。「你好!歡迎光臨!」有個身穿牛仔褲和工作外套、面帶微笑的工作人員來開門了。在隆隆聲響中她竟能聽到我們的敲門聲,好神奇啊!(附圖1)
在十九世紀以前,管風琴和時鐘是人類所製造的最複雜的兩種機械產品,必須經過多年的鑽研與練習才能學會製造過程。即使在今天,如果有人想學習建造管風琴的工藝和技術,仍然必須跟著老練的師傅研習一段很長的時間。這些學生或學徒就在工廠裡工作,從中獲得寶貴的第一手經驗。通常一個學徒會用一段時間專注於單一領域,也有些人只學習單一領域,日後便按照自己的專長,專門建造管風琴的風室、傳動裝置、音管或其它部分。
幫我們開門的那位學徒便為我們導覽。這整個工作室是一個龐大的方型空間,中間有一道牆作為分隔。一進大門就有一間小型辦公室,裡面有一位助理在訂購材料,為完工的管風琴安排運作細節,也與顧客聯繫現有及新推出的計畫。辦公室旁的儲藏櫃裡放滿了排列整齊的工具和工作架,是用來磨亮管風琴鍵盤和做出別的小零件會用到的工具。這半邊工作室其餘的空間——也就是我們此時所站之處——就是木工區,有一小群木工正在測量、切割和組裝管風琴所有的木製零件。這一區放滿了各式各樣你想像得到和想像不到的木工器材,可以看到好幾組鋸子、鑽頭、榔頭、丁字尺、直尺、銼刀、木銼、刨刀、鑽子、砂紙、夾鉗等 (附圖2)。當然,有好幾支鋸子正在使用中,製造出陣陣的木屑粉塵,所以需要用懸掛在天花板上的大型吸塵器來清理這個地方,把木屑吸乾淨。雖然開著吸塵器,這些工人仍戴著口罩和護目鏡。
在木工區的中央,有幾個工人正在建造一組大型風室,此刻他們正在黏合風渠,確保氣流完全不會外洩。我們的導覽員解釋說,木工使用硬質木材來製作管風琴的木製零件,尤其是風室和琴鍵,因為這種木料比軟性木料不容易隨著時間而彎曲變形。歐洲從前的管風琴建造家必須使用當地的樹種作為木材,例如北國常見的樹種。但現今是全球貿易的時代了,比較容易從別的地區進口木材和加工木料,例如無孔洞夾板就是完全氣密的合成木料(附圖3)。
我們當中有一個學生發問說:「為什麼不用塑膠來製作風室呢?這不是比裁切木料容易嗎?」導覽員的回答乍聽之下令人驚訝:「我們這種工藝有一個原則,就是只使用天然材料。天然材料不僅最美觀又極為耐用,而且是我們從數百年管風琴建造史所繼承的傳統。我們知道這些材料很適用又很可靠,可製造出真正的樂器,而不只是會發出聲音。」
在建造管風琴的工作室裡,木工專門負責三種零件:音管、傳動系統和風室、外殼。製作木質音管就像建造優質建築物的每個部分一樣,都需要精準的測量和裁切,所以有一個規矩:量兩次、切一次!音管的木料裁切完成、用砂紙磨平之後,就必須黏合而且鉗緊 (附圖4)。木工所製作的傳動系統零件大部分很小或很精緻,或是又小又精緻。例如,要製作又長又窄的木條作為滑片,必須裁切得很精確。要建造外殼和演奏台的壁板,以及給管風琴師坐的椅子所需要的實心木料,木工需要用到傢俱師傅的基本技術。的確,至少從十七世紀開始,英國的管風琴建造者經常把管風琴外殼的建造外包給傢俱製造公司。換言之,英國的管風琴建造者自此就不是親自製作外殼,而是由傢俱製造商進行製作,因而管風琴的外觀愈來愈像家裡的傢俱,上面會加上雕刻和裝飾。事實上到了十八世紀晚期,管風琴建造者爭相製作小型的家庭式管風琴,可以收藏在櫥櫃裡或放在其他類似的傢俱中。這樣的商業模式有時會造成問題,因為管風琴建造家可能會不滿意另一家公司的木工,強力要求他們重新做出更好的外殼(附圖5)。
(待續)
你的朋友蔣士挺

Where do organs come from? (part I)
In my previous article, I talked about the journey that the wind takes as it travels through an organ’s wind system, into the pipes, and back out to the air. From that description, you can see that the wind system is complicated. But of course, the whole organ is much larger than just its wind system, and so the complete instrument is even more complex. To be fair, organ builders like to point out that the organ is such a thoughtfully designed machine that, if you understand it properly, you will see that it is the very model of elegance and simplicity. But for most people, including organists, the pipe organ feels like an immensely complicated creation. Even after years of playing the organ, I am constantly reminded of this complexity every time I’m called to assess or repair an organ. For instance, I was recently asked to rebuild an old organ that has suffered water damage from typhoon rains, and taking it apart showed me once again what an incredible instrument the organ is!
