Welcome to The Latter-day Saint Organist's Resource Blog

The purpose of this blog is to help pianists learn to become true organists. Many individuals believe that if you play the piano you can play the organ, but the instruments differ greatly. While this blog is specifically geared towards members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, much of the information shared can be utilized by all. I hope that the information I share here will help you become an effective organist in your ward, stake, or other congregation.

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Hymn 119: A Call to Worship

In a recent article I shared some new insights of mine regarding a "Call to Worship."

Here is my arrangement, free to you.

119 Call To Worship


For verse 2 instead of using my version with the pedal point, I instead chose to use the first verse of Douglas Lemmon's arrangement in his book Preludes SAC.

How Did It Go?

I began prelude 20 minutes early, but the chapel was already getting "chatty" as the choir had finished 10 minutes earlier. I began with Larry Beebee's "Father, I Will Reverent Be," but it didn't help much. I wasn't too worried, as a louder congregation would really put my new technique to the test.

Halfway through the chimes introduction of my "Call to Worship" piece, the chapel and cultural hall quieted almost completely. I played through the hymn and second verse before my time was up, and the chapel was completely silent for that entire prelude piece. The music and reverence really invited the Spirit. Then the Stake Presidency member stood to begin the meeting, and commented on how wonderful it was to have time to reflect before the meeting. The meeting began on a spiritual note--it began with reverence.

After writing the previous article, I was unsure of how it this technique would be received, but I felt completely at peace, so I went ahead and tried it. Now that I've used it, I have no hesitation in recommending it--sporadically, of course, or it will lose its effectiveness. It really set the right mood for this meeting and I'm very glad I went ahead with it.

If you decide to use this "Call to Worship," let me know how it goes!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the music! I'm not the organist, but I sub sometimes and I plan on using this!

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  2. Thank you! I'll add that to my prelude notebook.

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  3. imho the use of chimes, or dramatic reeds lose their effect if overused something unexperienced organist tend to do

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