The Organ Forum

*shrug* I'm 19...I don't care. I just love playing the thing.

Gary,

You stated, "I wonder if it would be worthwhile to introduce young people to the organ in some way." I don't know if you are a member of AGO, but it has a program that does just that. It is called Pipe Organ Encounters and that program has been successfully introducing young people to the "King of Instruments" for several years now.

One of the major problems that I see with regards to the "falling by the wayside" of organist and organs is the lack of, if not a deliberate attempt to avoid adapting with the times by the organist. The Organ is supposed to be the "King of Instruments." Not only does that refer to the enormous size of the organ, but also its great adaptability. Unfortunately, organist are failing to become a part of the whole of the musical expression, and insisting on remaining the primary. We have to realize that sometimes, when a praise band or orchestral ensemble is being used as a part of the "happy clappy" worship music, we must adapt our registrations to become a part of that ensemble. One of our colleagues referred to playing a Hammond as "part of a band" and the success that it brought to his group. You stated that some of the kids were heard to say "very cool" after they heard the organ participating in the contemporary service with a rousing piece.

I honestly think that it is our own stuffiness as organist that is killing the affection for our instrument. We are the ones who are insisting on playing the Bach, the Beethoven, and the Handel pieces that are not very interesting to the younger worshippers. We MUST adapt or we will be replaced, just like most of our churches are having to adapt to remain successful witnesses.

I have now served successfully as organist for Citadel Square Baptist Church in Charleston, SC for nearly 5 years. Our worship, today, is primarily contemporary. Last Easter, I asked our orchestral ensemble to participate with me while playing "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah. The hook for the younger crowd was when I asked the drummer to set tempo and underscore with a rock style (hooked on Classics) beat. The older folks were tapping their feet, the younger folks were really getting into it, and the whole were standing in traditional style. The only person to criticize the effort was one of my colleagues, who daunted with, "Such Sacrilege." Well, his church recently dismissed him and sold their organ as no longer viable to participating instrumentally as their church worshipped through music.

Well, I'll close the epistle now, take up my soapbox, and shut-up. By the way, for those who might be wondering, I am 52, not quite a senior, yet. lol.

Mark

No, I am really not that dumb, dont worry. Although, I am blonde, so, I do have an excuse.

OK, fair enough.

Mark,

Your point is well taken. I was a member of the Pullman-Moscow Chapter AGO for a few years while living in eastern Washington state. Our chapter did have such a program for young people. I haven't been an AGO member since, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because there was never a chapter close enough to where I lived to attend regularly. (I am an amateur musician, by the way, and rarely play publicly except occasionally for friends' weddings.)

Yes, we church organists can be a stuffy lot, what with our Bach, Handel et al. But you know, that's how we were brought up. Maybe it behooves the organ professors/teachers to modernize what is taught in our repertoire, specifications, registrations, etc., to broaden the appeal of the instrument. I see more and more new installations including MIDI as part of a "blended" instrument (that is, real pipe organs with electronic voices-amps-speakers added). Perhaps instead of turning our noses up at the addition of state-of-the-art electronics, we should be embracing it as an opportunity to save our beloved organs from the woodpile and go with the flow, as they say.

By the way, I am 58 years old, but don't feel like an old fogey yet. I don't look like one either, although some would argue that point. I have the heart of a teenager...........and I keep it in a jar on my desk.

Ok, I am off the soapbox before someone boots me off....

Somehow, young people need some minimum exposure to the music and an explanation about what they are hearing in order to begin to grasp the great literature of the organ. (Remember the discussions V. Fox had during his concerts?) I wish there were many organists who could bring a touring organ to junior high schools and high schools and make a pitch directly in the places were young people gather and sell cds for the kids to listen to. But, for many reasons, this is simply not done. Rock musicians pick up their guitars and amplifiers and tour the world. The inability of the organ to "travel" is a great hindrance.

I also agree with the above comments about the need to adapt. It seems to me that there are pitches and sounds a good organ can make during some of the newer songs (I prefer not the term "happy clappy") that could be most interesting. We need some innovative organists. As noted, MIDI acquistions to existing organs could also help.

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Music is at its best when it is played for God's glory and for man's good.

This is Great! Great Responses, Great Imput, Great Conversation. Keep it up!!
John

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John Corey
Owner, CEO
Music 2 Skate By

I have two ideas from an educator's position on why we are becoming a dying breed.

1) It has already been mentioned that we need to adapt our musical ideas with the times. Might I suggest that we also need to adapt our pedagogical ideas. It seems to have become a hard-and-fast rule that a prosepective organ student must have years of piano before being accepted for organ lessons. Does anyone else find this upsetting in a world that is crying for organists? I'm 21 and have been active in classical and church music as a flautist and vocalist for over thirteen years. I am in my third year of study toward a degree in music education and I've had two successful years of organ study under a well-respected and demanding professor (with less than a year of sketchy piano lessons). I've proven to my professor that I'm serious about my organ (and other musical) studies, but I still have people telling me that I can't possibly be a successful organist unless I give it up for a while and study piano! I am not saying that piano isn't helpful, but is it 100% necessary for success? Perhaps by holding onto this notion, the organ enthusiasts of younger generations are being diverted to another instrument or away from music altogether.

