I must confess that one of the things that worries me about the future of traditional Anglicanism is the ability to find organists to play our services. There is a shortage of organists in general, and the few out there who are well-trained and have some gusto and vision would probably chose to play in a huge downtown parish with a massive pipe organ rather than a small continuing parish that has an electronic organ. That leaves us with the grannies, or perhaps a convert from evangelicalism who would not, on principle, work at a mainline parish.
But then, in all cases, there is the problem of the organist not knowing Anglican music or liturgy. In other words, they have no idea how to make a nice "Choral Evensong" service; they have never heard of Anglican Chant before; and they do not know any mass setting other than Willan's.
Are there any new "Healy Willans" out there among our ranks? Are there any men (or women) who are committed to preserving the tradition of Anglican music and passing it on to the next generation? I think that the parish is the birthplace of organist vocations (just as it is for priestly vocations). Do any of our organists - even if they are lame - take pupils and try to pass on their trade? It seems to me this is something that must be addressed!
