THE LITURGICAL ORGANIST: STRATEGIES FOR SUPPORTIVE AND CREATIVE SERVICE PLAYING Bruce Neswick BOSTON AGO NATIONAL CONVENTION Trinity, Copley Square Thursday, 26 June 2014 9:45 — 10:45 am AN APOLOGY Why practice keyboard skills / service-playing / improvisation? The primary goal of a liberal education is not to benefit the market. Nonetheless, we need to be “marketable.” Not many of us will wind up being the next Virgil Fox or E. Power Biggs. As much as we all love playing recitals, we'll be lucky if even one among us makes a full career out of only doing that. Playing the liturgy skillfully, imaginatively and helpfully is an art form rivaling anything else. What happens between the prelude and the postlude matters as much if not more to your “people” than the pure organ repertoire that often occupies our complete attention. Yes, the prelude and postlude are important for your personal development and growth and for the edification of your congregations, but they are mere frameworks/bookends to the real reason people have gathered to be ministered to by you. We are faced with a changing cultural scene, and “new occasions teach new duties.” We can no longer safely assume that classical music has pride of place; worship conducted in one style holds a mainstream position; and that attention spans can accommodate lengthy works of art. It therefore behooves us even more now than in the past to be as flexible and open as possible. You will be asked to be more blended; ‘ecumenical; and creative than any other generation of organists could have imagined being. ‘True music-making occurs away from the printed page, whether in repertoire or in improvisation. We need a strategy for weaning ourselves away from the printed page A STRATEGY ‘What can you do then? Limit yourself strictly to 5 minutes per section, but do this every time you sit down at a keyboard, Don’t try to conquer the world in one day, one week, one month, one year, one class, one semester! You will not improve unless you build this into your daily practice and unless you have a deep and abiding passion for this kind of work/play!SCALES (5 minutes) ‘Take one example from Hanon, and play as is. Practice adding parallel notes and chords. Practice adding every manner of contrapuntal invention. Practice playing polytonally. FIGURED BASS (5 minutes) ‘Take one example from Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi, Keaney, Keller, etc. and realize it, with primarily closed position chords in the right hand. ‘Transpose this passage. Use this same passage to modulate to another key, in the same style, Add jazz notes (2nds, 6ths, 7ths). You will more than likely need to supplement your church ineome with playing pop, jazz, synagogue: this will come in handy! HYMNS (5 minutes) Pick one hymn (per day, per week, per month, ete.) and practice simply playing it accurately and fluently the first time. Practice in all the keys. Practice in the relative minor. Practice in the parallel minor. Practice by altering the meter. Practice playing with parallel chords of every possibility, retaining the bass line as written. Practice playing with parallel chords, but now with a walking bass line in the key of the hymn. Practice playing with parallel chords, but now with a free bass line. Practice adding passing notes between 3“, 4ths, Sths, etc. — and not all at once! Practice modulating to a higher key by improvising a short interlude. Practice modulating into Old Hundredth. ANTHEM ACCOMPANYING (5 minutes) Practice sight-reading an unknown anthem, Practice sight-registering an unknown anthem. Practice improvising in the style of the same anthem. Practice modulating from this same anthem into Old Hundredth.TRIOS (5 minutes) Practice one movement (one per day, one per week, ete.). Practice transposing your selected movement. Practice improvising in the style of your selected movement. Practice substituting a figured bass realization for either one of the manual voices. IMPROVISING IN THE STYLE OF A REPERTOIRE ITEM (5 minutes) Find and use models for your improvisation in the repertoire. Make a frequent habit of sight-reading something and then continuing in that style. In the realm of 20" century organ music, know some of these composers: ) British: Leighton, Whitlock, Rowley, Thiman 'b) American: Near, Manz, Bender, Ore, Krapf, Hancock, Proulx, Gehring ) German: Distler, Walcha, Ahrens, David, Pepping d) French: Langlais, Litaize, Dupré Practice sight-reading a simple example from the liturgical