After 50 years at cathedral organ, Pracht plays on
It’s true, Carole Pracht was not playing the organ on the morning of Sunday, June 22, 1980.
Had a doctor’s note been necessary, she presumably could have brought the birth certificate for her son, Kevin, who had been born only hours before.
“I have missed very few Sundays since I started,” Pracht said, “but I didn’t make it on the Sunday morning after I had a baby at 9 o’clock Saturday night.”
Along with a few other rare exceptions, Pracht has spent a sizable portion of each Sunday morning, rain or shine, playing the organ at Wichita’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. That she is now in her 50th year of doing so is an extraordinary achievement, marvels the cathedral’s Director of Sacred Music Alan Held, who calculates Pracht has played roughly 10,000 Masses during that time.
Then again, that does not account for all the weddings and funerals at which she has played, nor the many Masses for which she has played at her other home parish of St. Francis of Assisi, where she plays at least every Saturday evening.
“Carole is such a committed organist, committed to her responsibilities at the cathedral and to all of the people with whom she is working,” Held said. “She is a model accompanist, but an outstanding soloist, too. She meets with all those getting married at the cathedral to make their special day even more beautiful. She also shows great compassion when working with families when they meet to plan funerals as well. The diocesan ordinations would not be the same thrilling and uplifting liturgies without her skill. And the more quiet and reflective moments have her playing, expertly, the meditative music that hits the right note every time. And, to do this for 50 years? Wow, that’s special.”
In that time, Pracht has witnessed many changes and cathedral renovations; heard, reheard, and re-reheard many homilies; and spent nearly every Wednesday evening at choir practice. And even though she once accidentally sent a hymnal tumbling from the choir loft, she acknowledges, she has never once in half a century fumbled the Body of Christ. When an EMHC eventually arrives at her side, she says, “I don’t stop playing the organ. My feet and one hand keep playing, I reach out with my other hand and receive communion.”
Like a human voice
Pracht was in the sixth grade when her music teacher at Wichita’s St. Joseph Elementary School approached her. “She said, ‘Carole, I talked with your piano teacher. She says you’re doing really well, so it’s time for you to start playing organ for church.’”
Although Pracht says she was definitely intrigued, she also notes that it was more of a command than a request. “I was interested because I like music,” she said. “But, what do you say except ‘Yes, Sister,’ except I did not know it meant I had to stay after school for lessons.”
According to Pracht, good piano skills translate well to the organ and ease the process of learning about how to master all the organ’s sounds and stops.
“Practically anything for piano can be played on the organ,” she said. “There’s a wonderful array of literature that is made specifically for the organ.”
And what is the biggest difference between the organ and piano?
“The organ is like the human voice – the singing voice,” Pracht said. “Every single organ sound sings until you release it, so the organ can create a solo voice or an entire choir of voices to lead congregational singing. A piano can’t do that. The piano sound decays immediately, and that’s why it doesn’t work as well in large rooms, where the acoustics can support singing.”
All Masses were in Latin when she started on the organ, but Vatican II shifted the liturgy a few years later so that some of the music Pracht played at Mass was starkly different. Although Pracht enjoys jazz, yacht rock, and 70s and 80s standards such as the Eagles and Steely Dan, she admits she’s not sad that some of the 70s and 80s trends in liturgical music fizzled out.
“I think of all the music we once did and thank God we are not doing some of that anymore,” she laughed. “Our Catholic Church has a historic treasury of music for liturgy that we must honor and continue to add only the best.”
Her stint at the cathedral began while she was still finishing her music degree at what was then known as Sacred Heart College in Wichita. The cathedral’s usual organist hailed from Germany and wanted to visit home during Advent and Christmas. “I was asked to substitute and it was, of course, fun and exciting,” she said.
As good as the acoustics are at St. Joseph and many other parishes, Pracht reflects, the Cathedral’s are positively sublime, with acoustics that were designed to carry throughout the building long before the assistance of artificial amplification. “They figured it out centuries ago,” she said. “Churches like this are built on the architectural concept of golden proportion, a mathematical formula of length, height, and width that enhances the best acoustics of sound and does it beautifully. The world’s architects do not necessarily use the golden proportion anymore because it’s more costly and not the building norm.”
Even after the regular organist returned, Pracht agreed to play a couple of the cathedral’s Sunday Masses, of which there were then five. “That was in the days right before Saturday anticipatory Masses,” she notes. “I kept playing, and the next year, he decided to move back to Germany. That’s when I was asked to play for the choir.”
Tuned in
In the years since, she’s experienced plenty in a choir loft which, until recently, neither the building’s heating nor its cooling capabilities have extended to her perch. There were rehearsals in which a bat fluttered about the sanctuary, or when she and the choir witnessed water cascading through a hole in the roof, as well as previous cathedral renovations – including a much-needed choir loft expansion – before the ones that are currently underway.
“Bats really upset some choir members, but I thought it was exciting,” she said.
Pracht has appreciated the choir’s camaraderie over the decades, even if being its longest-standing member stirs poignant recollections of the lovely voices and unforgettable personalities that have come and gone.
“(Former choir director) Jim Jones and I worked together for more than 40 years,” she said. “He had a good sense of humor, we learned excellent music, and enjoyed every minute.”
However, since Held stepped into Jones’ shoes, she observes, the choir has continued to make beautiful music and she takes considerable joy working with parish singers and new, young voices.
“For so many years, Jim Jones and Carole, along with the other musicians, were such a team at the cathedral,” Held said. “Sometimes it’s hard to take on a new director of sacred music, but, when I came on board in 2021, Carole was an outstanding resource for the liturgical needs of the cathedral. I have counted on her for so much help in developing the ‘cathedral sound’ that we all cherish. She is a blessing to us all.”
Speaking of blessings, Pracht says the spirituality of playing the organ has more fully immersed her in the worship in which she participates. “A musician for liturgy has to dig deep into the theology and Church music history, as well as know everything about the liturgical year and all its cycles,” she said. “Living through many repetitions of those cycles really deepens your spirituality and love of the liturgy. It tunes a person in because everything depends on the readings for that particular Sunday. You try to tie in your music with liturgy to enhance it in every way possible.”
Pracht loves the beautiful liturgies playing the Kilgen Organ from the choir loft, and enjoys the relationships with her fellow musicians, but acknowledges there is also something transcendent about those times when her only audience is not visible to earthly eyes.
“Practicing in here and having the church to myself is the best time ever,” she said.
Editor’s Note: Wichita’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception will pay tribute to Carole Pracht’s 50 years as its organist with an event at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22 that will include music and a reception.
