New developments

I’m just back from the Netherlands, where I was a tourist and not an organist. On the other hand, my definition of touring is to visit the churches and not the museums. So I did make my presence known in a few churches and was allowed to play a couple jewels, including the magnificent Müller organ at the Bavokerk in Haarlem and the Schnitger organ at the Aa Kerk in Groningen. I also heard some splendid playing, particularly in the service playing department!

I was taught that the Netherlands is quite the seat of important developments in organ building. While I appreciated that fact all these years, I now know it to be true. The churches are beautiful. The organs are beautiful. The organ concerts are plentiful. And the organists are very accommodating and hospitable to this organist posing as a tourist.

But there is a dark side to this.

Imagine your church. Imagine it being decommissioned yet keeping its name. Imagine the pews/seats being removed and the room being turned into a reception hall, a banquet hall, a museum, a civic center, or a concert hall. Permanently.

That is pretty much unheard of in the US. But such is quite the norm in the Netherlands. Fully one-third to one-half the churches I visited were at least half church and half “otherwise.” And quite a few were all “otherwise.” As an American from a fairly religion-dominated country, I was at first horrified by this. But as the trip went on, it became “normal,” and I understood the reasons why things are the way they are now. Struggling churches, dwindling congregations, high maintenance costs, etc. – you know the drill. So this is a way for the buildings to continue to be used, to be continuing beacons in their cities and cultures. And there are still “organists” for those “churches.” And they go to great lengths to perform often; the organs are being used and still being admired, even if the audience numbers are a bit low and the audience members’ average age a bit high. But for now, things are stable if not entirely solid.

While I celebrate the history (and the present) of organ music in the Netherlands, I am now keeping a watchful eye on its future. The above-described development is a little unsettling, but it is most encouraging that the authorities understand the important heritage found in the organs and that they are keeping them alive. We must thank the organists for their efforts in educating the authorities in this; it’s working so far. Americans take heed – you may need to develop similar educational skills soon.

Love/Hate

Music really does stir the emotions. It takes Sirius/XM and a long road trip to find that out. Picture me behind the wheel for nine to fifteen hours at various times this past week. Picture me basking in my entertainment options:

’80s pop: reminds me of school days. I hear tunes that bring the memories flooding back in. No good pop music has been written since about 1987, so I enjoy hearing real pop tunes once again, with creative band work and real melodies. But then the memories start to include loves lost, mild bullying, and family matters, and I start getting irritated, many times without knowing it. Oh, but the music is so good. No, change the station.

’70s pop: is much the same for me as ’80s, but it reminds me of even earlier days in the car, going to church and to school. But then I begin to remember some of the emotional and racial straitjackets that can be the product of growing up in North Carolina. Change the station.

Only recently, I have begun to enjoy the hidden treasures (hidden from me, that is) of Broadway. Of course, I am familiar with the traditional book musicals, but the new stuff actually has something to say, much to my pleasant surprise. It’s an easy entertainment, doesn’t require much thought, and melodies are still being churned out today. But then I begin to listen too much to the screaming and larynx-crushing belting, and my scruples as a musician begin to take over. Enter the irritation again, and change the station.

Comedy is nice to have on satellite radio; it’s uncensored. But it can’t be taken in doses longer than about thirty minutes, and when the sound quality goes down like on an old Redd Foxx recording, it’s no fun anymore. And there are too many ads. Change the station.

A full opera on the radio is one of mankind’s better ideas. I can listen to that for hours, with no apparent lapse into irritation. At last! A station I can listen to! But opera is no fun if you can’t see it, and I’m not familiar with enough operas to know what’s going on. But the music is sublime, and so I listen.

Then there’s classical pops. Bite-sized pieces or only single movements. That begins to irritate me; I want to hear the whole symphony, the whole suite, the whole sonata. And so oddly enough, I begin to get irritated by classical music. And I am also reminded by some pieces of the repetition of popular pieces over and over and over on the stations I used to listen to in Houston. And then I’m reminded of the endless prattling of some of the announcers in Houston, sometimes to the point that they’d forget to actually say the name of the piece or its composer. I called in time after time to ask them not to skip over the important information while they were chasing logorrheic butterflies. Change the station.

