Contemporary American Organ Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I picked up a copy of this book being unloaded from a collegiate library.Nowadays, I reread it from time to time, but only for a few pages before I put it back on the shelf shaking my head in disbelief.

As a scholar, Barnes's knowledge may have been commendable in his day; but it's shortcomings are quite clear now.His account of historic organs in Europe reads like a Victorian safari, blasting away at wildlife from the comfort of a caravan and then pretending to claim firsthand knowledge of "quaint and exotic" indigenous cultures.

The result is laughable:If an undergraduate organ student today uttered half the nonsense in this text they'd be drummed out of school.French baroque tradition (excepting very late and large organs) did NOT include a 16' chorus reed.The Sesquialtera is not a wide-scaled mutation and it actually does figure as a color in the principal chorus.And so on and so on...Barnes's knowledge of mechanical key actions is likewise astonishingly shallow.His best effort is to reproduce a few plates from Audsley.No surprise, as these are given only as a punching bag, excoriating "faults" before arriving at the divine salvation that is the electropneumatic key action.

Factual errors such as the above, however, are easily corrected.What is more troublesome is the borderline arrogance which accompanies Barnes's ignorance.Here is a man who encountered firsthand the glories of historic organs in Europe and complained, yet who singles out for praise firms producing hideously unmusical junk.

For non-organists, this may be difficult to appreciate but an analogy may make it clear:Imagine an college student, steeped in the binge-to-oblivion of the American fraternity who is miraculously transported to a fine vineyard.Our hypothetical student is not only unimpressed by a vintage Bordeaux, he starts complaining that it's not like the horsepiss swill of the frat house.Yep, American organ culture in the mid-20th century really did get that bad.

Like a moth to the flame, this is why I keep subjecting myself to this text:For me, it's a reminder of what was and (for many in this country) still is wrong in American pipe organ culture.Barnes writes in 1956 when the organ was in a transitional stage, slowly climbing out of a pit that ran generations deep.Organists had retreated into an insular, chauvinistic "father knows best" cocoon.Fast forward through the upheaval of the 1960s, the church growth movement and a host of profound scholarship, subsequent generations have come a long way since this book was written.Still, as an organist looking at my instrument as the 21st century unfolds, I find it a helpful touchstone to review this as a picture of a crossroads and a time when the field was buried so deep in a pit they couldn't even see daylight.

If this is what you're looking for, the text will not disappoint.If you want to learn about the pipe organ as a musical instrument, keeping shopping.

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Product Description:
Following much demand, this book -- which was out of print for 12 years -- has been reprinted in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the American Guild of Organists. Barnes' text on organ construction is quite thorough -- it covers pipe work, motors, wind chests, consoles, and more. This paperback edition is adorned with many photographs and drawn examples. A most useful tool, or a perfect gift for any organist.

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