Hockey Organists - End of the Period?

I love music. I love hockey. The two have been partners for years. It may go back to old skating rinks where people would rent figure skates and go in circles like a slow-paced NASCAR caution for hours while the organist would play the theatre-style music like “The Skater’s Waltz” or some Tchaikovsky from Sleeping Beauty – “Once upon a Dream”.

Hockey embraced the rink organist who stuck around after the open skate to provide music between stoppages of play. The music changed over the years, but the style still reflected the old theatre sound. Even “Smoke on the Water” was used, but with a twist. One of the largest organs was the pipe organ in the old Chicago Stadium. When the Blackhawks and Bulls built a new home, The United Center, they used a much smaller electronic organ which was miked. True, it wasn’t the grand multi-manual console, but it still provided organ music (as it does today) for the games. It is more protected than the puck-damaged King of Instruments of the old place.

Last week I attended an ECHL Reading Royals' game and thought how over the years I've noticed the organ music is disappearing. I enjoy pop music and classic rock and it can fit well into the energy of a good hockey game, but we seem to be losing the personal touch of a real live musician. It happens at baseball games as well. I’ll never forget the commentary made when a call was made against the home team and the three referees (technically one ref and two linesmen) were subjected to a rendition of the politically incorrect “Three Blind Mice”. I think of that when I hear Aron "Paperboy" Papernick doing the same thing with audio clips on NHL Home Ice's "Hockey This Morning" show (XM204/Sirius208). Music can be quite entertaining, but it goes beyond that. I remember my Mom’s Aunt Beulah, a former Kentucky missionary, remarking how she loved to watch hockey because it seemed so graceful. It seems to me that the music from the theatre organ enhances the grace of these athletes who are often mis-portrayed as fighting goons , but can direct a puck from their skate to their stick and ease it toward the net while a teammate re-directs it between the sliding goalie’s pads for a goal – all while on skates. Graceful, for sure and the music begins as a punctuation on the action.

I would love to see a more personal accompaniment in my favorite sporting event. The pre-programmed same-ol’-same-ol’ gets annoying, especially now that rinks look the same, the horn sounds the same, and the mini-games between periods follow a pattern. Sure, go ahead and use some pop tunes and other audio clips, but don’t lose the tradition of the customizable soundtrack of the sport.

Jim Meck
Staff Musician - Meck Music Inc.
http://www.meckmusic.com/

Jim will be appearing at Bear Creek Ski Resort on March 26, 2009 and Market
Café on March 28, 2009. Check www.jimmeck.com for details.