‘Messiah’ made for the masses; singalong set at First Presbyterian Church

The “Messiah” is a “monster.”

That’s how Laurie Chinn describes the legendary piece, even after serving as the organist for 17 consecutive, annual performances at a church in Portland. Every year, she said, she goes back to the drawing board for review and practice.

“There are parts that are very difficult,” Chinn said. “What I’m doing is being the whole orchestra, because it’s written for orchestra.”

English composer George Frideric Handel first scored his piece for a small orchestra (more like a big band) in 1741; the work was always warmly received, but it wasn’t until after Handel’s death that other arrangers recognized its monumental power, and reworked the score for massive groups of musicians and singers.

Other adaptations are for organ only, but they still try to squeeze in every speck of orchestral genius from those earlier passes (by the likes of arrangers like Mozart). That makes for an incredibly detailed, busy piece of music, Chinn said.

“I’d love to know how many notes I play,” she said. “I don’t know what it is, but it must be a crazy number.”

Crazy isn’t usually how Chinn views numbers. “Numbers are my thing,” she said, and she works as a bookkeeper — when she’s not playing the organ for various area churches, including Vancouver’s First Presbyterian Church, and for the Vancouver USA Singers, who use First Pres as their base of operations and concert venue.

And that’s where the “Messiah” will meet its match, on Dec. 21, in another couple of monsters. One is the mighty pipe organ at First Pres, a truly fearsome musical beast that required a fearsome amount of maintenance this year.

The church spent $140,000 and several months maintaining and upgrading the organ, Chinn said. One Sunday morning, she was nearby but not even touching the instrument when “every single note started playing. All the stops opened up, the whole organ started playing like there was a ghost in there.”

That led to multiple discoveries about the innards of the complex contraption, Chinn said — both hardware and software. Yes, did you know, the organ is driven by a computer? It turned out to be state-of-the-art for 1982, Chinn said, and was replaced. Also replaced were keyboard controls, pedal and keyboard contacts, thumb pistons, valves and valve wires (10 miles of wire in all). Chinn said the church tapped a dedicated organ fund for this expensive project.

Singalong

The other monster is you, the Vancouver community, joined in song. Everybody is invited to a singalong of all choruses (not the solos) from “Messiah,” Parts I, II and III, set for 7 p.m. Dec. 21, with Chinn providing organ accompaniment. The Vancouver USA Singers will have some scores to share, but please bring your own if you’ve got one. The event is free, but goodwill offerings will be gratefully accepted for Friends of the Carpenter, the nonprofit woodshop and day center for the homeless and vulnerable.

Most people know the big hit from “Messiah,” that joyous “Hallelujah” chorus; most may not know that the entire piece consists of three sections that last about two hours in all. The group will perform the whole thing, beginning to end, and audience participation is welcome throughout — but it’s assumed that “Hallelujah” is when the audience will form up a real musical monster and steal the show.

Chinn and VUSA director Jana Hart have been leading “Messiahs” for years — down in Portland. This year is the first time they’ve decided to stay home and launch what they hope will become an annual tradition. The real reason, Hart has admitted, is anything but heavenly: “Hearing how difficult it was for Vancouver residents to fight traffic to Portland on a Friday night.”

From the heart

Chinn said her mother and older sister used to play the organ — but they stopped as soon as she started. “They were intimidated by me,” said Chinn, who was picking out melodies by age 4 and started on organ lessons by 8.

The pipe organ may look something like a piano, she said, but it’s a very different animal. “There are three keyboards and a keyboard for your feet, as well,” she said. (The keyboards are actually called “manuals.”) Pianos respond to the touch of the player, and the foot pedals sustain or dampen the sound — but not the organ, Chinn said. Its keys are like on-off switches; the sustain, dynamics and tonal colors come from stops controlled by hand and by foot.

It’s a lot to keep track of, and you’ve got to start out “thinking technically,” Chinn said, but with practice comes mastery — and depth.

“When you really know it, and actually perform it with a group like VUSAS, it’s very moving,” she said. “It’s from the heart.”