April 3, 2002
Music man turns his living room into concert hall
Don Wilson builds 3,500-pipe organ over course of two winters
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
If you build it, they will play.
Don and Marilyn Wilson have created a venue for organ and vocal concerts to rival a professional setting right in their living room. With the purchase two years ago of a Casavant organ from the University of Cincinnati, a hobby soon transformed into a consuming passion.
Wilson has spent the better part of two winters incorporating this organ, built in 1967, with the 1925 Moller Concert organ he purchased ten years ago. He has built a two-room addition onto his Lake Leelanau home, complete with 19-foot ceilings to house the pipes, which are placed on raised structures he built with walkways between them. This area also includes air ducts with forced air ventilation for the pipes and louvered doors to bring the organ's sound into the living room.
"I measured all the chests holding the pipes and sketched out the room first," he said. "I made it big enough so people could get around in it comfortably. I have to tune the pipes every quarter."
Then there's the brains of the operation: a solid state switching system that communicates between the pipes and the organ's console. Wilson designed and constructed this system all winter, meticulously replacing mechanical linkages for each pipe. He just finished this task last week and began the painstaking process of tuning.
Now a combined 3,500 pipes - ranging from small, dainty flute pipes to 16-foot long trombone pipes - can reverberate through the house, making beautiful music to float over Lake Leelanau and the surrounding countryside.
"There are some large private organs, but not many this big," said Don Wilson, a member of the American Guild of Organists. "But this one just kind of grew on me. I see it as a hobby more than anything else because in the winter I don't have much to do around here besides snowmobiling."
Wilson has a history with organs, too. His wife, Marilyn, is an accomplished organist, a fact he didn't really appreciate until a few years into their marriage when she began playing again. Although Marilyn Wilson seldom plays anymore due to health issues, Don is studying the instrument.
"My mother was an organist and I was just really inspired by the music," noted Wilson.
Both Wilsons have been members of the First Congregational Church in Traverse City for nine years, drawn by the church's strong music program. They both sing in the choir and play in the handbell choir. The organ at the church has also inspired Don Wilson.
"It is one of the most beautiful organs in northern Michigan and I'm taking lessons from Sally Lewis at the church," he said. "Sally has forgotten more about music than we'll ever know."
Lewis has made the trek to the Wilson's home a number of times to play. Having played organ throughout the United States and Europe, Lewis is impressed by the set up at the Wilson's home.
"It is a very high caliber organ and he has spared no time and expense to make it really a fine instrument," said Lewis, an organist at the First Congregational Church. "It is always a lot of fun to play and now that he's doing a lot of these new innovations it is going to be even more enjoyable because the electronics make so much more possible."
The Wilsons moved to the area 25 years ago from Ohio, seeking a change of pace from big city life. They switched Don's corporate job with NCR for the Leelanau RV Park, which has 200 spaces on 30 acres nestled on the west shore of the lake.
"We wanted to be our own bosses so we quit our jobs and moved up here," recalled Marilyn Wilson, a registered nurse.
In this area, they have also found the time to pursue their musical interests. The Wilsons have hosted weekly recitals at their home for years on Sunday evenings during the summer. They draw on organists, vocalists and other musicians from around northern Michigan.
"We have had some awesome concerts, too," Don Wilson said. "Some of the artists we've had, they bring along other musicians. A trumpeter from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra played a concert with Marilyn one time."