This is such an interesting conversation - and shows how we are all being challenged and inspired to think of other options and alternative ways of doing things. I used to think a church organ was stuffy and stodgy. But there is something in the majesty and grandeur of such sounds that really grabs your attention and makes you wonder.

I would like to hear how HTB have done it. My meaning was if a large pipe organ plays along with a band to more modern songs it could sound busy and messy, but i also am not an expert on pipe organs so maybe i was quick to speak. I have myself been in a situation some years ago when i have been leading from Keys and an Organ has been playing in the background and clashed badly, maybe that experiance has stayed in my mind.

Nice response. I am not an expert on church organs, but it sounds cool to me. Isn't it strange how a certain combination of instruments has become part of 'contemporary worship'? Some worship bands have a fiddle player, which is a reasonably old instrument. Others might have someone on percussion, playing a bodhran at times - and the whole idea of a frame drum played by slapping it with the hand goes back to Miriam in the Old Testament.

I'm an organist and I hope our services don't sound like a fairground!! Mind you if our congregation had half the fun....!?

We have certainly used the organ with worship band to great effect. The organ can boost the bass, accompany with a string effect or just rack up the volume! HTB have been very successful at this combination.

If the organ isn't allowed to play contemporary songs then I think we should ban worship bands from playing hymns. Is that fair? ;)

I'm not sure whether Rick Wakeman can salvage this situation. You can try but i think integrating the Pipe Organ in contemporary worship would make the worship sound like a fair ground.

Maybe we should all have a chat with Rick Wakeman about it! :-)

I think the pipe organ is a great instrument but i think integrating it into a contemporary band setting would be quite a challenge without the sound being to busy or just plain bizzar. I would say keep the pipe organ for the more traditional hymns and the guitar / keys led worship for everything else. Call me boring or maybe just playing it safe?

interesting points. but perhaps the pipe organ could be used for intros or even instrumental sections in hymns and songs. you could switch to piano for the rest of the piece. i've heard it done - as i say, by rick wakeman - but i can imagine it would be tricky! good point about the fact that worship bands have become traditional now. i remember as a child, going to our local anglican church in the 60s, and what we would now call a worship band was brought in for a couple of folk-rock songs. so that kind of approach has been around for a while now. it's time to experiment again.

Hi, Richard Thorneycroft writes
"It is such an amazing instrument to use in certain settings as it can convey the majestic and the transcendent like no other instrument,

Yes, I agreed. I am an educated organist and accoustic guitar player. The issue about using the pipe organ together with the worship band is a difficult one.
Because the sound of the pipe organ has a magnificent sound, but the frequency vibration does not work well together with the contemporary electrical instruments, which are used in most worshipbands today.

And as Mike Keen is writing: the console of the pipe organ is often miles away,which also makes it difficult for integration of the pipe organ.

I do not think that there is other solution that, the pipe organ should be used for hymns, and the worship band takes care for the rhytm section.

My experience is that hymns accompanied by a pipe organ is great and is marvellous worship and a worshipband should take care of the other part of worship wirh more contemporary songs.

A debate concerning a renewal of worship (both musics and lyrics) is necessary, because in many places the worshipbands have now become a traditional fashion and new creativity is seldom.
We have to look for new approaches to worship or what ??

Carl Mikkelsen

this is all fascinating stuff. i like it! it takes us well away from the mandatory guitar-driven worship in so much of our churches these days. at the risk of sounding like jack black's character in the hit movie 'school of rock', try listening to some of the prog-rock bands like YES, and how they crafted classic and contemporary sounds. much of that was down to the genius of rick wakeman. this doesn't mean we all become prog-rockers, by the way! it's all about learning from other strands of music - not just the pop charts.

Interesting. I'm an organist and have played along with the worship band but the situation is very difficult, in that the organ console is miles away! Certainly pedals work very well as an addition but if you have a bass guitar then it hardly seems necessary. What we have been doing recently is using the acoustic and bass guitars along with the organ playing the hymns. This works really well and adds a real drive. Will be interested to hear any more comments.

Dear friends,

I am interested to know if anyone has advice or tips on how to best integrate and use the pipe organ in the context of a contemporary band setting. We have been working on things like drones and pedals, but this seems to only suits certain styles and would be boring and un-creative if over used.

We are also trying various riffs that cut through the mix, and obviously using the organ sparingly, but I am just interested to know how to best integrate the organ without having a straight blended style switch between organ and band in services, as when we have done this it can often seem like quite a gear chance in the sound that seems to be more of a distraction than a blessing to the congregation.

It is such an amazing instrument to use in certain settings as it can convey the majestic and the transcendent like no other instrument, but again it would be great to grow in knowledge of how to get the two sitting side by side in a complementary fashion that can really be used to paint a creative and appropriate musical backdrop to help bring alive all the more the words that we are singing during our corporately sung worship.

Any tips or thoughts would be great....