Customer Reviews

The Technique & Art of Organ Playing (H.W. Gray)

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I am a College professor who has taught piano and pipe organ for over 40 years. I have used just about every organ method book out there. The Technique and Art of Organ playing is older than dirt. Written by Clarence Dickenson, it contains eveything the would be, serious organist needs to know. This is not a method book for those who want to play Theater organ music, jazz, or popular music. It is a method book for the "classical", "church" organist. He covers in detail the four basic methods of organ playing: Manual - Hand technique (Differentiated from the piano technique) Registration - The art of understanding which stops or voices to use in combination with what piece of literature. Pedal - The technqiue of how to play the pedals efficiently and skillfully. And last the Art of how to put it all together to make music.

It's all in one book, and it's a must for any serious organist. I've used other method books and they all come up short to Dickenson's work.

As soon as I checked the table of contents I knew this would be a winner. The author covers the most minute techniques of playing the organ with the greatest detail. I'm a decent pianist with about 17 years of experience and I found myself challenged with this book. It wastes no time on introductory material--the author goes over the fundamentals, yes, like chair height and position, but not the basics, such as music reading or anything like that. Its lack of the basics is probably the only drawback, as the unfortunate other review will tell you, it's not for the beginner.

The book is separated into two parts: part 1 is dedicated to text describing the technique in question, with interlinear, illustrative music examples; part 2 is full music pieces which allow you to put the techniques into practice. I wouldn't say that the music pieces are necessarily progressive in difficulty but they are certainly cumulative, which helps you review techniques. And the author has not sold you short--she doesn't stop at mundane textbook etudes or boring pedagogical pieces. The final full piece--Guilmant's Marche réligieuse--is one of my favorite pieces and a true tour de force, concert-worthy piece, and the book ends with two scintillating pedal etudes by Alkan, perfect for an encore.

Although I can practice on a pipe organ, I unfortunately don't have the luxury of extended private lessons. This does nicely to supplement what lessons I do get, by spelling out the minutiae, and provides good reading material. My favorite topics are: the liberties an organist is wont to take with printed music, operating two swell pedals simultaneously, adapting piano accompaniments to the organ, and registration. Ultimately, every topic is idiosyncratic to the organ and I found no redundant or trite material in the entire book. I wish they would issue another edition, as this one is from 1922 and the binding is not that conducive to laying flat, but these are just trifles and I really don't see how they can improve a product that is already of such quality.

My wife is self teaching herself how to play the keyboard. I thought this book my help her. Well it confussed her. It was too advanced. My fault, not hers, I tryagain.