Don't Ask What the Score Wants. Ask What This Organ Does Best

One idea from the registration workshop became my favourite takeaway of the entire workshop series.

"Registration depends on the piece you're playing, and choosing what your organ is good at doing."

At first, it sounded like practical advice about selecting stops. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised it was really about the relationship between the performer and the instrument.

A beautifully crafted organ console at St James Church, showcasing intricate design and a multitude of stops and keys.

When learning the organ, it is easy to search for the "ideal" registration. We read historical sources, compare recordings, and imagine the perfect sound. Yet every organ is different. Each instrument has its own strengths, limitations, colours, and personality.

Instead of asking, "What registration should this piece have?" I began asking a different question:"What does this organ do best?"

That small change in perspective transforms registration from following a formula into making musical decisions.

Some organs have a warm principal chorus. Others have beautiful flutes, expressive strings, or brilliant reeds. Rather than forcing every instrument to imitate another, the performer learns to collaborate with the organ that is in front of them.

I realised this idea extends far beyond registration.

In practice, we often focus on everything we cannot do instead of developing what we already do well.

In performance, we sometimes chase an impossible ideal instead of communicating through our own musical voice.

The same is true of people. Every person has unique strengths, challenges, and ways of thinking. Growth does not come from wishing we were someone else. It comes from understanding who we are and making the best use of the qualities we already have.

When I recalled what I've learned from the workshop, I realised this workshop was never just about choosing organ stops. It was about learning to listen, first to the instrument, then to the music, and finally to the people around us.

Perhaps the best musicians are not those who try to change every instrument they play. They are the ones who discover what each instrument is trying to say and help it speak with its own voice.