Well how did you get to play it in the church?

Do you mean how did I first get the chance to play it, or how did I get to play for services?

Are we talking organ lessons here, or just "having a go on the organ "?
Sorry to ask so many questions !

In my case I changed piano teachers when I was 12 and my new teacher was the parish church organist - it kind of followed on from there.

to play for services

My dad was a Methodist minister. When I was 11 he asked me if I could help him out one Sunday when an organist couldn't make it, and I vamped my way through it. (Playing by ear, mostly.) Country chapel, three members of the congregation and my dad and me. Then I was at (a posh - as Mrb will have it) boarding school in the sixties and I got up v. early and went down to the chapel (illegally) and unfortunately for the DoM was in v. early and gave me a right b********g. Didn't stop me, though, and I did the same again three weeks later. Somehow (dunno how) I got reported and the DoM (to his eternal credit) said "It's obvious I won't stop you playing the thing, so I'd better teach you how to play it'. So he did. The rest is history, and I've been incredibly fortunate ever since.

It followed on naturally in my case, after I had been having lessons with my second teacher for a while he suggested I had organ lessons as well as piano, and I would sometimes sit at the side of the organ and watch and listen, and gradually ... a hymn here, a short voluntary there and you get the picture.

I kind of fell into it too. After I'd taken my Grdae 7 piano I wanted a change from exams and my piano teacher was also the DoM at the church I sang at. So he suggested I start learning the organ. It was meant to be a gap before Grade 8 piano but that was three years ago and I've never gone back!

As for playing in church, I got made the organ scholar as the only young person learning at the church, and then when my teacher went away on a course for three weekends a few summers ago I got to play for the whole evensong. It took me weeks to learn the hymns. Gradually since then I've played more and more and am now at the stage where I'll learn two or three hymns on Thursday for the Sunday services, and also accompaniments (but learning them further in advance!! Lol).

Moved across from piano at about Grade 6 or so as a young 'un, but had always had a desire to play - as a chorister I thought playing the organ was just the coolest thing. In fact, now I think of it, I still do! Lucky us!!!

First church job was at the age of 14 - £4 a service!

My piano teacher was kind of involved with a church nearby that didn't have an organist. I started there, and then word got around, and I think I'll have a job for life!

I was brought up a High Anglican, and really liked the organ. When I was about 9 I switched to the Catholic church, and was lucky enough to be in a parish that did 'proper' music and had an organ. I have been learning piano since I was four and began to receive organ lessons from the organist when I was about 10 for three years but never really practiced. The high school I went to had a small organ in the chapel and I started receving some lessons again. I began to play the two hymns at the Friday morning Benediction. When I was 16 one of my priests asked me to play at the neighbouring parishes Saturday Vigil Mass on the first and third Saturdays ('but also other Saturdays would be appreciated!'). Now I am the organist there, playing every week (as neighbouring parish is now in my parish, and only has one Sunday Mass). And assistant assistant organist at the main church in my parish, which really means I'm asked to play at short notice, and get the Masses no one else wants, ie, 7:00 am Christmas day and Easter Sunday!

Wow! I just realised I've given you my life story . Sorry.

I was a late starter compared to all of you guys. I had always wanted to play the organ when i joined my Church Choir at the grand old age of 7, but I didnt actually enquire about playing it until I was about 15 where I was told I would have to be at least Grade 4 Piano before starting organ lessons. 2 years later I asked our new Choir Master, who started teaching me, and 2 years later I did my Grade 5. As I was at Uni at the time (and in Leeds it is very difficult to find an organ available to practise on) I stopped playing for about 4 years.
I started playing again just over a year ago now and was made the Organ Scholar of our Church (as we already have an Organist/Choir Master and an Assistant Organist) even though I am pretty terrible lol



I, like organist_katy can learn a few hymns in a couple of days, and have to practise voluntaries etc. with weeks of notice haha. I have to teach myself now as I live in Leeds and travel to Bury (Lancs) to play and practise. Could really do with a tutor. Never mind, I'm happy!
x

Don't worry, waldflute, I did much the same .... !

I always harboured ambitions to play the organ since joining chapel choir at school aged 8. But Director of Music not keen, kept putting piano exam obstacles in the way (grade 5 piano was what he finally settled at). Then, when I was 13 was involved in a serious car crash which left me with virtually no bottom lip, so had to give up the trumpet temporarily and thought the organ would be a good fill in till got better, and we got a new organ teacher at school who was excellent. Never looked back after that.

