This is probably a REALLY stupid question... How hard is it to learn organ?

Well, it depends. I came to the organ a couple of years ago, and I had been playing the piano on and off for about 25 years at that point, so I'm a relative latecomer to the organ.

It's definitely a different touch and feel. Plus, there's having to get used to all those pedals. It took me a while to coordinate myself on the manuals and the pedals, but I'm managing now. Two years later, I'm learning a Bach fugue, stuff from Boellmann's "Suite Gothique" (the Toccata now at this point), the Finale from Mendelssohn's Sonata VI (Andante) and attempting to get the whole of Couperin's "Mass for the Convents" in the fingers. Not to mention having to prepare a new hymn every week, and I will admit - for me, hymnplaying has been my biggest challenge. I'm okay picking up on the literature, but for some reason, I am having a very difficult time with hymns. Hoping that will change soon, however.

Best of luck to you ...

Organ is way different. And every organ is very different. When I play my organ at home I can go accross the keys as easy as on a piano, but for my recital which is at the catholic church the organ is about 150 years old. It is all mechanical, so you have to press very hard. I have to practive there for about a month and a half to build the muscel in my hands to play there. I bet the regular organists that play there have forearms the size of my neck, lol.

--DR LO

Actually I was also going to post the same thing because I just discovered this organ forum. I play piano and eventually would like to play the organ too and I am really curious as to how long it would take for a decent pianist to learn to play things like the Bach g minor prelude and fugue and his c minor passacaglia and fugue on the organ? I mean I know the organ touch is different but it doesnt seem difficult to me at all, you just have to re-adapt to playing with a different type of legato style and the only challenge that I see are the foot pedals, am I wrong on this?

Also, how do most people learn to play the organ, is it not possible to buy some sort of electronic organ foot pedals, that hook up to a digital piano perhaps? Basically I want to know how can one practice with foot pedals at home and not have to go to a church or university to do so? Does one have to purchase a small organ for the house and how much do those cost? Thanks!

I began to learn organ at the beginning of this last year, and last Saturday I performed a song in front of thousands of people. I had known piano for ten years and became interested in organs last January. If you know piano, you almost certainly can learn organ.

At first, the pedals are really hard to learn, but if you practice correct technique consistently, it becomes easier.

Eventually, the pedals became less of a challenge for me, and the legato became a bigger problem as the songs I played got more complicated, but everyone goes at a different pace with those two. I haven't heard about hooking in foot pedals, but I practice at a church a walk away from my house, so I never had that problem.
An experienced organist/teacher and/or technique book can be helpful. I actually only had one lesson from an organist and have been learning by myself from books since then, but I think I would have progressed faster with some sort of tutor. Hope that helps!

Xavier,

Are you a catalan?

Neus