Utopia!

The ideal, everybody's dream, (well, certainly mine), is to have such a wonderful memory and technique so as to only need to play through a piece of music once and there it would be, for ever ingrained in the memory cells and the rest of the faculties left free to be able to concentrate upon such important things as playing the right notes, controlling stops, interpretation, pressing the correct buttons and levers, controlling the swell pedals, and being able to watch the conductor's every move, the conductor being clearly in view at all times. Ah! Paradise!

However...

BUMP!.. back down to earth: but it was nice whilst it lasted. Maybe there are one or two near-perfect mortals out there, but the rest of us need to wrestle with problems of memory, strange organs, awkwardly written accompaniments, (maybe questionable arrangements of orchestral scores), the organ being in an inconvenient place, a time lag; and, (horror of horrors), a conductor whose beat is not always completely clear or visible. Is there any hope?

How much time have you got?

We are talking about the art of accompaniment and as such it is not something with a clearly defined final apotheosis for the player as new challenges will always appear. It is a life-long's work and the utopia set out above will probably never be achieved by any one person all of the time - but it's helpful to bear it in mind all the same. We are always seeking to improve and hone our skills, find time for new ideas and to evolve and burnish the old ones. (The accompanist should never feel downtrodden - it is a vital job of support and the art should be treated with as much respect and dedication as that of the solo performer). How much time have you got? How much time does it take? How much time will you give? Ability is ever important, but organisation is a very close second if not an equal. A lot of talent is wasted through poor planning.

It's not what you do but...

Try to assess each piece and work out how many hours you will take to learn it. Then produce a work sheet for yourself, divided into half or quarter hour slots. Let's imagine that you are about to embark upon Plomford's "Hymn to St. Ivel". It is reasonably within your capabilities, the odd awkward corner, a few stop changes and a final flourish which involves some quick notes in the pedals. After a few minutes silent reading and then a rough try-through and noting the particularly awkward corners you decide that this will take you three-and-a-half hours in all. When do you need to learn it by? The end of next week. Right, lets say two hours this week and one-and-a-half next week. If you are able to practice in half-hour units, at the end of this week it could look something like this as you cross-out each session:

Be realistic in your planning and if in doubt, err on the side of more time required rather than less. You will start to refine your skills at predicting the amount of practice needed as time goes by. If you are accompanying on a regular basis, say once a week and have five hours available per week for practice, you could create a monthly (i.e. 4 weeks) sheet looking something like this:

Sometimes things will take less time, sometimes more, but it's always a nice feeling if you do happen to find the odd half-hour left over and can go onto something new or give some more time to something else. It's certainly better that being in the middle of a vague quagmire not really knowing how much time you've got and, worse still, how much time you need.

Memories, Memories...

As mentioned above, a perfect memory is the ideal, but most of us can only dream of that. Watching the conductor is important, but some places in a piece are more important than others. Question: Where are they? Answer: Speed changes. Most pieces get slower at the end so the last few bars should be known as thoroughly as possible, but watch out for those that change midstream. The Magnificat in C of Stanford looks harmless enough at first sight, but what about those pauses? The piece would be ten times easier without them. In any piece, the first few bars should be known as well as possible so that you can get off to a good start at the correct speed. Reach agreement with the conductor as to whether you will get just an upbeat or whether you will get a whole bar. If the beats are fairly quick, a whole bar is better.

I'm all right, Jack - or am I?

Obviously, we are talking about both accompanying and enhancing the performance of others, so a knowledge of the singers' part must ever be an advantage. It is always clear if there is an empathy between player and singers. Perhaps you could decide that a proportion of your practice time could be dedicated to learning the vocal parts and adjust your practice sheet accordingly. It is good score-reading exercise to try to read the other parts at the same time as your part, even if the whole thing does occasionally tie the fingers in knots. Another way is to tape record the accompaniment once you have learnt it and then play the vocal parts with it.

