Category: Liturgical

The Monastery that I play for is often more busy on Mondays than on the weekends due to the Novena prayer and confessions held after the Mass.  In fact, we have more people pass through the church on Mondays than on the weekends.  Something I have done there is use communion and offertory for improvisations at the organ, which most have become accustomed to and I think may even like.  I make mention of this because it is at communion where I am able to make the best recordings.  Which is to say, I have yet another communion improvisation to share, coming from one of these Monday masses.  I used the chant proper from Sunday, with the great text, behold a virgin shall conceive.  Have a great Christmas!

After quite a few posts of free music and their subsequent recordings, I am here to offer a new improvisation.  On November 23, Duquesne University, which includes myself as one of the professors, hosted a small conference on Charles Tournemire.  It was a delight to take part and present a lecture on the spectral implications in Tournemire’s L’Orgue mystique.  This is not the place to get in to that now, but let’s just leave it at Tournemire’s influence on my improvisation today.  When one spends time rigorously studying and analyzing a particular composer, it’s hard not to pick up on their particulars and aesthetic.

PS: I love the moments when I discover that I need to add an indefinite amount of time.  I finished around 3:17 when I noticed that I there may be more time needed, I added a Coda.

Today, here in Pittsburgh, it’s been rather stormy.  The Monastery that I work at sits on the top of the South Side Slopes where you could really feel the rattling of the thunder.  In my improvisation, I decided to include some rattling thunder myself just in case the storm decided to incorporate itself into the Communion procession.  Fortunately (or not?), no thunder sounded during the procession and this is the result.  Enjoy!

As I with most communion improvisations I post, and I do post quite a few, this one never climaxes or gets particularly big and ends rather abruptly.  Normally I opt not to post improvisations that don’t have an arc I like, but everything else is really tight and concise.  (The presider moved a little more quickly than I expected at the end.)  I did record the postlude for the day, but it wasn’t nearly as nice as the communion improvisation.

During this time of Lent, music that is of a meditative, more serene quality is always appropriate.  During communion this evening, I found myself without a theme.  When that happens, I often like using three note motives to get things started.  What unfolds is a process by which the three notes expands until, in this case, it becomes a canon.  In retrospect, I should have gone elsewhere for the ending.  I will freely admit that I went for the obvious and easy ending.  But hey, who’s keeping track!  All in all, a very stark, simple, but perhaps elegant little improvisation to accompany the procession.

Happy Valentines Day!  Or rather, the last weekend before Lent begins.  In most Christian rituals and services, that means the end of singing and saying Alleluia until Easter comes.  So, I often like to brandish an alleluia of some kind as a last hurrah.  This particular morning, it’s about -2 here in Pittsburgh and that meant a very light attendance of church goers.  Put those together and I did something a little wilder than the usual fare I improvise.  I have to admit, it’s always nice to cut loose once in a while.

Happy New Year!  As belated as that is, here is another improvisation in a very Duruflé manner.  I sometimes wonder why these end up being the ones I record, but such it is.  I’ve been trying to get one of my contrapuntal improvs, but I often forget to turn the camera on.  Not that I’m complaining; this one is pretty cool.  One of these days, there will be a solid FUGUE.  Enough complaining though because this improv has all the elements that make improvs great.  There are some clear moments that show my multiple endings having to be extended.  There is also something very satisfying about the scherzo/adagio contrast that Duruflé often uses to elicit a mood that fits so well to liturgy.  It is the sum total of the elements that I enjoy – particularly watching the spontaneous change of registration as the improvisation necessitates.

PS: The text of the chant is “‘Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.'” Where upon they, leaving their nets and their boat, followed the Lord.” Dare I say that this improv was affected by my experiences growing up and fishing in Alaska?  Fishing, for me, is a very peaceful act of communing with God and nature.  I hope that comes across – enjoy!

Happy Advent and shortly Merry Christmas!  Today’s improvisation comes from the 4th Sunday in Advent with a very particular chant for this week.  The Rorate caeli comes from the Book of Isaiah 45:8.  “Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the clouds drop it down.”  It’s a wonderful chant and is always a treat to improvise on such a great theme.

PS: I decided to add this comment: I REALLY WISH I had recorded the prelude.  I did this totally radical fugue on Veni, Veni Emmanuel; or O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  I don’t like to admit that I did a better improv earlier, but I really did.  You should have been there; stretto and all.  I’ll leave it at that, since that happens to my brain A LOT. Some improvisation that I post is not NEARLY as good as something I did earlier.

After several posts of compositions, I figure it’s time to return to an improvisation.  And today’s improvisation is a simple, loud, exciting postlude.  Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, based on a German chorale, which is based on the Te Deum Latin hymn, is a standard of congregational repertoire.  Ending the liturgy in this fashion is always fun since my church knows it very well and offers me an opportunity to followup with an equally (hopefully) thrilling postlude.  There’s not much more to say, since it is fairly short, and that’s that!

Not that I like to admit things like this, I tried using a similar motivic idea as the last post for today’s post. While there are certainly common elements, I like how the pieces in this improvisation unfolds differently, like a small variation on a theme. Being in a different mode (mixolydian) too, it certainly sounds a little more Duruflé-ish. I promise, soon, that I will post a non-communion improvisation!