When the Organ Cyphers
One of the most frequent occurrences causing trouble in any organ is a cypher. Usually, in modern organs having individual valve sheets, the cypher is confined to one pipe. Sometimes, if any of the valve springs are a little rusty or weak, several touches of the key controlling the pipe will stop the cypher till a tuner can be reached. Sometimes the temporary disuse of the stop of which the misbehaving pipe is a member will stop its noise till a repairer can be called in. Often neither of these two methods of procedure will avail, then the usual method resorted to is removing the offending member. Sometimes this is a good thing to do, but often, especially if the pipe is a large one, the noise of the wind escaping through the pipe hole will be almost as annoying as the cypher itself. A better plan is to lay several thicknesses of paper or card-board over the pipe hole, then set the pipe in place, the weight of the pipe keeping the paper in place and preventing the escape of wind.
As a rule, these things happen just at a time one would wish they did not—while the picture is in progress or during an important musical number. The writer recently heard of a New York organist who improvised for fifteen minutes around a cypher as an "organ-point," keeping the interest of the music up all the while.