"We've been asked to sing Evensong at St. Polycarp's"

Oh Joy! Afternoon out for everyone, warm welcome and a nice tea before the service. What could be more perfect? Ask the organist. It's all right for the singers, they only have to do what they always do but in different surroundings and get used to the acoustic. But what about Our Hero? Gone is the comfortable three-decker with two balanced swell pedals and four pistons to each department. The nightmare has arrived. Tracker action, yellow keys with furrows and chips out of the edges, non-RCO pedalboard, combination pedals, but to Great only and spring-loaded swell pedal that will only lock in the open or closed position, and a highly menacing noise every time you play bottom D flat. My advice in this situation is: do not panic and suggest that the choir perfect its 'a cappella' skills before making a very rapid exit - you are made of sterner stuff.

What do I do with this strange organ?

Visit and play the instrument in question before finalising the music. If this is not possible, get as detailed and complete a specification and description as possible, maybe even with a drawing/diagram of the console and make that the basis for deciding the programme. There is much music that can, with a little creativity, be performed on instruments from the humblest to the most mighty cathedral organs. But it really does sound silly to hear someone struggling with Howells' Coll. Reg. on a seven-stop rattly two manual tracker job. It is surprising the respect which you can often gain if you say "no" to over-ambitious proposals. (This also applies to dewy-eyed brides-to-be who have heard that tape and want the impossible to be performed on the local four-stop single-decker.) Having agreed on the musical content, practice it on your own instrument, but 'faking' the conditions which will apply when the real thing happens, e.g. with spring-loaded swell boxes, hand registration etc. It is a good idea to try and predict the stops you will need beforehand, even if you have to modify them on the day. Remember that rests in the organ part can be a great help in anticipating registration changes.

Chief or Indian?

There is sometimes division of opinion as to whether the organist is to lead or to be led. If someone is conducting, this tends to clarify the situation, but if not, the onus to keep things moving falls on the organist. Even where there is a conductor, hymns will often be left to the player, so it is important to be as consistent as possible in gaps between verses and in using 'gathering notes' (which personally I tend to discourage - the longer you wait, the longer they will wait). But whatever you decide, be consistent. Plainsong hymns, strictly speaking, should be for voices alone, but can be a joy to accompany if you have confident singers and you can vary the accompaniment and the registration. Try to use light registrations and be sensitive to the flow of the words which may well vary from verse to verse. Should you wish to compose or improvise your own accompaniments, aim to avoid strong chords like second inversions and dominant sevenths and go mainly for first inversions with a sprinkling of root positions. Pedals should not really be used but, if so, only a very light 16' at, say, the Amen. Certain plainsong, if well known, can be accompanied with a higher profile: "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" sounds lovely if sung with a large body of singers and a fairly solid organ accompaniment. It falls down if the organ part is too lumpy, i.e. there are too many chords. Bad examples of this are in AMR (49), AMNS (26) or SOP (66) and good examples in EH (8) or NEH (11). The accompaniment should support and discreetly lead without getting in the way of the fluidity of the music. Consistency is important here so that the underlying rhythm of each verse is the same without sounding too regimented. The organist's and singers' intrinsic musicianship and subtle nuances are of inestimable value here. The lovely "Missa de Angelis" can also send shivers down the spine if handled positively but sensitively.

Anglican Chant

Much of what has been said above also applies to psalm accompaniment. Again, the blurring of the edges between leader and follower can be a problem if the psalm is sung congregationally. In the latter, a no-nonsense approach needs to be made unless it is sung so often that the congregation instinctively know what to do. Accompanying an accomplished choir in this can be immensely rewarding: there are opportunities for a wide palette of registrations to reflect the moods of different verses which should always be worked out beforehand and written by the text and also opportunities for playing a single-note descant above the choir in other verses. I find the best way to do this is to write the actual letter-names of the notes to be used above the words. Elsewhere, if the chant is memorised, this really is a great help.

Epilogue

Your art of accompaniment should consolidate and mature, but still evolve as time goes on. Don't confuse imagination with inconsistency. Try to keep your mind open with regards to interpretation - you may hear a new performance which alters your whole perception of a piece. Be receptive and study background material as much as possible. In the case of instrumental accompaniments arranged for organ, try to listen to the original version wherever possible. Also build up a rapport with those with whom you work. An organist's job can at times be lonely, but a meeting of minds through discussion, social or otherwise, will often make the difference between average and convincing performances. I look forward to hearing you!

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