Where Have All the Organists Gone? (cont.)

The Three-Way Training of an Organist

As a soloist, the organist is free to interpret. Preludes, postludes, meditative pieces at Communion: these are individual, solo pieces. While the organ is a difficult instrument — not for the timid — there are many fine pieces by well-known composers that can be played successfully by beginning organists. Composers have given us no end of suitable pieces for this instrument, pieces that are sacred in nature, pieces that can draw us to meditation, and thus, to God. Of course, we speak here of the traditional pipe organ, not the theater organ, with its bells and whistles, an instrument designed to entertain.

An organist is trained to be an accompanist. This involves an empathy with the soloist, for the accompanist is trained to follow. The organist shifts into this mode when accompanying a choir and following a director, or when accompanying a soloist. Of course, the very term "soloist" means no one else is singing, unlike the soloistic cantors. If a soloist pulls tempo, skips a phrase, or does anything else, the accompanist must follow, and must play softer than the soloist is singing. Now, in a situation in most Catholic churches where the keyboardist is trained and the cantor is not, this results in a disastrous tug-of-war. If the soloist (cantor) is followed by the accompanist, and the cantor as soloist is untrained, then the soloist is probably going to be wrong sometimes, perhaps often. The organ, playing softly to accompany the solo cantor, cannot steer the congregation. The congregation will be led astray.

The physical distances between cantors and organists are also a concern: communication is impossible, and can lead to stressful situations. We have all heard cantors begin a third verse after the organist has decided that two was enough — or the other way around. Or the cantor may sing the wrong verse, further confusing the people in the pews. Or change tempo. Or skip beats. There can only be one person in charge in a solo-accompaniment situation. This is another reason why the cantor should not be a soloist during congregational music

The third part of organist training is as leader. Here the organist is trained to set the tempo, give the breaths, etc. By strong, authoritative playing, the organist will pull the congregation along — and the average singer in the pew is less likely to be intimidated by sound of his own voice, hence more likely to sing out.

A good organist knows that the introduction to a hymn should sound like the hymn, not a creative improvisation that has nothing to do with what the people will sing. The introduction — sometimes an entire verse — must be played in the same tempo in which the people are to sing. This cues the congregation: "Here is the music you are going to sing, and this is how fast you will sing it."

The organist as leader will determine breathing points, and will signal this by lifting his hands very briefly from the keyboard at the end of phrases, while keeping the tempo. This helps to keep everyone together.

There is an old saw about organists that says: the better the training, the louder one plays! This may come as a shock, even evoke a few complaints, but it is a proven way to get the congregation to sing!

Restoring the Pipe Organ to Its Rightful Place

The cost of maintaining a pipe organ can, for smaller parishes, be a daunting concern. Today there are excellent electronic organs that can closely approximate the sound of a true pipe organ. However, a small pipe organ is eminently preferable to an electronic one — for authenticity and history. (Similarly, the effect of real candlelight cannot be duplicated by electric bulbs.) Twice-annual tuning should keep organ-repair bills to a minimum. And, ah, isn't the pursuit of beauty and excellence a part of our heritage and tradition? Oughtn't we have the best for God's house?

Resources for Aspiring Organists

The American Guild of Organists is the best place to start. There are chapters in many areas. The Guild also has teaching materials and videos that instruct on the correct way to lead congregational singing from the organ console. (Web site: American Guild of Organists address: 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1260, New York NY 10015.)

The Organ Historical Society also has many materials available, including fine collections of organ music.

The Organ Clearing House can help parishes find old instruments that can be reconditioned or restyled to fit a particular church. Sometimes the initial cost of a small pipe organ is about the same as that of a bells-and-whistles loaded electronic one, and much more suitable for sacred music. Many fine new instruments are also available.

Electronic instruments also need repair and updating, of course — and they decrease in value as the years go by. Pipe organs never decrease in value, however, and they can always have extra ranks of pipes added as size and need arise, and as budgets allow.

If we restore sacred music to our churches, replacing entertainment-style songs, the organ can again take its rightful place as the instrument best suited for leading music in Catholic worship. And, as the Council Fathers told us, this instrument can lead us to God.

Next week: Part III : Bells and Whistles, Guitars and Tambourines

Part I – Banish the Soloists – Let the People Sing looks at the cantor as soloist, a position not envisioned by the Second Vatican Council, and counter-productive to good congregational singing.
 

Part II – Where Have All the Organists Gone? examines the pipe organ and its value in leading music in Catholic worship.
 

Part III – Bells and Whistles, Guitars and Tambourines looks at "other instruments" and their suitability or unsuitability at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Lucy E. Carroll, D.M.A., is organist and music director at the public chapel of the Carmelite monastery in Philadelphia. She is also adjunct associate professor at Westminster Choir College, Princeton. She has taught high school through graduate school, and worked in Lutheran, Episcopal and Catholic churches and a Reform Synagogue. Her Churchmouse Squeaks cartoons appear regularly in the Adoremus Bulletin.

Copyright © 2003 Adoremus: Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy.
All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

See also CNP's Index of Music for Organ