Students at the George E. Jack School in Standish recently got to see up close the inner workings of Portland’s own Kotzschmar Organ.

Founded in 1981, the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ is a nonprofit organization that supports the Kotzschmar Organ, the municipal organ of Portland that is located in Merrill Auditorium. Each year the organization presents 18-20 concerts with renowned organists and guest artists from around the world.

The organization has an educational program designed to acquaint students with the workings of the pipe organ. The Kotzschmar 4 Kids program is a study of the pipe organ. It is a curriculum for grades 4-6 that integrates language arts, mathematics, music, science, and social studies by using a small, portable pipe organ as the focus for activity-based instruction.

David Wallace, organ builder, spent the day with the students. A major part of his program featured the demonstration of the portable organ that he designed and built specifically for educational purposes. The organ, affectionately known as “Kotzschmar Jr.” was constructed with exposed pipes so that students can see the inside workings of the organ and play the instrument by manually pumping air to its pipes.

Some of the classes were visited with lessons by Ray Cornils, Portland’s City Municipal Kotzschmar Organist. The students learned the history of organs and heard about some of the classical composers. The goal of the program is to give every child an understanding of and appreciation for the pipe organ, especially the Kotzschmar Organ.

The visit was coordinated by Standish Music teacher Paul Schnell, and supported by the Cultural Arts Commission and the Standish PTO. It was also supported by the Kotzschmar for Kids Program for the FOKO Education Outreach Program.

Noah Lewis, Tommy Komulainen, Alec Dyer, Jordan St. Peter, and Carly Brown, fifth-grade students at the George E. Jack School in Standish, listen to their music teacher Paul Schnell play the traveling Kotzschmar organ.