For all of its long history, the organ, like so many traditional objects, has had two enemies: fire and water. The most notable recent demonstration of this was the April blaze at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Though the fire did not reach the organ, the smoke from it damaged the internal parts of the wind system by drying out leather components and damaging woodwork. That grand organ, parts of which date from the 17th century, is currently undergoing evaluation and will be rebuilt in the years ahead. Just as fire destroys leather and wood, so too does water, causing them to warp, mold, or ultimately dry and become brittle. Given these potential problems, I thought today we would discuss the materials used in organ building, the historical reasons why they were chosen, and their implications for design and building today. To do this, let’s pay a visit to an organ builder’s workshop, far away from the city. There, we’ll find out who works in the organ building shop and what they do.
After a pleasant journey through the countryside, we spot a small collection of buildings on the horizon. At a distance, there appears to be a barn with some smaller utility buildings, but the barn has some kind of tower jutting up from one side. As we approach, though, we don’t see any animals or crops. This isn’t a farm! In fact from the outside, we don’t even see any people. Still, a sign out front proclaims that we have arrived at the builder’s workshop, and so we walk to the door and knock.
“Hello and welcome!” smiles a worker in jeans and shop coat, as she swings wide the door for us. Amazingly, she heard our knock despite all the noise coming from the pipe shop.
Before the 19th century, the organ and the clock were the two most complicated machines ever made, so learning to build them required years of study and practice. Even today, when someone wants to learn the craft and art of organ building, they must study for a long time alongside a master builder. These students, or apprentices, work in the shop, where they gain valuable first-hand experience. Typically, an apprentice will focus on one area at a time; indeed, some prefer to learn one area exclusively, as those workers will make a career of building wind chests and action, pipes, or whichever part of the organ is their specialization.
The apprentice who opened the door for us offers to give a tour. The entire workshop is a giant square, divided in half by a wall. Next to the entrance is a small office where an assistant orders materials, arranges shipping for completed organs, and contacts customers regarding new and current projects. Along the same wall as the office, we see cabinets full of carefully arranged tools and work benches for sanding keyboards and finishing other small parts of the organ. The remainder of this half of the workshop — in fact, the space where we are standing right now — is the wood shop. This is where a small group of carpenter’s measures, cuts and fits together all the wooden components of the organ. This area is filled with every kind of wood working tool you can imagine, and many you cannot! From where we stand, we can see rows of saws, drills, hammers, squares, rulers, files, rasps, planes, awls, sandpaper and clamps. Of course, there is a lot of sawing going on, which creates clouds of dust. So it’s important to keep the area clean using the giant vacuum suspended from the ceiling, which sucks up all that sawdust. Even with the vacuum, the workers still where masks and goggles.
In the center of this work space, a few workers are building a large windchest; at the moment, they are gluing the channels to make sure there will be no wind leaks. Our apprentice guide explains that the wood workers use hardwoods to build the wooden parts of the organ, especially the windchests and keys, as such woods are less likely to warp over time than their softer counterparts. In the past, European builders had to use the wood from whichever trees were native to their own area, such as poplar in northern countries. But with global trade today, it is somewhat easier to import wood from other places, including industrially manufactured products, such as voidless plywood — a kind of composite wood material made to be airtight.
One student in our group asks the apprentice, “Why can’t you just use plastic for the windchest? Wouldn’t that be easier than cutting all this wood?”
At first her answer seems a little surprising: “There is a principle of craftsmanship that says we only use natural materials. Not only are they the most beautiful, and also highly durable, but they are the tradition we have inherited from centuries of organ building. So we know that these materials work well and can be trusted to produce a musical instrument, not just one that makes sound.”
In an organ building workshop, the carpenters really have three specialities: pipes, action and windchests, cases. As with every aspect of good building, making wooden pipes requires precision measurement and cutting, hence the rule: Measure twice, cut once! After the parts of pipes are cut and sanded properly, they must be glued and clamped together. Most of the action parts made by the carpenters are either small, delicate, or both. For example, making the long, thin wooden trackers requires precise cutting. For building the panels of the casework and console, as well as crafting solid pieces such as the bench where the organist sits, the wood workers rely on basic techniques shared by furniture makers. Indeed, starting at least from the 17th century, organ builders in England routinely contracted the building of their organ cases to furniture making companies. In other words, English organ builders from that time didn’t make their own cases; instead, they were made by furniture manufacturers. This resulted in organs that looked more and more like household furniture thanks to the carvings and decorations added to them. In fact, by the late 18th century, it had become something of a game for builders to create small organs for private homes that could be hidden inside cabinets or other similar pieces of furniture. Sometimes this business arrangement caused trouble, though, as when an organ builder was unsatisfied with the quality of another company’s woodwork and had to pressure them to build another, better case. (To be continued.)
Your Friend,
Justin

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