Seeking very simple organ music
  • StPatrick
    Posts: 2
    Hello brothers and sisters,

    I am seeking very simple organ music.
    Nothing fancy, just prayerful interludes that I can play after I sing the communion chant at a small 8am Spanish Mass. I provide music for it alone and I would prefer to play the organ rather than the piano, but I really struggle reading pretty much all of the organ music I've come across.

    I have The Liturgical Organist and I play from it but even these are challenging for me and I end up playing just a couple of the easiest ones over and over again. I like this style, and am wondering if anyone knows even perhaps a pedagogical book with simple interludes or maybe someone has written something...the key is it's gotta be slooowwww music for my very slow eyes...I've been a musician my whole life and still struggle mightily getting that information from my eyes to my hands.

    Thanks for any input!

    Thanked by 1canadash
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 12,050
    IMDB has a wealth of music. The Montreal Organ Book has plenty of simple and manuals only pieces for organ from the classical French school essentially 18th century.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livre_d%27orgue_de_Montr%C3%A9al#:~:text=The%20Livre%20d'orgue%20de%20Montr%C3%A9al,the%20reign%20of%20Louis%20XIV.

    There are a few simple pieces in the Flor Peeters Little Organ Book. You might look for some manuals only pieces that wouldn't be hard to play.

    Alexandre Guilmant wrote some pieces in a liturgical collection - the name I can't remember at the moment. While some of his compositions are not too hard, some are wickedly difficult. You have to pick and choose.


    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 11,213
    I always recommend these 10 volumes for simple organ music at its best

    https://clara.imslp.org/work/72992?imslpIndex=77366
    Thanked by 1StPatrick
  • AbbysmumAbbysmum
    Posts: 140
    I use this one a lot. I am a terrible organist lol

    https://archive.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/22/08/15/10-51-09_0.pdf
    Thanked by 1StPatrick
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,963
    Alexandre Guilmant wrote some pieces in a liturgical collection - the name I can't remember at the moment.


    The Practical Organist?

    Go to IMSLP and search for works by harmonium. Those are usually pretty easy. I'm working through Franck's L'organiste right now.
    Thanked by 2CharlesW StPatrick
  • davido
    Posts: 1,163
    Try Pachelbel, his preludes, or his Magnificat fugues.

    Also, just play a hymn or chant that you like from the hymnal. Use a variety of registrations to create interest.
    Check out the YouTube page of Wayne Warren for good ideas on improving a prelude from a hymn tune.
    Thanked by 2Chant_Supremacist StPatrick
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 806
    Check out the Sacred Music Library
    https://sacredmusiclibrary.com/music


    Thanked by 1StPatrick
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,415
    Many works of John Stanley can be quite accessible and can be found on IMSLP

    Here is a very basic book on how to transition from piano to organ: https://sacredmusiclibrary.com/_product/mORFhkdSL9dPyb1v

    Simple preludes based on hymns:
    https://sacredmusiclibrary.com/_product/2swHLCUXhP3gYXxB

    Here's a book called "Easy Organ Music in Easy Keys for Mass"
    https://sacredmusiclibrary.com/_product/RgPIB3exOoPnl7Br
    Thanked by 1StPatrick
  • Felicia
    Posts: 146
    @StimsonInRehab

    Perhaps you're thinking of L'organiste liturgique (?)
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,215
    Perhaps you're thinking of L'organiste liturgique (?)


    That too, possibly. But he probably meant what he said.

    These vary a bit in difficulty (as do the things the Rossini collection). But if I can play the easier ones, believe me, you can.

    For the bigger issue: do you practice sight-reading? Working you way slowly and deliberately through a hymnal might help you. Right now I'm playing through TEC 1940. I'm getting progressively better at the chorale-style things, though the more modern ones that presuppose pedal largely elude me.

    Thanked by 1Abbysmum
  • veromaryveromary
    Posts: 171
    I've been using Guilmant's 60 interludes:
    https://clara.imslp.org/work/471246
    They're the right length for our small church.
    I didn't realise there was so much more!
    Thanked by 1StPatrick
  • StPatrick
    Posts: 2
    Thanks everyone!

    I have spent a lot of time practicing sight reading over the last few years and I've gotten better at it but it's hard to find the time with all of my jobs: private music lessons, teaching a high school music class, and directing music at the parish.

    It's a bit discouraging when progress is so slow, but it is still discernible.

    These resources will really help!! Thank you!

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