How to play Hymns on an Organ - with Rudy Lucente and Cunningham Organ Group

www.cunninghampiano.com/pages...
Cunningham Organ Group is pleased to launch a new series of videos designed to help folks who are brand new to organs. World-renowned Allen organ designer and recitalist Rudy Lucente demystifies the layout and operation of the organ and will have you playing your favorite hymns in no time!

[@julievanderleest]

Man I feel like there’s maybe 2% of us millennials who enjoy the sound of the majestic pipe organ. It’s an incredible instrument. This was a very interesting video. My mom and grandma both could play the organ. They could play piano as well. Both had said the hardest part for them with the organ was the delay in the sound after hitting the notes. They played exceptionally well by ear as well as read music. I inherited the gift of playing by ear from them. Sadly my grandma passed unexpectedly when I was in HS and my mom passed suddenly a few months ago. I still lived with my mom and discovered her unresponsive. It’s been so hard. The hardest loss for me by far and I’ve lost a number of close family. All grandparents, my dad and sister have also passed. However, music has been very comforting to me. I’ve never taken lessons and have decided to pick it up again and have been teaching myself piano. God has definitely been giving me the strength to carry on. I’m not sure if it’s possible to get through hard times without the love of Christ and the church. It’s been painful, yes but God is always there, even when it hurts.

[@juancastillo8948]

Pipe organs are such powerful instruments. My dad has always called them "the king of instrumets". This digital organ has truly beautiful sounds.

[@Calling_All_Prodigals]

Agreed.

[@altaroux1415]

Thank you VERY much for this information. I've been playing the pipe organ in several churches but never had any formal organ education. I have learned a lot from you Sir. I wish to add that I use the organ in a very similar way you indicated. Perhaps instinct and some talent. I also like the speed you play the hymns. Many people critisize me for playing too slowly. But I stick to my convictions: an organ is not a piano, taking into account the words of a hymn - song of praise, prayer etc. I'd love to learn more from you. Thank you once more.

[@ricbyrum1922]

As much as I love the piano, my heart thrills to the majestic sound of the mighty organ for church music. No wonder why it's called the King of Instruments. Unfortunately, the organ intimidates a lot of folk who play piano, and due to not adapting their style to utilize the beautiful facets of the organ, the sound is never up to the performance standard that one hears when played by a skilled organist such as what I hear in this wonderful tutorial.

[@jonb4020]

A beautifully clear exposition that is, I would imagine, very useful for newbies. You are clearly a past master, given your technique. And your, er, interesting harmonies in Praise to the Lord! 😉As a pianist who has played organs for some years, the greatest issue for me at the start was fingering (given the immediate tone cessation of the organ and the lack of a sustain pedal), followed by trying to master the pedals - which I have not yet fully achieved! I'd look forward to hearing your comments and examples on all different kinds of stops, textures and techniques. I remember being shown the forward-facing trumpets at Liverpool Catholic Cathedral, and a most wonderful oboe in a small church in Germany - I forget the actual name at the moment. Best wishes.

[@kathrynackley3460]

I know nothing about piano or organ playing, I'm a flute player, but I've been in church many years and found it interesting just to see how it all works

[@jermaineusher7170]

Wow. Sir your experience is just a marvel. Your video was short but I understood everything you said, you have a gift for teaching. This was great

[@iainjacksonpiano1]

This was extremely helpful and informative as a pianist who is learning the organ. Beautifully presented and played, thankyou!

[@niek4data]

Fantastic. What a good explanation. Now I can listen on another level to these beautiful hymns in the church. Thank you for sharing.

[@CharThirteenWasTaken]

Thank you so much for making this video. My dad was the organ player for over 50 years at our church, he began playing at 7. Last year he passed away and now my church is without an organ player. I know guitar but lately I’ve felt to follow my dad’s footsteps of moving onto the organ and this video really comforted me cause the organ seems very intimidating. Now I feel that with enough work, I can one day be playing the organ like my dad. Thank you!

[@robertawestbrooks9531]

I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I have always wanted to play the organ, but I am learning the piano. Thanks for your expertise

[@olorunfunmishobowale1123]

Enlightening!! I've been yearning for a long while to have this explicitly.

[@OluremiOgunde]

We have a pipe organ at London Bridge train station. It was installed in June 2022 by Pipe Up London for anyone to have a go at organ playing. It's a beautiful instrument with a lovely warm sound. It haa knobs like flute, main, and I play it almost daily- but I can only play it as a piano as I don't know how to play the pedal keys. This video is very comprehensive. Thank you so much for sharing it.

