I would fix the budget, increase the salary, and find D.

You don't choose organists. Organists choose you.

It's an organistic thing.

Sheesh, get a good serpent player already.

3 answers and 6....

With all due respect to Noel -
Why would anyone who could play only three out of four written parts think him or herself an organist? Why would anyone hire such a person. This entire conversation is a commentary on much that ills Catholic musicdom. A, B, and C, are not organists, so the question, 'would you hire an organist who could only....' is senseless because we are not talking about people who actually are organists.

This is rather like asking a university: would you hire a professor of mathematics who could only add, or one who could only subtract, or one who could add and subtract but not divide, which would you choose... if there were no other applicants.

This is not at all meant to discourage any who may be becoming organists and are trying with all true devotion and valiance to reach that goal. Godspeed!

"We're offering $15,000/yr to do five Masses every weekend, pick music, rehearse with two choirs, train cantors, come to staff meetings, and deal with five idiots who call themselves the Liturgy Planning Committee. We advertised this position only in our bulletin and by adding it to the announcements at one or two Masses on Sunday, but we forgot to mention at the 4pm or the Spanish Mass, which is probably fine because we don't want any of those people doing it anyway. I can't imagine why we only have three applicants and none of them play the organ very well. I guess they just aren't training organists the way they used to. Oh well."


This is an artistic work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Congratulations, TCJ, for your ardour and your progress. Keep going!

'... because there are no other applicants.'

One could wonder why this is so. Perhaps the sneezy (or non-existent) remuneration? Perhaps, as is often the case, they really don't advertise for the real thing; or because all they want is a 'key-punch operator'.... you know: someone who knows how to play the keys but is only allowed to play the ones that the committee or the pastor want to hear. Anyone who really wants a genuine church musician will attract one and employ him or her. If there 'are no other applicants' it is because of the salary, the locale, the undesirable professional environment, & cet. There are scads of genuine, sacrificing, even compromising, church musicians who aren't being employed because a slew of people don't really want them.

B. LH plays bass on one manual with 16' and strong 8'. RH plays other two or three voices on another manual

I'd say B or C for sure, but B seems most practical. I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this, but here's what I think...if someone plays a hymn well (accurately, good tempo, good interpretation) the congregation will be able to sing along. That's the point of playing hymns--to lead the congregation. No one sitting in the pew is going to know or care if they're playing pedals or not. It would be nice if the potential organist could eventually learn how to play the pedals. But that can take time, and it's better for a hymn to sound good than to have someone struggling with a difficult bass part.

When I started playing the organ a few years ago, I only had a couple of lessons before I was thrust into the choir loft and baptized by fire (due to one of the other accompanists being in an accident and unable to play for a month). I made good use of the bass coupler button and I greatly simplified the more complicated hymns so I could actually play them. You just have to do what works and keep practicing.

Definitely C. I'm in this position now at my current assignment. We had a fantastic young organist who was studying at the local university. He graduated and moved to another state to continue his studies in organ performance. There is no one here to fill the void who didn't already have a position at another church. This meant that if there was any organ music to be had at all, that I was going to be the one providing it.

I am by no means an organist of any sort, but I do find that it rings true that you improve when you have to. I have really enjoyed learning how to play the instrument, and I hope to one day do so with some proficiency. I do think that some pieces played solely on manuals have a place, but nothing compares to having a bass line. On the instrument in my parish, no registrations on any of the three manuals sound good as a bass line (in my opinion). I found that learning to play the pedals gave me a lot more pleasing options for a bass line. The pieces I play are not complex, and I do most of my own harmonizations for accompanying chant (though we do almost all of our singing a cappella for the TLM). I find that working on a few short interludes and a postlude give me something to work towards expanding my proficiency without overwhelming me. I also try to improvise on some chants and hymn tunes. I have seen much improvement since I started, and I hope to continue to improve! Maybe one day I'll be reading four parts with pedal with some degree of proficiency!