Most organists learn to play hymns by opening the hymnbook and playing. Without any lessons. It's very rare for an organ student to have as part of their weekly assignment preparation of a hymn to be played at the next lesson. It is also rare for a church organist to have the luxury of having time, the money to pay and access to a fine organ teacher. The techniques used in playing a hymn are the same as used in the playing of Bach organ works. However, there are additional challenges, challenges that become difficult as organists are not playing from organ music, but from hymnbooks that are published for singing, not for playing the organ. Simple techniques used in this book make it possible for an organist to interpret how to play effectively from a hymnbook. But the music in hymnbooks is not written to be played, but instead to be sung. Why aren't hymnbooks more organist-friendly? Johann Sebastian Bach composed 354 arrangements of hymntunes, in four parts, for singing. These 354 hymns are still studied today by theory students. They are excellent examples of four part composition. With four parts being sung against each other, subtle harmonies are possible. Hymns in today's hymnals are still presented in the 4-part style introduced by Bach. Most organ teaching methods approach hymn playing by putting the student to work playing 4-part hymns, with little or no introduction or training. "Four parts" means that four independent melodies are played against each other at the same time. Hymnplaying in four parts is on the same level of difficulty as playing Bach Preludes in four parts. Bach did not compose the 354 hymns in four parts as teaching materials for organists. They were written for singers to sing. They were not intended for basic study by an organist wanting to master the art of hymn playing at the organ. Four part hymn playing is tricky, if not downright difficult. While pianos have a sustain pedal, there is none on the organ. Organists have to hold down all four notes (chord) being played, and develop skills to move smoothly to the next four notes to be played. Some notes are held, requiring pivoting or substituting another finger to free up a finger to reach a new note. It's like watching a many-legged spider maneuvering around the keyboard. We are confident that you will find this book useful. There is much to be said in favor of playing hymns in three parts. We've surveyed music directors, and an overwhelming number agree that they would rather hear an organist play three part hymns with confidence, than hear an organist struggle while trying to play in four parts out of the hymnal. The key to playing hymns successfully is learning how to adapt what is on the hymnal page to the organ. That's what this book is all about, overcoming the fact that hymnals are for singers, not for organists.

This is part of the VERDIN Catholic Organist's Series.

Sacred Music Library's A Catholic Book of Hymns goes beyond merely being notes and words on a page for a congregation to sing. It has other books to assist organists in mastering the art of playing hymns by writing out the hymns as organ music.There are techniques that are required to play hymns. As organ teachers are even harder to find than organists today, we have created this book which simplifies the hymns while still supporting the singing of the hymns. Our regular ORGAN EDITION has the organist playing the same notes the people are singing, but adapted to the organ to make the organ sound at its best and fully support singing as a trained organist with years of experience would do. In this book we have preserved the Soprano Melody and the Bass Line exactly as they are in the hymn and composed a middle part to carry the harmony, derived from the Alto & Tenor parts. This makes playing the hymn much easier for the new organist or organists who are short on time to practice and prepare the hymns each week. And it also gives confidence to the new organist.To fulfill the needs of organists to accompany hymns, we offer two books with the hymns scored for organ - meaning that when an organist plays.We also provide suggested stop registration for all 295 hymns, once again, to give new organists suggestions that assist them in playing.For those who also play piano and keyboards for rehearsals and Mass, this book and the standard ORGAN EDITION can be very helpful as well. Hymnals are written for singers, not for organists pianists or keyboard players!

