Here’s what I wish organ students did all the time in the early years of learning:
Book an hour – just one hour – at as many local churches as will have them, and register complicated music as fast as they can.
That’s it.
I never did stuff like that while in high school or while earning a bachelor’s degree in organ performance. Sure, I registered music, but not very quickly. And certainly not on one unfamiliar organ after another.
But then, I subbed a lot for several years. (Here’s why if you’re curious.) When I subbed, I usually didn’t have lots of time to register. And sometimes, I didn’t have pistons I could use, or only a few.
As I grew more comfortable with quick registration on unfamiliar instruments, I began to see how valuable this skill is, even for organists who usually play on just one instrument.
Here are the benefits:
First the obvious: not intimidated when you need to quickly register on an unfamiliar instrument. You’d be surprised how often this skill comes in handy even if you have just one regular post (don’t we all fill in for a funeral at a friend’s church at some point?).
Second, it’s not a big deal when you have just an hour to prep for an audition, such as for a job or competition. (Funny, but not really funny story: I once auditioned for a job and registered everything on multiple memory levels…except I discovered that I hadn’t actually changed the memory levels. I re-registered everything in 15 minutes! Extremely nerve-racking, but I wouldn’t have been able re-register efficiently if I hadn’t had years of practice working quickly.)
Third, you get more creative with the instruments you’re familiar with. Experience with a wide variety of instruments helps you hear more possibilities with the instruments you know well.
Fourth, you aren’t thrown off by vagaries of tuning or whatever wack is up with your instrument.
This last Christmas, something happened at my church to highlight how important this skill set is. Due to terrific weather shifts right before Christmas, our recently-tuned organ went haywire. (Just how bad? Y’all, the principals were out of tune. with. themselves. I couldn’t use a single principal. Not one!)
So I re-registered, and re-registered, and re-registered, up until Christmas Eve afternoon, trying to make the best of the mess. Basically, I got really creative and didn’t let the wack throw me off (although, yes, it did stress me out).
Then, after the Christmas Eve services, multiple professional musicians specifically complimented the organ’s voicing and registration. Whew and hurrah!
Although I improved this skill through years of subbing, it’s not the subbing itself that’s important. It’s the repeated practice.
So young/new organists, if this is your intended profession, give your local organists a call and ask for an hour—it’s all you need!
P.S. It took me a while to find a photo of an organ I’ve played while subbing but I eventually found the photo above of the old organ at St. Thomas Episcopal, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. New organ soon to come!