As for services, I used to play in chapel for morning assemblies (had been doing it on the piano since 11 as they were short of people) and then bit by bit, elements of a Sunday service were introduced. Culminated in having to play for a weekend of services at a cathedral aged 16 when our choir sang there. Scary and very steep learning curve!

My advice would be do as much playing as you can when you're young and say yes to almost everything. It might not look much and it might not pay much (£2 in 1984!) but you have no idea where it might lead and the experience is priceless.

PS My first two teachers were in Leeds, but I know how difficult it was to find somewhere to practice during school hols.

I began lessons at about age 11 (you cant recah the pedals until about then) with the deputy organist at our own Methodist church in Keighley through which I was brought up. Subsequently another very small Methodist church near to our and who had the same Minister required an organist. I would be 13 then , about 1960.
I had to play two services every Sunday for .............. £6 a year ! A couple of years later, at 15, I became organist at our own church, after the organist died and the deputy , who was my teacher, moved away from the area. I found a better teacher at a large Methodist Church in our town centre, and did Grades 5, 6 then 8, in the space of two years (1962-1964), then failed ATCL organ (having got ALCM piano) trying to rush it through before I went to Uni to do Chemistry in September 1965.
Surprisingly, I hardly touched an organ at all between 1965 and 1976, then I played an occasional service in Selsdon (where we lived) and Coulsdon in Surrey. Moved back north to Wirral in 1988, and play about twice a month now at Hoylake Presbyterian Church. (Had as spell at Heswaal United reformed as well)

I'm an even later starter! Having not done any piano exams as a child I went as an adult to a teacher to do Grade 8, and then a diploma, and then before I knew what was happening I found myself sitting at the organ console. (He was an organist.) I had hardly been to church for about 30 years, was totally unfamiliar with the Anglican service, and shook like a leaf when I played for my first full service a short time afterwards. But it went pretty well, and I got onto a scholarship course after that. (Two years down and one to go.) I'm an assistant organist at the minute, and hope to have a church of my own some day, but I'm waiting till I can get away with less practice, as it's not fair to my kids for mummy to use up every Saturday. I'm pretty well okay with the hymns, psalms and canticles, but the voluntaries still need a fair bit of practice to sound reasonable.

I did slightly better in my first job - evensongs only for £5 a year! I guess I was probably 14

I might have heard you play then - Selsdon is just up the road from us.

Eeeep!!! Would this be St John the Divine, by any chance???? Him Indoors was organist there for some time in the 90s.

It's where we both live (Selsdon Vale). What a small world!!

The previous vicar of Valhalla Parish Church left us about two years ago, and headed up the A23 to - you've guessed it - St John The Divine, Selsdon.

Looks like the world just got a bit smaller!

they were desperate.......

Blimey - not someone with the initials IB???? Seems a very nice person - we're on the Selsdon Residents' Committee together! He is constantly trying to persuade HI to go back there - he is tempted to do so because IB likes decent music, but the organ is so he won't go!

As you say, the world just got smaller...weird...

Ah, I just spent a very wet and windy two days traipsing around the woods around the Selsdon Park Hotel. It's a small world. I should have popped round, Cyrilla, and come to dry my smalls.. LOL

Back on topic, I played the organ from age 10 after being in the quire and asking about how the instrument worked. I was about gr4 piano so it was a good foundation. As I got older, I was never allowed to play for a service for some reason, but got given what I perceived as the "plum" opportunity to play the recessional at the big services: Xmas, Easter Day etc.

Then we started doing cathedral trips and altho again not allowed to play for services (not trusted I suppose) I got at least one slot in the week to play a very loud recessional.

After falling out with some of the burghers of the parish (married the daughter of an ex-churchwarden and then subsequently divorced... ) I was forced onto the open road and plied my trade at numerous village churches around these parts. Some of the instruments are rank but I think it makes you appreciate the better ones when you get to play those.

One of the larger churches I used to deputise at had a falling out with their organist, and since they couldn't recruit anyone via the normal means, I got given the gig. Seven years later, I'm still there

Ironically, said parish where I became persona non grata after the divorce had need of a new DoM recently. I was the only applicant and they still didn't give me the job! I think I got the message that time.

Yep, that's him! The Sunday morning after Manchester United won some football competition, he wore his Man U scarf instead of his stole




Their loss

You can come and dry your smalls round at mine whenever you feel the urge, mrb - I'm only a mile away from SPH and of course it's only just over the road from St J the D where HI was organist/Deborah's ex-vicar now is/fsharpminor used to play!!




