(Sorry about the lame title for this thread....couldn't think of anything better)

I'm a pianist. Not an organist.

I sometimes play the piano for the church choir that my auntie is in. It is not my church but I've been a few times and I have played the organ (with nobody there) once or twice.

My auntie just rang me and asked me would I play the organ DURING A SERVICE this sunday.
I said yes of course....


Now I'm s***ing myself because i'm so nervous.
I only have to play hymms and I have a book of voluntaries, surely i could pick out one of those....?

Could anybody give me some quick organ tips so I don't completely mess this up!?

The organ only has one manual and i'm not going to use the pedal board, it has 6 or 8 stops (i can't remember!)..if you could mabye tell me what stops i should use for voluntaries/hymms it would be great!!

Please help...

I'm a pianist who regularly plays the organ, and still makes it up as I go along.

The best thing to do is to get down there early and try the organ with various stops out to find a sound you like and is adequate volume for hymns and voluntary. The main problem if the organ is old, is often some of the stops might not make a particularly pleasant sound, so find one that doesn't sound like the QE2 leaving a harbour and stick with it.

You'll do fine, the more often you do it the more confident you will get, then you can start experimenting with different sounds.

Remember the number 8 on a stop head (or tab) indicates that it sounds at normal pitch.
A 4 sounds an octave higher, a 2 two octaves higher (it's the length of the longest pipe in feet but that needn't bother you for now!) (Known as 8 foot stop etc)

So a 16 foot stop will sound an octave lower and is best avoided until you are more familiar with the instrument and know what effect you're after.

8 and 4 together will sound good generally.

Best of luck - have fun!

Another couple of tips from a pianist who tries to play the organ. Firstly, don't forget to play legato, and to allow for the slight delay between fingering the note and it actually sounding. It might take you 5 minutes or so to really get into organ mode, as it's so different from piano in technique. At least you have only one manual to contend with, and not too many stops.

Also remember that when you're practising in an empty church, the organ will sound much louder than it does with a congregation in there. After the first service I played for, my husband told me that he'd hardly been able to hear the organ once everyone was singing. My advice is to choose stops that make the organ sound twice as loud as you think you need!

Will you be expected to play during the offertory as well? That's something which can catch you out; it depends on the church though - some take up the offertory during a hymn. Make sure you find out which system is in use and plan accordingly; a couple of verses of a hymn will be fine if you do need to play, but of course it will need fewer stops than for hymn singing.

I hope you really enjoy playing on Sunday; it's a wonderful experience.

Good point - I often play things like 'seek ye first', 'a new commandment' etc for the offertory people then often join in and sing quietly.

Decide before the hymn is announced what the play-through (intro) will be - eg. 1st line, lines 1&2, or the last bit. I often play the last bit as it will end in the tonic whereas the first 2 lines may end on the dominant.

Decide on the gap between verses and make it consistent and musical - it's a compromise between giving them time to breathe and not losing the pulse (I'm not always happy with what I do here - I seem to find 3 4 easier than 4 4)

In your practising find ways of bringing out the first beat of the bar more strongly where needed and ending phrases nicely/elegantly as you would on the piano. Think it and imagine it and your fingers will find a way is one approach, the other is to vary the degree of legato or place certain beats.

Think of the meaning of the words

If they won't go at your speed...ummmm...
play louder (i don't know the effect of playing softer - sometimes the non-obvious choice works)
play more detached
decide that they are right
compromise

at the risk of going off-topic, Lord Jesus Christ you have come to us always goes down well at our church, but I am noticing more and more the hissing sound and scattering of t's on the word Christ in bar 2 - I can't remember if it's written as 3 or 4 beats but we get every possibility. Oh and the other thing about this one is the written triplet in the second half which gets a variety of interpretations (and reminds me of the EastEnders tune).

QUOTE(fabnt @ Sep 23 2009, 12:55 PM)

(Sorry about the lame title for this thread....couldn't think of anything better)
'm a pianist. Not an organist.
I sometimes play the piano for the church choir that my auntie is in. It is not my church but I've been a few times and I have played the organ (with nobody there) once or twice.
My auntie just rang me and asked me would I play the organ DURING A SERVICE this sunday.
I said yes of course....
Now I'm s***ing myself because i'm so nervous.
I only have to play hymms and I have a book of voluntaries, surely i could pick out one of those....?
Could anybody give me some quick organ tips so I don't completely mess this up!?
The organ only has one manual and i'm not going to use the pedal board, it has 6 or 8 stops (i can't remember!)..if you could mabye tell me what stops i should use for voluntaries/hymms it would be great!!

Please help...

Hi there, may I commend to you an article/series in the archives of this group (page 20) entitled "First-time Hymn Players Survival Guide". http://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=26764 Not much of it actually applies to you directly, but it should give you a smile or two and help to put things in perspective. Best of luck on Sunday.

Chris Baker - The Incompetent Organist - Durham UK

That was a brilliant read! I'd love a go on an organ but maybe when I'm a bit more confident... I'm also terrified of being dragged in to something without realising it

Just don't panic - I'm sure you'll be fine! It's that feeling of being so alone at the console that is so scary the first time - or it was for me. If you're practising on the piano, don't use the sustaining pedal; then you'll get a better idea of what fingering to use to play legato on the organ, and to allow for phrasing. Above all else, maintain a steady pulse - at YOUR tempo - and don't waver. You're leading and not accompanying. The odd duff note doesn't matter much, but faltering will cause those who are singing to falter too and might end in disaster. So just keep going steadily, and blank your ears to those who seem to want to push ahead or lag behind (often the clergy...). Don't be too ambitious with voluntaries; the organ is richer than the piano and something simple, well played, sounds really good - something that, on the piano, might sound too basic because of its percussive nature.

There are plenty here who are much better qualified than I am to give organ advice, but these basic principles worked for me at the beginning. Best of luck!

Make sure your intro to hymns is the same tempo that you will be playing the hymn (surprising how many organists play the intro at a different tempo - very off-putting as a member of the congregation).

If feeling unsure about the intro, I've played it simply as octaves apart - better to have a good simple intro to give a good lead.

Think through the hymn before you play it (maybe at home) because you can think about how the congregation's going to sing it. If you've only got 6 or 8 stops, you might not make enough noise to impress your will on the congregation (unless it's 2 men and a dog! )

Legato playing will involve some finger substitution as you play, since you don't have a sustaining pedal to cover the joins. Don't worry if you can't manage all the left-hand stretches - just leave out the tenor, play a solid bass line and no-one will notice (hymn playing is much easier if you can play the bass line on the pedals).

Once you get over your fright you'll enjoy it! I get a great buzz from playing for a lustily singing congregation.

All the above is good advice.
Go and play on Sunday an enjoy the occasion.

As I've always said, there are far more vicar's, priest's, call them what you will, than there are organists.
They are lucky to have you!!

Sorry about the above post, pressed the wrong key!!
Would like to ask how fabnt got on last Sunday playing the orga.