This is sad.
Eliminating such an instrument for 'lacking in functionality'
takes a certain sickness and an extreme poverty of soul.
(Not to mention a shameless cultural depravity.)
(Not to mention an enormously presumptuous ingratitude.)

They're removing that instrument? I am beyond disgusted.

Oh well, a more orthodox and traditional community will snap it up cheap and flourish whilst this contemporary, "eclectic" ministry will surely fade and fail in time.

Hartley -
When are you building your new chapel?
Is it possible that you could put this organ in storage?
I have played and had experience with Bedient organs.
They are good. They sound good. They are well made.
In fact, if I were the Bedient people, I would take the organ back and find a home for it. This is a trashy calumny.

Yes, I have played it. It is very Neo Baroque. But lovely anyway.

Do we know for sure they are moving to praise and worship, or is there more to why they want to get rid of this instrument?

They have a continuo organ, so maybe it is simply a matter of this particular organ not being a good fit for their program. Frankly, I question the value of so-disposed instruments for church use, aside from Lutheran churches.

On the other hand, it is Georgetown.

It would appear that their organ is at the back and that the positiv organ was purchased to provide accompaniment for choirs singing in the front (which seems to be their preferred location).

The Bedient Opus 28 seems to be an excellent instrument that would fit well into any Catholic music program of singing polyponic and chant music. It is not just for Lutheran churches, although many Lutheran churches do indeed sensibly place the organ at the back or in the loft.

The Georgetown campus ministry has simply sold out to the contemporary "eclectic" music crowd (read: big for-profit "catholic" music industry). This is a crying shame.

When most of us CMAA oriented folks read those ads for music director job postings, and it says "eclectic" or "diverse" musician, alarms and red flags go up. It means that they may or may not use an organ for Masses, but really prefer to do that hip praise and worship for Mass.

The mere fact that they have a continuo, doesn't tell me a lot. We have digital and pipe organs that sit in churches with minimal to no use at all. I wouldn't bank my money solely on the fact that they have a continuo, but on whether it actually sees any use.

A neo-Baroque tonal design is not any less useful for liturgy than a neo-romantic one, or one of some other design. Baroque instruments were, after all, liturgical instruments and their music graced Catholic mass and Protestant service from the tip of Italy to Scandinavian regions, from France and Spain to the Balkans. It seems to me rather facetious to assert that these are not liturgical instruments. With imagination and artistry in registration they can adapt quite well to a variety of musical styles and genres. It wasn't that long ago that one could rarely find an instrument on which one could play Bach with any degree of flavour. Now, thankfully, we have instruments by many builders which play Buxtehude, Bach, Brahms, and Liszt with ease, not to mention hymnody and anthems. Even organs by such style-specific builders as Frits, Fisk, Pasi, Taylor & Boody and others are remarkably versatile. Suggesting that these are not 'liturgical instruments' is, at best, inconsidered, at worst, simply not knowing what one is talking about.

It really begs credulity that even a premier educational institution such as this does not appreciate and treasure what they have, and wish to incorporate it into their 'eclecticism'. How unimaginative (among other things)!

Which Mass would you expect the 11pm Mass schola to sing at? 10? 11:15?

Yes, there were many Baroque instruments in many countries, but they certainly did not all sound alike. Even in Germany, the organs sounded a bit different from region to region, with those near the French border sounding even less like the ones in the North.

There have been some really bad instruments built everywhere, while some instruments have been exceptional.

However, it seems to me that too many instruments have been built for either concert or ideological purposes, not to serve worship. Some are just period pieces that may or may not work in a church setting. That is why I mentioned service instruments in a previous post. A good service instrument is built for worship, with concert literature a secondary feature.

Granted, Lutheran worship is neither Catholic nor Anglican, so it is not shocking that the instruments are historically different. A very good Lutheran instrument can sound wretched in another church and culture. Sometimes the fit is not right, and it shows.

CharlesW ... why do you keep referring to Lutheran instruments? Do you have some sense that Bedient only makes instruments designed for Lutheran service? If so, then my impression, from their many installations, is quite different from yours.

