Crash course may help LDS organists to soar
He plays the first key with the tip of his thumb and the next with the base of the thumb. He holds the first note down with the tip of the thumb — or is it the base of thumb? The next note gets played by the base — no, sorry, the tip of the thumb.
"This is awkward!" Andersson blurts, as he tries out the "thumb glissando," a fingering technique used by church organists.
The 53-year-old Pleasant Grove man, along with a couple hundred other organists ranging in skill from novice to pro, spent Saturday morning at Brigham Young University taking a crash course in organ technique.
The workshops, which included classes in pedal technique and tips for better hymn playing, were designed to help train organists for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because the church doesn't have a paid clergy, pianists are often pressed into playing the organ for worship services.
"People think the organ is a glorified piano," said Ruth Ann Hay, sub dean of the Utah Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, which sponsored the annual event. "They think, if you can play the piano, with a lesson or two, you can play the organ. But it's a completely different beast."
Most church organists don't have that option, though. In fact, because of the growing popularity of "praise bands" in Christian music, universities across the country are discontinuing their organ programs, said Andrew Unsworth, a Tabernacle organist at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
In Utah, however, the demand for organists to man the plethora of LDS chapels remains high, he said. As a result, many church organists have to master the instrument on the fly.
"I feel sorry for anyone who gets recruited into service and has to play the following Sunday," Unsworth said. "Getting acquainted with the way the organ works requires quite a bit of grunt work."
For Florence Hawkinson, who attended Saturday's workshops, that "grunt work" involved studying under the tutelage of a neighbor. It took her two months of two-hour-a-day practices to master three hymns.
"It was intense," said Hawkinson, who lives in Provo. She's continued to study organ technique diligently for the past three years.
Because Carol Weibell, of Alpine, didn't get the proper instruction, she still struggles with some organ technique even after 50 years playing. Like many LDS organists, she taught herself because the congregation lacked an organist.
"I played the piano, so I'd get asked to play all the time," she said. "I didn't do it very well, but I did as best as I could."
Weibell soaked up every word The American Guild of Organists instructors said Saturday.
"This will improve my technique so much," she said. "Learning new things gives me so much more motivation to practice."
E-mail: estuart@desnews.com
Recent comments
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