How the St. Louis Blues reclaimed the old arena organ

Doing some prep for my Algonquin College Sports Business Management class this week, where we're talking about the role of music in sports. Found this interesting article about how the St. Louis Blues re-acaquired the original stadium organ.  This article appeared on CBSSports.com in January, 2013.

For a franchise with an identity so closely tied to music, the St. Louis Blues organization must have been overjoyed when it reclaimed an important piece of its musical heritage.

Chris Kerber, the radio voice of the Blues, tweeted Tuesday that the team had reacquired the organ that used to fill old St. Louis Arena with its upbeat melodies and St. Louis staple When The Saints Go Marching In.

 According to team COO Bruce Affleck, he had received a message from an old family neighbor who was in possession of the same organ that long-time organist Ernie Hayes used to play at Blues home games.

"His dad ended up with the organ, not sure how," Affleck explained in an email to CBSSports.com.

"The message said, 'Bruce, this is Bob Dienstbach and I just wanted you to know we are putting this organ Ernie Hays used to play at the old Arena on Craigslist.' "

Seeing an opportunity to reclaim this important piece of team history, Affleck jumped into action. "I called right away and left him a message and said we would buy it sight unseen, which we did," Affleck said. He did not disclose the amount paid.

According to a Jan. 3 report from KPLR in St. Louis, Dienstbach listed the organ online for $1,000.

 The organ was delivered to the Blues on Tuesday.

 Also according to the KPLR story, Dienstbach and reporter Patrick Clark inadvertently uncovered a floppy disk and hand-written notes in the organ's seat. The disk included original music they believed to be recorded by Hayes, which is playable from the organ.

 According to Affleck, the team's current organist, Jeremy Boyer, was a protégé of Hayes'. The former organist was a St. Louis institution, playing for both the Blues and Cardinals for many years. Hayes passed away last October at the age of 77.

 UPDATE: According to team spokesman Rich Jankowski, Hayes' old organ will not be replacing the one currently in Scottrade Center, but the plan is to "use it at some point." Now that the instrument that helped make Hayes a local legend is back in the rotation, fans can think back to the days when the in-game entertainment consisted of the hockey on the ice and the organ music in the air.
 

Baseball organist Nancy Faust is now available in bobblehead format

This is pretty cool. It's a bobblehead honouring Nancy Faust, former organist for the Chicago White Sox.  She plays the organ occasionally for the Kane County Cougars (Chicago Cubs affiliate), who are giving these bobbleheads on Sunday, August 11.

See also: Detroit Red Wings PA Announcer Budd Lynch Bobblehead

What the organ (and organist) looks like at Centre Bell in Montreal

From Ottawa CBC reporter Stu Mills' Twitter feed in the playoffs:

Diane Bibaud's Farfisa...which also moved over from The Montreal Forum. #cbcott pic.twitter.com/FRDsTUUdx0
— Stu Mills (@StuMillsCBC) May 2, 2013

Canadiens organist since '87, a very warm and friendly Diane Bibaud in her office. pic.twitter.com/4N759i0TXS
— Stu Mills (@StuMillsCBC) May 2, 2013

Renovations to St. Pete Times Forum include a new pipe organ and Tesla coils for lightning

Some notes from a TampaBay.com article about renovations to St. Pete Times Forum this summer:

• Fifty-four flatbeds worth of concrete were removed from two upper-deck end zone seating sections. Five-hundred seventy-four seats gave way to a pipe organ, which will have a bar on either side, a fixture Leiweke hopes becomes a staple of the arena, similar to the pirate ship in the Raymond James Stadium end zone.
• Another signature addition will be Tesla coils on either side of the scoreboard that will shoot lightning 25 feet.
• A new lighting system will add more brightness to the arena, which will enhance the experience for hockey fans at the game and watching on TV. Leiweke said the Forum was one of the darkest surfaces in the NHL. The improved lighting will now allow super slow-motion technology to be utilized.