Then there are classic radio shows such as Gunsmoke and Sherlock Holmes. I love those shows very much, but the ads in between are of shady products no one has ever heard of. Irritation. Change the station.

The full-length classical station called Symphony Hall is perfect. It is the one station I can listen to for hours in the car, not needing to plug in my own music. They play good stuff from all centuries, a lot of which I haven’t heard of, and they don’t repeat stuff. Did you know that Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed a Piano Concerto number TWO? I didn’t knew he had composed a number ONE! But lo and behold, number two was playing. About the only time I have ever shut off Symphony Hall was when they started a complete Nutcracker – in July. I’m not sure what that was about.

I suppose those flawless recordings of emotional and cerebral classical music feed my soul more than the direct love songs that leave nothing to the imagination. Memories sparked by music are nice, but the classical stuff moves past memories and reminds me of a future.

Rinse, repeat

There is a cycle that keeps getting repeated:

1. Church’s organist is retiring after decades of service pretty much for free. Church feels that since organist served pretty much for free that that’s the way it’s supposed to work and anyone who insists otherwise just doesn’t have a heart for God or for his people. OR: Church can no longer afford a full-time person, and so when the incumbent moves on, the church will split the position among two people who have a heart for God, make them part-time, and pay accordingly. In either case, the flow chart continues:

2. Church has joined the national church management club and has been requiring written purchase orders and work orders for years. The paperwork to miss a day, get some tables set up, buy paper clips, or go to the doctor is now staggering. There are now regular meetings to assess performance, paradigm shifts, and purpose-driven drivel to make any church look on the inside like an oil company. And still the part-time help syndrome continues to whittle away at quality in all positions except clergy (and even then...!).

3. And so a job description is formulated, probably by no one who plays the organ. It outlines page upon page of duties, capped by a weekly work hour total of 20-25 or so. That number is critical, because if it reaches 30, then benefits must be paid. And even then, maybe not. And so the church says it can’t pay benefits. And so the hours are capped, regardless of whether the work can be done in that amount of time each week.

4. Church receives paltry applications.

5. Church wonders why. 

6. Church concludes there must be a shortage of organists. So let’s use a pianist on the organ patch of a synthesizer, or let’s just use a band like everyone else. We just couldn’t find anyone to play the organ; we had to do something.

But did anyone try to educate this church that they missed the mark in step 3? The same techniques used to attract and keep a pastor should be used to attract and keep decent church musicians. If you’re going to invoke business models, then invoke them everywhere. But we organists don’t TELL them they’re wrong, do we? We have been burned too many times, and so when we see another misguided job announcement, we just shrug and move on. And so the cycle repeats: church underestimates job and pays accordingly, organists don’t apply and don’t tell the church it has missed the mark, church doesn’t get good talent in the applicant pool or church loses a good person soon because the job and the pay just don’t match, cycle repeats.

Let’s talk about this “organist shortage.” Yes, there are in some ways a lack of warm bodies. But that exists primarily in the medium-sized churches. The big churches have plenty of musicians to choose from and enough money to pay them (for the most part). The smaller churches tend not to need a degreed organist (for the most part), and the degreed organists won’t be looking among the small, anyway (for the most part). And so it’s the medium-sized churches that are trying to save some money or just haven’t figured out that good music and decent pay really should go hand in hand. (For now, we won’t include here the mediocre musicians who are paid all too well. That’s for another post.)

But there are other “shortages” going on: 1) There is a lack of comprehensive teaching. I’m sorry, dear reader, but I’m seeing student after student graduating with no idea how to behave in a church or even in general public. I’m growing weary of hotshots on the scene who can play recitals but can’t keep a steady tempo in a hymn or even sightread a different hymn changed at the last minute. 2) There is also a shortage of money to attend college; families don’t have it to pay, and colleges don’t have it to offer. That alone is reaching critical mass. 3) Kids are not taking piano lessons. That used to be a normal part of growing up. And so when parents either don't put their kids in piano lessons or allow their kids to quit piano, then it becomes the actual congregation who can be blamed for a lack of knowledgeable musical talent. Let that sink in. 4) There will apparently always be a lack of organists with the backbones to tell these churches that they need to pay their musician as handsomely as they pay their pastor. Music is every bit as important as preaching to any given service, and until churches figure that out, they’ll continue to pay it less, ignoring ways to improve their situation.

