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Saturday, November 17, 2001

Last modified at 10:47 p.m. on Friday, November 16, 2001

John Williams (left), one of Jacksonville University's two organ students, practices as professor Rodney Cleveland offers instructions. An increase of interest has renewed hope that the instrument isn't dying out. -- Bruce Lipsky/Staff

Organ fans praying for a crescendo in interest

By Mary Maraghy
Times-Union staff writer

The number of students studying the organ at Jacksonville University doubled this year -- there now are two instead of one.

Area organ enthusiasts and church officials pray it is a sign -- however small -- that young people are having a renewed interest in an instrument that evokes many sounds and emotions and has been a mainstay in churches for centuries.

For almost a decade, there has been a shortage of church organists in North Florida and across the nation. One area church has struggled to find a staff organist for about a year. The number of college students nationwide pursuing the organ is dwindling, experts say.

Organ promotion

In an effort to promote the organ, the Jacksonville chapter of the American Guild of Organists is having an organ recital at 5 p.m. tomorrowat First United Methodist Church, 225 E. Duval St. The recital is a memorial to the chapter's former dean, J. Donald DeLong,who died last year.It also is a fund-raising event. An offering will be collected for college scholarships for students who plan to pursue organ-playing as a career.

Yet, some churches are installing organs either at the bequest of an elderly church member who has died or to return to more historically rooted forms of worship.

And some churches that had abandoned the organ in favor of praise bands or taped music want to swing the pendulum back.

Area church officials and music professors say they attribute the organist shortage to what has been called the "dumbing-down of America."

They say young people today want instant satisfaction -- using computers, the Internet, cellular telephones and microwave ovens.

But learning to play the organ takes years of practice and discipline.

"It's a new world today. Kids decide. Parents aren't forcing them to take music lessons," said Tamara Wensel, dean of the Jacksonville chapter of the American Guild of Organists. "It's like math and science, no one is willing to buckle down and do the work."

Though it looks like a piano, an organ has 32 foot pedals. A pianist can't sit down and play it without training, said one organ technician who installs and repairs organs in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas.

"This is where organ builders are missing the boat," said Jim Garvin, a Southside man who believes organs should be built so pianists can play them.

The organ at Lakewood Presbyterian Church has a variety of "stops" that add to the challenge of playing the instrument -- Bruce Lipsky/Staff

With the flip of a switch, the organ can mimic a clarinet, saxophone, violin and many other instruments. It can play softly and gently or loudly and majestically.

"It's a shame," JU music professor and veteran organist Jon Carlson said. "There's a tradition here. There is nothing like the sound of the organ ... the thrills ..."

JU organ student John Williams, who hopes to become a pastor or music minister, said he hopes learning the organ will make him more marketable. He is saddened that more people his age aren't intrigued with the organ like he is.

"The piano doesn't do Mendelssohn's [The]Wedding March justice," said the 20-year-old Westside resident, who was JU's only organ student for the past two years. The University of North Florida has had no organ students for three years.

Some believe the shortage is a passing phase, while others aren't so sure.

"If you are able to find a good musician and keep him, it will be something to be cherished. It will be like well-kept stained glass," said the Rev. Carrill Munnings of Spring Glen United Methodist Church, who has been searching for a staff organist for nearly a year. "We're moving toward a time when people will put a CD in a boom box."

The American Guild of Organists offers college scholarships to students interested in studying the organ. JU music professor and guild member Rodney Cleveland is in charge of selecting scholarship winners for the area chapter. So far, he said, choosing has been easy because there has only been one applicant a year for about a decade.

But Wensel, who is the organist at Advent Lutheran Church in Orange Park, will be the first to admit that working as a church organist doesn't pay well.

Most church organists are hired to work 20 hours a week and are paid about $25,000 a year with no health benefits. But they usually work double that or more when you consider funerals, weddings, dress rehearsals and practice time.

"There are no part-time organists, only part-time pay" -- the phrase is common among area organists.

But the shortage has been a windfall of sorts for David Bowen of Mandarin, who makes his living as a substitute church organist. Bowen, 42, said in a year's time he's probably played every church organ in the Jacksonville area.

He is confident young people will take more interest in playing the organ.

"I have too much faith in good music," Bowen said.