More from from the Onion: Cubs Organ Player Getting Into Heavier, Darker Stuff

From The Onion:

Over the past several weeks, longtime Cubs organist Gary Pressy has gradually stopped playing the light ballpark-organ riffs that typically fill Wrigley Field's stands in favor of more broody, chilling songs. "I have to say that lately the sounds coming out of that organ have made me anxious and sad and in no mood to clap along," said season-ticket holder Mike Preston, adding that instead of playing "Hava Nagila" or using his organ to start a "Let's Go Cubs" chant, Pressy will strike an oppressive minor chord and sustain the unsettling tone for up to an entire minute. "Yesterday he played a really slow fugue on 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' in this dark, funereal key. It was haunting." When asked for comment, Pressy drove reporters away by playing a demented arrangement of "Happy Birthday" on his newly installed 20,000-pipe, seven-story-tall organ.

All about the Twittering organ player from the Atlanta Braves

Public Broadcasting Atlanta recently had a good piece about Matthew Kaminski, the stadium organist for the Atlanta Braves. He's using Twitter to share his music selections, and to solicit suggestions from fans. A preview:

"Baseball is a game filled with tradition--like singing along when the organ plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." But in many major league ballparks, technology has replaced that tradition. The organist is gone, and fans sing to a recording. At Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves, live organ music is making a comeback--with a 21st century twist. Philip Graitcer has the story..." Listen here.

Check out the most recent posts from Matthew on his Twitter feed, @bravesorganist

Basketball organ - one fan wants to bring it to Toronto

More on the organ theme. I saw this the other night on Twitter: A Toronto Raptors fan wants the team to add more organ to their game day experience:

The Knicks, either when they suck now or were great before, always had the organ at their disposal and it brought a sense of tradition.

We are a hockey town, we need more ORGAN, like Walken needs cowbell.

Use the ACC organ for the DEFENSE chant, small game delays, music before an in bounds play, the Organ only plays on something that only needs 1 minute to 2 minutes of break time. To use it for every free throw made.....eeeerr probably not that would be over kill.

Don't worry, it won't make the Dance Pack obsolete, they will dance when the breaks or intermissions are definitely going to be over 3 minutes. It depends on the ACC/Raptors entertainment coordinator. If we get a kickass organist, he/she will make the Dance Pack shake 'dem bootays anyways.

If they can bring in Devlin as a fan PR gamble, why don't we gamble on an organ anyways?

Should the ACC organ be used in Raptor games? I say YES!

You can add your two cents here.

A bunch of baseball organ videos and links

Cleaning up the bookmark file, thought I would share some of these vids and articles for posterity.

• The Ballpark Organists
  From BallParkTour.com, a listing of the organists for each MLB team. Interesting that baseball organists tend to be older than hockey organists. And also several women who play for MLB teams.
  
• Vince Lascheid, well-known organist, dies
  This is an obit for the legendary Pittsburgh sports organist, who played for the Penguins, Pirates and Steelers. In one of those "wish I had a camera" moments, I saw his organ booth at PNC Park a few years ago. Wish I could have taken a picture of his hand-written notes and scores that were propped up on the organ, listing cues for various Pirates players past & present.
• Interview with Sue Nelson, organist for the Minnesota Twins
  Love seeing her play those big "LETS GO TWINS" chords.
• Baseball's Timeless Tradition
  Lambert Bartak has been playing the organ at the College World Series for 50 years. Love that they got a shot of him playing the pedals with sock feet -- not an uncommon thing but something you rarely see on video. (And he accompanied Johnny Carson many decades ago when he was still just a magician.)
  
• L.A. Dodgers organist Nancy Bea performing pre-game
• Bob Sheppard/Eddie Layton Tribute...Remembering Yankee Stadium
  First time I've ever seen a guy who does "impressions" of a stadium organist
  

A bunch of hockey organ videos

1: Calgary Flames organist Rickrolls at the 'Dome.


2: Real Men of Genius - Mr. Professional Hockey Organ Player


3: James Michael Day - San Jose Sharks organist


4: Jack Moelmann - Chicago Stadium Barton Organ - 1994 (just before they tore the old Chicago Stadium down)


5: Chicago Stadium Barton Organ Removal - Part 1 of 3

VIDEO: Graeme Patterson's "The Art of Hockey"

A couple years ago (two years ago to the day, in fact) I blogged about a great hockey organ / table hockey mashup / art piece by Graeme Patterson. At the time, there were only pictures online of this incredible creation, but today I finally found a video (via St. Louis Blues Fan Store):

Marian Hossa plays the hockey organ in Chicago

Love this. Frank Pellico tries to teach Marian Hossa how to play the organ at the United Center in Chicago.



