Organ, Choir, and music at Mass
  • b.michael
    Posts: 1
    I would like to get some opinions. I am an organist of 4 years. I'm not great at sight-reading music in keys outside of C, F, G, D, A and sometimes Bb. My forte is hymn accompaniment. I can do that fairly well. I am thinking about applying for a position at a church that had a wonderful organist and choir. The organist left and they want someone to take over the choir and play the organ. I am a little reluctant because I could never compare to the organist that left. My strength is in directing the choir (they are a very traditional choir that sings lots of latin and some polyphony, which I am more than capable of directing). What is the general view of how the organ should be employed at mass? Should it be loud and showy (like they are used to), or is it acceptible to use the organ to lead the congregation, while the choir focuses primarily on a cappella music? I've played at weddings and funerals and am comfortable with the processionals and such, but my reluctance lies in becoming a disappointment when the expectations from the choir members may be rather high. I've subbed at this church before and many in the congregation asked whether I was going to play all the time and if I would be back. The congregation seemed to enjoy me being there. However, I will be working with the choir more than anyone else. I've talked with the priest and another member of the liturgy committee and they both seemed very interested in discussing the position with me.

    I see the organ used primarily as a means to draw the congregation in through meditative music (quiet, not too complicated or loud) and use it for the hymns (and if it's not TOO difficult, accompany the choir). What are your opinions regarding how the organ should be played at Mass, and is my reluctance justified, or am I worried about nothing?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,510
    Apply. Be honest. Don't accept a lowball offer. Be confident of the skills you DO have. It might just be a good fit, and a good place in which you could develop your skills even more.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    The only way I know of to play better, is to play more. If their expectations are for loud and showy, surely you can pull together a piece for that on occasion. I suspect you don't have to do it all the time.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,828
    This is my practice, which some here may not agree with.

    Showy isn't appropriate for Mass. Ever. I play more complex pieces for the postlude, but usually on solemnities and feasts (usually things like Bach's Wir glauben all an einen Gott or In dir ist Freude), but never the T&F in D min at ANY mass or the Widor. There is a point where virtuosic pieces are all about a concert and are even not appropriate for postludes. Sometimes depending on who is left in church praying, or the sentiment of the day, I will play a postlude that is meditative in order to maintain an air of prayer for those in the pew.

    Like Kathy says... be who you are. Make no promises you cannot deliver.

    Make the Mass the top priority and the appropriate music will fall into place in service to it.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    I understand what Francis is saying. However, what you do may be the only good music your congregation hears all week. I have wondered if a reason many people accept mediocre music, is because they know of nothing better. That is why I play some of the classic organ literature at offertory, communion, and for postludes.
  • R J StoveR J Stove
    Posts: 302
    "The only way I know of to play better, is to play more," writes, correctly, CharlesW.

    "Be who you are. Make no promises you cannot deliver," writes, equally correctly, Francis.

    To which remarks I would add, if I may: never forget Rachmaninoff's backhanded tribute (I wish I could remember where I read it) to Kreisler. He was commenting on how little practice Kreisler needed to do for even the most complex works, and he said, if memory serves: "My good friend Fritz doesn't need to do much practice because he gives so many performances!".

    This is not an apologia for slackness, of which nobody in this forum is likely to be guilty anyhow. This is just to acknowledge musical reality.

    "What you do may be the only good music your congregation hears all week." Precisely so. Somewhere, in that congregation, there could well be - on the law of averages - one person to whom you, aspiring but reluctant organist, represent the first intimations that musical history does not begin and end with Lady Gaga. This person is not automatically expecting that you will be the next Charles-Marie Widor. This person will simply be grateful that his, or her, horizons have been extended.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    +1
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,232
    Charles and RJ are right. At least 70% of the church musician's job is education, and sometimes 'by example' is the only way to do it.

    However, I'll also agree with those who are leery of using the Widor during Communion....
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    My organ professor always said, "If you pull on the Trumpet en Chamade during communion, the congregation will notice." There's a time and place for everything - a lesson I think some of our contemporaries have forgotten.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,417
    There might, in fact, be times and moments on a particular day at which an organist who really knew what he or she was doing would 'pull on the trompette en chamade' while improvising during the communions. The contribution which the organ can make to Catholic liturgy is, speaking very generally, very little explored or appreciated in this country. Those who think the organ's place is only to play preludes and postludes have little concept of its riches in hymn and anthem accompaniment, and improvisation at impromptu moments when called for. Blessed and rare is the parish or cathedral which has a tradition of outstanding choral AND organ music.
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