To answer the points Andrew originally raised (elsewhere and here):
Any instrumental group or choir has a director of some form - to give tempo, initial pitch. A few choirs can do this almost undirected; these groups tend to be the elite, and I dare to suggest that this is not where most of our volunteers in church choirs and instrumental groups are. If the leader is the organist, that is fine. If the leader is the choir directore, that's good too. If there is a music group, then it is up to the music group leader to provide the direction. Each of them however must be given suitable training (funded by the parish).
In our parish - the one where the organ console has been sold, by the way (thanks presbyter!) - we do use "a couple of guitarists, the odd flute and clarinet" and still manage effectively lead the music. The tempo doesn't wander; leadership - unobtrusive in the main - is from one person sure, but not neccessarily always the same person - could be from the cantor, from the guitarist, from the priest. Can only a good
organist think about suitable tempi and start accordingly? Can only an experienced
organist, (alone and in their ivory tower) know the tricks of the trade to bring into play to get things back on course? I cannot accept that: it is obviously complete *beep*, and grossly offensive to the many, many practitioners of other instruments, other music leaders, animateurs, cantors, choir directors...
In order to support the singing effectively, some of the instruments I use are amplified. Let's face it, the guitar was never designed to fill a large church with sound whereas the organ was. So we use that which we have to fulfil the same roles as I outlined
elsewhere - lead, support, comfort.
Why was the organ originally used in church? Ans: It's a cuckoo. I think the human voice was the original instrument, and should still be. Melodic instruments have had their ups and downs (no pun intended) over the ages. The organ, a relative latecomer to the liturgical party, has ousted them to all intents and purposes, and been given some kingly status which it really does not deserve. It is only good in as much as it is a servant of the assembly, not its master. It is only good in the hands of a good, liturgically sensitive organist... but then so is any music group only good in the hands of good, experienced, sensitive practitioners, willing to minister and able not to dominate.
If your music group leader can only start in an audible stage whisper, accept that that is where they are today and work with them to move them on tomorrow to somewhere you consider better. I find that conducting the tempo at the start of a piece is effective for my group... I recall there is precedent for that orchestrally! This has the added bonus that the assembly can see the instruments being led and are ready then for some limited arm-waving at them - a minimalist approach to being an animateur (a role I much prefer personally to do with my eyes and facial expression than with my hands alone).
I recognise that my initial suggestion was sly (if you haven't read it, it is
somewhere in the middle of this thread), and somewhat axe-grinding, for which I apologise. I find Andrew's response somewhat closed-minded; Perhaps it is as slyly put as my initial post! But I do like Gwyn's: If we had the console, then I would use the organ with the instruments, and indeed I have done so in other parishes.
What I have found is that it takes great care - each instrument needs its own soundspace in which to work. It really doesn't work if all that is happening is a mess somewhere in the middle. Sometimes all that the organ was required to do was to put in a pedal part to support the guitars and underpin everything - no manual at all. When we use the piano with the music group now, I prefer it when the piano doesn't have all the harmony or melody, often asking for the right hand to move up an octave to allow the guitar to operate in that range of notes, or the left hand to miss the root of the chords because the bass guitar is providing that, and paring down written keyboard parts to accomodate other instruments. (The pianist hates it by the way, but at least is willing to have a go, for which I am grateful.) Or when using two guitars, quite often one is on open strings and the other on capo 5 or above. You see, it isn't just the organist who needs to consider tempo, registration and the like. Please do not write off those of us you might think too 'poor' to be organists. Instead, come to the instrumentalist workshop at this year's SSG summer school and find out what the rest of us have to do
Benevenio.
- No-one, no group, is the be-all-and-end-all; one person does have far more chance of keeping things in line than a nebulus group without leadership... But then again, we read elsewhere in this forum how, when the one person in charge (priest) has the power to dismiss organists/music leaders, or make any other changes, without any real reference to anyone or anything, it can lead to great resentment. Change is a very destructive force if handled badly.
