Halloween Organ Concert Ideas

I am often asked for repertoire ideas for Halloween Organ Recitals.  It is not that difficult.  Take any melody in a minor key, play it with a four foot flute in your right hand, maybe with a mutation, and with your left hand, do a slow palm glissando on both black and white keys with strings or softer flutes. Here are several songs I have played in the past:

Postlude Sollenele
https://youtu.be/aI2C6HZ2Khs
http://youtu.be/zDB6DmhE2LM

Night on Bald Mountain
(gasp, I can't find my vid)

Toccata and Fugue in D minor
http://youtu.be/TkjF2Vtzwjs

Chopin Prelude
http://youtu.be/WQlLgkAIkiI

Moonlight Sonata
http://youtu.be/dGxp_VYoMt8

Chopin Mazurka
http://youtu.be/lRIB7smyod8

Little Prelude and Fugue in G minor
https://youtu.be/r63p3WpF2UU

Addams Family
http://youtu.be/218Mw7kWI_g

The Munsters
(gasp, I can't find my vid)

London Bridge (because there are human sacrifices in each pillar - orphans)
https://youtu.be/8boxn3xvspw

Itsy Bitsy Spider
https://youtu.be/dbmLEB-3Bgg

Hall Of The Mountain King
http://youtu.be/hPYvKmGpY7c

Boellemann Toccata
https://youtu.be/qBhTWO4uhfg

The Lost Chord
https://youtu.be/L8u1BiruUaA

Flight of the Bumblebee
https://youtu.be/rzw1j0fEXoQ

March of the Marrionettes
http://youtu.be/2NgT1QMBIyo

Couperin Fugue
http://youtu.be/CKn73dPoCns

O Fortuna/Phantom of the Opera
https://youtu.be/yoV-CLYg10E

Variations on a Recitative Schoenberg
(gasp, I can't find my vid)

Ring Around the Rosie (about the plague)
https://youtu.be/Q4rgPlnQQgE

Organ Concert; Flight of the Bumblebee

Free organ concert with Malcolm Kogut at Foothills Methodist in Gloversville.  June 3 at three. Free.  Here is a sample (Flight of the Bumblebee):

I have been sober for 45 minutes

 Q:  What? 
A:  Two organ recitals. 

Q:  Boring! 
A:  I mean, no, not like that stuff you hear in church on Sunday. Sunday organ can be very boring but this recital, it's big, like, like really big, like OJ did it big.  You gotta come.

Q:  We have guitars and a band in my church. 
A:  The organ has a noble estate in church music.  It is a sustaining and strengthening instrument designed for congregational singing. Consider other instruments such as guitars, piano or percussion. Once you play a sound on any of these instruments the sound immediately begins to decay, necessitating more fills and chords.  But singing doesn’t work this way.  The organ’s sound lifts and sustains the voice of the congregation through each phrase, guiding each breath, and setting the character of the song through its wide range of voices.  The organ fills a room naturally making it possible to fill any space. An amplified band gives you a directional, electronic copy of the instruments while the pipe organ needs no amplification; Give it a chance.  You may go back to your guitars on Sunday.

Q:  Tell me about the two organs. 
A:  Trinity's organ is a relatively new three manual tracker which means it is very challenging to play for many organists who are trained but still don't know what they are doing ergonomically.  After the recital, feel free to go up and touch the keys.  Malcolm will be giving a talk about the ten ergonomic movements required to properly and effortlessly play a tracker and, how to avoid and cure tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome through natural movement.  The talk will begin around 2:30 but make a reservation so he can prepare materials.  The Foothill organ is an electronic four manual Rodgers with speakers placed around the room for the ultimate in surround sound.

Q:  Is there a Malcolm Kogut action figure? 
A:  We would think so.

Q:  Is Malcolm Kogut still alive? 
A:  Yes, as far as we know.  We don't have any current information about his health.  However, being older than 40, we hope that everything is okay.

Q:  Where was Malcolm Kogut born? 
A:  On a hill, far away in Troy, NY

Q:  What is Malcolm Kogut doing now? 
A:  Supposedly, 2016 has been a busy year for him.  However, we do not have any detailed information on what he is doing these days.  Maybe you know more.  Feel free to share the latest news, gossip and official contact information with the person next to you.

Q:  Are there any photos of Malcolm's current hairstyle or shirtless?
A:  There might be.  But unfortunately we currently cannot print them here.  We are working hard to fill that gap though.  Check back tomorrow or Google it.

Q:  Where are these recital things? 
A:  THERE ARE TWO; The first is on April 10, at Trinity Lutheran Church at 42 Guy Park Ave, Amsterdam, NY 12010. The theme here will be "Old Friends."  It will be somewhat selfish on Malcolm's part in that all the pieces will be pieces that he likes to play, has played many times and they fit like a glove.  Not like the OJ glove but, bigger.

