Born an organist

Andrew Mathieson
AS A 14-year-old, Dion Henman was sitting in unfamiliar territory.
The unwavering sounds of the organ had lured him in excitement since he could remember but playing its century-old pipes had young Dion nervously fronting St John’s Anglican Church, in Geelong West.
Dion had earlier answered the church’s organist advertisement asking “Trained or teachable?” He winged it until dad started driving him to the church to practise assiduously every day, eventually turning Dion from teachable to trained.
He noticed a few anxious glances and initial frowns from the congregation when he hit his first notes that fateful Sunday.
“The congregation was extremely encouraging,” Dion recalls.
“They were pretty rapt to have a younger person play the organ.
“Even back then, nearly 25 years ago, the future of organ playing was looking a bit grim – and it still is.”
Organ music lives in the biggest churches such as Melbourne’s majestic St Patrick’s cathedral, where Dion is now stationed, but the sound has certainly died at St John’s.
“The church has just been sold and is apparently going to be an ALDI supermarket,” he giggles.
“I hope that’s not a reflection on my playing, that I scared them away.”
Not likely. After all, they don’t hand out invitations to the celebrated Brisbane Organ Recital International Series lightly.
For a gig associated with the old, Dion’s fresh face is a change.
“To be invited so young to give a recital is quite flattering,” Dion, 37, says.
“It makes you feel like you’ve made it.”
Organists seem to be from a bygone era. Time has caught up and the hymns they once played are now heard at their funerals.
Death is a word that goes hand-in-hand with organs.
Dion played significant sombre tributes after the death of the retired Melbourne archbishop Frank Little last year and for the Kerang rail disaster memorial service.
“You do get caught up in the moment and the feeling of sorrow because you’re trying to engage with the atmosphere as well,” he insists.
The late Dorothy Glover hit the right note with Dion, teaching him the complexities of the organ on her return from a lifetime in England.
She retired back home in Geelong after decades earlier earning the honour as the first female in more than 600 years to recite at England’s oldest school, Winchester College.
Rather than her playing, Dion prefers to reflect on her words of wisdom.
“My organ teacher used to say ‘Organists are born, not made’,” he smiles.
Good taste is also a prerequisite.
Dion is obsessed with Bach, not just the music but everything about the German composer, such as the influence of his organ music on the Catholic Church for the past 300 years.
“Bach was, of course, Lutheran,” Dion is quick to point out.
“That sort of throws a spanner in the works.”
Dion’s influence has not spread as far but, locally, the Highton organist teaches and accompanies Geelong Youth Choir and Geelong Grammar School’s music program.
Playing for beginners is tougher than it looks. Dion likens it to rubbing your belly and patting your head, with hands tickling the ivories as feet tap the pedalboard.
The ankles have to be supple like a dancer, Dion adds.
“It’s like when you start to learn to drive,” he says.
“You put your feet on the clutch, change the gears and try to steer with your hands.”
“That is unless you drive an automatic.
“An organ is a challenge, at first like a manual.”