[@alphonsotate2982]

Wow such a experienced organist the hymn is simply beautiful I love church pipe 😍😍😍😍😍😍organ

[@emmanuelamadi3617]

This is really wonderful.. Glad to had listened to this. I'll put this into practice in church

[@nataliemccleskey9867]

I studied piano and was asked to play the organ in church. This is very helpful.

[@Calling_All_Prodigals]

My parents are church musicians ... Mom a pianist and Dad an organist and choral conductor. The key with switching to organ is playing smoothly ... there's no sustain petal to keep the notes from sounding staccato. So the way your fingers move from note to note has to be more intentional to keep things sounding smooth. Have fun!

[@craigtobias3609]

Needed this. Much appreciated Greetings from South Africa 🇿🇦

[@alphonsotate2982]

Wow your a awesome organist beautiful organ and one of my favorite HYMS

[@kevinmacsr59]

Wonderful video! so happy to have found this. I am a vocalist, french horn and trumpet player who is my fourth year as director of music at our little country church. i am trying to learn the King of Instruments and have a retired Allen 3 manual organ in my home!

[@atuonyemelukwe2846]

Understanding the organ for me begins i have books on organi think it can now make meaning for me to nibble them thanks for this video

[@johnwidmann1674]

Great presentation, Rudy. As an organist myself, I found this a great video to explain the operation of our instrument. Kudos.

[@barbaraandgeorgecoulombe1973]

This was wonderful! I have been a church musician for over thirty years but never had the diapasons explained. I taught piano for many years!

[@bodolawale5448]

Lovely. I wish I could play so many notes at the same time like that

[@trumpetplayer6397]

Thank you so much for explaining how the stops and tabs work! I had no idea before, except for knowing that they changed the sound quality and partials. This gives a very clear picture how it all works together!

[@randyvanheusden732]

I found it very interesting, and have and old Allen church organ and am still learning. Thank you for sharing and will follow your videos.

[@heidigilsrud3800]

I just love finding new sounds, too! Thank you, Rudy. It was beautiful and informative.

[@paulswang6428]

Thank you for your teaching step by step approach.

[@theresarodak8865]

JS Bach himself said, "Play the right notes at the right time, the instrument will take of the rest."

[@fikalahy4176]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I learn a lot from this video. God bless you ♥️.

[@PriestDMajor]

Thanks for sharing! God bless you

[@anointedchurchhymns7717]

Thank you Sir for this beautiful video.

[@LectronCircuits]

Excellent presentation. Cheers!

[@PatrickDKing]

This was great!

[@tjsbeaner]

Thank you Rudy! I REALLY appreciate your video and PLEASE send out more videos. Thank you VERY much!

[@benjaminpeterson6974]

Thanks for this Beautiful presentation sir!

[@celitalewis-davis1110]

Excellent video!

[@Anonymous-ce6gx]

Great video! Very well done with such clear and informative instruction.

[@mawuku1]

Thank you for this insightful instruction.

[@nwodocollins9806]

Thanks for your time. This is really good.

[@r.baskaransamuel4453]

Good tutorial. Thank you.God bless you.

[@ziphomwandla109]

Rudy 's presentation is very helpful. I also had studied piano but the church will expect you to play the organ which becomes nothing less than a horrendous animal.

[@bettyennin6335]

Interesting! Thank you sir.

[@pilotusa]

Thank you for this great explanation. So easy to follow and very helpful.

[@elirodriguez-fb1ld]

Thanks' so much for this!! Great info.

[@annakareninacamara6580]

"they're not gas pedals. Nor are they foot rests." Amazing! lol

[@mfurman]

Very interesting! Thank you

[@MorneGoosen]

Thank you sir! I enjoyed the video!

[@jonboz7585]

Nice explanation. Thank you.

[@waynechurchill7212]

Love key boards thank you god bless

[@ransomethomas6846]

Thank you sir for this

[@Jgreen2794]

Very educational. I enjoyed it greatly.

[@user-bf5uk5tr5e]

This is very educative

[@drwilburhughes680]

I found on the so called "Baroque" mechanical action organs, the chiff on the principal stops is a percussive sound that really helps congregations. You can also control this on how quickly the notes are depresses

[@drwilburhughes680]

Sorry depressed

[@drwilburhughes680]

When I lived in Germany, the standard for hymns was Principal Chorus (16) 8 4 2 Mix and 16' reed on the pedal. Sometimes the pedal played the melody. The stops were rarely changed during the singing

[@pianistabella]

Thank you!!!

[@martinamcdonald5714]

Very informative

[@toddavis8603]

TY Mr Lucente.

[@ColoradoMelons]

Today I learned.

