VINCENT KNIGHT AND HIS DYING ART FORM!

SITTING AT THE KEYBOARD WITH THE SKILLS OF A SURGEON!




One would have to travel to Ancient Greece to find the origin of the pipe organ. In the Third Century water pressure was used to weave the heavenly sounds of the meticulous instrument. Sounds that have become synonymous with the church.

However, time moves on and with the invent of electric synthesizers and computerized keyboards, the classic art of pipe organ playing is slowly dying. In part, because the musical instruments take up a lot of space in churches and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the wooden carved and ivory detailed models with pipes that stretch to the ceiling can go as high as $1 million dollars.

That brings us to Vincent Knight who is a rare breed. The New York native moved to Houston in 1999 to start a new life and career. He settled in well. Knight says, "I always tell people how great the economy is here in Houston." That economy may be great in part because Vincent has a very marketable skill. He's one of the few people the Insite has ever met who can play a pipe organ.

Knight pulls the stop knobs and presses the expression pedals with the skills of a surgeon. I ran into him as he was preparing to play for a memorial service at First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood. Knight says he's been playing for more than 20 years. If you ask him if playing the pipe organ is difficult he would definitely say yes.

Knight says playing the instrument is definitely a dying art form. He says he's glad he's mastered the complex control of the monstrosity in hopes of continuing to create beautiful and heavenly music just to the left of the pulpit!