The second is on May 22 at Foothills Methodist Church at 17 Fremont St, Gloversville, NY 12078. This recital will consist of patriotic music.  The final number is guaranteed elicit a standing ovation from the audience.  Both recitals are at three o'clock in the afternoon.

Q:  Cost? 
A:  They're freeeeeeee! (my Harvy Levin impersonation).

Bio:
A letter from Malcolm Paul to the internet; I am very pleased and excited to be performing these recitals on April 10 and May 22, at three, and I Tertius, who wrote this letter, am pleased to be going, also.  Malcolm has been playing the organ since he was 15 and by simple calculations, that makes him OLD which is often fatal and highly contagious; To be more precise (and nerdy), his current age as of right now is 19742 days or (even more geeky) 473804 hours. Malcolm was born on the 16th of January which was a Tuesday meaning he was conceived between April 21 - April 29.  His next birthday is only 245 days from today.  BTW, at both recitals, I hear there will be cake. 
   
Sample links of each organ (Stars and Stripes):
Foothills Organ: http://youtu.be/MGbI3gHmnKs
Trinity Organ: https://youtu.be/yJQRQaEeNLc

Owning our Mistakes, Honoring our Mistakes, Everybody Makes

I recently performed a concert with a young artist who is going off to college to study opera.  He has dreams to then move to Europe to live and perform music.  Not only does this young man have a deep and rich bass voice but, he was also a pleasure to accompany.  Rarely do I get to play for someone who can both lead and follow an accompanist at the same time.  Many singers will either hijack a piece and force the accompanist to blatantly follow them or in contrast slavishly follow the accompanist.  When I encounter a singer who is neither a leader nor follower but does both, that is when music happens and a pleasure to work with. 

There was one moment however when he began to sing the wrong verse at the end of the song.  He stopped and corrected himself, everyone knew he made a mistake.  Many musicians learn and memorize their music from rote by practicing them dozens of times over until it is "memorized."  That method can set up many traps and things to go wrong without notice.  Rare is the musician who eats, drinks and sleeps their craft so that they are one with the song. 

I once played the show "Nunsense" for a year and a half, performing six shows per week.  All the musicians in the pit had the score memorized.  One evening, Mother Superior accidentally sang the wrong lyrics and without a second thought, all the musicians looked at one another and we all seamlessly jumped to the spot where she was.  After her verse was over, knowing that she skipped an important lyric, Mother Superior walked to the edge of the stage, looked down and said to the pit "Vamp boys."  Then she proceeded to tell the audience that she skipped a verse and said to the pit "take it back to the second verse" and we all flipped our pages, she counted us off and it was magic to have a mistake a living and breathing part of the performance.   

At my concert last weekend when my bass started to sing the wrong lyric and melody, I knew exactly where he was and was prepared to jump to that spot because I was prepared for the possibilities.  When I practice music, I jump around on the pages, mixing and matching beginnings and endings, playing the piece in different keys, different styles and in general, exploring the possibilities of the work.  This helps me to learn it and to be prepared for whatever may go wrong or, in other words - own the song.  I thrive on these challenges.

My suggestion for all musicians, especially singers, when you practice with your accompanist, don't just practice the song the way it is "supposed to go."  Play with it.  Try different rhythms, accents and styles.  Without notice, jump to a different section so that the accompanist has to find you.  If your accompanist can't do this, find a new accompanist.  There is nothing more frustrating than trying to make music with someone who is not a "musician."  Music should not be something which is regurgitated from a page or set in stone.  It should be a living breathing expression of our selves and spirit.

The worse thing for a musician to do when they encounter a bump in the road is to stop.  Don't train your mind to stop.  Don't practice making mistakes.  Train your mind to be flexible and prepared for the possibilities.  I once worked with a great singer who during rehearsals would stop every time she made a mistake.  That practice manifested itself when she made a mistake on stage, she didn't know how to recover and everyone in the audience knew it.  It also made rehearsals unbearable for me.

If one were to tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, chances are we are not reciting a memorized version of the story but, extemporizing, improvising and re-living the story pretty much in our own words.  If we make a mistake, we don't stop, go back or apologize.  We effortlessly and almost invisibly correct it on the fly and continue with the story.  Nobody would even notice.  Music can be like that too if we are not a slave to notation, propriety or our egos.  The purpose of telling the story is to tell the story.  The purpose of music should be to tell a story, not put on a concert.  Janis Joplin once said that she doesn't put on concerts when she sings, she makes love to the audience. 

This is what making music should be about. That is the difference between an amateur, professional and artist.  Very often amateurs can also be artists and very often, professionals can be mere amateurs.