Thursday, April 07, 2005

the loudest noise i will ever make

Tonight I went to an organ studio class at LaGrave CRC church in downtown Grand Rapids.  Studio class is a great way to stay humble.  Basically, everyone plays a piece on the organ (or piano or cello or whatever lessons you all are in), and the other organ students listen and clap politely.  Seriously, it really is a cool way to meet other students and hear pieces that you might be good enough to play someday.  (Or next week.  Who knows?)

Anyway, although this class is usually held in the Calvin chapel (which has an amazing organ), tonight we met at LaGrave church.  I had never been to this church before—though many of my pals attend—and I loved it.  Brought back memories of the cathedrals we saw in England last year.  Arching ceilings, stained glass all along the sides… beautiful.  And the organ!!  Five keyboards, and rows upon rows of stops.  It was either a seat for an organist, or the cockpit of a Boeing 747, I couldn’t be sure.  But enough instruments to work either one.

Dr. Visser, one of the organ instructors, gave us an introduction to this incredible instrument—pointing out certain fun features (my favorite was a key that made bells chime, like snow falling).  There were huge pipes on either side of us, as well as a bunch at the opposite end of the sanctuary. 

Then it was our turn to play.  I pretended I was feeling bold, and volunteered to go first.  The piece went pretty well, but the catch to playing this organ is the delay: since the pipes are a bit further from the organ and there’s a different mechanism to make them sound, there is a slight delay between when I pushed a key and when I heard the sound.  And with a fast piece…

this was a little confusing.

All the same, if I gritted my teeth and detached my ears from my fingers, it went really well.  And the music was incredible.  I also played a hymn, and since it was slower, my fingers behaved and the delay was manageable. 

After I was done, I got to listen to the other students—about six of them—play their music.  I’m the rawest beginner of the group, so it was really cool to hear what I’ll be working up to.  There are some really talented organists in our class.

I really love the opportunity to take lessons like this—my church back home doesn’t even have an organ, so I would be hard pressed to get lessons there.  But some pals and I were discussing the benefits of taking lessons, and someone mentioned that she would not be able to handle going to a studio class like this.  She wants to take lessons for herself alone, and she is uncomfortable performing and shouldn’t have to do that.

I think I can understand.  It’s for a similar reason that I’ve been taking my music lessons—piano and now organ—for non-credit.  I’m not interested in going through “juries” and performing for professors.  (I played for jury in the fall of my freshman year, so it’s not like it’s that scarring or anything.)  At the same time, I’ve heard some people say that performance, even in the non-threatening studio atmosphere, is an essential part of playing an instrument, right along with learning your scales.

So what do you think?  To perform or not to perform?  Is it a necessary skill that should be taught and learned, or is it a rather sadistic ritual that not everyone should have to go through?  Hmmm.  I haven’t quite puzzled this out myself, so post a comment and let me know what you think!—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 04/07 at 10:35 PM
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