The Organ Bench
Last fall, a family emergency called me back to my home town. We were graced to enjoy a gracious Air BnB home where we surrounded by two acres of trees covered in glowing autumn foliage. Photos scattered around the house showed us that it had raised a loving family. Opposite the living room fireplace, there was a spinet piano stationed near the dining room door. Next to it was a basket filled with music: Kabalevsky Children’s Pieces, volumes of the June Weybright Piano Method. In the piano bench, there were some popular music sheets as well as a few song books. Clearly, someone had enjoyed playing piano, inviting family and friends to join in the singing. Just like the old days…
Home town visits mean memories rekindled. Little did I suspect that the high school auditorium would play such an important part in my career. There was not only a nice piano, but an old Baldwin electronic organ in the pit below the stage. No one ever bothered me there and I was free to explore. The organ was covered, not only in canvas, but in dust. Clearly, no one had played it in years. In fact, no one could remember who played it last. It adopted me, and off we went! I started playing for chapels and later, school commencements and baccalaureates.
It was quite some time before I opened the organ bench to see what was there. Treasure! I can still see the stack that someone had left inside: a musty John Stainer Organ Method, a volume or two of Ellen Jane Lorenz pieces, a red Presbyterian hymnal, and a copy of the Bach/Riemenschneider “Orgelbuchlein.” Though I did not know it at the time, it was more than a random stack of music––it was a pathway to the future. I will never be able to thank the anonymous organist who left those treasures for me to. But, I can pay the gift forward by asking you this question, “What will you leave in your piano basket and your organ bench?”
Maybe one of these new publications will be something you leave behind for another’s encouragement. Music for Lent is our topic this month. Why not consider Franklin Ashdown’s Pastoral Psalms for Organ (Augsburg Fortress)? These gentle arrangements center on 23rd Psalm texts, totaling nine familiar hymns, plus two pastorales on original themes. Though quiet, the composer offers a variety of styles and textures, all at an intermediate level. At the same intermediate level is Wayfarer Trilogy (MorningStar 10-040), a fine addition to the Lenten repertory. Raymond Haan has creatively set three tunes, “Motherless Child,” “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me,” and “Jerusalem the Golden (Ewing).” He is a master at the slow build-up, rising from quiet starts to expansive climaxes before receding to peaceful resolutions. These meditations would be useful both in service and concert.
John Behnke’s Three Church Windows (Concordia 97-7782) would also be at home in concert or service. What a fine group of intermediate pieces these are! Two of the three are thematically related to Lent: “Children of the Heavenly Father” and “Wondrous Love,” while “At the Lamb’s High Feast,” an Easter favorite, makes this volume useful throughout the entire season.
Lent is also the inspiration for Jacob Weber’s Lent Mosaics (Concordia 97-7824). Here are six tunes chosen from the Lutheran chorale repertory. Weber has grounded each of his arrangements in the same late Baroque style we recognize in Bach’s Orgelbuchlein. What this means is that, regardless of your congregation’s familiarity with the hymn tunes themselves, the meaning and mood of these pieces abides in Weber’s compositional craft. What is Lent without a good set of variations, such as Alfred Fedak’s Partita on Built on the Rock (MS 10-653)?” This time of year, we need both imagination and flexibility in our selections. You can play the entire piece, or make a choice among the opening Fantasia movement, its two quiet reflections, and its two lively elaborations, according to your needs. Easily, this could be the piece that fills all your needs for an entire Sunday.
Harold Stover is offering us something completely new for this year in his Blue Prelude (MS 10-433). From the title, you might think it is going to be a jazz piece. It is not “the blues,” in that folksy, down to earth way. Rather, it is a sophisticated composition that recalls jazz harmonies while avoiding conventional harmonic progressions. In a similar way, Stover uses compound time to recall elements of swing, without allowing them to dominate. The strongest jazz influence emerges from the subtlety of his melodic invention, leaving an impression that it is improvisational. Blue Prelude is technically intermediate, but musically challenging, making it a piece to grow into year after year.
If ever there is a time to use plain chant, it’s during Lent. My chief complaint about most chant-based compositions is that they tend to lack engaging developments. I am happy to tell you that Richard J. Clark has proven me wrong with his Gregorian Impressions (Sacred Music Press70/2155S). Choosing seven of the most familiar chants, including “Pange Lingua,” “Adoro te Devote,” “Ubi Caritas,” “O Filii et Filiae,” and “Veni, Creator Spiritus,” he has opened the door to use in Protestant churches, as well as Roman Catholic. Never afraid to call for tone color and rhythm, he keeps his harmonies conservative and limits himself to intermediate technical demands. If you have not explored chant-based material, this is a good place to start.
What will you leave in your organ bench? One of these days, someone will be looking to see. Be generous!