The following came from Celeste M.
[We usually redact names for anonymity’s sake.]
EAR CCW TEAM: With regard to your recent article on simplified organ music I see you already printed a response. But I wanted to chime in anyway. I haven’t been doing parish music that long—only about 3 years at this point. But I do it a lot. Until very recently, I was accompanying at least two weekend Mass (or either piano or organ), plus directing a children’s choir, plus organizing and accompanying pretty much all the weddings and funerals. (I’m happy to report I usually only do one weekend Mass most weeks now, and someone else has assumed responsibility for the children’s choir.) Except for weddings and funerals, I am a volunteer. While I feel that I’m reasonably skilled, I do not consider myself to be a professional musician. I have played piano for about 40 years in all sorts of contexts, but never attended a university music program, nor completed my ARCT (I stopped piano studies just as I started RCM grade 10). I started the organ after a single, solitary organ lesson about 2.5 years ago (plus lots of instructional YouTube videos), and I’m still quite terrible with my feet. But that is, in large part, because I never learn anything adequately. I’m just doing glorified sight-reading most weeks unless it’s a piece that we do very frequently. This is mostly due to a combination of factors: the sheer number of Masses I have to prepare unique music for, the sheer number of my children (five, two of which are high-needs), a lack of organ at home (I only have a piano), and the steady rhythm of the Church Year!
I really appreciate simplified music, in part because I’m pretty much always doing things by the seat of my pants. I would much rather play a simple version well than try to stumble my way through something poorly, or even worse, at a dragging tempo! My task is to support singing, and I can’t do that if I can’t play what is being sung, or play it at a tempo that isn’t conducive to singing. I also would rather have simple music and “complicate” it myself.1 I find the task of simplifying to be much harder, especially on the fly, which is pretty much the entirety of my experience as a church musician! So starting simple and letting me adjust based on my skill and practice time results in a better end product, a happier choir director, and a more appreciative congregation.
Thank you for everything you do. You are a tremendous resource for those of us out here in the proverbial wild!
1 Can I add a few pedals? Yes, I can! Can I fill out these chords? You bet! Can I insert some passing notes or make this chord more colorful? That would be lovely!
