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"It is easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself."
-J.S. Bach
This gracious observation from an undisputed titan of Western music might prove true in today's society if the instrument were an iPad or iPhone, but I suspect many would contest, including Bach himself, that there is much more required of an individual who wishes to make music using any given instrument.
Musicians and music lovers alike may quickly subscribe to Bach's diagnosis of music making when approaching one instrument in particular: the organ. Taking on many different guises, the organ can be a mystery to the eyes and ears with its enormous apparatus and ethereal sounds. Potentially overwhelmed by the multiple keyboards, pedal board, array of buttons and gadgetry typically found on an organ console, one might determine that an organist has no other mission than to touch the right key(s) at the right time. One thing is for certain-it will not play itself.
Written by a recent convert, pianist turned organist, the purpose of this article is to provide the reader a general understanding of the organ, tools for approaching the organ, commentary on leading worship from the organ bench and resources for further consideration.
No experience is required-many of the ideas and principles brought to light can be related to musicians across the musical spectrum.
Stepping Behind The Curtain: The Author's Discovery Of The Organ
The organ has been in existence since about the third century B.C., but it took me until 2007 to effectively find it. One of my earliest recollections of the pipe organ came at age 7 while attending St. Mary's Cathedral in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Having had just begun music studies, I was mystified by the sonorous sounds being produced in that resonant space. Visually speaking, there was no way to decipher exactly where the music was coming from, and for the life of me, I could not find the person creating it. In a way I felt very much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz wondering "who is behind the curtain?" (Interestingly enough, the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston conceals the organist behind a curtain.)