organ repertoire. Practice transposing that example. Practice continuing on in the same style. and then .. IMPROVISATION AND THE HYMN PARTITA Begin to create your own chorale-preludes, eventually leading to full-fledged partitas. What better way to prepare for the worship service? Some useful techniques and movements include: Altered harmonizations. Try parallel and added-note chords as alternatives to common-practice harmonies. Set a few boundaries and abide by them. Simple monody, which can be lyrical or dance-like. Let this cleanse the listener’s palate. Bicinium (two-part invention) with cantus firmus in one voice or, later, with only allusions to the cantus firmus. ‘Trio textures, with cantus firmus in pedal. Try to produce interludes of equal length between the phrases. Aria or song form, employing omamented melody and some of the techniques mentioned above. Fughetta, three- or four-voiced. Keep your entrances patterned tonic / dominant / tonic (/dominan).‘Toceata, Scan the literature for easy-to-plagiarize figurations. Keep it simple at fist. Let the cantus firmus sound in the pedals. Keep your rhythm strong: you can get away with just about anything, if your sense of forward motion comes across to the listener. In a similar vein, repeat your “mistakes” and incorporate them into the fabric of the music. art of the stagecraft of improvisation lies in convincing the listener that you know what you're doing. Remember that improvisation is the most personal of all languages, but like any language it thrives only on constant practice. For most of us, time is at a premium. Therefore, set reasonable goals for yourself. One elaborated hymn per Sunday may be all that is required to get you started in this exciting and challenging (and sometimes unnerving) endeavor. By all means, practice, but also have fun! Above all, try to remember that IMPROVISATION MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE ... SORRY! FURTHER IMPROVISATION RESOURCES Jeffrey Brillhart: Breaking Free. Wayne Leupold Fait mns (2011) WLS00023. Gerre Hancock: Improvising: How to Master the Art. Oxford University Press (1994) 94-11482. Michele Johns: Hymn Improvisation. Augsburg Publishing (1987) 11-6760. Helen Keaney: Figured Bass for Beginners. E.C. Schirmer Music Company. ECS No. 261. ISBN: 911318-11-9. Hermann Keller: Thoroughbass Method. W.W. Norton and Company (1965). ISBN: 978-0-393-09744- 3. Jan Overduin: Improvisation for Organists. Oxford University Press (1998) 97-46196, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra: Bach and the Art of Improvisation, CHI Press (2011) ISBN-13: 978-0-9835657-0-3. John R. Shannon: Improvising in Traditional 17"- and 18 Century Harmonic Style, Volume I. Wayne Leupold Editions (2010) WL600187. John R. Shannon: Improvising in Traditional 17"- and 18" Century Harmonic Style, Volume I. Wayne Leupold Editions (2010) WL600232. FURTHER THOUGHTS ON HYMN-PLAYING Hymn playing is the most important music we make as church musicians. Exciting hymn playing will help to ensure the continued use of the King of Instruments in our churches. Decide what you are trying to say with each hymn, Is this hymn reflective, joyous, modest, extravagant, Edwardian-legato, Renaissance-thythmie, ctc.? Rhythm is the most important component in hymn playing: hymns must dance even when they “slow dance.” Maintain a steady tempo, with just enough flexibility for human breath. Pursue metrical integrity between stanzas: even our breathing and pausing must “dance.” Add an extra measure or half-measure between stanzas to allow for rhythmic breathing.Write in your score (and have your choirs write in their scores) the number you beats you are planning to attach to the final chord and to the pause, e.g., “4+ 2.” Explore colors that are dramatic yet helpful. ‘Organ sounds should coordinate with the texts. Set up your organ pistons for “instant recall.” Practice so that you can “solo out” the melody. Be judiciously creative. Use re-harmonizations for certain stanzas, but be sure to keep them in the same tempo as the other stanzas. Improvise an introduction, but keep in mind the Sunday liturgy vs. hymn festival dichotomy. Setting up an organ with pistons: one possible scheme GENERAL 1 (communion general (!) / special effects) SW: strings, celestes GT: solo flute & oF 4 CH: quiet solo reed or flutes 8 and 2 2/3 (or something similar) PD: flutes 32 and 16, SW/PD GENERAL 2 (choir accompanying) ‘SW: flutes 884 GT: flutes 88, SW/GT CH: same as or similar to