SOPP322: On accompanying the congregation and improvising

Let’s start episode number 322, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Rob. He writes: Hello Ausra and Vidas, Today, I have a few things to share with you that relate to subjects that both of you discussed in recent SOPPs. Please feel free to use it as “ammo” to elaborate on as you see fit. 1) Accompanying the congregation in singing This is something that I’ve been doing for almost 45 years now. When I accompany a choir, I’ll have to “obey” the SATB setting of the songs. When I accompany the people, I can basically make up my own harmonies. What I do is this: one of my ears listens to the organ, the other ear listens to the singing of the congregation. Now, in the middle of my head, I bring the two together: I always make sure, that I am just a fraction of a beat “ahead” so I can give them the next note, the next tone that they need to sing. This way, you can also control the pace of the song, because congregations are inclined to slow down in singing and it is best not to allow this. So, “split-listening” and being just ahead of the people is key in accompanying. And, of course, make sure that the melody of the song can be heard clearly. 2) On improvisation I discovered, that there is a part in my brain that always creates music. All I need to do, is tune into it and listen to what’s “playing” in my head at that moment. Can be a melody, can be a harmonized piece of music. When I listen to it, I can get my right hand to immediately produce the melody that I hear. I am not yet good enough to immediately produce the harmonics that I hear with both hands. So, I must take it “slow”. That is, play the melody (and often harmonizing it as well) bringing it out in the right hand and find supporting harmony (chords etc.) in the left hand and pedal. I change between playing on 2 manuals and playing on 1 manual where I get to bring the two hands together while developing on the keyboard what I hear in my head. This works wonderfully well. And I do make it a habit of improvising 10-15 minutes every time I play the organ. Also before service, I make time to improvise for about 5 minutes. Makes sense to you guys? Enjoy the weekend. Kind regards, Rob