Musical magic: New organ enhances Shofner service

Fred Shofner plays sample chords on the Johannus organ he donated to Shofner Chapel in memory of his late wife, Betty Jo Neese Shofner. The organ, which can simulate the rich tones of a full scale pipe organ, will be the featured instrument at Sunday's Lessons and Carols, beginning at 3:30 p.m. at the chapel. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Close your eyes and listen. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to make you feel as though you are in Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey or St. Vitus -- the music does all the work for you. The Pachelbel and Bach Christmas music streaming from the pipe organs of the earth's greatest cathedrals lift you up and away.

Open your eyes -- surprise! It's not Rome, London or Prague -- it's Shelbyville, and you're in the small clapboard Shofner Chapel on State Route 64 (Tullahoma Highway).

"We want to recognize this fabulous new instrument," said Martin Shofner, who is coordinating the chapel's Candlelight Christmas Lessons and Carols scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

High-tech organ

The "fabulous new instrument" is a church organ, but it is unlike most. It looks like a medium-sized organ found in many churches, but thanks to digital technology, it sounds like the pipe organs found in the great cathedrals. The organ was put in place just before the chapel's bicentennial celebration in June of this year and Shofner is looking forward to seeing just what the instrument is capable of.

"This time, we're really going to let all the stops out and see what it can do," he said.

The person letting out all the stops will be Marjorie Proctor, the retired associate organist-choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville. Besides Christ Church, she has served at several other Episcopal churches, including St. Ann's and St. David's.

"It is a wonderful gift she's giving to the community," said Martin.

Proctor, a Nashville native, holds a bachelor's degree in organ performance and a master's in church music. Although she has seen many of the great pipe organs of the European cathedrals -- and even sat on the bench in front of some of them -- she has not yet gotten the chance to play them. Playing the new instrument in the Shofner chapel will offer a small taste of that.

"This will be a new experience," she said. "This one is designed to be like a pipe organ."

She said the digital version, which she has never played before, makes more sense for churches that don't have the climate-controlled environment that the finicky --and expensive -- pipe organs require. She will be coming down a few days early to get the feel on the instrument and practice the classical Christmas music for the 30-minute prelude to Sunday's service.

"It's a little different from a regular pipe organ," said Fred Shofner, who donated the Johannus instrument to the chapel in memory of his late wife, Betty Jo Neese Shofner. "Some of the pedals are different."

He said he would be working with her on Thursday to familiarize her with the differences. Tuesday, Fred was at the chapel, overseeing the installation of a new speaker and giving the organ a test run. The back speakers, hidden high overhead in the rear of the church, were a little overpowering and those sitting in the front couldn't hear the music as well, so an additional speaker was added near the altar.

Running his hands over the keys, stops, and enough electronic gadgetry to confuse a NASA astronaut, he demonstrated several aspects of the organ, making it ring with the mellow tone of church bells, then the soft breathy notes of the woodwinds.

"I don't know even how to use some of this," he said, adding that he was looking forward to hearing Proctor play.

Traditional music

She will begin playing selections at 3:30 p.m., with selections from Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Pachelbel and Dieterich Buxtehude -- appropriate for a service held in a church established by German Lutherans, since all three were German Lutherans -- as well as Gerald Near, Louis-Claude Daquin, Reynaldo Hahn, and Richard Purvis.

"I was trying to show all of the stops on the organ," said Proctor of the line-up. "I wanted to show the different 'colors,' with music I think the people would enjoy. I want it to be a wonderful experience."

The regular service begins at 4 p.m., and during it, Proctor will play more selections, including more familiar Christmas carols. Based loosely on the Lessons and Carols service of Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England, it is a little different from the usual clergy-led worship experience.

"We'd thought we'd combine Episcopalian and Lutheran traditions and bring it on home," said Shofner. "And do it in a slightly less high-church way."

Instead of a sermon delivered by a pastor or priest, the service consists of lay people reading lessons from Scripture, from Adam and Eve's fall from grace through the birth of Jesus. The readers, he said, are from different backgrounds.

"We wanted an all-encompassing telling of the Christmas story," he said.

Even the timing of the service was designed to create an ecumenical, non-denominational environment, Shofner said. By having the service early in the month, but late in the afternoon, he hopes to avoid conflict with other area Christmas programs, allowing anyone who wants to attend to do so without scheduling conflicts within their own churches.

Hoping for growth

The ecumenical approach is hardly a novelty to those familiar with Shofner Chapel. Allen Shoffner, who recently completed a history of the congregation, said in an earlier interview that Shofner's Lutheran Church was established in 1808. After 1924, and the arrival of the Rev. William Jenkins, the congregation helped establish other churches, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Church of Christ and, yes, Episcopalian.

As the families dwindled in size and the area Lutheran congregations grew smaller and smaller, both Jenkins and Shofner's Lutheran churches faced empty sanctuaries. They incorporated as not-for-profit religious organizations to preserve the buildings and grounds and were renamed "chapels," Jenkins in 1976 and Shofner's in 1990. Both have since been named to the national and state historical registers.

But Martin Shoffner would like to see that status change in the future.

"We hope this will be the first of many years for Lessons and Carols," he said, adding that as the population grows, he would like to see Shofner Chapel reactivated as a church. For now, he said, "our goal is to keep the place active."

Everyone is invited to the service Sunday, and encouraged to bring "sweets and savories" to share at the Christmas social immediately following the service.