Acoustical and Organ Design for Church Auditoriums

Abstract

The acoustical design of a church auditorium is of equal importance to that of the architectural design. It is essential, then, that the acoustical design follow the laws of sound projection from the source to the listeners with maximum fidelity both for the listeners and for the performers. Church acoustics has varied from the dead, low reverberant type at one extreme to the excessively reverberant type at the other extreme. In between these extremes there is a range of good listening conditions for music and speech for all types of liturgy. Longer reverberant times than usual are recommended for small and medium size auditoriums. A new design of church auditoriums is submitted which is interesting in its novelty and still is practical from a modern architectural point of view. Organ design has passed through extremes such as the pure romantic and the baroque. Either in its extreme is undesirable for general church use. However, a middle of the road design which is not necessarily a compromise but which uses the best in both is suggested. The enhancement effect of reverberation on organ tone of all types is discussed. Also the space requirements for organs and some principles of organ design are mentioned. This paper is given to stress the musical point of view of church design to the acoustician and architect so that extremes in acoustics will be avoided in the future.