Everyone's a critic

To every pianist, organist or other musician that I have ever criticized, I now officially apologize. I distinctly remember, many years ago when we were kids, at our church there was a particular organist that no one really liked. Not personally, I'm sure, but for her style of playing the organ. Many people thought she just needed more practice, others just thought her style was lacking what congregational singing needed. Now, as an adult and one somewhat experienced in music and accompanying congregational singing, we all should have been nicer (more Christian?) in our comments and more appreciative of her time and effort. Another organist that I remember, always played the hymns SO slowly, that Rev. V would try and speed her up by singing faster into his microphone. This really only resulted in her playing slower.......funny how the background things at church sometimes take precedence in your memory over what we should have been paying attention to, huh?

Now, as a pianist that has been playing in church for quite a few years, and as a pianist that is trying to learn to play the organ, I need to remind all of us that we would not be so critical in church. We should not be critical at all in church to any of the musicians. I realize that church music should be worshipful and that is it much more than "make a joyful noise". Church musicians should be somewhat competent, if not somewhat accomplished, so that they are not taking away from the worship service with their inability or mistakes. However, most church musicians are amateurs , if not volunteers. Many are moms like me, who try to squeeze in some practice time when suppers are simmering on the stove, the kids are outside, or the piano playing will not drown out the husband's favorite TV show. I became a pro at practicing while Chris was also practicing his baritone and for a couple of years there, I don't think Cole could actually fall asleep for a nap without being "serenaded" by my hymn medleys.


I can practice and practice and practice. I can play the pieces at home perfectly, only 1/2 hour before we leave for church, but when I get to church, mess something up. Most people in church, I think, are not consciously listening to the piano and/or organ during the prelude or the offertory. I know that I am busy with what is going on in my own pew and who is not quite dressed correctly, who is whispering at me, or what someone next to me "needs" at the moment. I think this is true for most people with young children. Unfortunately, because the music is going on in the background, the only time people who are listening like me, only hear the mistakes. Everything is flowing along smoothly as you are getting your family all settled in the pew, and then a wrong note permeates the air and everyone's heads pop up a little.

There are a certain group of people at church who do listen consciously to the music being played. These are also the most understanding and most appreciative listeners. These are the other pianists, organists, and musicians. These are the people without small children who are not busy reading the bulletin or looking around at everyone else in church. Think about it. Can you picture the people in your church that are the "conscious listeners"? I can see the few couples in our church who listen intently. They sit where they can see the organ or piano and face it to stare at the back of the pianists head. They tap their feet along, if appropriate, sing quietly along with familiar songs, or nod their heads along to the underlying beat. These are the people who appreciate what you are playing and who forgive any little stumbles at the keyboard because they have probably played for the congregation themselves. And, because they are listening so intently, the mistakes don't seem to pierce their consciousness quite as hard as those who were not necessarily paying full attention.

Now, back to why I started this. I just started taking organ lessons. I have my 3rd lesson tomorrow and have been to church about 5 times to practice. The organ is weird. As a pianist, it is down right difficult. It is a completely different "touch" than the piano. The piano is really a percussive instrument as much as it is a stringed one. The piano has a pedal that sustains the notes past when your fingers are still on them. You can hop around a little more freely on a piano than you can an organ. The organ only plays the note for as long as your fingers are putting pressure on the key. One needs to play the organ with a much lighter, flowing touch. Anyone who has heard me play the piano, knows that light and flowing are not necessarily the adverbs you would choose to describe my style. So, needless to say, I am struggling a little, not only with adding my feet into the equation on the organ, but also with the choppiness of my playing. It is having to relearn one of the things that I thought I was pretty good at and enjoyed. It's hard to pick up any speed on the organ, like when playing a lively hymn. No one wants to sing "Sing of my Redeemer" to the tempo of a funeral dirge. But, to make it "not so choppy", I really have to slow it down. It's going to take a little longer than I thought before I am ready to play in front of anyone. :)

I am going to try to get to church again today. Monday, I concentrated on being all "flowing" (legato) in my playing. Today, I have to keep working on that and then try and add some serious effort at adding my feet. This is going to be the struggle for me. It doesn't seem to be something that is coming all that naturally to me, so I have to really practice it. I am not good at that, since I like the instant results of hearing myself play something nicely on the piano. I have a little collection of music to choose from for church and most of it I can pick up pretty easily and play.

Oh, well.....wish me luck. This is an endeavor I did not see myself undertaking. I really want to learn to play the guitar, but will wait until I have mastered the organ a little more to even think about taking a second set of lessons. Maybe someone in the 7-11 age range will want to take guitar lessons as well here in the next year of so......that would be kind of cool, wouldn't it?