Cool pic Musalio. Could you explain whats going on w/your mum, dad and baby mus?! Where were you all?
Anyhoo, this is a good post. I am sort of a beginner (not really anymore, but can I get the beginner pass?), and I still have not learned how to play the organ at all. Although there is an organ at the church and I have been questioned about it. Now...
I have a few questions:
1. How does the organ differ from the piano?
2. How do those mysterious footpedals factor in?
3. How often do you have to use them. Is the transition from piano to organ rough or smooth??
I hope I can answer this question I will answer question one which will really answer question two
and part of question three
The organ is different from the piano
first because the tone sustains as long as you hold the note and releases as soon as you take your hand off
what this means to you is that since there is no pedal to sustain notes while your hands are of the keys
then that means you have to learn how to keep the notes connected this is what will give you a smooth sound
sometimes you want to keep the notes choppy this is a matter of style
at the most advanced levels of organ playing
you will be playing the pedals with your feet
your left hand will be playing chords and your right hand will be playing either melodic chords
or melodies in intervals or single notes
if you have never played organ before
the best way to start out
is to set up the drawbars (those brown and white levers you see there should be four sets of nine)
set them up so that you can have a strong bass sound on one manual ()keyboard)
and a nice sound for chords on the other manual
ther are many ways to play an organ
right now I am exploring theatre style and classical organ
which is more about making your organ sound like an orchestra
I have at times explored heavily brooklyn style
which is really like playing rag time on the organ
to get to those foot pedals
they are your bass notes
so your feet will be playing bass lines on the organ
if you have never seen an organist do it
then your first time on the organ you will probably think it is impossible
but it is not it just takes time to get comfortable
here is my personal recommendation on how to get to a decent organ ability
first few weeks
play the organ like two keyboards
if you pull out the first three or four drawbars on the upper left
then you will have a nice strong bass sound and a balanced sound to play both hands on the upper manual
skip the next set of draw bars and pull out
the two white ones and the next black white and black
and the last white about half way out
(experiment with leaving that last one in or out)
play with these two combinations
dont worry about the pedals
do use the volume pedal
and the leslie switch
to give you that whirly sound
points to note
you have to do your best to keep the sound connected the first thing I notice about keyboard players who try to play organ is they sound too choppy
connect the sound by trying to keep fingers in contact with the keys
as you go from chord to chord
next step
pull out one of the two brown draw bars
that sit in the middle of the two sets of nine
( try the left one first
pull it about 3/4 of the way out
now as you play the bass lines
tap on the pedal of the key you are in
just a short tap
try this over one of those devotional songs like cant nobody do me like jesus
the pedal will be acting as a drum beat almost
not necessarily like a bass note
if you keep it short enough
remember you are still playing the bass line with your left hand
this is a technique i see a lot of older organists use
and they will sometimes move the bass note to whatever chord they are on
next step
sit on the bench so that your leg hangs over the G pedal
if you are about my size 5'11
it will appear that your pedals will line up with the lower manual
what you do at this level
is play the pedals to follow your left hand bass notes
your feet will be clumsy at this point
but your hands will cover your sloppy feet
and eventually your feet will be able to follow your hands
when they can it will be time to make the feet independent
to do this
begin to use your left hand to switich the leslie
as you play
switch it ever verse or ever two or three measures
this is called speed switching
and it will help you pay attention that your feet are holding down the groove properly
how do you play the pedals?
with your toes
and your heels
practice first just using your toes
this is actually the first way you learn on classical organ to play everything with your toes
then later you learn to use your heels on the white pedals and your toes on the black notes
ok now for the next stage
play the pedals with your feet
and take your two hands and play them on the lower manual
the left hand can duplicate what your right hand does
do this for now so that your left hand will become stronger at playing chords
since you will be using two hands on the manuals
you should use a lighter setting
maybe just pull out the two white ones
it will take a few months for your left hand to get strong enough to play songs on it's own
but be patient
what to do with your left hand once it gets strong
this is a loaded question and I cannot really answer that for you
you can play two note chords one note thirds and sevenths
three note clusters
four note voicings
partial notes to phatten the chord in the right hand
you can play single note melody in the right hand or in octaves
get a good book on organ playing
or some dvds on organ to give you a good starting place
good luck to you
