What happens when you invite 9th graders to the organ balcony?

Yesterday I received a phone call from a music teacher of one school in town asking me to demonstrate the pipe organ in my church to his class of 9th graders. He wanted to do it the next day. Usually we require them to make an appointment well in advance but I unexpectedly I was free this morning so we scheduled this demonstration to be in the morning.

I arrived in the church quite early today. First, I recorded my improvisation for Whaleshares Open Mic Contest and then for Steemit Open Mic Contest. I then sight-read and livestreamed 2 pieces from L'Organiste by Cesar Franck, a French Romantic composer and organist.

Then I had some time left before the kids arrived, so I uploaded the videos to YouTube and created a couple of posts about it here.

I met the group downstairs and first took them to look at the organ from there. They were 5 kids and their music teacher. Apparently he didn't tell them in advance what they are getting into, just that he's taking them to see the old town of Vilnius.

While being downstairs I told them the horror story about how some 400 years ago cursed skeletons chased a little boy for disturbing the peace and wanting to take a couple of golden rings off the rich dead man's fingers. The boy had to barricade himself in the organ balcony while the skeletons piled benches, pews and old coffins on top of one another. They almost grabbed him but the rooster sang in the morning and so they all tumbled down. The whole charade was repeated several times each with more progressive complications. The next morning was Sunday and when the parishioners came to celebrate the Mass, they found a terrible stench and piles of rotten skeletons underneath the organ balcony and a petrified little boy far atop of the organ by the ceiling of the church.

Because our 9th graders weren't afraid of this story, I invited them to the organ balcony where I told them a short history of this organ. How it was first built at the end of the 18th century in the town of Polotsk which now belongs to Belorus but in those days was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish Kingdom. How in the 1830s the organ was transfered to our St John's church when the Tzar decided to close down the Jesuit church in Polotsk. How it was enlarged at the end of the 19th century. How during WWII some of the lead organ pipes were made into bullets. How church was made into museum of science in the Soviet time. How in 1979 when the university celebrated it's 400th anniversary, it ordered the restoration of the organ facade. How in 1983-2000 they reconstructed the inside of the instrument as well.

Then I explained how the organ sound is produced. How the bellows work. I opened the doors to see the bellows in action. The kids also got to know how the mechanics of the organ work.

I told them the story of how I was introduced to the organ when I was in the 5th grade. How my mom took me to play a little 19th century organ in a small wooden village church and how she pumped the bellows by hand for 3 straight hours!

Then I played for them the most famous organ piece of all time - Toccata in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach and demonstrated the four different families of organ stops - principals, flutes, reeds and strings.

Then came the turn for them to play. Each of them had their turn and we applauded everyone. Since most of them haven't studied music before, I asked them to play some scales with their fingers on different keyboards which we call "manuals" and feet on the pedals. They were amazed at discovering some of the highest and lowest sounds of this instrument.

We ended this demonstration with the piece that their teacher played. It was a patriotic choral work by Romantic Lithuanian composer Juozas Naujalis whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year.

Then came the group picture time and it seems like the kids will remember this tour for a long time. In fact, their teacher wants to bring another group of 5th grades later in June.

Maybe more kids will choose to become organists because of that?

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