It's a tv ad for radio coverage of the Blackhawks.

(Source: Stimulant)

New York Times article about New Jersey Devils organist

Nice article about Pete Cannarozzi, the arena organist for the New Jersey Devils: Devils’ Organist Remains Part of Arena’s Rhythm. Some highlights from the article:

Hockey was once played to the sole accompaniment of an organ: the mighty Barton, its pipes built into the walls of the old Chicago Stadium; Gladys Gooding playing “Rangers Victory Song” at the old Madison Square Garden; Paul Newman storming into the booth of the Charlestown Chiefs’ arena in the film “Slap Shot” to tear up the sheet music and demand of the organist, “Don’t ever play ‘Lady of Spain’ again!”

...

“I am absolutely a firm believer in what the organ means to hockey,” said Lou Lamoriello, the Devils’ general manager. “It adds so much atmosphere and flavor. Younger fans want rock music, videos, and we accommodate them. But I hope we never lose sight of the traditions of hockey and what organ music adds to the experience.”

...

Once the game starts, the Devils also use plenty of recorded music and scoreboard videos, but Cannarozzi still plays. He exhorts the crowd with a four-note “Let’s go, Devils” chant; accompanies an announcement about snack stands with “Food, Glorious Food,” from the musical “Oliver!”; and fills the time during a video goal review with the theme from “Jeopardy!”

“The main thing about the job is to get the crowd pumped up during the game, and entertain the audience,” said Cannarozzi, a longtime studio musician and musical director for Ashford & Simpson.

Kyle Hankins, the Nashville Predators’ organist, said: “We help underscore the hockey game in real time, just as any composer would do for a Broadway show or jazz pianist would do at the Blue Note. You can’t get that flexibility out of a CD or MPEG. Also, the timbre is comfort food to the ears that carries some nostalgia for young and old alike. Listening works a lot better than trying to shove a hot dog down your ear canal.”

Paul Cartier, an air-traffic controller and the Yankees’ organist, has been the Islanders’ organist off and on since 1979. He has seen a lot of changes.

“It used to be just me and the P.A. announcer, nothing else,” Cartier said of entertaining crowds at Nassau Coliseum during the Islanders’ Stanley Cup dynasty in the early 1980s. “It was awesome. I probably did a full 15 or 20 songs a night, and all the chant stuff. On some stoppages I didn’t even do anything; sometimes I let it just breathe.

“That doesn’t happen anymore. It’s all recorded, no dead space allowed. Now I’ll play two or three songs, tops. The only time I get to play a full song is when someone gets injured.”

The rise of prerecorded music at N.H.L. games dates to the mid-1980s. The Devils announcer Mike Emrick told the story of Mike Keenan, then coach of the Flyers, who signaled the game director in Philadelphia to crank up the rock music to pump up his players during warm-ups.

...

“It all depends on whether your producer likes organ music,” said Larry Olsen, the Carolina Hurricanes’ organist since 2000. Olsen said that his producer, Pete Soto, was a longtime Rangers fan who appreciated the organ’s place in a hockey game.

“The younger ones tend to like sound effects more,” Olsen said. “Some teams have laid off their organists for budgetary reasons, and because they figure the effects will do the job.”

But some organists detect a comeback for their music.

Jeremy Boyer, the Blues’ organist, said: “Here in St. Louis, the team toyed with the idea of changing the goal song to ‘Crowd Chant’ by Joe Satriani and replacing the traditional goal song, ‘When the Blues Go Marching In,’ played on the organ. When the team put the songs to a vote on its Web site, the St. Louis fans voted for the organ playing after goals in a landslide.”

An organist can come in handy in an emergency, as when a bank of lights failed here on Jan. 8, causing a 100-minute delay before the game was postponed.

“We had to wait for the N.H.L. to make a ruling on what to do,” Cannarozzi said. “In the meantime, we had to entertain everyone, so we went round robin: videos, ads, Dave doing a couple of prerecorded songs, me playing a couple of songs. It was a lot to do for an hour and 40 minutes.

“In the meantime, people were coming up to us and asking us what was happening,” he added. “They were almost hostile. So I played ‘We Are Family,’ ‘Thanks for the Memories.’ I tried to keep it light and up."

