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.

Feel free to browse and search this blog. It was started in January 2010 and while new posts aren't added very often, this blog contains a wealth of information and is a wonderful resource for all organists. If you're a new reader, you can find the first lesson here: Before We Begin: Acquiring the Essentials. Also, please "like" the corresponding facebook page, which is updated more often. A link is provided on the right sidebar, or you can click here.

Thanks for visiting!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sunday Song: The Rejoicing

Richard Elliott plays his own arrangement of The Rejoicing, from Music for the Royal Fireworks  by George Frederic Handel.



Sunday, June 23, 2013

Sunday Song: Summer from Vivaldi's Seasons

Happy SUMMER!

Yevgeniya Lisicyna (Riga) at Livadia-Fest 2009 Recorded live September 2009 Yalta, Ukraine plays A. Vivaldi's Seasons, Summer, Presto (III).

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Sunday Song: Fanfare for a Common Man

Aaron Copland's Fanfare for a Common Man, arranged by Brad Slocum, opens with Westminster's State Trumpet and finishes with full organ.


Sunday, June 9, 2013

Sunday Song: Bach Fugue BWV 552

Marcel Dupré plays Bach Fugue BWV 552 at St. Sulpice in 1955.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sunday Song: Using Glass Organ Pipes

Today's Sunday Song is a bit different.  It's more eye candy than ear candy, but I found the idea of glass organ pipes very intriguing and wanted to share.  Feel free to stop the video at 8:00:



Listen to the sound that glass pipes make.

The American flag rank of glass pipe organ pipes was created in response to the tragedy of the terrorist attack on the U.S. on September 11th, 2001. This series of 14 glass pipe organ pipes were made of glass using kilnworking and stained glass techniques and delicate pipe organ engineering. The pipes were innovated, designed, and created by a certified pipe organ builder and master craftsmen, Xaver Wilhelmy. He has created the first sets of glass pipe organ pipes in the world, and this is one of two existing glass organ pipe ranks in the world at this time. The series of pipes comes with a wooden base that contains the technical inner works of a pipe organ, and is controlled with a portable keyboard unit. Yes, the pipes actually play, they were professionally voiced and tuned by Wilhelmy.

The pipes took Wilhelmy and his crew 18 months to create from conception to completion in June 2004.