Viscount Organ Registration Tutorial: Registering Hymn Accompaniments

For the fifth tutorial in this year’s series, Francis Rumsey discusses the registration of hymn accompaniments with Jonathan Kingston. Accompanying hymns is many organists’ primary role, and feedback suggests that a number of you would like to hear a bit more about this.
We’ve chosen three hymns, “Praise my soul the king of heaven”, “Dear Lord and Father”, and the more recent song “I the Lord of sea and sky”, to give us a basis for discussing things like registration of playovers, verse contrasts, word painting, and last verses.
Read more about this tutorial series here: viscountorgans...
In this tutorial series Francis Rumsey and Jonathan Kingston discuss and demonstrate approaches to registration for distinctive genres and styles of organ music.
Overview of the Organ Registration Tutorial Series. We’ve chosen five topics to discuss in this year’s series. In this series Jonathan plays a Viscount Regent 356 organ.
1. The first video looks at registering Bach’s chorale preludes, using two contrasting trio examples. viscountorgans...
2. The second considers how to deal with the different sections of a big North German school work in the stylus phantasticus.
viscountorgans...
3. During the third, Francis and Jonathan discuss examples of how to handle a perennial challenge in organ performance-that of rendering extended crescendo and decrescendo passages while minimising obvious steps in loudness and timbre. That’s done with the aid of a Psalm Prelude by Herbert Howells. viscountorgans...
4. Our fourth tutorial spends time with Franck’s Chorale in A minor, considering how to register the different sections of this well-known work for authentic effect. viscountorgans...
5. Finally, the fifth tutorial takes you on a tour of some widely used hymn tunes. A number of our viewers have requested more information about dealing with hymn accompaniment, so we’ve encouraged Jonathan to impart his wisdom on things like play overs, word painting and last verses. viscountorgans...

[@rmb10]

So many organists only worry about literature, but exciting and sensitive hymn playing is actually more difficult and more important!

[@musicfundamentals9938]

Great tutorial. It just saddens me a bit that Dan Schutte's "hymn" made its way into the fine tradition of English hymnody. Please tell me that you don't have "On Eagle's Wings" as well.

[@lawrencewheeler8868]

"Here I am Lord"!!!

[@Zeekoso]

Amazing!! Thanks loads

[@maryschecher5779]

What hymnal are you using? Love the possibilities of that organ. Beautiful sound.

[@benedictdsilva3954]

For the last end of the hymn the 32 ' should come in...

[@wurlitzer895]

Personally, I very rarely introduce a hymn with the last two lines of the tune, even with a well-known hymn. It doesn't 'tell' the congregation what they need to know, and with a lesser-known tune, can easily cause confusion.

[@petermckone7339]

Do you transpose the final verse up a half-note?

[@vinzchannel01]

English sound is the best IMO for average-size congregational singing

[@coachanario]

Hi! What is you' re hymns book? Thanks

[@natepultorakmusic928]

What does swell to 2 or swell to 15th mean? Those are registration terms I have never heard.

[@yeety1208]

i think what he means is that hes using all the swell stops up to 2 foot pitch (8ft + 4ft + 2ft),it is a weird way of putting it though, does sound like hes talking about coupling

[@InventorZahran]

I think "swell to 2-foot" refers to a coupler that connects the great manual to the swell at 2' pitch. So when an 8' note is played on the great, that same note will sound two octaves higher on the swell. Fifteenth is just another name for the interval of two octaves.

[@musicfundamentals9938]

@@InventorZahranthere are no 2' couplers, but could be handy!. "15th just means that he is building the chorus from 8" to 2" (including 4"). 2' and 15th are the same (a 2' stop plays the intervals of a 15th or 2 octaves above the 8').

[@James_Bowie]

Gee that Regent 356 sounds good via headphones.

[@benedictdsilva3954]

Which model is this ? Nice

[@ViscountOrgans]

Hi Benedict. This is a Regent 356. 56 speaking stops plus 6 orchestral voice tabs. It plays through 14 external speaker cabinets in this video. Regards David

[@benedictdsilva3954]

The last hymn should be played slower.Its too rushed. And the tremulant should be used.. Other wise fine...

[@wurlitzer895]

Quite agree, Benedict; it was a tad sprighlty. Yes, you ideally want all trems, tibia clausas and vox humanas throbbing their hearts out in these 'hymns'. That gets the punters singing, and going home happy!!!! Best wishes, Peter A :) :) :)

[@musicfundamentals9938]

Are you being ironic since it's such a bad hymn? Tremulant for a hymn? Hey, when in Rome, lol.