yea... saw those... sometimes i play chords with one foot. (have big feet... well relatively anyway) in my arrangement for barbers adagio i actually play one note with the heel and control the swell with the toe :)
Marajoy wants some specific suggestions for pieces....OK, I'm not an organist. But you can hear some mildly interesting chorale preludes here: http://blog.case.edu/jeffrey.quick/2010/09/10/some_organ_music
If they catch your ear, I could probably send pdf files on request. Down Ampney can be done on manuals or (as here) with the cantus firmus soloed out in pedals.
Sorry they're so Prot...I'm planning to do some of Gregorian hymns too.
Advent and Christmas are approaching; I recommend the following sets of "Stemningsbilleder" ("mood-pictures"). Sorry, I have not yet discovered any soundfiles.
I finally organized my digital organ music library. It is 10,000 pages. It is all PD for the USA. Maybe Noel or CMAA would be interested in distributing?
With your taste in music, I am sure that this would be a valuable addition to the CMAA library. If they are unable to take it on for any reason, I would be glad to, of course. But this needs to be very prominent and accessible to organists around the world!
I would like to include 24 of my own organ works in the library and offer it to be displayed from an iPod on an HDTV which costs about $100 and there would be no need to print any of the scores. You would set the HDTV on the organ music desk and have access to any 10000 pages within seconds... 10,036 with my own added in.
I think that this the way of the future - it would be possible with many new screens to annotate, but I believe at this time many people would not be able to take advantage of getting the music in their hands this way. So many musicians are not paid so $100 is hard to come up with and justify to the family!
Making it free would make it a Parish Book of Organ Music - $100 would make it a Book of Organ Music for people who can cough up $100!
I suggest that you make the HDTV & iPod version with your music added available for those wishing to be on the cutting edge and a free pdf of the 10,000 for everyone else!
Actually, with SKIM, you CAN also scribble your own notations. It's an open source prog that is wonderful for going forward and back in 'presentation' mode.
FNJ
The 100 dollars is so you can purchase an HDTV to display the music... unless you have something else?
No, I apologize for not being clear! What I was saying is that making it available in a form that requires an iPod and HDTV screen would keep some from accessing it, which I know is not your goal!
But, like the Chabanel Psalms - having them available as free downloads AND a printed book greatly enhances its appeal to all - as would you issuing this as a free download OR a digital version for iPod and HDTV screen.
Yes - Maybe I am assuming that people will search the PDF files and print out their choices. I definitely see large electronic music stands coming - with tracker organs (which I love) that are hand pumped a herd of gerbils will be supplied with a spinning track thing for them to run one to generate power to the screen.
Organ playing and page turning, much more of a challenge. My organ desk is two feet away from my eyeballs for instance, and at that distance a concert size organ score displays the notes too small to read. Hence why I suggest an HDTV. Another issue is turning pages. Both hands are well employed.
maybe a giant iPad could zoom into the music and adjust the page layout accordingly. also, with a touch screen, you can turn pages with a slight swipe on the bottom right corner. HDTVs don't have a touch screen but iPads do.
Nobody thus far has mentioned Sir Hubert Parry or Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, both of whom wrote short organ works which are, for the most part, playable without too much difficulty. Parry's Chorale Preludes and Stanford's Preludes and Postludes can certainly be bought in recently reprinted, inexpensive hard-copy editions via places like www.ohscatalog.org; a few of these pieces might be available as free PDFs by now, since neither composer remains in copyright. I can only say that several of these miniatures make effective, dignified material for Offertory and Communion, though few of them would be sufficiently extroverted to make appropriate processional or recessional items.
The Caravan Of The Magi: approach and departure (pub 1913) March from the Christmas cantata "Bethlehem" arranged for organ by Edward Cuthbert Nunn (1868-1914) 8 pages
Note that the score can be "chunked" so as to make it more manageable for liturgical use ... Moderato (PDF pages 1--8) Allegretto pastorale (PDF pages 9--12, be sure to get the final chord from next page!) Allegro risoluto: Fuga (PDF pages 13--20
I like 18th Century English Organ Voluntaries. Not terribly difficult, mostly manuals-only, which is handy when the "organ" turns out to be an electric piano with an organ sound.