Organists, get out there and educate these churches. Otherwise, rinse and repeat.

Rinse, repeat, part 2

It's just one piece

Scenario: Prospective church music students are repeatedly asking me the same question, which goes something like, “Will I be able to make a living being a worship leader?” Notwithstanding the discussion that needs to be had over the difference between a ‘worship leader,’ a ‘worship pastor,’ a ‘pastor,’ a ‘director of music,’ and an ‘organist/choirmaster,’ my answer is No. Churches have caught on to two things: 1) benefits are expensive; 2) there’s always someone else (in the case of worship leaders) waiting in the wings to work for peanuts or less, because they have a “heart for God.” Take those two things together, shake them up and do the math, and you have a musician working more than 40 hours per week for part-time pay and no benefits. Musicians' GivingItAway Syndrome has been discussed all over the world, but something still needs to be done about it. And it needs to start with churches taking a more honest look at how they define positions and then paying accordingly.

Scenario: A friend of mine thinks that to catch a flight from an airport two hours away, a person can leave the house two hours ahead of flight departure time. Never mind finding parking, walking to the terminal, checking bags, going through security “at least 30 minutes prior to boarding,” arriving at the gate “at least 10 minutes prior to departure,” and allowing for delays to any or all of the above. Call me a pessimist, but I have better things to do than miss a flight due to poor planning.

Scenario: A student stops by my office and asks, “Can you play one piece on my recital? It’s just one piece.” Then I have to sit down and gently do the math with the student: “Well, that one piece will require at least two rehearsals between you and me. Then your teacher will want to see us at least twice. Then you and I might play that piece in your studio class and/or for the school of music’s weekly student performance hour. Then there’s dress rehearsal and then the show. How many hours are we up to now, for this one piece?”

Scenario: A church musician is working a position defined by the church as “20-25 hours per week.” Then someone asks, “Can you also direct the Christmas spectacular?” Or, “Can you also play for youth choir rehearsals on Sunday evenings?”

Scenario: A church musician asks me, “Can you play the prelude on Sunday when you’re in town? It would help sell your recital that afternoon.” No, it won’t. It will only require me to get out of bed and sit through however many services and sermons, just to play that one piece and try not to derail “recital mode.” And it will whet a lot of people’s appetites enough that they won’t feel compelled to return that afternoon.

I have plenty more scenarios where those came from, but it all boils down to some sage advice I have received more than once: “Everything takes longer than it does.” In my old age, I’m much more protective of my time and energy. That “one piece” can kill, if you’re not careful.

Shop talk

This week, it’s travel time again. This time, it’s ten of us on a 6-day trip to visit organ builders’ shops. We thank the anonymous angel who is footing the bill for the hotel rooms, and we thank Appalachian State University for renting a van big enough to hold us and our luggage. Here is a list of the shops we’ll be visiting, plus a bit about my own history with these builders.

Schantz Organ Company / Orrville, Ohio: Schantz is ubiquitous, and that’s not a bad thing. They have been a part of my life everywhere I have lived. And I do appreciate the miracles they worked in several places I encountered. Perhaps their most endearing organ to me is their 17-rank instrument from 1983, built for the Boone (N.C.) United Methodist Church, where I served as organist my senior year in college. That instrument and the room it was in made me feel important. I could leave my lowly classes in one building and enter the church where I wasn’t so lowly. At that time, it was the largest church pipe organ in the county. I was da man. I wasn’t able to pick up girls with it, though.

