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( Pipe organ) The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound when pressurized air (referred to as wind) is driven through a series of pipes. The admission of wind into the pipes is controlled by a keyboard. A pipe sounds when a key is depressed on the keyboard, allowing wind to pass through the pipe. Modern organs usually include one or more keyboards playable by the hands and one keyboard playable by the feet. Each keyboard controls a certain number of pipes. The smallest portable organs may have only a few dozen pipes and only one keyboard, while the largest organs may feature over 20,000 pipes and seven keyboards.^[2] The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain sound for as long as a key is depressed. This is unlike other keyboard instruments such as the piano and harpsichord, whose sound begins to decay immediately after the key is struck.

The origins of the pipe organ can be traced back to Ancient Greece in the third century BC.^[3] The wind supply was originally created with water pressure. Since the sixth or seventh century AD, bellows have been used.^[3] During the Renaissance period, the organ developed into a complex instrument capable of producing many different timbres. By the seventeenth century, virtually all of the tonal varieties available in the modern organ were present.^[4]

Pipe organs are found in churches and synagogues, as well as secular town halls and arts buildings, where they are used for the performance of classical music. The organ boasts a substantial repertoire of both sacred and secular music spanning a period of more than 400&_160;years.^[5]

A pipe organ contains one or more sets of pipes, a wind system, and one or more keyboards. The pipes produce sound when pressurized 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 any given time. The organist operates the stops and the keyboards from the console.

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