25 years applied pipe organ research at Fraunhofer IBP in Stuttgart

Throughout the world, musical instruments are deeply rooted in cultural traditions. They are part of our cultural heritage, and their preservation and further development deserves our utmost attention. For many years, the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP has been engaged in the research of European musical instruments, the pipe organ in particular. To preserve its sound, to give support in building instruments as well as to contribute to the further development by integrating modern technologies are the focus of the joint research with other research institutions and a multitude of European organ building enterprises. In 25 years, 9 common European and several other research projects were carried out. Some examples of the topics will be mentioned like development of 1) different kinds of new wind systems, methods and software for the design, 2) design methods, tools and software with applying computer simulations for flue and reed organ pipes, 3) innovative swell shutters, 4) design methods and comprehensive tools for matching the instrument on the acoustics of the room. The procedure of research, way of communication with instrument builders, the method of demonstration and dissemination of the research results will be discussed.