Good Luck Finding an Organist. . . Redo. . .

Twelve years ago I penned what has been my most popular post.  Some 200,000 read the story of churches with empty organ benches and silent organs.  Since that time, things have not improved and have declined even more.  Those serving as organists have aged.  In fact, it is not uncommon to find organists who have been at their jobs for 50, 60, and even 70 years -- and still playing.  Like my own home parish, the ordinary organist there has played at least that long and there is no one in the parish to succeed her.  Thankfully, the wife of their pastor (a pastor shared with another parish thirty miles away) is an accomplished organist and is able to fill in.  Perhaps she will become the regular organist whether she wants to or not.  It is often the situation where a pastor's wife who can play piano or organ becomes the default parish musician when there is no one to step up.  My home parish is committed to the pipe organ.  They just recently spent more than $3,000 just to repair a blower motor and that shows the level of commitment to both the instrument and its role as leader of the people's song.  But as hard as it was to have an absolutely ancient electric motor repaired, it will be more difficult to find someone to play that instrument if the day comes and the wife of the pastor is no longer there to fill in.  

The prospect for finding an organist have become pipe dreams in too many places.  As the situation declines even more, it will be harder than ever to recruit new people to the organ bench.  Without a real life organist to demonstrate the craft and encourage those who may have an interest, the young will not have a mentor to encourage their interest or train them in this important craft.  It is not simply a problem in the congregation.  There are a host of reasons that contribute to the problem.  Children receiving less exposure to music in their regular school settings, music programs in schools are either being cut back or eliminated entirely, and neither the organ or the piano is as popular as other instruments.  There is also the problem of musical taste.  Children are more often exposed to church music that features no organ accompaniment to the hymns and instead see and hear instruments such as guitars, drums and electronic keyboards.  Even in places where organs remain, the sound is likely to come from speakers playing a CD or from an iPad.  Where the sound system might be okay, it might be acceptable as a short term solution but it is no long term answer to the problem of the empty organ bench.

Why does this matter?  The organ is not there for the aesthetic.  It is the King of Instruments largely because it provides the best sound to call forth and support congregational song.  That is what is at stake here.  Neither the piano nor the praise band offers the best way to sound the melody and then support that song as the people lift their voices in praise. Part of what we are discussing when we talk about the shortage of organists is the tenuous situation of congregational song.  Absent the music programs which one taught singing (even in parts) from a young age, school music programs no longer have the money or the willing participants for such endeavors.  Furthermore, many school music programs are no longer offered or required of all students but only those interested.  At a time like this, the strong sound of the organ is needed more than ever (for the timid voice and the untrained one).  After all, music is God's gift to us that we might return it to Him.  It is only secondarily the domain of our own preference and enjoyment.  In most Protestant congregations as well as in many Roman Catholic parishes, the congregation sings but a few hymns and no longer the parts of the liturgy.  This is for several reasons but not in the least has been the failure to find good parish musicians and the failure to provide the resources (organ and compensation) to attract and keep such parish musicians.

Some organists drive significant distances to play at one or perhaps several congregations each week.  I know of at least one parish where the organist is paid more than the vacancy pastor -- fee for service and mileage for a 140 mile round trip!  In any case, we are at a tipping point.  Unless we compensate and support the organists we have and recruit and train those interested, the bench may be empty for a very long time.  In my own parish, our Cantor has begun a training program to do just that -- to recruit and train young men and women in our parish to become organists.  While it is doubtful that they will ever be organ majors when they attend a university, such training will open many doors to them and provide them with a lifetime of opportunity and satisfaction -- heralding the sounds of the mighty organ to marshal the voices of God's people in praise to our gracious God.  The other problem, of course, is that without students and funding, many universities are abandoning organ programs and no longer employ staff organists or have teachers on their faculties.

The days are coming, sooner rather than later, when the organist will become a rare quantity and the organ merely a decoration in the parish.  But it does not have to be that way.  Consider this a wake up call.