February Dean's Message

‘Tis the Gift to Be Simple *

Last Saturday, before the snow and ice storm, we had our joint meeting with the Tacoma Chapter, at the shop of Paul Fritts in Parkland, WA. Mr. Bruce Shull, a Tacoma chapter member and employee of the Fritts shop gave us a thorough account of the earliest organs built in America, those of builders Clemm, Tannenberg, and Bachmann, all German immigrants to the “Pennsylvania Dutch” colonies.

Bruce turns out to be one of the leading experts on the restoration of these antiques, having previously worked on several instruments restored by the Taylor and Boody shop of Staunton, VA. His illustrated talk brought to life the tradition of worship in these communities, bringing with them the old-world practices of hymn singing, and ancillary arts of organ building.

Most recently he has led the restoration of an organ by Michael Bachmann, which after a century of use in Pennsylvania, and another century in a Tacoma Church, found its way to the Fritts shop for restoration. Only one original rank of pipes was extant, but because closer examination showed it to be comprised of pipes from four different principal stops, it provided the proof that Bachmann’s scaling had been the same throughout the principal chorus. Thus it was possible to accurately replicate all the missing pipes.

It was refreshing to be taken back to a simpler time in the church. The organs were gentle, played on less than 2” wind. The earlier ones of the period showed vertical choruses up to 2’ and Mixture, while still containing several varied unison stops. In later instruments the horizontal development of the chorus came more into favor. A single manual is perhaps the most limiting characteristic, though a Subbass and pedal coupler make much serious literature available.

Nowadays we love variety. Go to any large church with a fine music program and you are likely to hear brilliant improvisations and astonishing musical effects from the organ, as though the entire expressive means of the instrument were used in propelling the experience to its ear-shatteringly ecstatic conclusion (the Postlude). Once again I point out our drift towards “show business.”

I will be the first to admit that I admire and envy the musical brilliance of great improvisers, and the endless flow of harmonic and melodic ideas. I have always been an abysmal improviser—of me it could truly be said, “he impoverishes at the organ.” But of late I have grown more daring, encouraged by a startling resource available to users of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the new Hymnal of the ELCA.

I refer to a ten volume set of Introductions and Free Harmonisations of every hymn in the book: 893 – 150 Psalms = 743 of them. Where a tune is reused, it will have a new pair of these compositions, all supplied by our many contemporary composers. Now anyone can sound brilliant, whether or not there is a creative bone in their head! Now I have gotten bold enough to try out some ideas of my own, too, mostly on the simple side.

I’ve never used free harmonizations much. I seldom modulate during a hymn, though I do often transpose a hymn down for comfort. It’s not hard if you start with just one transposition: down a whole step. Go ahead, play Nicea in C. Play Tallis’ Canon or Sine Nomine in F.

I believe the hymns belong to the congregation, and the more I mess with them, the more distracting I become. I may make one chromatic alteration late in the last verse, where it can make a truly hair-raising effect. Less can truly be more. I dislike the “fixing up” of the dull old intuitive harmonies in hymns, often digging out an old hymnal just to restore the parts. I would never use one of these cheesy modern “anthems” that derive all their value (or sentiment) from quoting some beloved but abused hymn tune.

I also believe that Elegance is nearly synonymous with Simplicity. Ah, simplicity, the refuge of the mediocre! (On behalf of mediocre people everywhere, let me just point out that only the mediocre are at their best all the time!) I couldn’t prove it, but I’ve heard that Healy Willan eventually stopped playing voluntaries altogether, since they interrupted the reverent silence surrounding the liturgy. Does every hymn need a descant?

You don’t have to be dull to be simple. You can vary the accompaniment considerably without disturbing the harmony. If you play the harmony simply most of the time, some may begin to sing their parts on the hymns (where still provided). When I practice my hymns, I take each one through its paces: SATB on one manual; SAT man and B pedal;
Solo Soprano, A and T on second manual, and B in pedal; each of these down a step, or a half step. (My organ needs a tremulant in A-flat, so I transpose a B-flat hymn to G if need be.) And do them all while singing.

Here is a trick I learned from a great old theatre organist from England, who had retired to Santa Barbara, where he regularly gave the Wonder-Morton a romp. Jerry Gerrard** told me, play the melody in the right hand, harmonizing it in 3 parts. Play the melody with the left hand, different manual, down an octave. Doubling the melody in octaves is normal in theatre organ playing, but if you use a reed in the LH, you get a wonderful baritone melody (faux bourdon) with less effort than inverting the voices. Try it on a favorite like “Beautiful Savior.” Now transpose that.

Now all you need is a sense of musical phrase, articulate rhythms, a steady big beat, some registrational color, and presto! You’re accompanying the congregation. Given some acoustics, simplicity can be quite convincing. I know, they’d rather be dazzled.

What I love about this job: it’s never finished. Carry on and be of good cheer! David

*You all know this one. ** Jerry’s father, a Methodist minister, gave him an ultimatum: Either the Church, Or the Theatre, but not both. Jerry said the Theatre paid five times what the Church did. A no-brainer.

David Locke, dean