More organ notes

Here's a web page about Dan Wheeler, organist and music director for the Wheeling Nailers, and a guy who infamously for got tossed out of a game for playing "Three Blind Mice" after a bad call from the refs:

In a play-off game in this first season Dan was ejected from a game for taunting the officals with the song "Three blind mice". The game was being televised in Canada and ESPN sports. The ousting from the game made front page news and was picked up by wire services nationwide, making Dan the first organist in professional hockey history to ever be ejected from a game. A letter was directed to him from the commissioner of the league warning him and the team of a $500.00 fine and a bench minor penalty. Couch Doug Sauter commented along with the local papers that Dan was a important part of the team and fired up the crowds with his music.

And here's an article from SLAM! Sports about Horace Lapp, the original organist at Maple Leaf Gardens. (Read more about the original Maple Leaf Gardens organ here.)

In the early 1950s, my dad took me south from New Liskeard to visit family in Mimico. Uncle had tickets for a Leafs-Bruins game, and so, an excited teenager's first streetcar ride was to the Gardens.

The moment we entered the shrine, I could both hear and feel Horace.

Scaling the heights to greys in a corner, I couldn't care less how bad the seats were, the girder in front of us a shared obstruction. Lapp was playing La Golondrina (The Swallow) as the teams warmed up, swooping and gliding over the ice. With the power of the Mighty Wurlitzer organ at his command, his glorious sound resonated through the very wood beneath you, shivering your timbers.

Now and forever, it was the ultimate in piped-in noise.

I recall hearing a few bars of the Skaters Waltz during a protracted brawl, an abbreviated chorus of You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby as a combatant headed to the dressing room trailing blood from a high stick to the chops. Other than that, Horace restricted himself to playing mini-concerts between periods, an early apostle of less-is-more, no surprise that one of his first gigs was accompanying silent films.

Leafs owner Harold Ballard ripped out both the portrait of the Queen and the Mighty Wurlitzer from the end zones to make way for more seats, claiming they weren't paying the freight. Pal Hal ushered in an era of on-the-cheap, amateur organists who couldn't carry Horace Lapp's jockstrap in a bushel basket.

Where once silence was golden -- the game the thing -- we now find ourselves talking about whether the loudmouths who have taken over the airwaves and the sound systems should be further allowed to distort reality, to crank up the volume to unbearable levels.

Speaking for old guys, we have the option of tuning out or turning down the sound on our hearing aids. But even your Billy Bobs from Barrie recognize aural manipulation when they hear it. I recommend as an antidote Horace Lapp's version of Your Cheating Heart between whistles.

All about the original organ at Maple Leaf Gardens

Had a good chat this morning with a Carleton University grad student who's working on a paper exploring the history of organ music in sports. As far as I know, the Chicago Blackhawks were the first stadium to install an organ. It was the Barton Organ, a massive music machine that intimidated the visiting team, according to legend.

It's hard to find any history about other organs, but I did come across this today -- some info about the first organ at Maple Leaf Gardens, which apparantly still exists inside the Casa Loma in Toronto. Here's a bit of the story:

In 1956, the fatal news was announced that Shea's Hippodrome would be shuttered and the property demolished to make way for the new civic center. Almost too late the organ was purchased by the Maple Leaf Gardens from the wrecking company for $2,000. The roof of the theatre had already been removed! A month was allowed for removal of the instrument.

Credit for the purchase of the organ by the Maple Leaf Gardens management goes to two persons. Dr. Bruce Tovee, ATOS member, and personal physician to Gardens president, Major Conn Smythe, talked the major into buying it. The major, with a feeling of tradition and history, was convinced that the organ would serve a useful purpose in providing background music at hockey games, church rallies etc. The console, pipes, new bandstand and an executive clubhouse all fitted into a neat structure at the sound end of the Gardens under a huge new portrait of Queen Elizabeth.

During re-installation, the organ was considerably enlarged. A new 5-manual console was built, and two of the manuals were obtained from the right pit console of the New York Paramount. The action was completely re-leathered, and new relays installed. Three additional ranks were purchased from the Strand Theatre in Brooklyn, and California theatre organ enthusiast, Dick Simonton contributed an English Post Horn. A new blower was installed, and a high-pressure fanfare Trumpet was planned for but never installed. The piano was not included in the new specifications, either, but most of the toy counter and percussions were. Retained also were the Brass Trumpet. Brass Saxophone and a solo Tibia Clausa on 25inch wind pressure. The action was changed from pneumatic to partial electric operation.