Kegg Pipe Organ Builders / Hartville, Ohio: I have never played a Kegg, but judging from their tonal philosophies on their website, I’d say it’s about time: “The primary duty of a pipe organ used in worship is to support congregational singing … A Kegg Pipe Organ is designed to play American worship services. It is not copied from a notable builder of the past … [T]he past must be drawn upon for inspiration, and balanced with the requirements of contemporary worship needs and American acoustical environments … [O]ne must strive to duplicate the effect of such instruments, rather than the instruments themselves … Above all, a Kegg Pipe Organ blends. All stops come together to weave the musical fabric …”

The Holtkamp Organ Company / Cleveland, Ohio: These guys (and their ancestors) have been around the block, and they have paid attention along the way. It has been most instructive for me to read of Holtkamp’s positive effect on both the Orgelbewegung AND American Classic Organ building in the U.S. And the visual effect of a Holtkamp is one of the more stunning experiences for a whippersnapper such as I was. I particularly remember the large-ish instrument at Salem College and its characteristically spare console. Form followed function, for sure.

Goulding & Wood Pipe Organ Builders / Indianapolis, Ind.: I have enjoyed getting to know this company a bit better recently, having played on their instruments at Holy Comforter Lutheran in Belmont, N.C., St. Martin’s Episcopal in Charlotte, and First Presbyterian in Goldsboro, N.C.

John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders / Champaign, Ill.: John-Paul Buzard is a friend of mine. He is one of those folks whose support and many kindnesses I will never forget. The first instrument of his I played on was during the Semifinal Round of the AGO competition in 2000. He spoke very highly of my performance, and when someone does that, I try to remain loyal.

B. Rule & Company / New Market, Tenn.: Brad is one of those folks who is keeping American organ building alive in somewhat earlier styles. He knows the historic organs and their builders and their idiosyncrasies, and it will be a pleasure for me and the group to visit and hear about a style of organ building we don’t get around to very often “in these parts.”

So, as soon as I click "post," it will be bon voyage.

Out of ideas?

Let's say that Buxtehude, Bach, Mendelssohn, Franck, Widor, Vierne, and Messiaen are some of the most important composers ever for the organ. Who is missing from the list is not important. It is sufficient to agree that all those guys are dead and that some of them have been dead for quite a while.

Concerning how to play those composers’ music they way they played it or wanted us to, we have studied, argued, edited, re-edited, published, discovered, accepted, rejected, performed, lectured, muttered, proclaimed, loved, hated, worshipped, and scoffed for YEARS. We are much smarter about Bach than ever before, and yet we still don’t agree on how he did things. Same for Buxtehude. We were given more firsthand information from Franck, Widor, Vierne, and Messiaen, and yet I still encounter organists who hate this or that interpretation, based on this or that scholarly study. Widor was constantly revising, and Messiaen had more than one change of heart, especially after he got the Trinité organ rebuilt.

Consider Bach. We have lived with him for a very long time now. And yet we still hear fresh interpretations of his music. On that score, names such as Fox, Cochereau, Alain, Koopman, Carpenter, Guillou, and Jacobs come to mind. Never mind their individual scholarly levels; we’re looking here at novelty of interpretation and presentation. Will they/we ever run out of ideas? Will we ever run out of people who breathe new life into Bach at every turn? Or is it just that Bach’s music is perfect no matter how it is played?

The more frightening question is, “Have we gotten bored?” Is Bach now so old that we need people to play it through constantly newer lenses to keep it interesting? Or lo these many years later, have we finally decided that the sky will not fall if we do things our own way? Have we been looking for chances to reinvent Bach and can now get away with them? Where did the above-named performers get their ideas? Did they parrot the interpretations of their teachers? Or did their teachers grant them the freedom to go for it? Or did they just branch out and damn the torpedoes?

Widor set his instructions and registrations in stone, little oversights on his part notwithstanding. He also had definite, well-documented ideas on attack, release, staccato, phrasing, and on not ‘lifting’ at phrases if there is no rest written. And so his music is also set in stone. That leaves not a lot of freedom except in tempo and rubato. Then performers started chipping away at the stone of the registrations and the attacks and the releases and the phrasing and the lifting. The Allegros got slushy and seasick. The Adagios got careless. Widor’s calls for certain symphonic registrations are being replaced with more orchestral registrations, especially in the U.S. And Widor isn't the only victim, of course. Name your composer and piece.

