“My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.”

As we welcome a new organist to our staff and congregation, it seems an appropriate opportunity to offer some perspectives on how the congregation may interact with and understand the role of the organ in traditional worship. Currently the carillon introduces the start of worship by tolling out a short passage from a hymn tune. These tones mark a shift of our attention away from the cares of the material world toward matters of faith and the kingdom of heaven; away from the rush of the morning preparations or worries and toward the creed, prayers, scriptures, hymns, and message.

Next our organist offers a short composition labeled “prelude.” With our attention focused and our bodies at rest, we come to a place of stillness and contemplation – something quite rare in our culture. Many spiritual disciplines encourage silence or stillness as part of worship and the purpose of the prelude draws us into a state of heightened awareness and listening. If we can manage that, we have heeded Psalm 46, where God instructs us to “Be still and know that I am God.” With one of the largest pipe organs in the state, I’m sure that you have no trouble hearing our High Street Church organ on Sunday mornings! However, I write to offer some suggestions about listening to the organ.

Each pipe of the organ makes a single sound. Fueled by air from the bellows, it can only play one pitch with one timbre. Timbre (pronounced TAM-ber) is the character of the sound. You can tell the difference between a violin and a trumpet playing the same note because each instrument has a different timbre. You can distinguish between the voices of two relatives saying “hello” in part because each voice has a unique timbre. A rank of pipes in the organ provides a series of pipes with matching timbres but with different pitches, one for each key on the keyboard. The organist selects a timbre for the organ suited to the character of the composition, the melody, and the position in the worship service. However, the organist rarely plays a single rank at a time except for special effect. More often, he or she selects several ranks to play in combination. Imagine a chef combining ingredients and spices to create a rich palate of flavors; the organist can create a rich palate of sounds with subtle shifts in the balance (called the registration). A food connoisseur is attuned to multiple flavors delicately balanced; with a bit of practice and guidance, each of us can delight in the complex sonorities served by our organist. In fact, musicians often borrow descriptive words from the taste spectrum; some combinations of sounds from the organ may seem bitter or sweet, sour or salty.

Some things to listen for:

Melody – Many compositions for the organ are based on a familiar melody such as a hymn tune. The composer is aiming to lead you to worship with something recognizable. This “comfort food,” if you will, asks the organist to select one bright timbre for the melody and something muted for the accompaniment. In such a case, let the words of the hymn flood your mind for contemplation. Often that tune is played right up at the top with the highest pitches. Sometimes the tune is disguised by hiding it in a middle voice or low voice of the instrument. Perhaps the tune is prominently heard but it may be sliced up into short segments, giving you time to reflect on each set of words between passages.

Counterpoint – Sometimes you may hear something melodic, but not a familiar tune. Then you hear a bit of the same tune in a different timbre. Or perhaps it sounds higher, then again lower than before. This kind of interwoven melody, called counterpoint, became prominent hundreds of years ago in the era of J.S. Bach, but later composers and even modern composers still use this technique. With counterpoint, it may be useful to let your ears play along with the game to seek out the melodic motive whenever it can be found, just as we follow certain themes interwoven throughout the scriptures. Often a contrapuntal composition includes a clear statement of the melodic theme at the beginning, then works its way around to another full and satisfying statement at the end.

Atmosphere – In other instances, compositions may seem formless or undirected. Rather, the composer expects the organist to freely mix the registration of the instrument in order to find meaningful timbral colors and interesting sounds. This may be more like an abstract painting in which the eye may freely wander to areas of intensity without identifying certain shapes. Likewise, let your mind follow your ear to unexpected and even undirected places and follow the instruction Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…think on these things.”

Special Effects – In each of the examples above, a composer or an organist may gather our attention through the use of some effects unique to the organ.

• Pedal – With certain pipes that may be more than 30 feet long, the organ can play pitches that are extremely low! It may seem that you “feel” more than “hear” these notes rumbling at the bottom of a chord. The organist usually plays such notes with a keyboard operated by the feet. Perhaps they reflect the foundations of creation or the depths of God’s love. Let them move you toward an attitude of solemnity and awe.

• Trumpets “en chamade” – These are the beautiful shiny pipes that point straight out from the rear wall of the sanctuary over the balcony. For special occasions, these pipes certainly get your attention! Let them remind us to remain alert, watching for Christ’s promised return.

• Antiphonal Organ – Did you know that the church has a set of pipes in a hidden chamber at the rear of the sanctuary? The organist can use these pipes to add subtle counterpoint into any composition. The Antiphonal organ can also produce an echo effect, creating a dialogue between the organ pipes in the front (chancel) and gallery of the church. So the antiphonal organ truly turns all of the sanctuary into an instrument as we sit inside of it, surrounded by music just as thoroughly as we are surrounded by God’s love.

• Zimbelstern – Considered by some to be a novelty, the zimbelstern is the one part of a pipe organ that isn’t a pipe. Instead it is a group of small bells in various pitches. A motorized ringer strikes the bells assembled in a circle. Some zimbelsterns seem raucous; the one in our organ is beautifully delicate. Used tastefully, the zimbelstern brings a bright accent for special occasions.

Each of these features contributes to the organ’s reputation as the King of Instruments. In the church it contributes a sense of majesty, surrounding the congregation in sound, leading our singing, and inspiring contemplation through the offertory, prelude, postlude, and hymns.