About a year was required to properly install the organ. Doug Morris designed the new addition to the building. Sound engineer was Bob Wood. Much of the organ installation was handled by Ed Gress from Boston and Stewart Duncan, a local expert. Total cost of the project was approximately $100,000.

The first program on the newly installed instrument was on December 20, 1958, when Don "Knuckles" Gordon played seasonal music for Young Canada Night, between periods of a hockey game which was broadcast coast-to-coast on the CBC. Horace Lapp became organist shortly after.

The organ's tenure in Maple Leaf Gardens was a short one, indeed. In 1963 the Gardens were remodeled to add 1800 seats, the Wurlitzer becoming superfluous. What followed was a memorable battle among elements of organ lovers to keep the organ intact and in the area until a place could be found for its third installation.

When the smoke of battle had cleared, the Toronto Theatre Organ Society, with help from affluent members, purchased the organ for $3850. The instrument was removed from the Gardens in 1964, and stored in the imperial Theatre. The Imperial's manager, Bert Brown, was an ATOS member, so this helped the situation immeasurably. The organ languished for six years until the society found a home for it.

Early in 1970, the Kiwanis Club of West Toronto offered the Wurlitzer a home in Casa Loma, thereby replacing the organ which had been sold in the 1924 auction. In June 1970, the organ' s components were moved from the Imperial to the Casa Loma and housed in what was the indoor swimming pool. Installation was begun immediately by members of the Toronto Theatre Organ Society.

Read the entire article...

VIDEO: Frank Pellico, Blackhawks organist

Frank Pellico is the organist for the Chicago Blackhawks, and may well be the best organist in hockey. This video does a great job at capturing the awesome sounds (and sights) of the organ and its player.

Pellico's been playing for 19 seasons, and started at the old Chicago Stadium on the legendary Barton organ.

Interview with New York Islanders organist Paul Cartierm

From Time Out New York (via Kukla's Korner):

Who he is: Air traffic controller by day and organist by night, Paul Cartier has been playing for the New York Islanders on and off since 1979, and for the Yankees for the last five years.

First attempt: Cartier had been going to Islanders games since the team was formed. Three years later, when he was 15, they hired a new organist who “wasn’t very good,” according to Cartier. “I went to the Nassau Coliseum and asked to audition for the job. I got laughed at.”

Breakthrough moment: As a transfer to Hofstra University, Cartier enrolled in Piano 101, which happened to be taught by the Islanders’ newest organ player. “I would get to class early and softly play some of the stuff that he’d play at the Coliseum. One day he took notice, and I confessed my obsession,” Cartier explains. The professor invited him to the organ box during the next game and let Cartier test his chops between periods. “He was impressed and helped me get the gig playing for the New York Arrows indoor soccer team.” From there, Cartier began filling in occasionally for his professor until he eventually took over.

And then: The senior director of scoreboard and broadcasting for the Yankees approached Cartier and asked him to join their roster as well.

Cartier’s advice: There is an unofficial exclusive Web ring, where the NHL organ players exchange ideas and stories and some even play in a fantasy hockey league. How can you break in? “You need to be persistent without being a pest,” he warns. Call the team’s office and ask who’s in charge of music. “Introduce yourself and let them know that you’re always willing to help out in any way.” And don’t overlook the minor-league teams—they’re good experience and a great way to get your name out there.

Read the full article...

The Art of Hockey

Check out this article from The Coast about a new hockey art exhibit opening up at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) in Halifax. My favourite is "Hockey Organ" (pictured above) by Graeme Patterson: "...a souped-up STIGA rod-hockey game with its own "Jumbotron." Instead of pulling rods to make the players move, you press organ keys, which in turn play music."

(There's more about "Hockey Organ" here.)

You can check out the AGNS web site for a video preview of the exhibit -- definitely worth a look.

Profile on Blackhawks organist Frank Pellico

From Paul Ladewski on dailysouthtown.com:

At a time when live organ music has been drowned out by computer-programmed rock-'n'-roll in most sports arenas, Blackhawks organist Frank Pellico is a survivor.

About half of the 30 NHL teams employ keyboard players, but Pellico is among the few who play an actual organ at the games.