All of the officially trained organists out there (I've not taken any lessons at all: my main instrument was/is clarinet, and I was trained in orchestral conducting) will probably think this one is a bit simple, but I feel great playing it: "Danket Dem Herrn" by Buxtehude. This is a great piece of organ music that can be easily used as a prelude.
Here's a video of me (audio only) playing it at the II/40 Wicks pipe organ at St. Mary's church in Muncie, Indiana:
I also like the first two preludes of the 8 Short Preludes and Fugues by Bach; the fugue in G Minor "Little" by Bach (I can't play it, but I love it); the Communion by Vierne; and "La Beatitude" by Piroye. Since I'm new at the organ (this is my second year playing it, will be two in Sept.), I can't really play much in the way of serious classical repertoire yet, but I'm practicing every day and working on it!
I highly recommend "Twelve Chorales on Gregorian Themes" -- Jeanne Demessieux. These works originally published in 1950 via McLaughlin & Reilly, went out of print in 1969 when M&R closed their doors. Fortunately Summy-Birchard (who purchased M&R's catalogue) saw it fit to reprint these gems some 30 yrs. later. The "Rorate Caeli", "Attende Domine", "Tu Es Petrus", "In Manus Tuas" and "Adeste Fidelis" are some of my favorites. Some require a bit more work than others, but certainly worth the effort, considering the remainder of Mme. Demessieux's organ works require great technical skill. These short chorales are worth the time and effort.
All these organ pieces are too hard for beginning organists like me, who struggle with rhythms and pitches.
Not withstanding the ongoing litigation (which I'm sure will be resolved in my favor), I'd like to support Matthew Meloche's efforts as a composer, so I'm planning to start a Kickstarter Campaign to provide funds for him to devote 18 months to writing ORGAN FANFARES ON THE RECTO TONO PROPERS
All contributions over the $1 million goal will be put into escrow, to pay his attorney fees.
Oh my gosh. This joke is getting bigger and bigger...if we're going to pay for this, it better include listed registration changes, for beginning organists.
There are many good suggestions here. I would encourage having a look at www.imslp.org and browsing through the public-domain old organ rep, especially looking at the "historic" Catholic organ music of Italy and Spain. The only problem is that this rep is very stylized, so if you are unfamiliar with it, you might seek out a good local teacher to help you with it. German baroque music has been mentioned, and Bach is wonderful, some of which can be adapted successfully to a Catholic Mass, and some of which is awkward - but there is a whole German Catholic repertoire that is underplayed too - Froberger, Muffat, to name a couple. And south German organs were usually voiced is a more "relaxed" manner, for lack of a better term - different than the north German Schnitger organs that called for a more assertive stance as befits the Lutheran liturgy.
Agreed on Muffat and such. Good music. I question whether those who push Bach for Catholic liturgy are much different than those who push praise music. It is another example of using the music one likes. Granted, Bach is better written, but much of it is so interwoven with Lutheran liturgy, it is not a good fit when attached to the Catholic mass. Given all that, some of Bach's works will fit and I occasionally play some of them. You can have those Schnitgers and their American imitations.
I got to sing that aria two years ago when the Phipps Oratorio Society presented parts II & III of Messiah in concert. It was all I could do to keep from mispronouncing "trumpet."
Too funny, but I am the one who sang, "Worthy is the ham that was slain" at a choral concert. The people on either side of me were having difficulty maintaining composure.
At a First Night concert on a New Year's Eve many years ago, I was performing with Zephyrus, and we sang "The Holly and the Ivy," with different members taking the various verses. My late and dear friend Ben had the verse that begins, "The holly bears a prickle," only he sang, "The holly bears a pickle." Of the dozen singers, only 8 of us managed to keep from laughing our way through the chorus.
My personal favorite: 8' Geiger Diapason: spontaneously appeared in the great division of the organ. Glows in the dark. Lead lined underwear recommended for handling.
Lovely repertory that I have recently come to know are the "Postludes libre" of Charles Tournemire. They were written for Vespers but also connected to the Gospel of the day. Small pieces,easily read ( in some cases more difficult). Registered for the organ and the harmonium.Max Eschig Publications. Good for small frames of time and don't have some of Tournemire's exotic harmonies. From a biased party....
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