After a great deal of soul searching, and
many focus groups, I have determined that there
is a serious shortage of cute cat photos on the
internet. This is, in part, my attempt to fill
that deficiency. It is also about our new furry
friend.
There are really two main differences
between an organist and a pianist
pretending to be an organist, and one is
pretty obvious. It is familiarity with
the pedal board.... The other difference
is in the handling of the organ stops,
the registration....
When I came to my current church, just
over ten years ago, I remember
introducing myself to members of the 8
am congregation. I went into the pews
before the service and said, " Hi, I'm
Michael Hammer, your new organist." And
they would say things like, "Hi, I'm
Bill don't play the organ too loud."
"Hi, I'm Geraldine don't play the organ
too loud." I noticed there seemed to be
an awful lot of people with the same
last name!
There are times that one author, quoting
another, and finding an error or omission in the
source material, makes his audience aware of
this fact by use of the bracketed term [sic];
thus it was, as if to say "that's the way I
found it, folks, don't blame me." One curious
effect of the strange collision of tones in the
fourth measure (11 seconds into the present
recording [in this blog post]) is that I
want to bracket it and write [sic] above it,
saying "Look, I know it sounds like a wrong
note, but the composer wants it that way; it's
not my fault." It's a curious dynamic, because
many times a composer writes a dissonance that,
even if it sounds a little odd going by, turns
into something wonderful by the end. But this
may well be an example of a dissonance that
doesn't really work. And so I'm issuing this
curious little piece by [a] typically operatic
composer with a little distancing. I don't
really like this chord. And I'm not so sure
about the one near the end, either. (it's at
1:45, and I'll give it this: it is a very
interesting chord)
I grew up in a little village, more rural
than suburban, in a family that wasn't
musical, in a place where there weren't many
cultural opportunities. For a while I didn't
really know much about what was out there.
When I started to gain some proficiency at
the piano with the help of my elementary
school music teacher (it didn't take long to
become something of a star in my little
orbit, as good a player as most of the
adults) I began to wonder how I could grow.
First I discovered a few records at garage
sales, and later, the classical radio
station in the big city, 45 minutes away. It
was playing great music by great composers,
and I was hooked. But where to find the
music?
The local music store didn't seem to offer
much help.
