AUBURN - The massive organ at Holy Family Church is considered by many aficionados to be one of the finest examples of a mechanical instrument made by the Schlicker Organ Company in Buffalo.

That craftsmanship is what has captivated Tom Techman during his four years as music director and organist at Holy Family.

"It's a very complex piece of machinery. The builder has to be part metalist, part musician, part carpenter," Techman said. "He can't be a jack of all trades; he has to be a master of all."

The organ and its musical potential will be showcased at a recital Sunday. Three local musicians -including Techman - will perform pieces from a variety of time periods and composers.

The Syracuse chapter of the American Guild of Organists held similar concerts in Jordan and Homer earlier this year. The group looked for examples of fine organ craftsmanship around central New York that may be normally overlooked.

"It's all about showcasing the organ, not the organists," Techman said.

Regardless, he still felt he had a duty to the church and the instrument to make it reach its fullest potential Sunday.

"I figured I'd better get up here and start practicing," he said.

Since then, Techman's been spending most of his mornings at Holy Family Church, perfecting his fingering on Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in D Major" which he will play at the recital. Techman only briefly learned about the organ in college and most of that was about Bach's compositions.

The church's organ is a replica of one from the baroque period, similar to what Bach himself would have played, Techman said.

Techman is not the only musician at Sunday's recital who has a special relationship with the Schlicker organ. Organist Will Headlee, a 36-year member of the Syracuse University music faculty, performed the instrument's inaugural concert after its 1989 dedication.

"It's just a good organ," Headlee said. "Schlicker was one of the ones changing the way we built organs sonically."

Holy Family's instrument is also significant in that it is strictly mechanical. Other organs use electricity to run the instrument's inner-workings.

"There's no electricity in this one other than the blower that supplies the wind and the light on the music rack," Headlee said.

The recital's third musician, Glenn Kime, played the Guild's previous concert in Homer and had no idea of the high quality of Holy Family's organ.

"They said all the organs were really wonderful," he said.

Kime grew up around organs. His father was a minister, and his piano teachers gave him organ lessons. He is currently music director for May Memorial Unitarian Universalists Society and organist for Temple Adath Yeashurun in Syracuse.

"It seems to be addictive," he said. "Organs make a lot of noise, and there's this sense of power. They really get their hooks into you."