Keyboard playing has lots of rules. Organ playing has even more rules. And performance practice keeps discovering more rules. And yet with all this, there is a dearth of rules in some areas of our noble art of organ playing. Well, here is your free lesson in figuring all that out:
How to play a hymn: I tell students just to consult the textbook on that. And of course, there isn’t one. Actually, there are many, about as many as there are people to play hymns. So that doesn’t help. So now what? I agree with the notion of learning to play the bass in the pedal and to redistribute the other voices among the hands. I agree that it’s good practice to break repeated notes and tie moving notes. I also know that while all this is an excellent way to develop finger independence and part reading and part distribution between staves, I believe it’s a lousy way to play hymns in church. Using hymns to teach technique is fine, but actually playing those hymns in church as if they were technical exercises is terrible. Most hymns are notated for singers in four parts, and so you are hereby granted permission to play them any way you like that is clear in tempo and rhythm. And since hymns are actually music, then permission is granted to play them musically, too. As Robin Williams said in Dead Poets Society, “We’re not laying pipe!”
How to play an orchestral reduction or an accompaniment that wasn’t written for the organ: All bets are off; play what you want! Seriously, if you’re having to play piano music on the organ or orchestral music from a piano reduction on the organ, then enjoy your freedom to re-orchestrate any way you like. Of course, that will take some experience and some training, but permission is hereby granted to pick and choose freely among all those notes.
Ornaments: yeah, yeah, upper note, on the beat. That will get you most of the way there. But every source eventually has to conclude that there are no absolutes. Every source eventually arrives at granting permission to do what sounds good, what serves the moment, what is musically satisfying, and what promotes bon goût.
Metronome markings: if it seems too fast, then it is. Many publishers insist that composers provide a metronome marking before publishing. And so the markings that appear in many pieces were merely thrown by the composer at the publisher and have nothing whatsoever to do with reality. Not only are some of those tempos the sort of thing that only a MIDI playback device could produce, they are hopelessly out of touch with the instrument mechanics and acoustics that many composers worked with regularly. Permission granted to play in a tempo that is musical and note-perfect.
Registering Bach: yeah, yeah, manual plenum and pedal reed alone. I am of the school that says that an audience will feel hit over the head after 15 minutes of American mixtures. Permission granted to make things clear, exciting, and in full utilization of the tonal resources at your disposal. Sounds like something Bach himself might have done. On the other hand, a new piston every other measure is overboard. If it doesn’t assist the audience or serve the form, it’s too much. If it sounds like an organ demonstration, it’s too much.
Tying or breaking notes in Franck: there are no absolutes, except to make things beautiful. Keep it clear, but keep it beautiful. Tie away!
Sometimes we just need permission. We feel alone and need someone to come along and say it’s okay, just like in life. Everyone should read Gerre Hancock’s book on Improvising, even if you don’t intend to improvise. The amount of encouragement in that book would bring anyone out of depression!
So after you have received some training in what sounds good and what ought to feel good, then if it feels good and sounds good, go for it!