I believe that performers have self-assumed a more prominent position in the pecking order. Guilmant and Dupré were world-class performers, but between the two of them, there was firsthand connection to Widor, Franck, and Cavaillé-Coll. But fast-forward to now, where many of Dupré’s students have hit retirement age. Who will carry Dupré’s performing torch now? Many people are choosing not to. They are performing in their own way, not in Dupré’s. Composers’ written intentions are categorically ignored more and more these days, but no one punishes the transgressors. Why should we? The gauntlet has been thrown down that if the music now speaks to a wider audience, then the new interpretation is not only forgivable but also would have been allowed – maybe even championed – by the composer himself.

We’ll never know. Myself, I shall continue to play the best I can in a traditional manner and leave the daring stuff to the daredevils. But there is virtue in knowing the ‘rules.’ There is virtue in alerting an audience that you’re going to ignore the rules. There is plenty of room for forgiveness in articulation in Bach. But I find no virtue in mushing up French Symphonic literature with flabby attacks and releases. I draw the line there. Now you know.

Little-known facts, Part 3: Big toys

I grew up operating heavy construction equipment. Front-end loaders (of both wheel and track varieties), low-boys, dump trucks, motor graders, bulldozers, etc., even a few minutes on an old trencher. Now I play musical heavy equipment for a living. [How did I miss the blogging fodder in all this until now?]

I have played many organs that I love, but I don't have a favorite that I can think of this minute. But there is one piece of heavy equipment that is my favorite big toy on earth: a Caterpillar 930 front-end loader, born the same year as I. Oh, the earth, gravel, and snow I moved with that one. Responsive steering, intuitive bucket controls, and room for an admirer next to the driver's seat. I might not have picked up any women in it, but I kept them for longer when they sat in it with me.

All this occurred at Bell Construction Company, Statesville, NC, founded in 1946 by my grandfather W.C. Bell and subsequently presided over by Uncle Boyce and then my father Donald. I was never paid, probably because I was young and a terrible operator, and Dad never wanted me to go into that business as a career, anyway. So I was always a tagalong, but I watched in awe as half the land in Rowan and Iredell Counties, NC, was graded in site preparation. My dad was da man. And I still drive in those places with a sense of pride and fond memories. I am also happy to report that the company is doing as well as ever, now under the leadership of cousin Dwayne Bell.

And that Cat 930 is still going strong.

Which is more than I can say for some organs from that year. :)

The Feast of Memorial Day, Rite x

Since I am no longer employed in a church and if I’m not subbing somewhere on a given Sunday, then liturgical feasts other than Christmas and Easter often pass by unnoticed by me. During a trip last year, I was reminded that it was Ascension Day, when I discovered that most of southern Germany was shut down on a Thursday! This year, I noticed that Trinity Sunday passed me by, when the organ listservs lit up with people complaining about disfiguring their liturgy with the insertion of patriotic music – this year, Trinity Sunday (church) coincided with Memorial Day (state).

Well, first, liturgy gets defaced every Sunday as a matter of course in some places, so I don’t have an opinion on what patriotic music might do to it further! However, I have written before of some interesting church & state (& otherwise) juxtapositions. But it can happen every year. Memorial Day usually “threatens” Ascension Sunday, Pentecost, or Trinity Sunday. And Boy Scout Sunday (first Sunday in February) usually falls during Lent.

For the record, yes, I am offended that some clergy and parishioners insist that God intended the USA to be free, and that we should therefore liturgicize it. Yes, I am offended that Memorial Day went from being a post-Civil War “Decoration Day” to being commanded by God (in some minds). Yes, I am offended that major US holidays honoring our soldiers are celebrated by giving civilians the day off (what’s up with that?). I am offended that many people insist that soldiers fight for our freedom and not for their own. And I am offended that people can sing the National Anthem at the top of their lungs in the middle of an otherwise solemn liturgy but still mumble a sturdy hymn they have known since childhood. Nevertheless, I also know that the sky will not fall if we toss the National Anthem into a service. I know that the national church will not excommunicate a congregation for moving the flag front & center every now and then. I know that churches near military bases are in a better position to make this work than others are. And I know that the writers of liturgy were human and not divine.

