I’m sure we all know the sound. The thunderous blast of the organ as stops are pulled out, the manuals are played, and the pedals are pressed. There’s nothing quite like it, and it’s the only instrument that can rival the volume of an entire orchestra—the sound it was meant to imitate, actually. But, how many of us actually attend a church with a large, beautiful pipe organ built into the hallowed walls? Precious few these days. How many organs sit dormant for lack of a skilled organist to bring them to life? Way too many. And what exactly is the benefit of a smaller, electric organ which produces a sound nothing like the real thing?
The organ was, hilariously enough, considered to be the devil’s instrument by Martin Luther, though he later became less opposed to it. This fact is rather humorous as the instrument of choice in most Lutheran churches today is, obviously, the organ. When asked why the organ is the best instrument for worship, many respond that the sound of the organ is deep, lofty, and majestic—reflecting the glory and majesty and power of God. This makes perfect sense actually.
But what are these little electric jobs? A smaller, electric organ (often called a Hammond organ), is much more common than a pipe organ for many reasons, not the least of which is space—a pipe organ takes up a lot of space, and is very expensive to purchase, install, and maintain. In comparison, electric organs are small and relatively cheap.
Unfortunately however, they sound almost nothing like a real organ. The sound winds up being pretty hazy and indistinct and does little to support the melody of a song, and absolutely nothing to support the rhythm. This makes singing to an organ exhausting. One needs only watch a ‘church’ episode of The Andy Griffith Show to see how difficult it is to sing with this instrument. The entire congregation is completely out of sync with each other, and the organist. For this purpose, many churches began to add a piano to the mix, using it to support the rhythm. This is quite helpful.
But in today’s age, we are seeing more and more fundamental churches ditch their chapel organ for the lone sound of a piano (and where possible, a small orchestra). Why is this? The reason is simple: most songs are not suitable for organ. The majority of the hymns and songs we sing are simply not designed for the organ (nor do they sound very nice on it). This means that the demand for the organ is simply not enough to endure the cost of having to maintain one—not to mention that good organists are a rare and dying breed these days. So, most churches have instead opted to add an electric piano to their baby grand (or upright).
Is this a good thing?
Wholeheartedly, yes! For multiple reasons. Let’s talk about them.
1. Most songs are not suitable for organ
As I already stated above, most songs are not designed for an organ. They aren’t suitable. To sing every song with a piano and an organ is simply overkill. The vast majority of songs will sound much better with just the piano sound.
2. The extra piano has lots of benefits
Having another piano around is highly beneficial. This means (among other things) that younger or less-experienced pianists can begin playing in church services (along with the first piano) without the pressure of being the only accompaniment in the sanctuary. This can help raise up generations of confident and experienced pianists and at the same time really broadens the sound of the congregational accompaniment, adding additional support and interest. Additionally, this opens up the possibility of piano duos. Also, electric pianos come preloaded with other sounds which can be used, such as…
3. Organ at your fingertips
The vast majority of songs are not designed for the organ and shouldn’t be played on one. But, there are a good number of hymns which a piano simply cannot do justice to on its own. With an electric piano (preloaded with other sounds), you can have a highly realistic organ sound at the touch of a button. Now, there are special techniques that you can use to get an even better sound and I’ll be discussing them on a future video at ValleybrookTV, so stay tuned. Are you curious what songs should be played on an organ? Check out this list of suggestions I’ve put to together to help guide you.
So, while the actual organ is slowly falling out of general use, this is (overall) a good trend, as it paves the way for many other benefits—including the ability to have an organ whenever you want it anyway!
Whether your church uses an organ or not, remember that our final reason for everything we do as church musicians is to glorify God!
Keep Singing!