general 1 PD: flutes 16 and 8, SW/PD GENERAL 3 (cornet setting for hymn accompanying) met, SW/CH 16, 16 and flute 8, SW/PD GENERAL 4 SW: 884 and oboe & 884, SW, CH/GT : 16, 16, 88, SW, CH/PD GENERAL 5 SW: general 4 plus mixture or reed 16 GT: general 4 plus principal 4 (unless overly aggressive) CH: general 4 plus principal 2 PD: same as general 4 GENERAL 6 SW: full GT: same as general 5 OH: general 5 plus mixture PD: general 5 plus reed 16 and flute 32GENERAL 7 SW: full GT: full without reeds CH: full without reeds PD: general 6 plus reed 8 GENERAL 8 SW: full GT: full CH: full PD: full with reed 32 GENERAL 9 full without any reeds GENERAL 10 (trio setting) SW: flutes 16 and 4 GT: flutes 84 CH: flutes 84 and 11/3 (or something similar) PD: reed 8 or 4 or principal 8 or 4 (for cantus firmus) SW I: celestes ‘SW 2: flutes 884 SW 3: 8 and principal 4 SW 4: SW 3 plus oboe 8 SW 5: SW 4 plus reed 16 ‘SW 6: SW plus mixture GT 1: flute 8 GT 2: GT 1 plus principal 8 GT 3: GT2 plus flute 4 GT 4: GT 2 plus principal 4 GT 5: GT 4 plus mixture GT 6: GT 5 plus reed & CH 1: celestes CH 2: 88 CH 3: CH 2 plus flute or prineipal 4 CH 4: CH 3 plus mixture CH 5: solo reed CH 6: comet PD 1: flutes 32 and 16 PD 2: flutes 16 and 8 FURTHER HYMN-PLAYING RESOURCES Gerre Hancock: Organ Improvisations for Hymn-Singing. Hinshaw Music (1975) HMO-100. Gerre Hancock: Organ Improvisations for Hymn-Singing, Volume 2. Hinshaw Music (1991) HMO-164.Heller, David: Manual on Hymn Playing. GIA (1992) G-3642 / ISBN: 941050-31-9. Bruce Neswick: A Liturgical Miscellany. St. James Music Press (PO Box 1009 / Hopkinsville, KY / 42241 / 270-885-8303). Choirs of the St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo: More Great Hymns of the Church. CD from Church Hymnal Corporation. Eric H. Thiman: Varied Harmonies to Hymn Tunes. Novello (1969). Eric Thiman: Varied Accompaniments. Oxford University Press (1937). Eric H. Thiman: 44 Hymn Tunes Freely Harmonized for Unison Singing. Novello (1969). Eric H. Thiman: Varied Harmonizations of Favorite Hymn Tunes. H.W. Gray (1955) GB 336. Washington Cathedral Girl Choristers: The Voice of Angels: Selections from “Wonder, Love and Praise.” CD from Church Publishing Incorporated./ amd edely Padicnl 62 nul ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENTS—""” HYMNS Jabs healed: When Bob entered the church he found(Nancy Willis|already there, practicing for the Sunday services. “Hello, Bob,” she said, with a smile, “have you come to play the o1 2” “I had, but I won’t interrupt you because you're obviously hard at work.” “Yes, there’s a lot of music to prepare for the next few weeks and I have to get on top of it all,” she said, indicating a small pile of anthems on the organ bench. HYMN PLAYING “I wonder if you could spare five minutes to tell me how you approach accompaniments. We weren't given much help with that when I was a student.” “You’re not alone in that,” said Nancy with a grimace. “Many music schools think that organists will spend their lives playing Bach and Mes- siaen, whereas the truth is that we spend much of our time playing hymns and anthems.” “What can you tell me about playing hymns,” said Bob. “Well, the first two things I can tell you is not to do what almost every organist does.” “What are those two things?” PLAYOVERS “Don't waste the time of the congregation by playing over an entire verse of a hymn before they start to sing. There’s no reason to do that, unless the tune is unfamiliar. A playover of half a verse gives them sufficient time to find their place in the hymnal as well as to remind them i of how the tune goes.” “How fast should I play the introduction?” “You should play it at the speed you expect it to be sung; no slower and certainly no faster.” “What stops should use?” “You should play with stops appropriate to the meaning of the words. Look,” she said, thumbing through the hymnal, “Would you play over “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven’ on flutes? No, of course you wouldn't. Similarly you wouldn't play ‘Once in Royal David's City’ on Swell reeds.” “Oh!” exclaimed Bob, “that’s very similar to the point you and the 249AS24354 (Ot tee fears 56 Basso continuo Sonata F-Dur - F major HWY.363a §. F- dona) fiat Pn? #0Sonata E-Dur - F majorBook 1. eet Elementary Ti mes hyn . Figured Bass and Melody Exercises. PART I. _. Figured Basses. A. Common chords. and their inversions, in- major keys. Common bhords only. : 4. 76. gfe 13 B. 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