"Perhaps we need to look at creating a collection of public domain and creative commons organ works for young church musicians to play at mass."

There are hundreds of such books available. As I recall, one J.S. Bach wrote one of them.

Many "manuals only" works are available online at IMSLP. I suspect many novice organists don't know where to look, or what to look for. Sounds to me like what you are asking for is an index.

In creating Playing the Church Organ i had to search out music for manuals that is in the public domain and, in the case of not being able to find something that taught what I was covering, had to write it myself. www.imslp.org is a treasure trove of music for the organ. If you are persistent, you will discover lots of useful organ music for manuals - especially in the French works. Since most churches did not have pipe organs (like today) composers including Franck and other big names wrote two versions - one to sell to the small market of pipe organists....the other to the much bigger market of those playing harmoniums. Do not rely on the search filters offered there to find all the organ music for manuals only...dig deeper on your own.

www.playingthechurchorgan.com

I created this as a way of training organists new to Roland and Rodgers church organs, but more than half of the purchasers are buying it to use with other organs - in fact, had my first order today from a Hauptwerk owner in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Almost everything worthwhile written before 1927 is available for free at imslp.org with more being added daily.

If you want to buy music, the only reason to do so is to gain the knowledge of the editor. While I have PD copies of Handel for keyboard, I purchase Oxford copies to study what the editors have to say.

This gets you into imslp.org organ.

This get you into Harmonium - but does not list all the manuals only organ music, just a place to check for music before moving back to organ.

Yes

I have over 10,000 pages of organ music in pdf files that I have collected over the years. I hope to make it all available soon. Much of it is from IMSLP and other free music resource libraries, but it takes hours and hours to find and download those resources.

I have also catalogued my entire library with this naming convention: composerNameTitleOfWork.pdf

It works like a charm when you want to find a piece. More about this in the not too distant future, God willing.

I am with hartleymartin on this and am inclined to think think the matter goes beyond the scope of an index for stuff on IMSLP or simply referencing one of the primers.

In many parishes we have someone who can play a few hymns on the piano being shoehorned into being an organist, not because they have a burning desire to learn the organ but because there isn't another alternative other than giving up and going all piano or guitars all the time.

It's not specifically a Catholic problem - as widespread musical education has declined in importance the supply of even moderately able pianists is drying up in some communities. (The Mormons have recognized this and developed a programme to train these folks as organists; I have some definite problems with their beliefs and - usually - their musical tastes, but they seem to have realized there is a problem and have started to try and manage it a higher level than simply asking Mrs Jones to play for the 8am Mass and throwing her in at the deep end.)

We are encouraging a young pianist in our parish to make the transition from piano stool to organ loft to support our early Mass. She has a certain amount of support, but many of these folks converting from the piano are doing it without any real guidance or support, sometimes in rather adverse circumstances - there is a class of busybody among the PIPs that is often quick to complain "too fast", "too slow", "too loud" or "we didn't use this tune at my last parish". Many/most non-organists fail to understand that the transition from piano to organ is not always intuitive - the only common point is some black and white keys.

Asking someone who is probably a bit over-faced with a strange new instrument as well getting the benefit of trenchant criticism from the terminally unhelpful to ferret through a collection the size of IMSLP for something when they don't really know the something they are looking for isn't going to be terribly helpful - the sheer scope of the archive is overwhelming.

We may say for example, look to the English Voluntaries or some works from the French classical or later harmonium schools for ideas; however some of this is probably really quite demanding for someone who has not been required to do much more than plunk out "How Great Thou Art" on an elderly upright for the last few years. Some work is expected from a volunteer, but we need to balance our demands against the reality of limited time for practice. In this case some of the Alcock Voluntaries would be be in, whereas some of John Stanley's work might be optional.

Yes, there are many many manuals-only works out there in PD-land or in published anthologies, but the real concern I have is with providing guidance to the new organist as to which of these might work best in any given context and what might be within their abilities. A compilation or index of musically accessible, liturgically appropriate and manageable music for converted pianists could be extraordinarily helpful.

Accessible since we need to encourage the use of the organ - people making the switch are much more likely to persevere with music that they enjoy rather than perhaps music that other organists would enjoy. (That, we hope, might come later but we need to encourage the PIPs as well as the organist; positive feedback from the pews will help build enthusiasm and confidence).

Liturgically appropriate - no matter how charming a piece it may be, perhaps the Lady Gaga Fugue is not really ready for prime time at Mass or even for weddings (or especially weddings given the title of the tune on which it was based). Not all priests will have sufficient background or spare time to offer real guidance on the choice of music to a newly minted organist.

Manageable - in terms of scale and difficulty and the resources available to most organists in this situation; we should probably assume a that small extension or even a single manual organ is the norm for many parishes in this situation and that our converted pianist hasn't necessarily had recent drilling on The Art of Fugue - some of us may not have touched it in thirty years if ever.

I'd concur that, yes there's a lot/enough already out there, but if one doesn't know where to look for it then... Searching the many threads here are many useful suggestions. Perhaps what is needed is simply a codified list of "must haves" for the Catholic organist's library that are liturgically appropriate. (similar to the list of abbreviations used on the forum) I would include both published and free downloads and then categorize it by difficulty level.

