Organists - the next generation

[musicus]

Say what you like about the organ, it has a unique place in the liturgy. I was wondering what, if anything, we are doing to encourage people to take up the instrument. Are there any parish schemes or diocesan schemes out there, for example?

[contrabordun]

We have a current generation?

[oopsorganist]

The Next Generation ? That's the the theme tune for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" isn't it. I have it, somewhere I think.

My music lessons were eventually paid for by Ted Heath' government. Remember music awards? I have got a successor but he is only 8 at the moment. He has promised me he will take over when he is 15. His dad complained to me about the cost of music lessons which is why I remembered that mine were paid for or I would not have got as far..... an hour a week for 5 or 6 years. That would cost quite a lot nowadays I think.

[organist]

This is a SERIOUS problem. I know of very few people learning the organ in this part of the world. Learn the organ year produced some people and I have held "Have a go on the organ" sessions on the organ. The organists association has cheap rates for students and I learnt so much from organ crawls when I was young.
Please will someone DO something about this? Why can't our schools encourage organ playing?

[oopsorganist]

SATS tests, league tables......

[organist]

Precisely! Aren't priorities a little odd? Hours will be spent on a secular show but music for a school mass might be thrown together at the last moment if there is any music at all!

[alan29]

School Masses??
I have taught in Catholic secondary schools for over 20 years, and can only thank God that these events no longer seem to happen. They made all sorts of assumptions about where the pupils were actually coming from, when their Catholicism was often tribal and not active in any sense at all.
Alan

[musicus]

Let's stay on topic, folks. (Though 'School Masses' would make an excellent new thread...)

[Ian]

Find them something interesting and meaningful to play.

[musicus]

Find them something interesting and meaningful to play.

Well, at my parish this morning they could have accompanied several fine traditional hymns, improvised a helpful, supportive and expressive (and utterly inauthentic!) accompaniment to a sublime chant melody, led the people in their acclamations (using good quality contemporary settings), and played a recessional voluntary chosen from what is perhaps the richest extant repertoire of any musical instrument. Interesting and meaningful enough for anyone, I suggest.

No - the problem (and its solution) is more complex than this.

[organist]

You are right musicus. This is a complex problem. Typical scenario? Person approaches PP and expresses interest. "Oh good you can play for Mass next week!" Potential recruit runs a mile.
No thought at all as to the fact that new person is playing a strange instrument in front of a large and potentially critical audience.
Learning the organ takes a lot of time, patience and money not to mention thick clothes to practise in unheated buildings!
I know of one dedicated organist who plays nearly every week whose church key was taken away by the new PP (on insurance grounds) so there can be access problems!
This is a problem which should be tackled with backing from the top - should I write to the Pope I wonder?
Another thought - the colleges have been training organists to be brilliant recitalists but some of them can't play a hymn properly!

[Reginald]

And some offer their services to the PP and are told that once every 3 weeks is often enough for music at this particular Mass centre. There's an irony in the fact that I play/sing for the Methodists/Anglicans far more often than I do for my own Church. Probably ought to migrate over the parish boundary on Sunday mornings. Anyone any suggestions in South Norfolk?

Anglican friend of mine is having her conversion lessons from piano to organ paid for by her diocese...

[dmu3tem]

The Anglicans seem much more determined about training organists in my part of Lancashire. The monthly magazine of the Preston Organists Association has about half a dozen salaried posts for organists in local churches some of which offer to pay for putative organists to receive tuition. This weekend, the newly refurbished organ in the Anglican church at Hurst Green (a very small church in the shadow the the Catholic Stonyhurst College) will receive a workout from visiting performers. As so often is the case, the key issue is money. Anglicans often pay their organists and choirmasters, Catholics usually do not. Likewise Anglicans usually seem to have more resources with which to repair and maintain Pipe organs. Note that this situation has advantages as well as obvious disadvantages. Paid organists and choirmasters can lock parishes into the styles they represent and may discourage volunteer 'amateurs' from coming forward with different offerings. This, certainly, was the situation for a time in the local Anglican church near my mother's house in Buckinghamshire. As a result, something of a 'divide' appeared between the organ/choirmaster/choir nexus and the rest of the congregation.

Personally, I don't think we should necessarily regard the declining supply of organists as a bad thing, provided that other instrumentalists are coming forward instead - or, better still, playing in conjunction with keyboards of all varieties, including Pipe Organs. Conventionally trained organists I have encountered often seem remarkably hidebound and clueless about how to combine Pipe Organs with other instruments (maybe I have just been unlucky in my acquaintances). There are also those (I am not among them) who say that unaccompanied singing is 'best' of all, especially among Plainchant aficionados.

Thomas Muir

[Claire B]

I've been playing manuals only for the past three years and have finally decided to get serious about getting familiar with the pedals.

It takes time and money! and I had the same insurance comment about having a key to the church. The PP wants to encourage me, but I have to check every week when I can come and practice.

And I've bought a proper pair of organmaster shoes.

I'm going to join the RSCM Organ in Worship training scheme. Don't know if its available outside Bristol and Swindon area, or if any of you have encountered it?

What is an 'organ bash'?

[organist]

Well done Claire B. The shoes make all the difference. An organ bash is the same as an organ crawl - visiting organs and playing them! Often fun especially if everyone gets a fair go! Just heard of a day in South London for potential young organists led by the wonderful Stephen Disley June 23rd. I have details if you know anyone who might be interested!