Hush…the Organ Scholar is practising

As I was working with our Organ Scholar yesterday on the piece she is preparing for the upcoming Orchestral Mass (Sunday 29^th July, 11am Mass), something sprang to mind which a friend of mine says to me: that when she visits the Cathedral for some prayer time, she loves hearing the sounds of the Organ Scholar practice – as she says, ‘someone is learning the craft of organ playing’.

On reflection, this is really quite an old and venerable craft embedded so deeply in our Catholic tradition and psyche – and yet at the same time, this craft puts us in touch with something timeless.

The music of the pipe organ is capable of evoking the full gamut of emotions – consider its sheer capability of variation of colour and tone – from an accompaniment of the softest hues to an exquisite chant melody helping us to simply rest in the presence of God…to a thundering fanfare signifying the start of Solemn Sung Mass evoking in our minds the grandeur of God and truly lifting our hearts and souls to the Almighty. It’s no wonder the pipe organ is often referred to as the ‘king of instruments’.

Considering all of this, it’s also perhaps no wonder that Church documents specifically mention the pipe organ – indeed the Sacrosanctum Concilium (Vatican II) refers to it as being able to ‘lift men’s minds to God and the things in high’ – and even before this, Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Musicae Sacrae (1955) perhaps pre-empting Vatican II, writes that the pipe organ ‘moves the souls of the faithful by the grandeur and sweetness of its tones. It gives minds an almost heavenly joy and it lifts them up powerfully to God and to higher things.’

The king of instruments…serving the King of kings.

Jacinta