Try This in Your Hymn Playing on the Organ

If you think that hymn playing means the traditional way of playing hymns on the organ, I have a challenge for you today. It comes from the teachings of Samuel Scheidt, the famous North German student of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and the author of "Tabulatura Nova".

You know that the traditional disposition in playing hymns on the organ is this: the three upper parts on one manual and the bass on the pedals (the right hand takes soprano and alto, while the left hand plays the tenor only without the bass).

But what if you could play ANY part (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass) of your hymn on the pedals? Wouldn't it help to improve your hand and feet coordination?

Here is what I mean:

Right hand: soprano (8')
Left hand: alto and tenor (8')
Pedals: bass (16' and 8') 

Right hand: soprano and alto (8')
Left hand: bass (16' and 8' or 8' only)
Pedals: tenor (8' or 4' one octave lower)

Right hand: soprano (8')
Left hand: bass and tenor (8')
Pedals: alto (4' one octave lower)

Right hand: alto (8')
Left hand: bass and tenor (8')
Pedals: soprano (4' one octave lower or 2' two octaves lower)

NOTE: If your organ doesn't have 4' or 2' pedal stops, try using the manual coupler and playing the manual parts on a different manual.

Samuel Scheidt recommends these dispositions when playing chorale based works. We can certainly incorporate them in our hymn playing as well (playing from the regular setting on two staves in the hymnal).

What a challenge for our brain (no worse than Sudoku puzzles)!

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.