Organ Scholars are essential to the fabric of Cambridge’s traditions, yet much of what they do is cloaked in mystery. If juggling playing, conducting, and singing wasn’t enough, organists throw into the mix busy social lives and countless college and society positions. I have been in choirs since I was seven, so the organ’s spine-tingling sound has been ever-present in my life. Yet I have always been baffled by its countless keyboards, pedals and stops. Someone once jokingly described playing it to me as like driving a car.

If it really is like driving, I wanted to lift the lid to give Varsity readers an insight into this crucial but overlooked role. I sat down with Barbara Dooley, Organ Exhibitioner at Peterhouse and Nora Rechel, Junior Organ Scholar at Emmanuel to learn more.

“Music has always been something that feels missing when it is not there”

Sitting in Peterhouse’s dark wood-panelled hall, Barbara told me “music has been a constant flow throughout my life. I started the violin aged five and played in an orchestra, but soon decided to take up the piano; I felt it was another way of working with a string because it is a string instrument encased within ivory keys. That was fascinating as I wanted to see if I could change my idea of sound.” Tucked away in the slightly less grand setting of Fiona’s, the café at Emma, Nora told me, beaming, that “music has always been something that feels missing when it is not there; I really value it because it brings you closer to people”.

The most fascinating part of being the Junior to a Senior Organ Scholar, Barbara says, is “the wealth of knowledge passed down. I learn a huge amount from Shawn and it is a unique experience as a Junior to absorb knowledge constantly; I admire him hugely”. Nora emphasised the importance of friendship between organists: “you have to get on with them”, she simply said, “if you have a grudge against them, you are going to have a horrible time. Me and Miles at Emma are lucky because we get on so well. Every time we go to the organ loft we gossip.”

The Organ Scholar’s role in College life is various but centred around the organ loft, Barbara says: “as Organ exhibitioner, I accompany the choir for services thrice weekly. The role includes conducting, and we help compile music for the term and the music-making life of the college. For example, I sang for Vivaldi’s Gloria which the Music Society performed to celebrate forty years of women at Peterhouse”. Nora told me “depending on the college you have a certain amount of services to play. [At Emma] we play two services weekly and Compline fortnightly. For Complines, Miles and I conduct. Beyond that, we help with admin, organising tours. It is very varied and very fun”.

“When I play the organ I enter a more aural state of perception”

Nora emphasised the rigour of the notorious application process: “The academic interviews and the Organ Scholarship auditions were simultaneous so you had four intense days where you were examined on every aspect of your life. You had to play for Directors of Music, you had to do sight-reading, transposition, keyboard tests. It was a crazy week!” Barbara enjoyed the process amidst the stress: “It is a very rigorous process. When I applied, it was the first year in person after online interviews. It’s an enriching experience because you play a number of organs in Cambridge and meet Directors of Music”.

The challenge of being an Organ Scholar, for Nora, is “ensuring consistency because there are days when you’ve had great sleep and are feeling on top of the world, and you feel confident leading the choir. Other days you may be tired, hungover and have no choice but to conduct”. Barbara emphasised “time management is really important. As someone who studies Classics, not Music, some might think the two don’t meet. I find they complement each other hugely. Classics for me is verbal and quite visual; when I play the organ I enter a more aural state of perception. Training the ear means I can open my mind”.

It's the social aspect of being an Organ Scholar, for Nora, that is satisfying: “I am really close with a lot of the choir. Free formals mean after services you sit with lovely people, you have a nice chat, sometimes there are choir parties. You have this integrated social network from day one; you are around amazing people with similar interests”. For Barbara, the joy is that “every organ is completely different, and what I love about being an Organ Scholar is creating a friendship with it. You get to know the instrument really well”.

Organ Scholars are sometimes stereotyped as being too immersed in classical music to know contemporary hits but Barbara assured me: “I can bust that myth. On the jazz end of things, I like Stan Getz and Billy Childs. In terms of classical music, I would say, since it’s near Easter, the Bairstow Lamentations or Hadley’s My Beloved Spake.” Nora, too, showed the breadth of her listening: “I listen to a mixture of jazz and indie. I really like Sammy Rae and the Friends who are a funk band; they’re relatively up-and-coming”. We had moved from classical to modern, from conducting to parties, and with that our conversation drew to a close.

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