There are no Bedient organs in my area, so I am trying to get a feel for how they sound and how versatile they are.

charles

sounds like P&W is a disease! (or a plague)

How do you make words purple? Because I want to say other Lutheran stops include a 4' Lutefisk and a 32' Hillert Bombarde.

<font color="purple">purple text</font>

The Bedient organ is many organs. Gene built a very fine French baroque instrument for St. Mark's Episcopal in Ann Arbor.

That's St. Mark's in Grand Rapids rather than Ann Arbor. :)

One weak ass priest to let this happen...

Info on director of music follows.. Can you spell NPM?

2011-2012 Chapel Choir Roster

The University Chapel Choir is the premier liturgical choral ensemble on campus and sings weekly during the academic term for the Sunday 9:30pm Mass in Dahlgren Chapel. Its represents all members of the university - students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Since its founding in 2001, the Georgetown University Chapel Choir has established its reputation for providing excellence in sacred music both on campus and off. Two of the choir's yearly traditions include hosting the Festival Service of Lessons and Carols for Advent at Georgetown's historic Holy Trinity Church and offering music for Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, Washington DC. In addition, the Georgetown University Chapel Choir undertook its first choral pilgrimage to Italy in May, 2011.

The choir sings an eclectic variety of SATB choral music and membership is offered to all who are associated with the university, including students, alumni, staff, faculty and members of religious communities. Rehearsals are held on Thursdays in Dahlgren Chapel from 7:15-8:50pm during the academic year.

Students have the option of taking Chapel Choir for credit through the Department of Performing Arts. MUSC 100-31

Contact
Jim Wickman, Director of Liturgy and Music


Jim Wickman currently serves as the Pastoral Associate for Liturgy/Director of Worship at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Georgetown, Washington, DC. His background includes nearly 25 years in liturgy and music on the parish and diocesan levels, including five years as the Associate Director of the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

In addition to working at Holy Trinity, Jim is a Candidate for the Doctor of Ministry Degree, with an emphasis in liturgical studies. His area of interest is Liturgical Catechesis, Liturgical Formation and Ritual. He plans to complete his dissertation project in 2010. For more information on the project and dissertation, please click on the “research tab” above.

Jim is also a Teaching Fellow in the Theology Department at The Catholic University of America. He teaches Christian Liturgy, Prayer and Sacraments.

Pastoral Associate for Liturgy/Director of Worship, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Georgetown
Teaching Fellow, The Catholic University of America

Education:
Candidate, Doctor of Ministry,
The Catholic University of America

Quote:
Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2:4-5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism.”
—Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy #14


http://jimwickman.com/About.html

http://jimwickman.com/Music_&_Presentations.html

I don't know any facts about Georgetown, or the situation of this organ. As I said above, I tend to assume the removal of the Bedient will make way for a better organ (as removing the Bedient from St. Mark's in Grand Rapids did!). This strikes me as a charitable and logical assumption.

If someone is stating that it was removed so that they may do non-organ genres with more ease, let him state his facts for believing so. To suggest otherwise, with no sound reason for believing it, strikes me as probably some sort of sin against charity. Let's not malign the university's chapel ministry - unless they actually deserve it!

The church website in Grand Rapids says they have a J.W. Walker organ.

Notice in the second video that the singers actually look at the conductor and watch for cues!!!!

Now, let's not trash the 11 PM Mass time too much. This is actually a pretty common phenomenon on college campi. The late night Sunday Mass has become a pretty well attended Mass.

It's a rampant disease:

http://davidkeen.blogspot.com/2012/09/lets-go-buy-pipe.html

They are full of crap.

Wind pressure does not fill a church, resonant acoustics fill a church. Any instrument can be revoiced and rescaled to match a different room if necessary. And I would definitely talk not with them, but with Bedient, about the suitability of that organ to your room and get their suggestions on what changes might be suitable and also get them to dismantle and reinstall it for you.

Trust the people that built it. They are a firm of integrity and will treat you well.

Windpressure is tied to the scaling and voicing of the pipes - raising or dropping it from where it was intended by the builder can be disastrous without also revoicing...