Musical Instruments: The Organ Stalacpipe Luray Caverns, Virginia
Under the floor in beautiful Luray Caverns in Luray, Va., is a unique musical instrument. It is not only unusual but also the world’s largest – and growing. This is a large organ Stalacpipe. Its creator, Leland W. Sprinkle, believes it could be expanded to include all stalactites tunable in the 64 acres of underground caverns.
It all started when young Robert Sprinkle visited the caves of the Shenandoah Valley on his fifth birthday.
When it hit the guide of a stalactite in right place at the bottom of the rock, resonant tone, so fascinated him and his father. Mr. Esparza, an electronics scientist, is excited at the idea of creating an instrument for playing music on the stalactites. The Blue Ridge Mountain Caves were probably formed by underground rivers. Slow seepage of rainwater through limestone formations called stalactites hanging produced. Brilliant, manor houses, some as large as 300 by 400 feet, lovely natural stone paths and exquisite strange formations developed slowly. Stalactites stalagmites met roof building from the ground up to great form, imposing columns.
Hundreds of thousands of people pass through the caves each year. Turn Hall Gigante, a group of spacious chambers, Veil of Tatiana, a mass of dazzling white stalactites, and Dream Lake, an expanse of clear water. But before the visit of Mr. Esparza, no one had tried to create a tool to unlock the tones of prisoners in the stalactites in silence.
He had to meet with many problems. Only two were in perfect agreement stalactites naturally. Mr. Esparza developed a milling system to others, using sanding disks rotate at high speed. Once tuned, stay tuned the hard rocks, air conditioned by the temperature of 54 F of the caves. The ability of milling quality actually improved the tone of stalagmites.
Mr. Esparza took three years of research, design and experimentation to develop octave blocks are controlled by similar metal brushes small brushes. They rely on a plastic strip with a hole pattern corresponding to different chord structures. The electrical system causes a piston to move, hitting a stalactite.
The pistons are magnetic. The big ones are of soft iron with a metal spike covered with rubber. Small rubber-tipped metal plungers are used for small rocks. The speed of the drive motor causes changes in rhythm. The volume level can be set at eight different positions.
Multiphonic sound is achieved through different parts of the stalactites. Probably none of their organs in the world has a better room in which to achieve its echo effects. The “blue” two stalactites sound together is another exciting tonal quality that is achieved in this subterranean cathedral.
The selections have been recorded. The first was “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, held in 1956. Other songs played this season are “we met” (organized by Edward Kresmer), “Silent Night” (with a stalactite effect buzzer), and “Christ the Lord is risen today.”
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