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Carillon, by Louis Victor Jules Vierne

While giving his 1750th organ recital, Virene suffered a heart attack, fell off the bench and his foot hit the low "E" pedal of the organ.  Listeners thought it was part of an improvisation he was performing at the time.   It took them about a minute to realize that
something was wrong. 

Spread the Word

A local priest is experimenting with website and twitter teasers about his homily each week and has asked me to create these little promos he calls "Bible Blasts."  Here is next Sunday's theme:  GOSSIP. 

Humoresque "L'organo primitivo," by Pietro Yon

I played this piece on an eight foot flute through the Choir division's antiphonal speakers.  Since they were far away I couldn't hear them so I coupled them to the Great and added this little marimba so that I could play to that.  The people in the pews heard the flute and some thought they heard a chiff coming from the front.  This recording pretty much only picked up the marimba since the camera microphone was closer to the MIDI speaker. 

This is a great piece for working on forearm rotation, relaxing the hand, not playing from the fingers and playing from the elbow.

Toccata from Widor's Fifth Symphony

I am going to catch flack for this rendition but let me 'splain.  When I was 16 and had been playing for only two years, I was asked to play this piece for a wedding.  I didn't have time to learn it as my reading skills were poor and it was over 16 pages long.  I reduced it to a lead sheet and faked it.  I call it my "Widor's 4.5."  I've been playing off the same lead sheet ever since and because I only do this piece for postludes and recessionals, I never took the time to look again at the real music.  Every time I play this piece, people get up and walk out.  Hey, where's everybody going?

The Little (but not the littlest) Fugue in G Minor, by J. S. Bach

Just as rap, disco or a waltz can be recognized by its style or structure, so can a fugue if you know what to listen for.

In layman's terms, a fugue begins with a solo line which states the melody, usually in one of the hands.  Then the other hand comes in and imitates the same melody while the first hand goes off wandering by itself.  The two hands then come back together, they frolic a bit, then one of them may restate the melody.  The restatement is like a mating call because this usually attracts the attention of the feet who then enter into the fray.  Then the hands, like a tease, go scattering.  After the feet have their say, all the body parts play tag for a while until one of them states the theme one final time, usually the feet get this honor since they were the last in. 

Chorally, in this fugue, the voices enter first in the soprano, then the alto, the tenor, then the bass.   They continue: T, S, A, B, S, B.

Arioso by J. S. Bach