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Searching for interesting repertoire? (4 replies and 4 comments)
what a gat idea and some interesting music to go look for to start with. Certainly something I am going to enjoy benefiting from
The Dorothy Hamilton works sound very good, if I can get a copy. I am lucky, as an assistant, my principal knows my limitations and does suggest pieces from time to time. Some pieces I have found are Liturgical Preludes by George Aldroyd.
I think you mean George Oldroyd. I have them too and also good and relatively easy, Regards David
Thanks David, that's very helpful - keep them coming!
This thread just popped up on Viscount's Twitter stream, so, duly inspired, here's my two pennyworth ...
i have found the IMSLP open-access music library - out of copyright material - is an easy-to-browse and almost endless source of useful 'new' repertoire.
Great forum idea, David. Listen, the Boellmann Toccata isn't hard. Learn it in "altitudes" as I call them -- RH alone, LH alone, pedal alone (simple as it is). Practice them slooooowly and work them up individually the tempo ladder gradually as needed. Then do the same with them in "pairs": -- RH with LH, RH with pedal, LH with pedal. I predict it will all fall into place.
Do each stage for awhile to let it settle in before going to the next one. For variety, practice the "elements" of the piece individually, e.g. playing only the running 16ths all the way through wherever they roam, then the 8th-note chord pattern by itself all the way thru etc.
IMSLP is fantastic, so are the related WIMA, Mutopia, Gutenberg collections of free PDFs. There are others such as http://waltercosand.com/CosandScores .......Those poor music publishers! Hope we don't kill them. I always check to see whether a piece is available in hard copy first by googling the title and used organ music -- organlibrary.org is a great source.
Thank you for the encouragement to tackle the Toccata. I love the Prier a Notre Dame but keeping the steady rhythm in the toccata is a real challenge that I have yet to master. As you advise breaking down into manageable tasks that are then assembled is a good strategy. I must get busy! Regards David
Right on. And remember, the piece have to go lightning fast to be quite effective. Schreiner plays Carillon de Westminster at a slightly wooden pace but it's still overwhelming.
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If you like me you are an amateur organist then I expect you share my problem of finding accessible and interesting pieces that do not demand to much skill or more stops than you have available. In this blog I suggest some piece I have found and would be very happy if others could suggest some more.