Revealed: the mischievous art of your local organist

Revealed: the mischievous art of your local organist

The opening bars of ‘Praise my soul the king of heaven…’ may ring out at CRE South West later this month but there’s no guarantee the organist won’t slip into ‘High on a hill was a lonely goatherd…’

Professional musician Richard Copeland, formerly organist at St Andrew’s Church, Moretonhampstead, on the edge of Dartmoor, will demonstrate the attributes of four different instruments on the Viscount Organs Wales stand.He will also pay homage to hundreds of fellow organists who pull out all the stops on Sundays – many of them sending veiled messages to clergy and congregations!

‘I was playing at a wedding where the bride, in her late 60s, was marrying a lad 40 years her junior,’ recalled Copeland. ‘A member of the choir persuaded me to slide in a potted version of “Twenty-one today, twenty-one today, she’s got the key of the door…” to much sniggering in the pews.’

Organists behaving irreverently is a growing phenomenon. Leading Christian web magazine www.shipoffools.comrelates how one disenchanted organist in Glasgow played ‘Send in the Clowns’as the minister and choir processed in. Another played a heavily-disguised version of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’during censing at Saint John’s Church, Passaic, New Jersey. 

A slowed-down version of Abba’s ‘Money, Money, Money’is a popular choice during the offertory and one reader, Tony Potter, recalled hearing the Dambusterstheme during Remembrance Sunday! ‘If there was such a book as the Basil Fawlty Guide to Political Correctness, this would be the opening chapter,’ he said.

‘Whilst modern worship practices abound, the organ is still an intrinsic part of English church worship and no other instrument can stir the soul like it,’ said Copeland. ‘From the smallest organ with only a few stops, to a large three or four-manual option, it truly is the king of instruments, as Mozart described it. Nowadays, modern digital instruments have become more reliable and a serious option for many churches with an ailing or unreliable pipe organ.’

Many churches have reclaimed much-needed space for domestic essentials by opting for a digital organ. 

‘Whether it is being used solemnly or playfully, the organ is still the main instrument for many churches,’ said Viscount Organ’s Tony Packer. ‘State-of-the-art digital versions are becoming more affordable and we will introduce a range of options to CRE visitors.’

• Viscount Organs Wales are on stand D20 at CRE South West

Photo: Organist Richard Copeland.

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