For a pianist or organist new to playing the organ.This book has been written for the pianist who has never played an organ or an organist unfamiliar with the Roland, Rodgers or Infinity organs, but may be used by an experienced organist as well. Designed to be used for self-teaching but also useful when studying with a teacher.The Playing the Church Organ series is also useful for the experienced organist as it quickly introduces you to using all the stops on the organ, ones named on the stop tablets or drawknobs, and all that are waiting inside for you to call on them to more perfectly match the stops you choose to the music you are playing.This innovative teaching system works backwards - the goal is not to teach you all about playing the organ, it's to get you playing the organ with confidence and sounding professional from the first day you play, even if you have never had an organ lesson and just know how to play piano or a keyboard.Technique:We achieve this by starting you off with preset sounds, just as a teacher does, but here you control them yourself, right from the beginning. All that you need to learn to get started are three things:• Pressing Piston Buttons.When you press a piston button, the organ is ready for you to play. We have picked music for you that only uses the keyboards. This isn't simplified music - there has been a lot of organ music written for organs without pedals - in fact, even during the time of Handel, many organs only had keyboards. You will find the number of the piston to push at the top of the music - then you just begin to play. • Which Keyboard to Play?We mark every piece for you so you know which keyboard you [play.• The Expression Pedal Sets the Volume.You'll be surprised when you find out that the organ is not as difficult as you are able to focus more on playing the notes instead of also making them loud or soft or somewhere in between. • What happens then?“But...do I have to play the pedals?” You will find organ music written without pedals in books 1-4 that is easy to medium difficulty. As you play through the music you will be using 10 preset sound combinations that are enough to play services, including weddings and memorial services. This book also hows you how to use the Bass Coupler to play the pedals for you automatically on some of the music - we do this to get you excited and interested in playing them yourself.• This first book contains 33 pieces of useful music for you to enjoy playing the voices you are learning about. • The first four books in this series are a complete course in music for the organ, as well as exploring the stops of the organ.• Careful attention to encouraging you through lots of interesting music that is playable and that your congregation will appreciate. • These books may be used with or without a teacher.• Book 13 - A Playing Guide to the Roland, Rodgers and Infinity Organs is a good companion guide to this series qof instruments.

A listing of organ settings, descants, and alternative harmonizations for the tunes of The Hymnal 1982 along with their publishers, volume location in a multi-volume work, or selection location in a collection, and level of difficulty. This book does not contain the music itself. The listings in this volume are of those titles published since the compilation of Volume I.

Nearly 300 classic, time-honored hymns your choir and congregation will love singing! Our selections are musical, singable, truly sacred, theologically solid, and-for the most part-familiar, although you will also find some that are new to you. All 295 hymns are scored for the organ in this ORGAN EDITION and use traditional hymn texts, not modern adaptations. This organ edition is a companion volume to A Catholic Book of Hymns, a true SATB four-part harmony hymnal for Catholic congregations. Catholics can sing and will sing in harmony if they are given the music to hold in their hands.The organ edition is 7 by 10 inches, larger than the standard pew book, making the music easier to read when it is on the organ music rack. What's different about this book? Hymn books are scored for singers, not organists or pianists. Books of hymns loos strangely different to an organist because it is very different.If you're a singer, every syllable of each word has to have its own note, which, if played on the organ or piano, makes the music choppy. Sung by the human voice, the same line sounds smooth and musical, not at all choppy because the singers' consonants merely alter the vowel sound but don't divide the music with percussion and silence as when you hear the same phrase played on a keyboard.Hymnbook music forces the organist to adapt on the fly, not playing all the notes, playing some - but not all of the repeated notes - into long-held notes. It is a difficult trick to learn to instantaneously convert an entire choir score into organ music in your brain.To some organists this conversion of vocal music to organ becomes second nature, but others are never able to grasp it. As a result, they can grow to dislike playing hymns, finding them a chore and feeling frustrated-especially when they hear another organist and wish they could play like that. There is a simple solution. Play the hymns from a matching organ edition that has all the hymns written out as organ music.And that's exactly what organists say when they discover this organ edition: "Well, now, this looks like organ music. I can play this." One of the benefits of A Catholic Book of Hymns is that all the hymns are free to post and use in streaming and podcasts without payment or permission needed. Play, sing and revel in the sound of your choir and congregation all singing in harmony. What people are saying about A Catholic Book of Hymns I wish my parish was in the market for a new hymnal. This would be perfect . . . this could possibly be the most comprehensive Catholic hymnal in existence.- Henry GaidaI looked through this hymnal, and I love it! I've been looking for something like this, where I don't have to go searching through several different hymnals to find what I need. It's hard to find a hymnal that combines selections that are traditional in the United States and the beautiful British hymns that have good (not sappy) English texts. . . . [This] also has hymns that are good for Roman Catholic devotions.- Kaoru TamuraThank you for creating this resource. It's comforting to see the proper texts and not what seems to be the rage lately, of changing the text to suit the mood of the day.- Michael KeefeThank you so much for this wonderful compilation. The whole website is a great contribution to Catholic music.- Daniel ArbergOn the whole, a very impressive list. A fine work indeed!- M. Jackson OsbornSo excited to see A Catholic Book of Hymns up on Sacred Music Library. I had suggested Great St. Joseph and Hail, Glorious St. Patrick a few months ago. Glad to see they made the final cut. These are two gems of hymns, and I haven't seen them in any modern hymn books. Good to see them in this hymnal, engraved so beautifully and clearly. Thank you for your continuing contribution to the Church, especially in sacred music.- Matthew Ramire