Farrah. 24. NYC

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Friday, February 12, 2016

Organ Practice

On Friday I went over to one of my old churches to practice organ. I have a couple of church gigs lined up in the next few weeks, so I thought it would be a good idea to get a head start and actually practice.

I took piano lessons from age 4-14, and then switched over to organ when I was 15. It's a very powerful, intimidating instrument. The volume capabilities of this instrument can range from inaudible, to eardrum blasting. Many people think that it's very similar to the piano, but personally I think that they are both very different, even though they appear to be the same.

Let me break it down for you a bit:

1. Most acoustic pianos are very similar to each other. Most have 88 keys, with 2 or 3 pedals. Organs usually vary from one another. Some have one console (keyboard), some have 3 like the one pictured here, some have 5, some even have 7! How do people keep track of all those consoles (don't ask me)!

2. You control the volume on the piano with your fingers. If you want to play at a low volume, you hit the keys softly. On the organ, you usually control the volume with Volume pedals (those rectangle angled thingies seen in the 3rd photo above). So no matter how violently, or softly you hit a key on the organ, it will always sound the same!

3. The piano produces sound when hammers hit the strings. The organ makes sound through pipes. You press a key, opening up a channel, allowing wind to flow through the channel into a pipe that produces the sound.

4. The piano has a sustain pedal. If you play a note while holding down the sustain pedal, it will continue playing (until the string stops vibrating), even if you're not touching the note. That gives the notes the more "wet" sound. If you want to keep a note sustaining on the organ, the only way you can do so, is by physically holding down the note.

I can go on and on and on, but I kind of wanted to give you all a basic idea of the differences between the two instruments.

Anyway, hope you all had a good week and here's a question:
Do you play an instrument?


  1. This sounds so interesting! I love all of these pictures, but I adore that one of all the keys you can press. It's interesting to see all the different names!!

    Meg | A Little Twist Of…

  2. No sadly, I don't play an instrument but its so fab that you do! I love all the pictures, there's something artsy about them


  3. That is so cool, fab!

    Perhaps check out my latest post?
    Jess | wildvagabondss.blogspot.com

  4. I can't even imagine playing an organ! That is crazy impressive. We had a lady who played the organ at our church as I was growing up but after she passed away we don't have anyone in the community who knows how to play it.

  5. Okay it is SO COOL that you can play the organ! I've never met anyone who does!

  6. I don't play an instrument as I don't think I am talented in that area...my parents forced me to play piano when I was young but I had no interest and ended each lesson by crying & throwing a fit, lol! I look back and wish that I had taken the lessons more seriously, I really admire people who can play piano. I would love to hear you play the organs!

    Characters & Carry-ons


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