There was much to like about your recent article, "The Music of Soul" by Thomas de France with Edwin C. Starner and Julia Wade [September, p. 12]. I will cheer if the result of the piece is to put more people into the seats during the prelude and postlude. My experience as a branch church organist is that you generally only have a captive audience for the last couple minutes of the prelude. During the postlude, it's not unusual for people to walk out the door, and those who stay are often conversing.
I hope, however, that the result of the article will not be for music committees in branch churches to tell their organists that preludes and postludes must be of the length stated by Mrs. Eddy in the Church Manual specifically for The Mother Church. Each branch church should set guidelines according to their specific situation. Through conversations with other professional musicians in other denominations, I have concluded that most musicians at other denominations (who receive substantially better salaries than the typical branch church organist) are not expected to play preludes and postludes as long as the Manual specifies for The Mother Church.
CLARKSTON, MICHIGAN, US
