When you walk into Rollins Chapel, it may be easy to miss the pipe organ located just past the entrance, flush against the chapel’s wall. It’s smoothly integrated into the architecture, built for the space by Austin Organs Inc. in the 1960s, according to College Chaplain and Tucker Center director Rev. Nancy Vogele ’85. Though its location is inconspicuous, the instrument is grand: it consists of 75 ranks — or sets of pipes — three manuals, or hand-operated keyboards, and a set of pedalboards, which are foot-operated.
Some musicians might find such an instrument — one of the largest organs in the state of New Hampshire, according to the Organ Historical Society — daunting. For College organist Henry Danaher ’08, however, the organ provides an opportunity to grow as a musician and collaborate and connect with community members through a shared love of music.
“It’s really fun,” Danaher said. “It’s a very humanistic discipline. There’s a lot of research involved — it’s figuring out what’s relevant and understanding people’s needs.”
Danaher first became interested in the organ while taking a class on counterpoint, a music composition technique, during his senior year at Dartmouth. According to Danaher, the course’s professor took the students on a field trip to see the organ at The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College. Ernest Drown, the church’s organist at the time, led the tour and offered to introduce the pipe organ to any interested student.
“I took him up on that, and now I’m doing the same job,” Danaher said.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Danaher served as interim organist at the Congregational Church in Lyme, N.H., before joining the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. He ultimately became the College organist, an independent contractor position through the William Jewett Tucker Center, two years ago. In addition to his role as College organist, Danaher was appointed as the full-time music director at The Church of Christ, located across the street from Rollins Chapel, in 2019. In these positions, he balances technical work with serving the community. Vogele said Danaher’s role requires both diligence and passion.
“Henry has to know the organ pretty well to make sure its maintenance needs are met by Bill [Czelusniak], the technician,” Vogele said. “An organ is best taken care of when it’s played, so Henry’s role is important to the health of the instrument.”
Danaher serves as the primary caretaker of three pipe organs on campus — the Rollins organ, the organ at The Church of Christ and a smaller pipe organ in Spaulding Auditorium, tucked above the right side of the stage. He said he knows each of the pipe organs he works with well, though each is distinct based on their maker and size. This difference is one “interesting” aspect of being an organist, according to Danaher.
“When I play music on the instrument here [at The Church of Christ], I’ll choose repertoire with different sounds than I would with the organ at Rollins [Chapel],” he explained. “You get to re-learn every piece.”
For the past two years as the College organist, Danaher has provided a number of seasonal and holiday concerts, memorial services for alumni and community members and tours of the instrument for current students. Through his performances at Rollins Chapel, Danaher aims to engage with the Dartmouth community and expose it to the instrument’s versatility.
“Recently, I’ve been trying to find a way to let people see what I’m doing with my feet and my hands while I’m playing,” he added.
Because the organ is composed of multiple manuals — or keyboards and pedalboards — both the hands and feet must be used to play it, according to Danaher. As a result, learning the instrument presents a steeper learning curve than piano, he said.
“There’s a lot of crossed wires between your left hand and your feet at the beginning [of learning to play],” Danaher said. “You’re used to thinking about the lower notes with the left hand, and now your feet are doing a lot of that work.”
In addition to his work at Rollins Chapel and The Church of Christ, Danaher also provides accompaniment for choral organizations like the Dartmouth College Glee Club and the Handel Society.
Glee Club director Filippo Ciabatti said Danaher’s accompaniment lays a foundation for the choir’s work.
“[Danaher is] a professional,” Ciabatti said. “The accompaniment he provides is instrumental not only in how the choir learns the music but also in providing context for how the piece will sound and helping during rehearsals to … support the choir in the learning process.”
Despite his many commitments, Danaher is fulfilled rather than strained. He attributes his ability to pursue many projects at once to the love he has for his work.
“It’s a profession that’s fundamentally geared towards growing as a musician,” Danaher said. “I get to work with a lot of different, interesting people and share music with them and sometimes teach. It’s wonderful.”
At Dartmouth, the arts might appear in places that students don’t expect. Just as Danaher planted roots in Hanover and grew to become an integral part of the arts community, students have the opportunity to grow artistically, too — and Danaher encourages everyone to engage with art as they see fit.
“Art is a resource that everybody should use,” he said. “Arts are also a path to peace. My playing of one piece does not preclude others’ ability to play or write or create in other mediums. … There’s enough space for everybody in the arts.”