2) On the line of stuffy organists. I can attest that it isn't just organists; classical musicians of all flavors carry the public perception of being stuffy. Go to a classical concert sometime (organ, flute, trombone, or whatever) and count how many young people are in the audience. The last one I went to had a grand total of 5 college students. We were the youngest people in the audience and there was an age gap of at least 30 years between the 5 of us and the next age group. Children aren't coming to concerts. In many cases they aren't welcome. I went to one concert that required ID because the serious musicians putting it on didn't want to be bothered by the noise and movement of children. What?! Perhaps we need to make a conscious effort toward planning concerts that target younger audiences. Halloween and "Looney Toons" concerts are a great way to get people of all musical backgrounds involved in organ music!

Comments, questions and fireballs welcome! (Just don't burn my piccolo!)

You may be 21, but you hit it right on the head. I am an organist for a Church and I love the cries of little ones during the service. Beginnings come from cries.

That is why a elected not to rejoin the A.G.O.! Too stuffy for me.

It is time to make organ available to little ones.

And, P.S., bull crappy on having to study piano first! You might learn the Rock III on piano, but try to convert it to organ!!! Hee, hee!

I never heard a piano player play an organ worth a darn.

You are right in everything you say.

Dale.

Piano did give me keyboard skills, and lots of musical knowledge, that made my organ skills progress much faster. However, EVERY piano student, will be sobbing over the loss of their sustainer pedal. I still miss mine. I could hide ALL kinds, of MAJOR sins, with my sustainer pedal, that stand out on the organ. I think that learning organ, will make for a better piano player. Oh, and practicing on a organ, is addictive, wheras for most, the piano is not. I can practice organ, for 3 hours at a time. Who would want to stop practicing on a brand spanikn new, 70 stop, Letourneau organ?

I really love my organ dearly, and i will admit for a while i did play some old synths and pianos, but could never really get into it like i can an organ. How sad it is that music has gone the way of the dodo in terms of the meaning and appreciation. There isn't room for an organ, and in most cases music is done digitally on a computer. There is no worry of paying a band to come in and play good ol' acoustic and analog instruments anymore. Sure, once and a while an organ will softly be heard in the background, but in reality its a sampled loop.
Secondly, i totally agree that younger (and certainly older) kids should attend more live situations. When young, i would attend EVERY organ concert in the tri-state-area, and it did not matter if it was a pipe organ or a jimmy smith wannabe because the organ was beautiful to me in every way. One day i sat down and had a marathon of organ playing, 6 hours including dinner, and i could do it every day of the week. The organ is everything to me, as i found out years ago, it is the perfect instrument of expression.
I know that we can change this, the word organ has gotten tarnished over the years and needs a good polishin'. If one in every 100 piano playing youngsters got an organ (new or "the one on the street corner) than that would be a lot of potential in the world of organists. Think how many new personal styles and ways of expression that these kids can grow up to play. The piano may be a boring old box to them, and the organ might just be that spark to ignite the next of the great generation of organists. Im not saying that everyone should be a hammond nut, the organ in general plays the widest variety of music out there. The kids can ease up on the hardcore classical study by playing a mellow jesse crawford show-tune, or impress there friends with some flying pedal lines.

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Nathan Wilcox

I think some piano would good because it gets people started reading two staffs of music and you learn some music theory. Finding piano teachers seems to be much easier than finding a organ instructor, at least for us. Like your idea about doing fun stuff with the organ than always basic Bach.

While the congregation I play for likes traditional organ sounds and styles, including late victorian romantic that I frequently play, those of you who deal with "Happy-clappy" services might try some Hymn-tune switching. Have you tried "There is a Green Hill Far away" to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun" accompanied by full organ variations? That might get their attention.

On other threads I have commented about the uninteresting sameness of so many organ concerts with Bach, Buxteheude, and Atonal Contemporary. The 19th and early 20th century concertizers packed them in with what was then popular in the culture, transposed for the Organ.

So many good pianists I know who play organ seem to use registration so unimaginativly, IMO. Its as though they just can't concieve of getting expression and feeling by any means other than key pressure and timing. Is that an unfair observation?

I'm 61, and since I was a teenager we have been a dying breed (I would dye "Bread" a bright yellow if I had to choose, it looks better with the jelly) and still we keep kicking up new blood.

I don't Know why you guys want to stab frenchmen with 3 pronged spears either, whether they are organists or not.

Lee

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If you can keep your head
when all about you are losing theirs
and blaming it on you
Its just possible you haven't grasped the situation.

I think that we should keep "The House of the Rising Sun" out of God's house! Hee, hee!

Bill Gaither is as far as I will go when playing in a non-traditional church.

Dale.

But the childrens choir would just love singing "The House of the Rising Sun"! Seriously though, maybe a more upbeat song with the childrens choir like "Jesus is the Rock" would a good place to get a little more interested in the range of expression you can get with a nice organ.