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

Halloween Organ Recital

Join the Foothills Methodist Church, 17 Fremont St. in Gloversville on Sunday, October 30, at 3:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary for an exciting Halloween organ recital featuring a smorgasbord of classics, favorites and surprises. Malcolm Kogut will perform pieces such as the vivid and bristling with energy Dubois Toccata and the ubiquitous Toccata in D Minor by J. S. Bach.  Other music will include Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Boellmann's famous suite Toccata, and  "In the Garden." The organ recital is free and open to the public.

Halloween Organ Recital Q&A

When?  Before everyone else, on October 18th, 3:00 p.m.  2015

Where?  Trinity Lutheran Church, 42 Guy Park Ave, Amsterdam, NY 12010 (the United States one, not the other one where pot is legal).

Is there a Cost?  Only my blood, sweat and tears.  All others, free.

Will there be refreshments?  I wouldn't play otherwise.

Is the church handicap accessible?  Yes, there is a spacious elevator located on the parking lot side entrance. If need be, I will carry you up the stairs (I've done it before). Watch the end of the demo video, I show you how to find it.

What kind of organ are you playing?  It is a newly installed three manual tracker, built by a local builder. There will be a dedicatory recital in the upcoming months.  Come to find out when and all the other pertinent deets.

I hate organ recitals, they are boring, arcane, esoteric, stuffy, recondite and they all sound alike.  What are you playing?  I hate organ recitals, too.  I will be playing the ubiquitous, standard "scary" organ music such as the Chopin Funeral March, Bach's (sic) Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Boëllmann's Toccata  plus a few novelty songs and pieces arranged by me.

The organ is currently lounging in it's summer tuning estate but, here is a demo video of me at my first practice session getting to know the instrument and finding my arm weight. Here I demonstrate the en chamade and the full organ (which distorted my camera's microphone).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lldWqEhIkbs

See you then.

-Malcolm (The pastor wants a bio) Insert pretentious crap about myself here)).

Malcolm, a true Capricorn, is actually not funny. He is just really mean and people think he is joking.  He is a lover of ice cream and a runner - because of all the ice cream.  Malcolm is a Nomad in search for the perfect burger and is an especially gifted napper with killer abs (want proof, check out "Mount Baker Glacier Clips."  Do not judge him before you know him, but just to inform you, you won't like him.  He is not on Facebook and most likely wouldn't friend you anyway so this is all you are ever going to get.  Malcolm feels sad for seedless watermelons because, what if they wanted babies?  The humanity.

Better Late Than Never; Halloween Organ Recital

Do you think organ recitals are long and boring or that organists can be uninspired, uncreative, they play safe or all sound alike?  Are you afraid the music will be stuffy, long haired, or worse - like Sunday church organ music?

Then you should come to this one which I promise will be unique, fun, engaging and filled with surprises.  Come experience "The Scary and Fugal Side of Nursery Rhymes" May 3, 3:00 p.m. at the Foothills United Methodist Church on 17 Fremont Street, Gloversville, 12078.  The price is freeeeeeeee!  So that you won't suffer from organ indigestion, in addition to the organ solos there will be guest singers, singing bowls and instrumentalists.


Here are two samples of what I will be playing (the second half of each video BTW, is of Len Anderson who took my collection of arrangements and improvisations then rearranged each piece for his saxophone quintet):
http://youtu.be/0GMUG7Wr5RA                BINGO in Fugue
http://youtu.be/h-ZWaiXVnLY                     Old MacDonald Had A Farm

Did you know that there are dozens of diseases a human can catch from a lamb?  There are orphan children buried alive in the pillars of the London Bridge?  Ring Around the Rosie is about the plague? The original lyrics to "Ten Little Indians (which is still not politically correct)"  was also racially offensive?  Come discover what other creepy, rapey and phobic topics our joyous childhood songs are really about.

The church is handicap accessible with an elevator but it is squirreled away in a closet.  Here is a short video tour showing where the elevator is hidden within the building:
http://youtu.be/qXO5NFGKo9c

-Malcolm.
After watching his parents murdered by a mugger in a back alley, Malcolm Kogut grew up vowing to become the world's greatest crime . . . wait, that's Batman.  Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Mr. Kogut stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator . . . no, that was Sam Beckett.   After being bitten by a radioactive spid . . . uhm, Malcolm suffers from nefelibata.  Truth.

Halloween Organ Recital - Hall of the Mountain King

Hall of the Mountain King
Edvard E-Grieg-ious
This recording is from my practice session one day before my Hallowe'en Organ Recital.  For this number I don't have a performance copy because some dummy forgot to press the record button at the beginning of the recital. 

Moonlight Sonata - Halloween Organ Recital

Moonlight Sonata
Ludwig van Beeth-baked-his-nephew-in-the-oven

This recording is from my practice session one day before my Hallowe'en Organ Recital.  For this number I don't have a performance copy because some dummy forgot to press the record button at the beginning of the recital. 

From the program:  Many of you know that I’m a fan of closing my eyes while listening to music. I’d like to encourage you to do that here. You won’t miss anything, I promise.  Remember some happy moment from your childhood: Washing the dishes with Mom; “Helping” Dad to mow the grass; Your brother putting the chain on your bike; Breaking a bone falling off the bike and your friends signing your cast; Being hit by a baseball and getting a shiner but telling your friends “You should see the other guy.”  We are not successful  in spite of our handicaps and failures but because of them.  It is our disadvantages which will make us stronger than everyone else.  With tenacity you overcome them.  Our sense of self grows out of difficulty and how it is navigated. 

So, flex those ocular cavity folds and reminisce about those happy “bad” times which made you who you are today. If somnolence befalls you, BONUS!

Halloween Organ Recital - Gymnopedies

Gymnopedies
Erik Satan-ie
How many of you have had that nightmare where you were in school with only your underwear on or were completely naked?  The Gymnopaedia, in ancient Sparta, was a yearly celebration where naked Olympians displayed their athletic skills through the medium of war dancing.  The custom was introduced in 668 B.C. with a parade of the naked athletes, oiling their bodies so as to highlight the beauty of their muscles and physique.  So, if you have ever had the urge to run naked through the church, now is the time to do it with impunity.  Do it with pride for your country (no gold medals will be given out for being Great or Swell). 

Fughetta on “Itsy Bitsy Spider” - Halloween Organ Recital

To buy or steal the sheet music for this piece:
http://www.free-scores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=57993

Fughetta on “Itsy Bitsy Spider” - Halloween Organ Recital
This recording is from my practice session one day before my Hallowe'en Organ Recital.  For this number I don't have a performance copy because some dummy forgot to press the record button at the beginning of the recital. 

Halloween Organ Recital - Flight of the Bumblebee

I could fight a grizzly bear, track a cobra to its lair, kill a crocodile who dares to cross my path. However, the following critter, measuring up to half an inch, can send me into apoplectic frenzy.

Flight of the Bumblebee
Nikolai Rimsky-the-Russians-are-coming-Korsakov

Toccata in D Minor - Halloween Organ Recital

This recording is from my practice session one day before my Hallowe'en Organ Recital.  For this number I don't have a performance copy because some dummy forgot to press the record button at the beginning of the recital.

Every time I play this toccata, I have to do it differently.  Sorry purists.

Halloween Organ Recital: Phantom of the Opera

Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Spider-Webber

This recording is from my practice session one day before my Hallowe'en Organ Recital.  For this number I don't have a performance copy because some dummy forgot to press the record button at the beginning of the recital.  Too bad because I improved the registration. 

Theme from Phantom