The new eKlecia® version is here: the digital organist against the organist shortage

The time has come: the new version of eKlecia® is online — the biggest update in the history of our digital organist. Over 1,000 church hymns, a completely revised sound, an operation that everyone understands. Developed for congregations where the organ bench too often stays empty.

For years we have accompanied parishes, care homes and hospitals on a quiet but crucial path: preserving dignified church music where no organist is available any more. Today we take a big step forward. The new eKlecia® version is the most mature, most beautiful and simplest we have ever released — and it is available to everyone from now on.

In this article we show you what has changed, everything the app can do today and why a good digital tool has become so important right now, in the midst of the growing organist shortage. Entirely without technical jargon — just as you are used to from us.

Why this update matters: the organist shortage has become everyday reality

The reason for our work is not a technical one, but a human one. In Germany, organists are lacking at every turn. Over 40 percent of the church positions for full-time church music are unfilled, and among the volunteers the situation is even more serious: a large proportion of the organists who play today are over 65 years old and will step back in the coming years. There is hardly any new talent.

Congregations feel the consequence very concretely: a funeral at which no one plays. A Sunday Mass that has to do without a hymn. A devotion in the care home at which the elderly wait in vain for their familiar chorales. This is exactly where eKlecia® comes in — not as a replacement for a human being, but as a reliable support when otherwise no music at all would be possible. You can read more about the background in our article on the problem of the organist shortage.

With the new version, this support is better than ever before. See for yourself — the following preview guides you through the app all by itself:

Everything the new eKlecia® version can do

We have revised every single function — from the first tap to the last chord. Here is a complete overview of what awaits you from today.

Over 1,000 hymns — played on real pipe organs

The heart of it is and remains the sound. The hymn database now comprises over 1,000 pieces from the Catholic Gotteslob and the Evangelisches Gesangbuch — played by experienced cantors on real pipe organs in German churches. No artificial overtone, no thin computer sound: what you hear is the dignity of a real organ. And the collection keeps growing continuously, at no extra charge.

Find the right hymn in seconds

Search by book and number (such as GL 380 or EG 331), by title or via the keyword search. Whether “Großer Gott, wir loben dich” or a Marian hymn for the patronal feast — the right piece is found in seconds. As simple as opening a hymn book.

Lead the service musically

While playing, you keep control: you choose the number of verses, adjust the tempo to the congregation's singing and shift the key (pitch) so that everyone can comfortably sing along. Through the choice of stops you determine the fullness of the sound — from gentle devotion to the festive “full organ”. A chord can be sustained, a hymn allowed to fade gently away. All with a tap of the finger.

Your own hymn lists for every occasion

Prepare whole services in advance: put together your hymns in the desired order into a list — once created, available at any time. For the Sunday, the May devotion, the funeral or the Rorate Mass. So in the decisive moment you no longer have to search for anything.

Adjust the sound to your space

Every church sounds different — a small village chapel differently from a vast cathedral. With the new sound setting you adjust the reverberation and the character of the sound to your space: dry, chapel, church or cathedral, more warmth or more brilliance. A built-in preview player lets you hear every change immediately.

Offline, mobile and with a loudspeaker

eKlecia® also works where the Wi-Fi is weak — the hymns are available offline. The app runs on any smartphone and tablet you already own, and connects via Bluetooth to a loudspeaker for full sound in the church space. In this way the blessing at the graveside, the devotion in the care home or the service in the hospital chapel is accompanied just as dignifiedly as the Sunday service.

Liturgical calendar, cloud and free updates

The integrated liturgical calendar helps with orientation through the church year. Your hymn lists and presets are stored securely in the cloud — on servers in Germany — and are ready on all your devices. And the best part: all improvements come to you automatically and free of charge. The app you download today will be better tomorrow.

Who the app is made for

eKlecia® grew out of practice for practice — out of years of voluntary work in parishes. Today the app accompanies three large areas:

• Parishes: dignified accompaniment for every service, also for branch churches and feast days, when the organist is missing.
• Care homes: familiar church hymns for devotions and for people with dementia, who find security in the music of their childhood.
• Hospitals & hospices: quiet, mobile accompaniment for hospital chaplaincy, blessing and end-of-life care — available at any time.

And for those difficult hours in which words may be absent but music may not: eKlecia® reliably accompanies funerals and burials as well as church weddings — in the church, in the mortuary chapel and at the graveside.

“Suddenly there was music again — dignified, quiet, familiar. No one asked whether an organist was sitting on the bench. What the people experience is: it sounds like it used to.” — From the feedback of a sacristan

How easily you get started — even without prior knowledge

We know: many who work with eKlecia® are not technology professionals, but sacristans, pastoral assistants and volunteer helpers. That is why we have made getting started as simple as possible. A guided tour explains every screen all by itself — you simply watch. And the setup is done in a few minutes.

You need no new device and no technician. Download the app for iOS and Android, sign in with your personal access — and the complete hymn directory is at your disposal. Whoever wishes can even receive from us, on request, a ready-set-up complete package with a tablet and a loudspeaker.

Preserve tradition — with today's means

An app does not replace a living liturgy, no human encounter, no gifted organist who responds spontaneously to the congregation. Nor do we want it to. eKlecia® is a tool — a well-chosen means of preserving dignity where the shortage would otherwise destroy it.

With the new version we place in the hands of congregations a tool that lives up to this aspiration better than ever before. When the pain is great, words may be absent — music may not. That is exactly what we are here for.

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