Ah - everybody I know says, 'Oh, he's such a good bloke - apart from being a Man U supporter, of course...'



Edit - thanks for the PM, fsharpminor!
Edit - apologies for going off-topic but just fascinated by this 'small world' business!

Me too. When I started using the forums I was amazed to find myself having a discussion with somebody who played the organ in a church up the road, and who went to my best friend's mum for piano lessons!

I'm afraid the organ world is the smallest of all of them. I bet we can all link ourselves to each other by no more than two, and probably one organist!

Indeed. I seem to remember mrbouffant's pedalboard has a connection to a church just down the road from here.

Not quite that, but certainly the whole of my West Organ

In response to the original question: someone asked me to. When organists are in short supply, pianists are considered a suitable alternative on the basis that they probably know the difference between the white notes and the black notes.

I played at my first church service since the last Ice Age but one on Sunday. Someone came up to me afterwards and asked me if I could play the Widor Toccata for a wedding. Answer: get lost! I'm way out of my depth here already.

Many, many years ago I was a girl guide leader, one who did not take seriously the duty to God part of the promise. Well, some of my guides had me on about that, so I decided maybe I should go along to church. It happened that there was a new priest (RC) who wanted to have songs at all 4 Sunday masses and asked if there was anyone out there who could play the piano. So I volunteered. There was an electronic organ in the church, and one of the guide's parents used to sit beside to tell me when I should come in with the different parts of the mass.
Eventually I gave up guiding and have lived in different countries because of my husband's job, and as there always seems to be a shortage of organists in the catholic church, I have kept playing. I enjoyed it immensely from the start.
Our five kids are all into music and have done the exams in various instruments, but it is only since I came to Milan that I've had the time to have lessons and practise, am delighted to have now reached grade 8 which I hope to sit this year in June. Practising like mad at the moment to learn the pieces.

It seems that a large proportion of us have got there by default! Personally, I wouldn't change a thing, and I only wish I had more time to practise. (But if you'd told me ten years ago that I would be an organist - and love it - I'd have had a kitten!)

Good luck, organist in Milano!

Hello and a warm welcome to all Forum Users! I had been looking for a specific Forum thread that deals with introducing oneself, but since apparently there is none, I thought I might as well do it here.

I am a 21 year old organist from North Tyneside, have been playing the organ at church survices for over four years, had previous 10 year experience with electronic keyboard instruments. Unfortunately, my fascination with the organ came rather relatively late(I was about 16 - 17 at that time), so obviously I knew I was not going to be able to achieve proficiency at playing, so I just told myself: "Just try to do best what you can do" and I learned the basics of playing from various experienced organists who showed me the way, as it were. afterwards I became, out of necessity, self taught.

I also have a mobility problem connected with the illness I went through during infancy, so my fingers, hands and legs are not as flexible and 'fast' as they normally would be. All that prevents me from playing larger musical pieces, so I have to settle for shorter forms. Now, as things are, the most important thing for me, given the circumstances, was always to be rather a liturgical organist than a concerto one, if one is ever allowed to make such division. That was back home, on the Continent

Now that I find myself in England I thought I might buy a hymnal and learn to play at English services, which I am trying to do now. It would be great to play for the people again, especially that in my parish they have a decent organ, and the only thing missing is somebody to play them:)


I would still like to obtain some organ qualifications, but am not sure if given my disability it is at all possible.
Maybe there is an option of doing a specifically tailored programme(or maybe even starting degree in 3-4 years time) that I would be able to do?(of course theory is not problem at all, I can learn) only playing might be impeded)? I still feel I could do more, be a better organist, but frankly do not know where to start.

I would welcome any suggestions, questions etc.

Take care

Welcome.

The thread to intoduce yourself can be found in the cafe but never mind, here is good too.

Hi Peter! It's probably better to introduce yuorself here if you're an organ person, because it'll be other organists who read; I don't often look at the new members' forum - probably I'm wrong to be like that, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. Anyway, welcome and good luck!

I am not an organ expert by any means but I would have thought that the Royal College of Organists (www.rco.org.uk) would be able to answer your questions about qualifications. As for playing at church services, it sounds like you already have a tremendous opportunity as there is a lack of organists in your parish. I would suggest offering your services as soon as you feel confident about doing this - I'm sure you will receive a very enthusiast response.