Hello all. I am going to be playing the organ for a church service this weekend. I need some suggestions for music to play during the communion and offertory. I've been taking organ lessons for two months now and have adapted pretty well to the differences in hand technique from piano, but my pedal technique could definitely be a lot better. So music for manuals only or with a very simple pedal part would be great! I know that one of the pieces has to be about 2 minutes (can't remember which one) and the other one has to be pretty solemn...I actually don't know much about church services having only played for one before, so any suggestions about what music would be appropriate during these two parts of the service would really help!

Before Beethoven, most keyboard music was nonspecific; that is, it was written with the idea that it could be played on a harpsichord, an organ, or a fortepiano, depending on what was available. Only if there was a definate pedal part was it specifically for organ (and not always then, as there were pedal harpsichords). I'd suggest going through your piano books and choose some pre-Beethoven keyboard music and adapt it to the organ.

If the piece is a melody over chords, play the main melody on one manual using a reed or flute stop, with the chords on another using strings or principals. If it is a contrapuntal piece, try to distribute the different lines among the various manuals so as to bring out the most important theme for each section. If the piece is highly chordal, play with both hands on the same manual, switching where the music moves from one section to another. If there are repeats, change the registration for each repeat.