If you sit in the Auckland Town Hall and look above the stage, you will see an imposing array of 82 shining pipes, with a complex control console in the centre.

Behind the façade of the Auckland Town Hall Organ is a very complex system of machinery which produces very beautiful musical sounds.  The organ contains sets of pipes - over 5000 in total, a wind system, and five keyboards (including one played by the feet).  The pipes produce sound when pressurised air, produced by the wind system, is driven through them.  An action connects the keyboards to the pipes.  ‘Stops’ allow the organist to control which ranks of pipes sound at a given time.  The organist operates the stops and the keyboards from the console.

Find out more details about how all these components of the Auckland Town Hall organ work, by using the links at right or following the tour:

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