A pipe organist typically greets the performance space with a cough or a clap of the hands.
This provides a sense for how the notes will bloom and resonate. Even the most gifted player and a wonderful organ can make a flat impression on an audience if the acoustic environment is poor.
But Charlie Carpenter tests the sound of a room with humor and sweetness.
He walks in, smiles and says, “Hello, my name is Charlie.”
Once he is satisfied, he will sit down in front of four decks of keyboards, a system of levers and foot pedals and recite to himself three words: Relax, relax, relax. He will then infuse any combination of 5,000 pipes with passion and personality that moves an audience.
That he has command of such a complicated musical instrument is considered a mark of genius by his teacher, but nothing short of a miracle by his parents.
Carpenter, 22, of Oak Park, has Cat Eye syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder that gives him certain intellectual disabilities. Simple tasks like buttoning a shirt, removing a stem from a strawberry or making change for a dollar can at times seem like insurmountable challenges to Carpenter.
While musical ability is closely associated to some developmental disabilities, nothing about Carpenter’s disorder explains how he can play Bach’s Trio Sonatas with such ease, each hand working different keyboards while his feet shift along the floor pedals.
Nor can it explain how Carpenter can practice piano and organ for more than eight hours a day and not tire.
“Charlie lives in a different universe that you and I will never be a part of,” said Dennis Northway, the musical director of Grace Episcopal Church and Carpenter’s teacher. “That is not hyperbole. Charlie lives an aural landscape. He hears pitches and colors that other people can only dream of. “
Charlie is the subject of a new documentary film by Cosmo Coffey that will be screened at Grace Episcopal Church July 10as part of the “6:26 Concert Series.”
“Hidden Significance” will begin at 6:26 p.m. and will be followed by an all Bach pipe organ performance by Charlie.
Julie and Rob Carpenter never dreamed their oldest son would uncover musical gifts or find the respect and acceptance he receives because of his music.
Charlie’s struggles were apparent early. He couldn’t communicate verbally and stubborn behavior resulted in changing daycare four times in his first year. Julie Carpenter quit her job to be with her son fulltime and got him enrolled in early intervention classes at Oak Leyden Developmental Services.
There, Julie and the therapists noticed his love for music.
“I always remembered there would be resistance whenever he would transition from music circle time,” she said. “He couldn’t talk but he communicated through his body language. He was an irritable baby and it often took music to settle him down.”
As Charlie grew, the Carpenters tried involving him in a lot of activities including sports. Nothing seemed to “stick,” she said.
Julie said she knew nothing about music but understood her son’s long fingers might be well suited for piano. She answered an ad placed by a piano teacher who promoted her work with children with disabilities.
Mara Leonard immediately understood Charlie loved music and worked over and over again to get him to correlate the notes to his fingers.
“We went through all kinds of procedures,” Leonard said. “I put different colored numbers on his finger nails so he knew which to use, then I’d have to mark it in the music so he could coordinate with his hands. We spent about a year on that . . . red is for right, blue is for left.
“I never had to tell him to practice. I give stickers for rewards but he had no interest in stickers. His reward was for me to play something. You could tell music is such a life source for him.”
For a few years, Charlie struggled to learn basic note reading but he practiced obsessively until one day, “it kind of erupted,” Leonard said.
He was playing more and more complex music. Leonard was still labeling the music but Charlie would learn a piece of music from her and then return the next lesson with a more challenging version.
At 12, Charlie stared at an arrangement for Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Leonard tried to give him easier music. He rejected this and attacked Pachelbel. She thought it would be too difficult.
A couple of months went by and the music suddenly began to flow with fury, she said. “He just got past a certain point,” she said. “I think he had a genius for it all along. He just kept practicing and practicing. He loved it so much. That transcended all the struggles.”
Leonard no longer had to label the music. Pachelbel was the breakthrough.
When he was 16, Leonard had a difficult time keeping Charlie focused on advancing his music. He would come to lessons and play show tunes and she began to realize he had outgrown her tutelage. At this point, a family friend recommended the Carpenters meet Northway, who would introduce him to the pipe organ.
Northway is the author of two books on the pipe organ – both of which sit at Charlie’s bedside – and students from all over the Chicago area seek him out for lessons.
On the first day, Northway handed Charlie a key to the church and sat him down at the 1922 Casavant Opus 940 organ.
“It’s an adjustment (from the piano) but Charlie fell in love with it because he was open to it,” Northway said. “It became a sort of quest for him. He kept playing to find out what colors he could see.”
Julie also believes Charlie sees and hears differently. She remembers backing out of the garage one time, pressing her foot on the brakes and Charlie identifying the squeaking sound as an F-sharp.
Charlie practices as many as five hours a day at the church, only to go home and sit at an electric keyboard off and on for the next few hours before going to bed. Dinner, chatting with friends on Facebook and playing Mad Libs with his family are about the only things that will tear him away – albeit briefly – from playing.
“If I don’t play the organ for a day, I get a little bit anxious,” Charlie said. “If I’m upset about something, music calms me down. When I am playing I feel joy.”
He has had several recitals, including a performance at the Organ Historical Society’s National Convention in 2012 and holds several positions in churches across Chicagoland as a guest organist.
During practices, he sometimes steps away from the organ to practice his bow.
Charlie’s goal is to be a full-time church musician. Northway has taught him how to sing, is teaching him choral direction and has introduced him to giving piano lessons to younger students.
His parents continue to work with him on basic life skills and look forward to the day when he is offered a professional position doing what he loves most.
“We know he’ll satisfy a church’s musical needs, but it has to be a place that is open to him and accepting,” Julie said. “No leap of faith necessary.”