I practically started piano lessons along with starting school. When I was in the equivalent of junior high, I decided that I would like to play organ at church. One summer in high school, I took organ lessons behind the back of my piano teacher because I was afraid that she was going say that I could not pay adequate attention to both instruments and my piano studies would slack. Well, once school started again in Fall, I truly could not devote enough time to practice both instruments so I dropped the organ. Then I told my piano teacher. It turned out she was the director of the children's choir at my very own church. She already had another teenager as an organist but she recruited me to share the responsibilities. I was 15. She slowly eased me into the "job" by preparing me to play only one piece first, and then gradually let me play more. She was one of my best teachers.
Playing at church is very different from giving a recital because the organist is part of a bigger picture. One needs to be able to adjust quickly when things don't happen as planned (e.g. someone took too long to finish one part of the service, did something unexpected, etc). And one needs to work well as an accompanist (when the choir or soloist is singing something) or as the song leader to lead congregational singing. So it is important to have the ability to play music in an ensemble, some simple musical improvisation, and handle things such as what to do when the soloist sang a bunch of wrong notes.
As complicated as I have made it, it is actually not too difficult to acquire those skills. And it is a lot of fun!!!! Most organists started their musical training with the piano. So if you have decent piano skills, it is rather easy to learn the organ. The different chapters of the American Guild of Organist (www.agohq.org) host an event called Pipe Organ Encounter (POE, http://www.agohq.org/education/indexoutreach.html) for adults. It is a very nice program to introduce the organ. Or one can contact a big church in the area and ask if their organist gives lessons or recommend someone. For youth, there is a program call Pedals, Pipes and Pizza, a half day program.
And the last benefit of being a church organist? Money. Well, not a lot of it, but every bit helps in these days. Organists generally don't play for free. And many people use this as a second and part time job because it involves weekends and evenings (usually 1 choir rehearsal on a weekday evening) only. I know of a few lawyers who do this. This would also be quite suitable for the stay-home parent.
Perhaps this will get some of you interested.
Playing at church is very different from giving a recital because the organist is part of a bigger picture. One needs to be able to adjust quickly when things don't happen as planned (e.g. someone took too long to finish one part of the service, did something unexpected, etc). And one needs to work well as an accompanist (when the choir or soloist is singing something) or as the song leader to lead congregational singing. So it is important to have the ability to play music in an ensemble, some simple musical improvisation, and handle things such as what to do when the soloist sang a bunch of wrong notes.
As complicated as I have made it, it is actually not too difficult to acquire those skills. And it is a lot of fun!!!! Most organists started their musical training with the piano. So if you have decent piano skills, it is rather easy to learn the organ. The different chapters of the American Guild of Organist (www.agohq.org) host an event called Pipe Organ Encounter (POE, http://www.agohq.org/education/indexoutreach.html) for adults. It is a very nice program to introduce the organ. Or one can contact a big church in the area and ask if their organist gives lessons or recommend someone. For youth, there is a program call Pedals, Pipes and Pizza, a half day program.
And the last benefit of being a church organist? Money. Well, not a lot of it, but every bit helps in these days. Organists generally don't play for free. And many people use this as a second and part time job because it involves weekends and evenings (usually 1 choir rehearsal on a weekday evening) only. I know of a few lawyers who do this. This would also be quite suitable for the stay-home parent.
Perhaps this will get some of you interested.
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