Diane Dyson, the music director at St. Mary of the Nativity Parish in Scituate, receives a round of applause during a Sept. 14 celebration at the parish marking her 70th birthday and 50th anniversary as a church organist. Pilot photo/Wes Cipolla
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SCITUATE -- Diane Dyson's fiance had an ultimatum for her: Either the organ goes, or he does.
Dyson was the organist for a Catholic parish in Connecticut, a job that required her to work on weekends and holidays. Made to choose between her fiance and the organ, she chose the organ.
"I loved what I did, but it wasn't really conducive to family life," said Dyson, who has been music director at St. Mary of the Nativity Parish in Scituate for the last 16 years.
Over the years, the parish, especially its choir, has become her family.
"You spend a lot of time together, you spend holidays together," she said. "I've been able to share people's joy at weddings and been there at sad times, at funerals. And it's rewarding to know that, in some small way, I can touch them and make them feel better."
Dyson has been playing the organ in Catholic churches for 50 years. On Sept. 14, staff and parishioners at St. Mary's threw her a celebration, complete with cake, for both her 70th birthday and half a century of music.
"It's overwhelming," Dyson told The Pilot. "I'm kind of shy, you know. I'm just grateful, that's all I can say."
Family members from Michigan and Florida came to celebrate with her. The parish Cape Verdean Choir sang in her honor. Octavio, who played the accordion, came all the way from Roxbury to be there for Dyson. The English-language choir sang "Our Gift to Diane," a song written by choir member Betty Crowley. As a birthday gift, Dyson received a framed copy of the song's sheet music with Latin lyrics (a winking nod to Dyson's love of traditional liturgical music), signed by all of the choir members.
St. Mary's prides itself on its use of traditional hymns during Mass. Some of Dyson's favorites are "Be Still, My Soul" and "O God Beyond All Praising." When she was a girl, Mass was in Latin and the assembly did not sing. She felt out of touch with the modern music that was popular in the years following the Second Vatican Council.
"I played a guitar, and it was not good," she said.
When she plays the organ, however, she said she gets "carried away."
"I'm like in another world," she said. "I can express my feelings. People probably know if I'm in a good mood or bad by the way I play, because I can just express myself. Some people use words; I use music."
Dyson has found that all organs are different. The organ at St. Mary's is an electric organ with a MIDI system that can replicate the sound of other instruments.
"You can make it sound like an orchestra if you want," she said, noting it's "very different from pipe organs. You know, my organ teacher is probably rolling over in his grave. Many years of me doing this, but I find that I can be really creative."
St. Mary's has recently gotten a new organ, which Dyson described as "a different animal." The organ had to be replaced after mice got into the old one. Half of the new organ's $90,000 cost was donated by a woman who told Pastor Father Matt Conley: "When I come here, I feel as if I have met heaven, and it's because of the music."
Dyson was born in Michigan, the middle of five children, and attended Mass with her family every Sunday. If her mother could not attend Mass, she would call a taxi to make sure her children could go. When she was a young girl, she moved to Connecticut, where she played the piano with her high school chorus. After the Christmas concert one year, a Methodist minister offered Dyson, then 16, a job as an organist in his church. She had never played the organ before. When her priest found out she was playing for another church, he encouraged her to play in her own parish.
"They had a beautiful pipe organ in there," she recalled.
The priest paid for her organ lessons and for her to study the organ in college.
"I was supported by my church, and they encouraged me," she said. "And I loved it. I used to go there at night when I was learning how to play. I loved shaking the walls, I loved the sound of it."
Eventually, she became choir director.
"That's been the greatest part of my job," she said. "I've met wonderful people, I've had great choirs, and I'm nothing without them."
She came to Scituate in 2008 to take the job as music director at St. Mary's.
Dyson's 50 years of service have left her memories of laughter (misreading "cheddars of Lebanon" instead of "cedars," accidentally playing Bach's "Come, Sweet Death" at a wedding) and tears. The funeral Mass for Cora, Callan, and Dawson Clancy, the three young children allegedly killed by their mother in Duxbury in 2023, was held at St. Mary's. Dyson played the organ and directed the choir.
"It wasn't easy," she said. "The singers were all choked up, but we wanted to be there to comfort the family, and that's really what it's all about. When I'm upstairs playing, I like to touch people. I like to help them pray."
Deacon Mattie Henry said that Dyson was "the best organist that I ever had accompanying me."
"She has an incredible feel for the organ, and she's very, very accomplished," he said.
Choir member Kevin Krawiec said that for all the "antics" that happened in the choir loft over the years, "beautiful music came out."
"Much of the music that came out of there came as close as any earthly music can to be worthy of being played at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass," he said.