Organ Workshop & Tüfteln in Waldkirch

Last week I had the pleasure to visit the beautiful and fascinating workshop in Waldkirch where local tinkerer Achim Schneider repairs vintage organs and builds modern models.

Pipe organs are another local black forest tradition that combine elements of art, science, technology, engineering, nature, music and more. It was also so cool to see the collection of specialized tools ranging from tiny tweezers to a giant tabletop machine that could quickly and efficiently bend and cut wires for the rotating music cylinders with pre-programmed melodies.

Achim demonstrated one of his more recent builds with a hand-crank power, a punch-card music sheet and twenty-seven pipes that create a wide range of notes and tones.

I would really like to collaborate with Achim and other local makers and tinkerers to develop starting points for kids and adults to explore these ideas. As part of the collaboration with the Tinkering Studio and LEGO Playful Museum Learning Network a couple years ago I built a set of magnetic peg-based rhythm blocks that demonstrate just one possible direction that these investigations might take. Hopefully there will be more chances to play and prototype new ideas on this topic in the future months.