What's more, Pellico said, "to my knowledge, the Blackhawks are the only team that has an organ of this size and capacity. I mean, a real pipe organ."
...
"Frank loves to play the organ, and he loves hockey. And the fans love him," Blackhawks game operations chief Ben Broder said. "It's great to have him around."

For that, local puck-heads also can thank Bill Wirtz, the late Blackhawks owner.

With Al Melgard at the controls, the 3,663-pipe Barton organ was a fixture at Blackhawks games at Chicago Stadium for years. Ever the traditionalist, Wirtz made a commitment to duplicate the sound as best as possible when the team moved to the United Center after the 1993-94 season.

The result is a custom-designed Allen organ, the largest the company had built at the time. Add the 300,000-watt sound system that was installed a year ago, and Pellico is among those who believes the sound is as good as it gets in any arena these days.

"Three hundred thousand watts? That's mind-boggling," said Pellico, whom Melgard mentored as a youth. "The previous system was decent, but it was made for the spoken word. Because there were no base speakers, it didn't do justice to organ music, which has very deep sounds in the pedals. Now the CDs and the organ sound dynamite, so we have the best of both worlds."

Still, Pellico admits to some apprehension when the Blackhawks moved across the street to the new arena.

At the cozy old Stadium, Pellico was stationed literally within reach of the fans in the mezzanine area. At the cavernous United Center, he is up, up and away from the action on the seventh floor.

"It's 100 percent different in the new building," he said. "In the old one, when somebody wanted to make a public announcement, the cue for me to stop was when the person began to talk. In the new building, I wear a headset to stay in contact with a producer. ... It's a whole different game now."
...
Pellico takes center stage between the second and third periods, a four- to six-minute segment called "The Frank Pellico Show" in which he showcases his skills.

"It gives me a chance to show what I can do on the keyboard rather than just play dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun to get some crowd noise," he said. "I can play anything I want to show people that I really did study music."

Even if Broder and others are in his earpiece once in a while.

"Frank is so humble; we like to razz him sometimes," Broder said. "You know, stuff like 'C'mon, Frank, you can pump it up better than that!' But the fans give him a thunderous ovation every time."

At 66, Pellico has too much fun to give it up any time soon.

"I love what I do, and the Blackhawks have been very good to me," he said. "What more could a person ask for?"

(via Kukla's Korner)

Related:

• The original Chicago Stadium Barton organ
• The Chicago Blackhawks and their organ
  
• HockeyMusic.ca
  

History of music & figure skating

Thanks to Alicia from my Algonquin College class for sending along this note about the roots of music in figure skating:

"I got to thinking today after your class. Figure Skating has very deep roots. I was pretty sure that Figure Skating had incorporated the use of music with the sport long before 1929, as all of the patterns and music for Ice Dance were set by the ISU in the 1930's. This would have required years of preparation.

I checked some History of the Olympics books and History of Figure Skating books that I have at home. Here is what I found:

Jackson Haines, who is dubed the father of modern freestyle skating died in 1876 at the age of 36. Before his death he transformed ice skating, he is recognised as being so amazing because he was "the first interpretive skater. He skated to music and performed like a dancer...". As well Sonja Henie among other skaters were part of travelling skating show throughout the late 1920's and early 1930's which incorporated Freestyle skating with music.

I gained most of this info from the book titled "Figure Skating - A Celebration" written by Beverley Smith.

You were talking about the use of Organs in the stadiums/arenas. One of my coaches used to tell me of his training as a child in England, where they had a live organist play all of the music for their practices, tests, and competitions."

The youngest organist in pro sports

Ben Shwartz started playing the organ for the Providence Bruins (AHL) in 2001-2002, when he was just 13 years old. Now he runs all the music as well. From his web site:

Around February 2006, Ben was notified that he would no longer continue in this routine. Why? He was being promoted! He would now have full control over all of the music played at the Providence Bruins games—not just the organ ditties, but also all of the prerecorded music as well!

This is Ben’s current position. He is the Music Director of the Providence Bruins, one of the premier professional hockey teams in all of North America, and at the ancient age of 18 no less...

Ben hopes that the infusion of youth into the noble—and disappearing—profession of sports organist will help ensure the vitality of this dying breed of musician in an era when prerecorded pop is threatening true virtuosity.

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