Chapter 6: The item catalogue · Part 3
Organs, pianos, the band, and each faith's own instruments: temple bells, taiko, the kirtan stage. The right instrument for the tradition lifts the building's fit; the wrong one lowers it.
Brass band stands Chanter's stand Drum kit Electronic organ Grand piano Hammond organ Handbell table Kagura instruments Kansho Kirtan stage Mokugyo Pipe organ Sound system Taiko Temple bell Temple bell Upright piano
Music stands, chairs, and the instruments of a brass band: cornets, horns, euphoniums, and basses, for a band that leads the singing.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 2, jars with 14, neutral to 28, 4 forbidden, 2 expected, 10 discouraged.
A tall reading stand for the chanters, who sing the services from the great books.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 9, jars with 35, 4 expected.
A drum kit for a worship band.
Expected by Pentecostals, and a fair fit for Baptists. Discouraged by the Orthodox and Quakers. Noisy (0.3), so neighbours mind a little. Musician volunteers play it together as a band.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 22, jars with 45, neutral to 13, 9 forbidden, 10 expected, 32 discouraged.
A two-manual electronic organ: a console with a pedalboard and its own speakers, enough to lead hymns in a modest sanctuary at a fraction of a pipe organ's cost. Counts as an organ for traditions that expect one.
Counts as an organ wherever one is expected, at a twentieth of a pipe organ's price and with no 30-month wait. The best value in the game for a Catholic or Lutheran church that can't afford pipes yet.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 13, jars with 45, neutral to 22.
A concert grand: it fills the room with sound and looks the part. Counts as a piano for traditions that expect one.
Counts as a piano for traditions that expect one (Baptists). Looks 9 out of 10, against the upright's 6, at more than four times the price. Buy it once the money is steady.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 14, jars with 36, neutral to 30.
A Hammond organ and its Leslie speaker: the voice of gospel worship, shouting and swelling under the choir and the preacher.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 4, jars with 53, neutral to 23, 10 forbidden, 4 expected, 43 discouraged.
Padded tables and a set of handbells, for a handbell choir that rings at the great feasts.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 0, jars with 51, neutral to 29, 10 forbidden.
The nine instruments of the service on a low dais: the taiko, the gong, cymbals and clappers, the hand drum, the flute, and the koto, shamisen, and kokyu. Members take their turns on them at the monthly service, after months of practice.
Tenrikyo's nine instruments for the monthly service, required; they need nine players on the rota. A little noisy (0.1).
Across the 3 Shinto traditions: suits 1, jars with 0, neutral to 2, 1 required.
A bronze bell hung in a wooden frame by the door of the hall, struck slowly with a wooden mallet to call people in before the service.
The bronze bell by the hall's door that calls people in: a Zen center's zazen, a Shin temple's service, and a Vietnamese temple's chanting open with it, and that part of the service is led from it. No rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit.
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A low carpeted platform beside the palki where the ragis sit to sing kirtan: two harmoniums, a pair of tabla, and microphones for the hall.
A low platform for the ragis, with harmonium and tabla: expected at a gurdwara, where kirtan is led from it.
Across the 1 Sikh traditions: suits 1, jars with 0, 1 expected.
A wooden fish, hollow and round, on its cushion: struck with a padded stick to keep the beat of the chanting. A fish never closes its eyes, as a student should never sleep.
The wooden fish that keeps the beat of the chanting: a Zen center's service and a Vietnamese temple's sutra chanting are led from it.
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: suits 7, jars with 0.
A pipe organ: decades to pay off, centuries to wear out.
Expected by Catholics and Lutherans. 30 months to build, paid monthly, and blocks sight, so put it where it hides no one's view. It's its own building system: a rebuild every 40 years costs 30% of its price.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 20, jars with 50, neutral to 10, 9 forbidden, 13 expected, 36 discouraged.
A mixing desk, stage monitors, and speakers for a worship band. A band is lost without one, and loud in a room that echoes.
Expected by Pentecostals: a band is lost without one. Noisy (0.4). A Pentecostal church wants a dry, carpeted room, because a sound system is loud in a room that echoes.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 22, jars with 45, neutral to 13, 11 expected.
A great barrel drum on its stand, played at Obon and festivals and to open the service. Many temples have a taiko group, and the neighbours know it.
The great drum: a shrine's rites open with it, and a shrine's taiko group needs one; offered to Buddhist temples too. A little noisy (0.1). No rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit; the taiko group can keep it in the hall.
Across the 10 Buddhist and Shinto traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A great bronze bell, the bonsho, in an open belfry under a tiled roof, rung by swinging a log against it: 108 times on New Year's Eve, and heard across the neighbourhood. Six months to cast and hang.
A Buddhist temple's great bell in its belfry: 10% more visible, six months to cast and hang, and loud (0.6), so the neighbours hear it. A Shin or Vietnamese temple's service opens with it where there's one.
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: suits 1, jars with 0, neutral to 6, 1 expected.
A brass bell hung in a carved stand at the way to the shrines: people ring it as they come to the deity, and the priest's hand bell rings through the arati.
Rung on the way in to darshan and at the arati. Expected at Hindu temples with images and at Jain centers. Cheap.
Across the 12 Hindu and Jain traditions: suits 6, jars with 0, neutral to 6, 6 expected.
An upright piano to lead congregational singing.
Expected by Baptists: the cheapest way to clear that expectation. Discouraged by the Orthodox and Quakers.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 14, jars with 36, neutral to 30, 8 forbidden, 14 expected, 28 discouraged.