Christmas shopping at Macy's Department Store with a bonus

[GrannieAnnie]

Wish I'd been there:

http://www.knightarts.org/uncategorized/what-a-joyful-noise-650-singers-burst-into-hallelujah-as-part-of-random-act-of-culture%E2%80%A8%E2%80%A8%E2%80%A8

[GrannieAnnie]

[betula]

So many happy faces.

What a wonderful way to praise the Lord.

[Bugloss2009]

wow that was great

sure beats "merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade in TJ Hughes............

[Digeroo]

Fantastic.   What a great idea.   How come there is such a huge pipe organ in the middle of macys?

[gwynnethmary]

This has really put a smile on my face!  Tomorrow I'm singing at the Sage, Gateshead in an event called Prom Praise, and we're singing The Allelujuh chorus!  It's a fantastic day, and we get to sing with a full orchestra from London.  I just love these spontaeous sing- ins though- they really enliven an ordinary experience and lift it into the extraordinary!

[chriscross1966]

read the comments further down the page and it gets scary....

[GrannieAnnie]

Fantastic.   What a great idea.   How come there is such a huge pipe organ in the middle of macys?

The organ was built into the Wanamaker Store in 1911 (now owned by Macy's). It is supposedly the largest pipe organ in the world and is in 7 floors of the store. John Wanamaker was quite a Christian and started lots of Sunday Schools in the area and put a lot of effort into the community.

This video shows pictures of the pipes stashed in all different spots in the store. I hope this is viewable in the UK. Here it starts with an advertisement (of course) followed by some interesting videos and the organist playing.  I remember this as a kid when my mom would take us by subway into Philadelphia to shop at Christmas sometimes. The sounds and vibration of the organ would knock you socks off.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4674954n

[daveyboi]

Excellent and so strange that just a week ago I had been surfing the same music on youtube

[gwynnethmary]

Thank you again Grannie Annie for posting this on here- it was so inspirational, and came at just the right time!  I really LOVED singing it at Prom Praise on Saturday, along with all of the other stuff we did- it was an AMAZING day, and your clip just started it off right!