Dwight McBean - File

"How the piano sound so funny?"

"This is not a piano. It's an organ."

"What is a organ?"

The conversation was taking place between organist and music teacher Dwight McBean and a group of primary school children who crowded around him as he practised at the Kingston Parish Church one afternoon. Their teacher had brought the children to look at the monuments in the centuries-old church and the sound of the 100-year-old organ had drawn them inside.

McBean related the anecdote to The Sunday Gleaner to illustrate an explanation he had for a rather curious situation: currently, there is both a "grave shortage of organists" in Jamaica, and a "low demand" for them.

ignorance of organ music

The children's ignorance of organ music confirmed McBean's belief that nowadays children don't go to church as often they did in the past. Nor are they learning about the organ in schools, he continued.

"They have nothing to educate them (about the organ)," he said. "Music (education) ought to begin in primary school."

McBean "fell in love" withthe organ when he heard internationally renowned organist Jennifer Bate play at Scot's Kirk. "I was mesmerised," he said. Determined to learn to play the organ, he stopped taking the piano lessons he had started at age eight, and enrolled with the Jamaica School of Music (JSM) to take lessons from teacher John Binns. (The school no longer offers organ lessons.)

He started playing the organ at The Church of the Ascension, Mona, and from that church received a scholarship in 1983, while studying organ and piano tuning and maintenance in England. With the scholarship, he was able to continue private studies in organ playing, with, coincidentally, Prof H.A. Bate, Jennifer's father and tutor.

McBean received two associate diplomas in organ performance while in England from the Royal College Of Music and the London College of Music. In 2002, the Jamaican Government awarded McBean, the Badge of Honour for meritorious service for his contribution as an organist.

Asked why, with there being so many churches in the island, he would speak of a low demand for organists, McBean explained that many churches are now using pianists instead of organists. Neither pianists who play organs nor those who play keyboards (with the organ sound) are true organists, he said, insisting that "There's a difference between an organist and a person who plays the organ."

McBean said he had "a fewstudents" for the organ but he has found that many stop early before they finish his three-year course (after grade five). They tend to drop out once they can manipulate the organ pedals and learn the use of the instrument's stops, he said. Instead, it would be better if they went on as far as McBean could take them, to the grade eight Associated Boards of the Royal Schools of Music exams.

shortage of organists

There is indeed a shortage of organists in Jamaica, said John Binns, one of the most experienced and qualified organ teachers in the country. He told The Sunday Gleaner that he possessed a teaching diploma in organ (other organists tend to have performance diplomas), and agreed with others interviewed for this article that he and McBean might be the only two people currently teaching organ in Jamaica.

First instructed by Barry Davies who, though he was not formally trained as an organ teacher, had a bachelor's degree in music. Binns then studied organ at the JSM under American Kestner Robertson. He went on to study at Trinity College, London, and when he returned home in 1975, started teaching organ at the JSM.

Explaining the shortage of organists, Binns spoke of the difficulties that students have in getting practice. Most organs are in churches, he said, and in the evenings when organ students are off work and have time to practise, churches tend to have activities which are not compatible with that practice.

Director of the School of Music (formerly the Jamaica School of Music), Edna Manley College, Roger Williams, agreed there was a shortage of organists. In fact, he said, when interviewed last Wednesday, he had just come out of a meeting at which the issue was addressed.

He said that while the School of Music probably "can't fill the need" for organists, the head of the keyboard department, Ann McNamee, had been asked to teach organ at the school. (He did not know, he said, why the JSM had stopped organ classes.) McNamee has a degree in organ performance and is "an accomplished organist" who worked for many years as an organist in Canada.

demand for organist

Disagreeing somewhat with McBean, Williams said that in Kingston, at least, there is a demand for "proper organists". However, he agreed that many churches are using keyboards because there is a shortage of organs in the island.

Pointing out that the organ is "a totally different animal" from the keyboard, one that the keyboard "can't match", Williams said that there is a wide range in the quality of keyboards and some - especially those which sample actual music, as opposed to using recorded sounds - are good substitutes for the organ.

Jamaica's longest-serving church organist is Trevor Beckford, chief organist at Spanish Town's St James Cathedral who, in November last year, gave his 43rd annual recital at the church.

Interestingly, Beckford, who taught at St Jago High School for 35 years, tends to give piano rather than organ lessons, even though he told The Sunday Gleaner that he hopes one of his students will "continue the tradition".

Beckford said he first became interested in playing the organ 60 years ago when he was nine years old and a member of the cathedral's junior choir. But he first studied the piano and "did well up to grade eight".

He started teaching himself the organ and eventually became the assistant organist at the cathedral. He held that position from 1954 until April 23, 1961, when he became chief organist.

Abroad, he pursued short courses in music in New York and at the Royal School of Church Music in Croydon, England. The 3 1/2- month certificate course there included studies in organ accompaniment, choir training and management, ear training, general musicianship, improvisation and history of music.

The shortage of organists is partly responsible for the hectic schedule of Audley Davidson, another of Binns' students. Davidson is the director of the KC Chapel choir, the choir trainer of the North Western chorale, the organist and choir trainer at St Andrew Parish Church, and the choir trainer and an accompanist of the Ocho Rios Baptist Church choir.

use of organs

Another well-known musician who includes the playing of the organ in her busy schedule is JSM lecturer Barbara Lloyd. She has been organist at her church for more than 20 years and for her service was given the Marcus Garvey Award by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston in 2007.

The Sunday Gleaner heard from JSM Director Williams that a decision about the school's proposed organ course could be made as early as next weekend.

If the course is offered, it should be good news for many.