Growing up in a small town in Iowa, with a “beautiful church” and “a beautiful organ,” Simon Pick said at some point he lapsed in his piano lessons and stopped pursuing music. But once he heard the organ playing at church, it “awoke something” in him that made him want to “do music again.”
Pick has been playing the organ at Masses since he was in seventh grade. Today he does so at Assumption in St. Paul, where he serves as director of music and liturgy. That role entails more than playing the organ, however, but includes administrative work, rehearsal time, scheduling and calendar work, practicing and “working on music,” selecting hymns and more. “The planning takes tremendous time,” he said.
Pick recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss the importance of music in the faithful’s spiritual lives.
Throughout the liturgy and worship in general, humans like signs and symbols, Pick said. “We like things that represent things that we may not be able to see, but that help us experience that reality, and I look at music the same way,” he said. “Music is a sign of heaven.”
Honing his skills in the practice room has had the biggest effect on his church ministry, Pick said. “I think sometimes we focus too much not on the way we’re able to present something,” he said, but on the other details, “the externals.” “But at the end of the day, we need to be practitioners of our own craft to move people.”
All music is an expression of joy, Pick said, and his musical tastes are more diverse than many people expect. And he has experienced “a lot of musical variety within Masses.” “Just understanding that it is an expression of joy, regardless of whether we feel it’s appropriate or not, and that to someone, that is their prayer, and it’s important to respect that,” he said.
During the interview, Conley asked Pick to describe the most memorable organ he has ever played. To hear his response — in part, “some of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard from an instrument in my life” — and to hear the full interview, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Aug. 18 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. Aug. 19 and 2 p.m. Aug. 20.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Nicole Bettini, the new delegate for consecrated life for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who discusses life as a consecrated virgin; and Transitional Deacon Nick Vance, who describes the DLITE (Dunrovin Leadership Intensive Training Experience) program for inner-city middle school students at the Dunrovin Christian Brothers Retreat Center near Stillwater, Minnesota.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
