George Bayley reluctantly started playing the organ when he was 16, at the chiding of a teacher and the encouragement of a congregation that desperately needed someone to strike the chords on Sundays.
It didn’t take long for him to fall in love with the art. More than 60 years later, he is still playing the organ in churches, now at St. Peter’s in Lewes. His love of music has led him around the world, and he participates annually in an exchange program where he lives in the United Kingdom and expands upon his art.
Bayley started the program at St. Peter’s that allows him to travel to England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, or Scotland while an organist from a parish there travels to fill Bayley’s position for four or five weeks. “We swap jobs, houses and cars, but not salaries or wives,” he said with a chuckle while sitting tall where he feels most at home, on an organ bench.
Bayley said his travels have broadened his experiences in both music and life. “We become part of another community. We’re more than tourists and we learn the ethos of the country,” he said. His wife, Libby Bayley, usually travels with him each year.
He said one of the most eye-opening realizations for them was when they lived in Northern Ireland. “It’s very much a peaceful, loving place and the troubles are more tribal than Catholic versus Protestant,” he said. Bayley converted to Episcopalian during his college years and said he felt very comfortable in church services in Northern Ireland when ministers referred to Brother Catholic and Brother Protestant.
Bayley grew up in Massachusetts, where his father was a high school principal, attending The New England Conservatory and summering in Maine. But he identifies with the lifestyle and people of the United Kingdom. “I feel much safer at midnight in Belfast than in Wilmington at noon,” he said.
He actually lived in Scotland with his daughter in 1993 after retiring from a career teaching music in high schools and college. His wife had died recently and he wanted a change of pace.
But he returned to Alabama where he worked for a church and caught up with an old friend of his wife’s, Libby. “She had just returned from the U.K. and we agreed to get together to swap photos and memories,” he said. The two met in 1961 and had kept up with each other through the years as family friends. “She walked in the door and lightning struck,” he said. Within one year, they were married on Valentine’s Day. “We’ve had such fun,” he said.
The couple has traveled together and lived in several states while he worked as choral director and organist for churches. They seem to complement each other in many ways. Each has four children, and now they share seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Libby is now the choral librarian at St. Peter’s. Under George’s tutelage and with her dedication, the program has grown and the choir is planning a trip to Scotland in June.
The two recently started a music publishing company, named Deerwood Music, after the subdivision where they now live. “It’s a vehicle to get my works published,” Bayley said. In addition to playing and teaching the organ, Bayley has composed many scores over the years. Choirs sing his music in cathedrals and churches as far away as Australia, England, Scotland and Ireland, and as near as Rehoboth and Lewes.
He even has several CDs of organ music, and he will donate the proceeds of the most recent one to the choir trip this summer. Most of his compositions specialize in smaller choirs, which is why Bayley says they are so popular in the U.K.
Bayley inspires churchgoers and choirs every Sunday at church, and has been doing so for years. He uses his talent to praise God, and to explore faith-based music that is often overlooked by many.
He has also inspired many students. Bayley said just the other day he was in an internet chat room discussing how children should not be discouraged from attending service, but embraced. “I told them I work for a church that is a tourist attraction, and I often invite children up to see the organ, or to play it,” he said. Bayley said a member of the chat room recognized his willingness to let children learn about music. “He was one of my students from the 1950s, and now he’s the head organist for a church,” he said.
Aside from the students he’s taught to play the organ, Bayley shares his love and talent and continues to bring music to Saint Peter’s, and to wherever he roams.
Contact Molly Albertson at malbertson@capegazette.com
