The organ is a complex instrument to master and every single one is different. Even two organs by the same builder with exactly the same stop list will almost certainly have to be treated differently because of that ‘most important stop’, the building itself.
It is not too long since I celebrated my 50th anniversary as an organist. During that time, I have played anything and everything from a small one-manual instrument to a large five-manual, both in the UK and elsewhere in Europe and North America, from congregational chapel to Anglican cathedral, from Roman Catholic mission to Lutheran town church. I have also had to deal with my fair share of electronic and digital organs, from the oldest working Hammond I have ever seen, to modern and very acceptable digital substitutes, with some hybrid instruments (two of which I designed while Diocesan Organ Adviser for Norwich) along the way.
Despite my many years as an organist, I am still well capable of falling into the traps that are all too frequently set (with the best possible intentions, I am sure) by organ builders, clergy, choirs and the like for the unsuspecting player who visits an instrument for the first time. I have long termed these dangers ‘pits for the ungodly’ in to which I all too often fall. What follows is a description of some of the most frequently encountered, as well as a few of the more unusual ones that I have experienced since the tender age of 12, when my feet first touched the pedals. But this is just a selection; I am sure colleagues will have there own priority list of ‘pits’, however godly they may be.
Top of my hit parade (or perhaps it should be ‘pit’ parade) has to be transfer stops. Arthur Harrison (courtesy of George Dixon, no doubt) was fond of the ‘Great Reeds on Choir’ facility. While this option is useful when you need a moderate pedal reed (in contrast to the high pressure Ophicleide normally provided) or a Trumpet solo or reed chorus fanfare, there are plenty of opportunities for mishap as well. Despite having played at Halifax Minster (aka Parish Church) on and off since 1971, I still find myself blurting out notes on the Great Tromba when I was intending to use the Choir Dulciana – all because I had forgotten that the Transfer stop was on. Not even the little red light installed on the instruction of Philip Tordoff, Emeritus Organist at the Minster, prevents my falling into the pit. A more sophisticated variant of this registration aid is the manual transfer. My most recent encounter with this trap was at St David’s Cathedral, Wales (interestingly another Harrison, though this time a rebuild of a Father Willis). Manuals I and IV (representing the two Positive divisions) can be swapped around depending upon where you want to focus the sound – Choir or Nave. All well and good, until you are in the middle of a service and you can’t work out which manual the Tuba is now on. Leeds Cathedral offers similar possibilities, though as yet I have not had to accompany a service there.
There is (much) more.
Some builders have essayed distinction not only in their tonal schemes and pipe voicing, but also in their provision of registration aids and their console design and layout. JW Walker, for example, often made a feature of double touch cancelling (as did other builders such as HNB, it must be admitted), especially on their stop-tab consoles. I well remember Francis Jackson opening the new Walker organ at Batley Parish Church (NPOR N05123). Playing the ‘Great’ B minor Prelude and Fugue, the eminent recitalist was over enthusiastic when it came to pressing down the Great Fifteenth and, in consequence, found himself playing Bach’s glorious counterpoint on nothing but a 2’ stop, everything else having been cancelled because of the double touch mechanism.
I always have to be extra vigilant on some Willis organs. Take Truro Cathedral, where I play on occasion. Each division has not just a set of pistons from 1-6/8, but also a piston zero, which cancels everything on that manual/the pedals. I have come a cropper there: thinking I was reducing to Great I or similar I found myself playing on the niente stop – most appropriate in the Cantique de Jean Racine…
Some Willis organs have the couplers above the top manual in the form of distinctive stop tabs. Indeed, in many HW III organs at least, it seems possible to couple anything to anything. All well and good, and it is possible to discover and utilise many interesting effects. However, it is also easy not to notice that couplers may be in the ‘on’ position when they should not be. Willis & Sons are not the only firm that has had couplers above the manuals. JJ Binns did much the same, though it is perhaps easier to spot what is in play, given the size of the stop knobs. But for some reason JJB tended to put the manual to pedal couplers with the pedal stops, even though all the other knobs were above (normally) the Swell. I have certainly fallen into that particular pit.
Organists have – quite rightly in my view – to get used to a range of layouts. The older the instrument, the more ‘unconventional’ or ‘non-standard’ the console is likely to be; ratchet swell pedals (interestingly, if I remember correctly occasionally specified in preference to balanced pedals by some Edwardian virtuosi), non-standard pedal boards, divisions differently located on the jambs from modern practice are all features that the organist should be able to accommodate without too much chance of mishap over time. But there are exceptions. Take the fine three-manual Abbott & Smith at St Paul’s, King Cross, near Halifax. Never have I seen such an illogical array of stop knobs on an organ. Even the organist of over 30 years still cannot understand it, so what hope has a visiting organist? The Swell Contra Fagotto 16’ next to the Voix Celeste 8’? As they say on Eastenders ‘ you must be havin’ a larf!’
In addition to the challenge of taming the beast, there is, of course, the carrying out of the main function of the church organist: playing for church services. This is just as significant an acquired skill as performing solo, especially when it comes to accompanying worship in many different denominations and traditions. Equally significant is the fact that there are just as many pits for the organ accompanist as the organ soloist. But that is another story. I have here restricted myself to those organ playing ‘pits’ that I have directly experienced at some point during my career. I know there are other possibilities. – best stay vigilant everybody!
In the meantime, I shall end with a cautionary tale. Curiosity killed the cat, as they say, and this adage can also be applied to organists. Asked to play for my stepson’s wedding at Dallas First United Methodist Church, Texas, I thought that I would probably be performing on a harmonium in some downbeat building like the places well known in the Calder Valley. Not so – take a look at the church’s website, with details of its four-manual Klais, complete with antiphonal division, 64’ Balena stop and en chamade reeds on the gallery section. But that was no problem, once I got used to the fact that there were only 50 in the stalls and the building’s capacity was over 3,000 people. No, it was my curiosity. Down in the very bottom corner of the right hand jamb was a stop simply marked ‘Texas’. Obviously a cocktail cabinet, I thought, forgetting that this was a Methodist Church. Out came the register – what had I done? Activated the church carillon, which then played the whole of the Lone Star State’s national anthem, sounding loud and clear throughout the church and across downtown Dallas.