No sense in reinventing the wheel, but a go to repertoire list for organ music to play during/before/after Mass would be a useful resource. If someone had the time, something similar to NPM's anthem suggestions would also be useful which would further break down suggestions by liturgical season/use.

Not everything that is marketed as "church music" is liturgical, as we all know.

I'm highly skeptical of such ventures, because of the values imparted to me as I began my organ studies. I recall telling my first teacher, with great pride, how there's this great "Lorenz Publishing" company that sells really easy organ music, and that I bought 3 or 4 of their books. He immediately shamed me and told me of his disgust at such collections. All they do, he said, is encourage organists not to improve themselves or approach the great literature. They promote stagnancy.

10 years later, I still play out of my old Lorenz books from time to time. Only during the summer, and very rarely. There's a time and place for easy repertoire; give yourself a break every now and then! But always have an eye on improving your skills.

A good organ teacher can no doubt recommend repertoire for a beginner to play at church. I believe firmly that organ playing is a skill which is passed down. It cannot be found in books or collections or methods by the latest shyster looking to hock his wares. Beginning organist in a church, great! Let his teacher guide him. Pianist who wants "Mass for Dummies"? No, thank you.

The absolute last thing this world needs is more bad organists.

No organists? I'm an organist. I count one, so far.

I don't have a problem of collections for beginners, such as the Orgelbüchlein, L'Organiste, or the pieces in the "red book". I have a problem with divorcing repertoire from training.

Let his teacher guide him. Pianist who wants "Mass for Dummies"? No, thank you.

Finding a teacher is not as easy as you make it sound in some places - in a university town or a decent sized city organ teachers may be available but please remember that in some parts of the world there may be just two or three churches, and maybe all with converted pianists at the helm. The nearest town with an organ teacher may be an hour or more away. Please remember too that there are some parishes where the cost of organ lessons and getting to these lessons simply isn't going to get past the first run through of the budget either at the parish level or at the personal level.

Simply if we want to continue some sort of organ use in these places then we have to consider everything including Mass for Dummies. It may not be your taste or mine, but if it is a practical alternative to simply giving up and using guitars at every mass then I am happy to put some work into such a scheme.

I think the point of the OP was to compile a list of organ rep appropriate for church use, specifically liturgical use. As a neophyte organist I also stumbled upon the Lorenz collection; it didn't take long for me to realize that much of it was not usable for the holy Mass. Thankfully someone else tipped me off to Wayne Leupold catalog and periodicals--a much higher musical standard, but even there not everything is appropriate for use at Mass. The point is there is a wealth of great repertoire--both historic and modern that is appropriate for liturgical use, but one isn't going to find it easily by searching in some catalog or Google. I know I'm always looking for more.

While I was familiar with CPDL I only learned of IMSLP by reading this forum. And then, since I was not an organist, I was not aware of certain composers who wrote liturgical organ rep until I read about it on the forum. No one is suggesting substituting proper technical studies.

In the vocal world, some teachers are better technicians while others are better repertoire coaches. Similarly, I knew many concert pianists who made for lousy accompanists. Regardless, not all classically trained singers or organist can possibly know all appropriate repertoire that is out there. And if one relies solely on the publishers for suggestions...

While I did study organ formally for a few semesters as an elective, I learned nothing about service playing or repertoire from that teacher--only technique. I learned the practical end of things by observing and asking questions and reading. I see no harm in offering friendly advice to the budding liturgical organist and there may even be a good piece or two out there that the most seasoned among us has never heard of before.

Yes, the CEKM is good, Lautzef. Sometimes, in my experience, the original note values are retained (i.e. quarter notes where you would expect eighth notes and so forth) but the mind soon adjusts; and overall the CEKM constitutes a source which should be much better known than it is, although the cost of even the oldest volumes would make purchasing them (as opposed to visiting an academic library) prohibitively expensive for the average organist.

I doubt it. My guess is that the volumes are still in copyright; even the oldest of them were edited by people like Willi Apel, who were active as late as the 1980s.

CEKM? Something-Something (early) Keyboard Music? Just a guess, but I'm not familiar with that abbreviation. Who's the publisher? Perhaps I already own it! I'm just not thinking clearly.

Pianists could be directed to the suitable movements from the WTC. Somewhere in my directories is a guide called "Bach for Catholic Organists" or so (in German). Before delving into his Organ works, it spends some time for the Inventions, Symphonies and the WTC.

That's a good idea. Maybe you could start a list on Google Drive; and when it is substantial enough, I can turn it into a page to add to the main CMAA site, for "Recommended Organ Resources", grouped in some logical way.

Links would be fine. If IMSLP hosts the files already, we don't need to host copies. It's enough that people get recommendations based on the good judgment of experienced organists: that's the value the page would offer to readers.

Kevin

That is a very cool idea. Can I get that list!?

I found it, Joh. Seb. Bach als Orgelkomponist und seine Bedeutung für den kath. Organisten, JSB as Organ Composer and his Relevance for the Catholic Organist.