Keyboard


Organ


Robert P. Anderson is Music Director/ Organist, Jamesville Community Church (United Methodist and Presbyterian U.S.A.), Jamesville, NY.


Since hymn singing during corporate worship is not


allowed in much of the country as we continue to endure the COVID-19 pandemic, I use familiar hymn tunes as the basis for much of my organ music. My suggestions for or- gan literature in this issue are hymn-based arrangements.


Seasonal Hymn Preludes, Volume 9: Trinity and


Trinity Season, Robin Dinda, Wayne Leupold Editions WL600318, 2018. Tis has 10 arrangements of hymns appropriate for


Trinity Sunday, and all hymn tunes are found in the United Methodist Hymnal. Some are for manuals only; others have an easy pedal part. Some have interesting rhythm patterns; the arrangement of Nicea has a fancy pedal part while the arrangement of Ratisbon is a more contemporary setting with the melody in the right hand and a four-note cluster in the leſt hand, allowing the organist to improvise the order and rhythm of the notes.


Te Complete Organist: Accessible Service Music for


the Church Year, ed. James Southbridge & Dennis Eliot, Lorenz Publishing Company 70/1493L, 2002. Tis collection has been available for a number of years


but is an excellent part of a beginning organist’s library, especially if the organist has a piano background and is just learning to play the organ. All the music is written on two staffs and the pedal parts are minimal. All seasons of the church year from Advent through All Saints’ Day are represented, as well as music for Holy Communion, Tanksgiving, patriotic selections and general music.


Voluntaries for Manuals: 14 Hymn-Based Preludes


and Postludes, Charles Callahan, Birnamwood Publica- tions (a division of MorningStar Music Publishers) MSM- 10-456, 2019. Tis is also a collection appropriate for a beginning


organist with piano background. All the hymn tunes are found in the United Methodist Hymnal.


Paraphrase on “Tine Is the Glory,” arr. Robert A. Be Joyful!: 12 Postludes on Familiar Hymn Tunes,


Charles Callahan, Birnamwood Publications (a division of MorningStar Music Publishers) MSM-10-457, 2019. All hymn tunes are found in the United Methodist


Hymnal. Te pedal parts are more involved than in either of the two aforementioned collections. Te publisher


Hobby, MorningStar Music Publishers MSM-20-413, 2019. Tis piece for brass sextet and organ with optional


timpani and crash cymbals is based on the well-known tune from G. F. Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabeus (1748) and was originally written by Alexandre Guilmant in his 18 Pièces Nouvelles pour Orgue, op. 90, no. 15 (1904). Te


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suggests this collection is for persons playing at the intermediate level.


Pilgrim Journey: Seven Fantasies on Welsh Hymns,


Richard A Williamson, Beckenhorst Press OC36, 2019. Although the composer has titled these as fantasies,


they are not elaborate pieces and are easily learned. All seven are found in the United Methodist Hymnal and each setting ends with a stanza suitable for congregational sing- ing (when we can again sing in church!).


Arise and Shine: Ten Easy Hymn


Settings for Organ, Clay Christiansen, Birnamwood Publications (a division of MorningStar Music Publishers) MSM-10-465, 2020. Again, all tunes are found in the


United Methodist Hymnal, and where there is a pedal part, it is very easy.


Variations on Hyfrydol, Albert Travis, Birnamwood


publications (a division of MorningStar Music Publishers) MSM-10-035, 2019. Tis is an extended piece with four movements of


varying difficulty. It can either be played in its entirety or you can play different movements for different parts of worship. For example, the “Intrada” can be used as a prelude, the “Flutes” can be used as an offertory, while the “Toccata” can be played for the postlude. I would suggest this composition is at an intermediate difficulty level.


Sound Every Voice: Organ Interpretations, Emma


Lou Diemer, Augsburg Fortress 978-1-5064-5718-5, 2019. Tere are 11 organ interpretations based on hymn tunes


found in the United Methodist Hymnal in this collection. Te harmonic structures, rhythmic patterns, and difficulty level are what you would expect from Diemer, if you are familiar with any of her many other compositions.


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Shawn Gingrich is Director of Music Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Hershey, PA, and a past- president of The Fellowship.


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