AS A teenager, I stood near our church organist as he played. I was mesmerised by the majestic sound, the fascinating sight of ivory stop-knobs flying in and out seemingly of their own accord, hands moving between three keyboards, and feet flying round the pedals below. So began an organ addiction that has lasted for life.

As a schoolboy, I visited famous organs with Malcolm, a fellow organ pupil. In Cambridge, the great Boris Ord took delight in locking us into King’s College Chapel for an hour. I recall shouting up to Malcolm in the organ loft that there was a noisy motorbike outside. “No,” he called. “I’ve just put my foot on the bottom note of the big pedal reed stop.”

At Winchester Cathedral — where the appropriately named Alwyn Surplice was Organist — a door in the Close was opened to us one dark night by the teenage daughter of the suffragan bishop. She agreed that it would be fun to go up into the organ loft and make a din. “I know where the keys and the light switches are,” she said, and was as good as her word. On another day, we paid our half-crown to play the splendid Father Willis organ in Oxford Town Hall.

Over the years, I have occasionally had to play the organ and officiate. At one service, I recall announcing a hymn and then, moving too swiftly, giving my head a king-sized knock on the low stone arch over the organ-loft door. A longish convalescent pause followed before the hymn began. During my Ely years, the chance to use the mighty cathedral organ is a happy memory, greatly missed in retirement.

As an organ buff, I had one of my happiest moments at Preston Parish Church at the dedication of the large organ after its extensive rebuild in the mid-1980s. As the then Rector, I asked a retired cathedral precentor for advice. He told me: “For at least half an hour, don’t do anything with the organ — have three unaccompanied hymns, readings, and prayers. Then the Bishop proclaims ‘Let the organ sound!’ and, with a few majestic chords, it will make a spectacular debut.” It worked like magic: the moment still lives in my mind.

THE organist’s part in worship is crucial. Vibrant, sensitive hymn-playing greatly encourages singing and brings worship alive; poor, dull playing does exactly the opposite. We priests owe so much to our organists, and have not always expressed our gratitude. It is perhaps no surprise that priest-and-organist stories abound. I once heard a vicar, now departed this life, gently suggest to his organist that slightly louder hymn-playing, just a trifle faster, would better support the hymns. The organist was heard to tell the choir: “If he wants it *** fast he can have it *** fast; if he wants it *** loud he can have it *** loud.” Each hymn was then played at top speed on full organ, the choir laughing fit to bust.

Then there was the priest who rushed up to the organ during a service and pushed in all the stops, because the organist was playing the wrong hymn tune. I once had an organist — not one of my fans — who played softly as I entered church before worship, but, underneath, a loud pedal stop amusingly announced: “Here the conquering hero comes.”

Sadly, the days of the pipe organ could be numbered in all but our larger parish churches, chiefly because of expense (News, 2 April). Even the cost of a regular tuning is significant, while keeping an organ in good repair is even greater. There are organs in many small churches where notes don’t sound, stops don’t work, or the instrument has not been tuned. Even the smallest repair can be expensive when other parts of the organ need to be dismantled before a minor repair can be done. Keeping the church roof on takes priority.

Then there is the ever present temptation of installing an electronic organ to sit alongside a disused pipe organ or to take its place. While many electronic organs are note-for-note recordings of the real thing, they cannot be compared to the live article. Nor are electronic organs cheap, and their life span is nowhere near as long as the real thing. I recall long ago staging a Battle of the Organs: pipe organ versus electronic, with professional players on each instrument. The pipe organ won, getting the most audience points.

SEVERAL other factors play a part in endangering the future life of the organ. The advent of the music group in many places as a regular part of worship makes an organ superfluous. Dispensing with it may make worship seem less “churchy” and more attractive to the young: big numbers now flock to Preston Parish Church, where live music is the order of the day, and the organ mentioned above is rarely used. Then there is the simple matter of getting an organist: they are like gold, and the parish that gets one is indeed fortunate.

Both diocesan advisory committees and their organ advisers do all they can to preserve the pipe organ in worship, but it is worth recalling that many congregations include competent pianists. Through grants from appropriate charitable trusts, diocesan organ advisers could establish a diocesan fund to meet the cost of organ lessons and give it wide publicity in the parishes. It is not too late to take action to preserve the king of instruments in our churches.

The Very Revd Dr Michael Higgins is a former Dean of Ely.