Methods of Organ Playing

I was very pleased that the item was in as good if not better condition as was advertised...too many times today you run the risk of getting caught up with things not being as advertised, and a higher risk when buying things strictly on the word of someone you do not know and no hands on of the item. Kind of a purchasing roulette game, a real gamble. So it is nice when you recieve something that is at least what you expected or better, as was this purchase...

I am an experienced pianist and have been tapped to play the organ at church for years, but I play it without pedals and while I have learned to choose and combine stops according to my own taste, I wanted to learn more about how stops are put together on organs. And I want to learn how to use pedals more than the occasional dominant and tonic uses I now when the music allows my time to find them. This book is just what I wanted. Harold and Catharine Crozier Gleason have kept this method relevant through eight editions since it first appeared many decades ago. The book has explanatory text, illustrations, progressive exercises, and a nice selection of graduated pieces. The book assumes that you begin with a level of keyboard skill (piano, they say) of the level where you can handle the Bach 2 and 3 part Inventions. Part 1 provides text that introduce you to organs, how they work, classes of pipes, mixing stops, and registration. Part 2 is just two pages providing an outline of this method. Part 3 introduces you to playing the organ on just the manuals. It begins with very simple exercises and soon provides a mixture of held and moving notes and combined touch. Finger substitution is an absolute requirement of organ technique and is taught quite well and its cousin, the finger glissando (sliding to neighboring notes). The section on how to play multi-voiced works and articulating the different voices so they are heard clearly is quite helpful. Part 4 introduces some practical issues of technique for playing pieces rather than exercises and provides more than 40 useful short pieces that give you experience in a variety of techniques and require you to use everything you have learned so far. I also enjoyed that the authors provide a few samples of the pieces in original notation along with the modern notation so you can see how different they are. Part 5 introduces the pedal from how to sit at the console, very simple exercises including step-wise, small intervals, heel and toe, foot substitution, alternate toes, wide intervals, broken cords, harmonic intervals (playing two notes at the same time), and chords. Part 6 provides exercises and pieces for manuals and pedals together and begins very simply. Part 7 provides some perspectives on performance practice from various periods and places including ornamentation. A table of ornaments is provided. Other issues such embellishment, notes inegales, fingering, touch, phrasing, articulation, the doctrine of affects, rubato, style, and interpretation. Part 8 covers the practical issues of playing for sacred services. Part 9 provides scales for manuals and pedals. The appendices provide interesting material about organs around the world from various periods, information about composers of organ music of the Renaissance and the Baroque, a bibliography for further reading and a glossary. The book is bound in a very sturdy way that will stand up to long use. However, you will hav

I used this same book when I was taking lessons in high school, went on to college as an organ major, and now use for teaching my own students. This is a great way of teaching classical organ technique, if followed correctly. It especially builds a sound pedal technique and strong fingers. Lots of good pieces too.

Since the first appearance of Harold Gleason's Method of Organ Playing in 1937 it has been the most comprehensive and complete tool on the market for training first-class organists. The Gleason method is unique among books of its kind in that it has been in a continual state of evolution throughout its eight editions. The vast practical and pedagogical knowledge of Harold Gleason and his wife, concert organist Catharine Crozier Gleason is presented in the most up-to-date fashion in the current eighth edition. Every page of the book reflects both first-rate and recent scholarship as well as tried and true materials for beginning players. The lists of organ literature, the bibliography and the historical information that supplements the pedagogical portion of the book makes it a worthwhile investment for organists at all performing levels. As a beginning player I was reared at the organ with the fifth and sixth editions of the method and have returned to it often thoughout my career as a performer and teacher. Method of Organ Playing should be a must in the library of every serious organist and is a model for any kind of method or instruction book.