Well, it with usual annoyance that I read on other websites about the “playing organ live” debate. So much so I feel I have to write and put a really fair and honest point across. So far there has been a lot of complaining about organists who play using something called WAVE Files - put simply, these are backing tracks that the organists uses to enhance their performance. As an EX-organ club secretary, the first person I ever came across doing this was an organist who played at turners musical merry-go-round. He arrived at the club with Yamaha HX1 and a mini disc player. He explained that having to carry large instruments around with him was affecting his health, and, as a solution, he had recorded his other instruments onto disc and would play along to them.
Fine - a first class performance and he was booked again for the following year.

So what is so offensive about playing to backings? Well, firstly, there is debate as to who actually records the backings in the first place. With 99% of the audience completely ignorant to the fact that it takes great skill to do this sort of thing, it is a shame that some people consider this as cheating - but is it the audience who are complaining, really?

There are two organ camps out there, the traditional organists who play with two feet and two hands and then those who do the same, but add recordings to their performances in order to expand their capabilities. We really Cannot see why people consider this as “cheating” when all it does is add to the performance and show how talented the musician really is.

There are a “few” players who download midi-files, change a few parts and then pass this music off as their own performance, which we do agree is not acceptable and this sort of thing can be hard to spot, unless of course you are told or know the arrangement yourself.

So, where does this end. Well the simple answer to this is that the musician has to put a stop to this himself. If he or she has any level of musical integrity, they will not do this sort of thing. At the end of the day, as long as he or she is playing something and you are enjoying the show, really, what damage is being done. IF however you really don’t want to tollerate this sort of performance, the answer is simple, DONT GO TO THE SHOW.

Simples!