[rodgersorgan] Re: Tremolos / Theater-style offertory
- From: "Bill Collins" <biljanco@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 23:42:03 -0500
I'm a Lutheran, and I say light 'em up!
Bill Collins
----- Original Message -----
From: "William E Ehrke" <diapason@xxxxxxx>
To: <rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 4:43 PM
Subject: [rodgersorgan] Tremolos / Theater-style offertory
A few days back the subject of tremolos came up. Here's a belated
contribution to that discussion.
We have a retired gentleman in the congregation, a good natured guy who
joshes back and forth with me and who's always after me to "turn off
those reeds and mixtures and crank up the trems." Yes, he knows the
lingo, and he's a reasonably good amateur theater organist on his old
Gulbransen spinet.
There are plenty of denominations and congregations where such a thing
wouldn't work. But after bantering with him all this time (7 years now)
I hatched a heavy-duty theatrical arrangement of the old hymn "Shall We
Gather at the River," complete with open harmony, chromatic glisses (wow
- how you forget that technique!), a "Tuba" line in the tenor, the whole
nine yards. Our Rodgers 945 does a convincing imitation of a theater
organ if you work on registration for a while. A little help from the
PR300 Vibraharp, and you could close your eyes and picture the mighty
Wurlitzer rising up out of its pit.
The minister of music okayed the idea; I think his motivation was that
the senior adults are always after him to sing more old hymns in the
blended service that they attend.
Well, wouldn't you know it - Bob was out of town at his grandson's
graduation on the big day. I went through with it anyway, thinking that
I was "drilling a dry hole" without Bob there. But here's where things
get interesting. Our Baptist congregation applauds musical renditions
whenever appropriate. "Shall We Gather at the River" -- with full trems
and flute vibrato pumping away and the old organ grinder's fingers
awkwardly glissing up and down within the chords -- made them go wild
with applause and Amens. When the service was over they mobbed the
organ. This is the same congregation that loves firey arrangements of
heavy-duty hymns such as "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," but the
reaction to the theater thing was unprecedented.
Last Sunday Bob was back in his pew and I slipped "his" number into the
prelude. Bob was so thrilled and appreciative that it was
embarrassing. A lady said it was the closest she'd come to heaven in a
long time. People hung around during the postlude, waiting to say
something.
What do we make of this, those of us who know what's holy and what's
sinful in church? I sure wouldn't have tried it in an Episcopalian or
Lutheran service. But if worship music is supposed to speak to people's
souls, perhaps we're ignoring an entire group of Christians if we don't
occasionally minister to them on the theater/gospel level.
Is this a can of worms? Agree? Disagree? Would welcome other points
of view.
B.E.
Soon to be published for the Rodgers Organ: Sommer Sonaten für Orgel -
Summer Sonatas for Organ and MIDI Orchestra!
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Soon to be published for the Rodgers Organ: Sommer Sonaten für Orgel - Summer
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