16-year-old takes over as congregation’s organist

Forget, for the moment, that Zachary Crippen’s church has been in the news because of a nasty, high-profile divorce from its mother denomination.

And let’s sidestep the fact that there’s a dispute over who owns the towering stone church building and its belongings, including the 80-year-old organ.

This story is about the young man who brought music back into the lives of the congregation of Grace CANA Church, a group that broke away in March from the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado. The timing wasn’t the best. It was right before Easter, a highly attended service that begs for a church organist. But the organist and most of the choir did not join the breakaway.

Enter Crippen, a master of the keyboard with about eight years of piano lessons to his credit. That’s piano, not organ. He had never touched an organ, but he wasn’t deterred. He stepped into the vacuum and up to the organ — and it took him 10 minutes to figure out how to open it up.

And then he practiced. And practiced some more. And by Easter weekend, he was playing in front of about 1,200 congregants.

“I was nervous, to say the least,” Crippen said. “Easter is one of the biggest services in the year, right up there with Christmas, so there’s a pretty big crowd that day.”

To the Rev. Donald Armstrong, the head of the CANA congregation, Crippen’s Easter gift was more than mere coincidence. “This is really a crucial thing not to have an organist,” Armstrong said. “So I said my prayers, and Zac walked into my office.”

On Easter Sunday, Armstrong hired Crippen as director of music — a paid position. Crippen now spends 30 hours a week coordinating the music and practicing on the church’s organ, which, when it was completed in 1928, was the largest instrument west of the Mississippi.

“I think he’s carrying the water of a regular staff member of a large church, so he has an incredible amount of responsibility for someone who’s only 16,” his father, Alan Crippen said.

That’s not just fatherly pride talking. James Thomashower, executive director of the American Guild of Organists in New York City, says that while there are some child prodigies across the country, most organists have at least a few years of training and experience before they try to tackle a large church organ.

“It’s astounding,” Thomashower said.

“Playing such a major instrument in a major venue is usually a very, very big deal, and usually a 16-year-old wouldn’t be skilled enough to handle it appropriately.”

Thomashower doesn’t know precisely how many high school students play church organs in the U.S., but he knows it’s not many.

“It’s unusual that they would hire and pay someone who doesn’t have many years, or organ, under his belt,” Thomashower said. “They probably had to do what they had to do, and more power to them to keep the organ singing.”

To Crippen, it’s not about heroism or vanity. “I feel called to be where I am right now,” he said. “This is where I can step in and fill a gap.”

His mother, Michelle Crippen, would tell you that he was up for the challenge. He didn’t speak until he was 3 years old. Just four months later, he had taught himself how to read.

He also excelled at music. Zachary, who grew up in Virginia and West Virginia, started taking piano lessons when he was about 8. When he was 11, he won the West Virginia state championship for piano — a feat that caught the attention of an Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) professor, who offered him a full scholarship to the school.

“We said no,” Michelle Crippen said. “We weren’t going to let our baby go that young.”

The professor wasn’t the only one who thought Crippen had talent. A doctor who heard him play at a concert in Virginia gave an anonymous donation to fund three years of piano lessons. But Crippen’s gifts aren’t limited to music. He recently achieved a perfect score on the math section of the SAT and was 30 points away from a perfect score overall.

His diverse talents present a challenge for his future. He doesn’t know what one talent to pursue for a career.

“He’s always been a very gifted child,” Michelle Crippen said. “He’s got the world at his fingertips and just can’t decide where to go.”

This much he knows: He plans to serve as music director for his church for the next two years. And then, it’s off to college or the military.

But he’s not likely to chase musical dreams. “It’ll always be a part of my life. I don’t think it’ll be a career, but I think I’ll always be a musician,” he said. In a few weeks, he will have to juggle his new job with school. But because he’s home-schooled, school will likely fit around his church schedule. For now, that’s a priority. “I’m just thankful that God gave me the ability to fill in. My faith is the most important thing to me. God’s given me the gift so I need to use it to serve him. It’s not a performance but a time of worship.”