Pulling Out All Of The Stops
After a particularly impressive effort at work or on the playing field, or at the most climactic point in a film, you might have heard someone mention that “they pulled out all of the stops.” In common use, it’s considered high praise, but for church organ players, the phrase has a very different meaning. Viscount […]
The World’s Oldest Playable Pipe Organ
Sthullen | CC BY-SA 3.0 Church organs have been an essential part of sacred music for centuries, providing powerful and inspiring sounds for worship. But did you know that the oldest playable church organ still used today dates back to the 15th century? Nestled in the small town of Sion, Switzerland, the organ at Valère […]
Famous Organists: Charles-Marie Widor
The church organ has a long and storied history, going back for hundreds of years. During that time, countless accomplished musicians have sat at the bench and played stirring music of all kinds for innumerable audiences. But during the tenure of this King of Instruments, there have been some musicians that have stood out as […]
Organs At The Front Lines
When we think about the music of the Second World War, often we think of ragtime, and big band jazz, and of course, thumping marching band music. It’s hard not to have Glenn Miller’s “American Patrol” playing along in your head when you think about the service members of WWII. But for many soldiers and […]
Overcoming Your Nerves Before Performance
Right before you go on stage, you are probably going through what you will do once you are finally in front of everyone. Hopefully, you are imagining things going well! We know that there can be a lot of pressure when playing the church organ in front of a large group, especially if there are […]
Re-Learning an Instrument in Adulthood
How many people take music lessons at a young age, only to drop the instrument and focus more on careers or family in adulthood? The answer is, quite a lot! If this is the case for you, and you’ve found yourself wanting to get back into the instrument, we have some things for you to […]
Viscount Organs: Tradition, Passion, and Technology Combined
Church organs are unique instruments. Not only are they centuries old – or, if their origin instruments are considered, millennia old – but they also have endured through western culture ever since their introduction. Organs were and still are central to many churches’ worship services and found their way into secular culture and music, as […]
Church Organ Shoes Basics
The church organ is a unique instrument in many ways due to its design, its history, and its sound. But there is yet another reason why it is a unique instrument: It requires special shoes to place it well. Organ shoes are specially designed to help the church organ player play the pedal keyboard well, […]
The Church Organ in Silent Film
The church organ is an instrument that has been around for ages, making it one of the oldest instruments still played. The first variation of the organ occurred in Greece in the 3rd century BC as the hydraulis. The organ continued on through the ages with the Persian empire as the urghun and into the […]
History of Church Organs
The history of the church organ dates back to ancient times, originating from the water organ (hydraulis) of ancient Greece. These early instruments used water pressure to produce sound, laying the foundation for the pipe organs that later became central to Christian worship. The Introduction of the Organ to Churches In the 8th century, Christian […]