[@Pianoman88notes]

Great little introductory video Rudy. I assume that this instrument is an Allen digital GX-3 series instrument. It's a beautiful sound. But viewers might expect a real pipe organ to behave the same way as the Allen, with the expression pedal affecting the volume of the Great division. Of course it doesn't work that way, since the Great pipes are not enclosed in a swell box.

[@samarasama960]

I wish our church could have pipe organ

[@CunninghamPiano]

Pipe organs are truly beautiful, but the instrument n this video is an Allen Organ, which is a digital instrument.

[@alphonsotate2982]

Still sound good@@CunninghamPiano

[@s.p.3587]

My church's building used to have a pipe organ, but our church took it out. :(

[@tex24]

@@CunninghamPiano Is it any different from the stops and sounds perspective? kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZCUaXqpj72lqdUsi=eqBd3uQSfZPtZFhL

[@Pianoman88notes]

You can have a wonderful pipe organ sound @samarasama960, without pipes, with an Allen digital organ. Much less expensive and it doesn't need constant tuning and maintenance!! 🙂

[@eccleshillstluke5352]

Thanks Rudi, but I wish you had gone on to say that the purpose of having more than one manual ("division") on an organ is so that one can bring out the melody by playing the melody on one manual, and using the other hand to play the harmony on a second manual which is quieter than the first. So I aspire to play hymns with the soprano on the great with the right hand, the alto and tenor on the swell with the left hand, and the bass on the pedals with the feet; and to couple the swell to the great and to the pedals. In this way the congregation can hear the melody distinctly, and the typical wrong notes they sing (like, for example, the descending third at the end of the third line of "Holy Holy Holy" to Dykes' tune Nicaea) can be corrected because they can actually hear what they are supposed to be singing. Yours JOHN HARTLEY.

[@GratefulDeadish]

Thank you, a wonderful explanation! I’d love to have a go on an organ like this but I’d only be able to play songs by The Doors. I can only imagine how much practice is required to be able to operate the bass pedals competently and I applaud your dexterity! Are you able to assign the pedals to the keyboards for those of us who aren’t so agile?

[@petermichaelcapani7253]

Although I have been a church organist, I have never been good with hymnody.

[@nwodocollins9806]

I love this... Can you teach me on scholarship?

[@wmalden]

If you are a pianist not comfortable with using the pedals, use the bass coupler stop. Many electronic organs have that feature.

[@dhat1607]

What do you call it when you play the alternative chords sometimes? Is it chord substitution?

[@paulodoi9740]

My church is a village One in a deprived location in Ghana, would be very grateful if someone will generously donate a pipe organ to my church. I am the organist and can play the pipe organ 🙏

[@merzanakostreci]

13:43

[@michaelhoerig4430]

Good basics of the organ. I would question your presentation of the actual hymn playing technique, however. When playing the hymns, the pedal plays the bass line exclusively--it is NOT doubled on the manual. The left hand plays the tenor line and the right hand the alto and soprano lines. Repeated notes are an important issue, too. If the organist repeats every repeated note in every voice, the hymn accompaniment will sound choppy and disjointed. Therefore, repeated notes are only repeated in the tenor and soprano lines. This is commonly accepted hymn playing practice. You are really demonstrating hymn playing practice like a pianist and not an organist. These techniques are far more important than what an 8' and a 4' stop does. Finally, teaching the art of LEADING hymn singing in vital. The organ does not accompany; it leads!

[@furstjakobderschwabe]

I learned as you said, and for 50 years played with best results: repeated notes in Soprano and Tenor, the others tied mostly, unless a bit more rhythm was needed. The Pedals took the bass line, tenor in the left hand, soprano and alto right hand. I agree with you, and it proved itself over time!

[@irmafoster3933]

Such an organist who plays sounds on the various keyboards is likely to insist that the sopranos and altos sit in assigned pews nearest their pipes, altos over there closer to the choir and tenors and bases at the rear of the nave to better follow on the delay and echo from the pedal keyboard. Now if we could find the coupler stop to insure the responses from the bass singers would fit with the echo and delay, and ... .ok, someone is not following the tempo.

[@benbookworm]

At my church, we have far too many pianists that play from an organ. Without even this much knowledge of stop registration. It irks me, and prods me into improving. I no longer call myself a pianist!

[@bishopmartin4368]

Very nice, Your church can have a pipe but, having the instrument is not as import as having the musician trained to play! People are interested in so many instruments that play by themselves, if that’s good communication! The old music teacher is somewhat “played out” (Today’s language). I have a digital pipe and grand piano in my den. Slimy no one is willing to commit, devote the time to studying. In my opinion, there is nothing like the sound of the pipe organ. No offense but, I think, if the senior pastor had some taste or childhood lessons, it would help the decision to have a pipe In the sanctuary. Thanks for reading such a long text message. Bishop