One of the many things I appreciate in life is live music.
Attending a concert or performance where people are playing instruments that I
can’t play is something I enjoy doing. This week I had an opportunity to attend
two events where live music was being played. One was A Festival of Lessons and
Carols at Converse College. The following is from the program from that night:
The Festival of Lessons and Carols
originated in 1880 with Archbishop Benson when he was the Bishop of Turo for
use in that Cathedral. In 1918, it was simplified and modified to use in King’s
College Chapel, Cambridge, by its Dean, The Very Reverend Eric Milner-White, to
whom we also owe the Bidding Prayer.
The Christmas service
has been a tradition at Converse College for the past 109 years. It is a
service of worship involving all segments of the Converse community. We welcome
all who join us on this occasion.
The service included music from the Converse Chorale, the
Spartanburg Festival Chorus, the Converse Wind Ensemble, and Dr. Brennan
Szafron, organist. All of the music was outstanding but what really was
impressive was the organist. In this day and age there appears to be a
reduction in the number of people taking up playing the organ. Most other
instruments are easier to obtain and/or carry around with you. Even a piano is
something you can have in your home. But an organ is usually reserved for large
concert halls, churches, or cathedrals. While playing an organ does require
some of the same skills as playing the piano it is not exactly the same. I have
included some information obtained from the web about the organ below. There is
far more to the organ but it will give you an overview. It is worth your time
to read about it and go and hear an organist perform. Certainly church services
where hymns are played on the organ can be a wonderful experience, but hearing
someone play something from Bach or Handel goes beyond that.
The other event I went to was a 30 minute performance by a
group of classical guitarists. One was a more experienced player, the teacher;
the others were children ranging from about elementary school through high
school. It was a total of seven people playing and they played a few Christmas
carols. It was quite impressive for a group of young people to perform so well.
It was a small setting in a music store with about 15 people watching and
listening. I was probably one of about 2-3 people who were not related to one
of the performers. It didn’t matter to me, though. I enjoyed being there.
It just goes to show that you can experience great music in
either a large auditorium or in a small room. Oh, by the way, both were free.
So you also don’t have to pay $60 a ticket to hear great live music either.
Pipe
organ
From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument
commonly used in churches or cathedrals that produces sound by driving
pressurized air (called wind) through pipes
selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a
single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which
has a common timbre
and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have multiple ranks of
pipes of differing timbre, pitch and loudness that the player can employ singly
or in combination through the use of controls called stops.
A pipe organ has
one or more keyboards (called manuals)
played by the hands, and a pedalboard played by the feet, each of which has its
own group of stops. The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain
notes for as long as the corresponding keys are depressed, unlike the piano and harpsichord
whose sound begins to decay immediately after attack. The smallest portable
pipe organs may have only one or two dozen pipes and one manual; the largest
may have over 20,000 pipes and seven manuals.[2]
The origins of the
pipe organ can be traced back to the hydraulis in Ancient
Greece in the 3rd century BC,[3]
in which the wind supply was created with water pressure. By the sixth or 7th
century AD, bellows
were used to supply organs with wind.[3]
Beginning in the 12th century, the organ began to evolve into a complex
instrument capable of producing different timbres. By the
17th century, most of the sounds available on the modern classical organ had
been developed.[4] From
that time, the pipe organ was the most complex
man-made device,[5] a
distinction it retained until it was displaced by the telephone exchange in the late 19th century.[6]
Pipe organs are
installed in churches, synagogues, concert halls, and other public buildings
and are used for the performance of classical
music, sacred music, and secular
music. In the early 20th century, pipe organs were installed in theaters
to accompany films during the silent
movie era, in municipal auditoria, where orchestral transcriptions were popular, and in the homes
of the wealthy, equipped with player mechanisms.[7]
The beginning of the 21st century has seen resurgence in installations in
concert halls. The organ boasts a substantial repertoire,
which spans over 400 years.[8]