May I humbly suggest holding separate, ecumenical services on the high holy state days (and there are many: MLK, Presidents' Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, September 11, Veterans Day, Pearl Harbor Day)? Liturgy is not sacred. But it is beautiful. And it is beautiful in its own way. If it is added to in certain ways, its impact is threatened. And that can be true for a lot more than just liturgy. Sometimes doing something just because people like-it-by-golly, is not enough.

Help Yourself VII: First & last

My proclivity to creating hymn harmonizations goes back to college days, when I was newly inspired by a church job I had just gotten. Inspiration is kind of like a "commission" from myself. I don't write the reharmonizations out of boredom; I have always composed them sporadically and in response to some visual delight, emotional charge, or earworm that needed to be committed to paper. Because they are my creations, I have always thought they are beautiful (publishers have not, apparently). And I admit that they are not the easiest accompaniment for the less-than-absolutely-confident congregation. But they do exist for better or for worse, and if you find them useful, help yourself.

Now below are my very first and very last (so far) attempts. Click, print, and use freely. NATIONAL HYMN (1989) is available in two different keys, depending on your propensity toward congregational abuse. The version of LASST UNS ERFREUEN (2010) is a slight expansion of a commission by Houston Baptist University for the inauguration of its new organ. It is set for four unspecified stanzas, plus introduction. I love it, if I say so myself.

NATIONAL HYMN (E-flat)

NATIONAL HYMN (F)

LASST UNS ERFREUEN (4 stanzas)

It's complicated

I have been vindicated by a recent article that tracked down certain graduates from a certain conservatory-type institution. The article explained that the music profession is a horribly competitive one, and that many people make it, while many don’t. I’ll proceed now in a direction that the article does not and ask, “Why is this?”

And, of course, the answer is complicated. But the article does identify the fact that you have to create your niche today, not just seek to fill an existing one. The next question is, “How?” And the answer, of course, is complicated. But it has something to do with providing something that people want and need. And in some ways, it’s about telling people that they want or need this or that. Therefore, it’s complicated.

Many organ teaching posts have opened up in recent months, and the flurry of activity is fascinating to watch from my quiet perch. When I was growing up, the excellent schools of music had artist-teachers, not professors. The doctored professor was the exception, and the title “Dr.” generated a level of respect that not everyone knew quite how to muster. In only ten years or so, all that changed, and the Drs. started pouring out of schools, looking for jobs they now needed a doctorate to get. I was one such person. The tenure track, rather than excellence in the artistry, became the goal. And ASSESSMENT is now the buzzword of the century. Now, another twenty or so years later, I’m seeing the doctored/non-doctored trend reverse again. Non-doctored artists are picking up some positions again. When you consider that all this has happened in only about 30 years, it’s REALLY fast.

It’s time to come clean in job hunting. It’s time to stop parroting the platitudes that have made the world squeak around for years, talking about how wonderful you are and how committed you are to good teaching. Here’s what I’d say now, if I were job hunting:

I haven't studied in Europe. I haven't performed in all the huge venues. I haven't attended the big conservatories and famous schools. I haven't memorized the complete works of anyone. I haven't performed in all 50 states. I'm not under management. I am past the age and weight of winning beauty contests. I don't have full-page ads for my accomplishments and announcements. And I have never won an organ competition.

I HAVE worked my you-know-what off, received good training, and am passing that training along. I HAVE paid attention to real life and have that experience to offer. I DO play well. I DO dress properly. I DO know how to address audiences. I DO know how to behave when things go wrong. I DO know how to manage practice time. I DO NOT require two to three days on a recital instrument before I perform, then charge thousands of dollars for it. I DO respond to every question, every email, every person, every request. I DO NOT miss deadlines. I AM available and accessible. I AM collegial. I AM collaborative. I CAN perform minor organ repairs and save a lot of money. I WILL oversee organ maintenance, and I will not tolerate sloppiness or the blame game. I WILL improve students’ techniques. I WILL be a student's greatest ally and mentor. I WILL teach students far beyond the studio room, by example. And I WON'T accept your big job and then leave soon thereafter for greener pastures -- unless there's something you’re not telling me.

And I HAVE won the audience prize.