Known for its powder white beaches and sunny climate, Clearwater is home to one of the best kept secrets of the pipe organ world, the mighty 4/93 Rodgers/Ruffatti/Wicks Church Pipe Organ installed in the sactuary of the First United Methodist Church on the corner of Fort Harrison and Turner Street.

Installed in the 1960's, this majestic instrument has grown to its current enormous size of 33 actual pipe ranks and 60 digital ranks. It is completely computerized and has full MIDI implementation. The organ speaks from chambers above the Holiest of Holies and loudspeakers located on the facade of the rear balcony. The digital samples and the lovely red mahogany four manual console are by Rodgers. The pipe ranks are by Ruffatti and Wicks.

First United Methodist is a fairly large church that can seat over 600 people in the sancuary. The acoustics are excellent within the white walls of the well-lit red carpeted room. There is just enough natural reverb to cause the huge organ to bloom with a heavenly tone no matter where the listener is sitting.

Above the dias of the sancuary are mounted the pipes of the unenclosed division. These consist of an 8-foot Principal and a 4-foot Woldflott (Wooden Flute.) These ranks blend well with the pipes behind them unseen in the chambers, and with the digital Trumpette En Chamade that comes out of the speakers in the back below the balcony. The sound is truly breathtaking.

On October 30th, 2005 during a Sunday evening at the First United Methodist Church in Clearwater, Florida, Tom Hoehn gave us a special treat. He took the bench of the magnificent 4/93 Rodgers/Rufatti/Wicks Church Pipe Organ at the church and played for a silent movie presentation of the 1925 box office hit, Phantom of the Opera.

This was no minor event. Long in planning, ATOS Vice President Bob Davidson was there to introduce the movie and Tom, who came out on stage dressed in a black cape as he sidled up to the massive organ.

The Walnut Hill Productions mobile recording crew was there to capture the event on Tom's Dell laptop computer, using two Sure PE48 microphones on boom stands feeding a 20x2 Electrovoice/Dynacord mixing desk. Also, a digital video camera was situated on a tripod in the balcony to film the entire event, from the time folks began to arrive until they started exiting the building. The Bone Doctor engineered the event, doing all post-mastering work at the Walnut Hill Recording Studio.

Below are all four tracks that, when listened to end to end one right after the other, are the complete program as performed that night. These are large files, especially parts 1 and 2 of the Phantom. Be patient as you download them, and enjoy the show!

1. Introduction and Warm Up
   Playing time = 14:05, file size = 13.9MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
2. Phantom of the Opera, Part 1
   Playing time = 41:21, file size = 38.0MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
3. Phantom of the Opera, Part 2
   Playing time = 51:04, file size = 47.0MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
4. That's Entertainment!
   Playing time = 4:31, file size = 4.19MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.

Below are some tracks sent in from church services Tom has played. These recordings were made using a new system consisting of two electret condenser microphones and a Berhinger USB mixer hooked up to Tom's Dell laptop computer running Sony SoundForge 7. We removed some noises and normalized the volume. There are a few glitches we could not remove.

1. Little Gig Fugue - J. S. Bach
   Playing time = 3:13, file size = 2.97MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.
2. Americana Medly
   Playing time = 5:32, file size = 5.11MB, bit rate = 128KB/sec.