What to do with that pesky prelude?

Most churches with a functioning organ and a functioning organist hear organ music just before worship begins.

Or is it more accurate to say that most churches with a functioning organ and a functioning organist hear organ music to begin worship?

Will your prelude/voluntary/pre-service music serve as the first act of worship, or will it merely serve as “Your attention, please” so that worship can get underway? I tend to play concert music on Sundays, rather than hymn/chorale-based. Can my preludes be construed as Recital Hour, or can they be considered worshipful to anyone who will listen?

Both. And both are correct, depending on the listener.

I believe it is more natural for the conscientious observer to consider prelude music part of the service, but the Reformed tradition tends to regard anything before the Call to Worship as peripheral, and by extension, I suppose, dispensable. Well, tell that to the lady who was so blown away by the Walton Crown Imperial one Palm Sunday that she insisted that that piece be played at her funeral. Tell it to the church members who consistently maintain that that organ, that organist, and that choir are the only reasons they attend that church. Tell it to the people who would just as soon hear the prelude, the anthem, and the postlude, call that all the church they need, and ditch the rest. Tell it to the people who nearly left that church but hung around when that new organist started reaching their hearts. Tell the people who love every note that the prelude is not worshipful.

Just this week, I heard of a pastor whose daughter’s wedding will use pop and love ballads during the prelude, even though such music is forbidden in the church’s wedding policies. He is working around that by saying that since it’s part of the prelude, it doesn’t affect the actual ceremony. That is a criminal assessment of the nature of a prelude, and it ought to be writing on the wall for that church’s organist. Organist beware.

I once dealt sternly with a guest minister for a wedding. He insisted that the exit music be stopped after the wedding party exited so that he could invite everyone to the reception, then he wanted to music to resume. My response: “In this church, music is part of worship. While I am glad to stop the music any time you wish, the worship service will then be over, and the music will not resume. And by the way, I am not a CD player with a pause button.” (And let’s be honest – every person who attends a wedding in this country knows about the reception. They don’t need a verbal invitation on top of the engraved invitation they already received.) But he insisted. So he got to make his announcement, and I got to pack up and leave before the room emptied. Early dinner that night was delicious.

Well, why all this discussion? I’m in 'assessment mode' as my tenure as a regular church organist draws to a close on July 17. I’m saying goodbye to church as regular employment in order to focus on my performing and teaching. Substitute playing will always be a welcome activity, and I will always want to share my expertise when possible.

Therefore, I’m currently hyper-sensitive to the comments and thank-yous from church members who will miss my work. This renders my departure bittersweet, but it affirms all those years of experience on the job reaching hearts, edifying the downtrodden, strengthening singing, and thrilling the willing listener.

If we organists worked in a vacuum, we’d have no idea how well we were doing. But the reports we get from people who got just what they needed that day from our music helps keep us on track. Carry on, and let the Prelude be what it wants to be to all who will listen, regardless what a book of laws says about its usefulness.