How to make it hang together
This Workshop was the second that Norman has run and was held at St John the Evangelist, Shirley, Shirley Church Road, Croydon, Surrey CRO 5EF on the 8th October 2016, 2.00pm – 4.00pm kindly hosted by Richard Pilliner, Organist and Director of Music.
Although a modest number of SSLSO members attended, the event was a great success due to Norman’s enthusiasm, encouragement and skill in sharing his ideas about improvisation.
In Norman’s first Improvisation Workshop he encouraged us all to “have a go” and to avoid getting bogged down in things like “rules of harmony”, which tend to impede the flow. In this session he explored ways of making improvisations cohesive to the listener by thinking about simple repetition of short musical ideas, either at the same pitch or with a small difference of pitch or rhythm. There are many examples of this in 18th century trumpet tunes, using an echo between two manuals. Click here to see a short video where Norman illustrates this. Also click here to see a full improvisation that Norman did at St George’s Cathedral.
The members who attended were fascinated by his suggestions and made to feel that improvisation was within each and everyone’s grasp! We also had the privilege of listening to the the fine and rather unique Frobenius organ (click here to see its specification), finding out about possible registrations and then trying out our improvisatory ideas.
Norman demonstrated on the organ and then suggested that members have a go, for example at playing a short phrase (using a trumpet sound) and then following this with an echo effect. He talked about the importance of simplifying structures and mentioned various possibilities such as variations, modulations, the use of reflective passages, employing decorations and focusing on rhythm (for example avoiding plodding pedal lines). He added that regularly playing hymn tunes provides the material for much of the harmony we may need.
Various members tried their hand at short improvisations, including Nicky Jones, Andrew Chadney, Samzu Agbaje and Richard Pilliner. Richard improvised using a passacaglia form and included a canon, imitation, embellishment and an increasingly complex texture. Richard stressed the importance of having the right state of mind when improvising and not thinking so hard that creativity is blocked. The passacaglia was felt to provide a good discipline due to the repeated bass line. Norman told us that fugues are not so difficult to improvise if one has a simple subject in one hand and then more subject entries as the piece unfolds. He added that for the first section of the fugue, the exposition, the entries have to be Tonic-Dominant-Tonic etc. He added that thereafter, the composer/improviser has more freedom.
Norman reiterated the importance of having some kind of plan. He said that Rheinberger’s Fughettas are worth looking at as a model. Norman also demonstrated a fugal improvisation. In addition, he touched on improvising a hymn prelude as another possibility.
Interestingly, Norman made the point that it is usually easier to improvise when not using a particular key and added that improvisatory “errors” can often be turned into something positive.
The session ended with tea and some delicious biscuits kindly provided by Richard!
Click here to download a set of helpful notes that Norman gave out. the summary page is shown below.
Nicky Jones
Here is a note form Richard Pilliner, Organist and Director of Music at the church
Following on from Norman’s splendid improvisation class, here is a little information about the organ in St John’s,Shirley.
The fine Frobenius organ at St John’s was installed in 1992. This is not a romantic church organ built to accompany Anglican liturgy. There are no strings, undulants or orchestral reeds to colour psalms and anthems and no pistons or playing aids to assist with registration changes. This, to a certain extent, can be remedied by playing some registers an octave lower and sometimes this works quite well. There are no loud solo reeds either; stops such as these would be quite out of place on this small instrument where every stop blends with one another and the low wind pressures do not allow for “Bones and Tubas “
Where this instrument wins hands down, however, is in the clarity of the choruses and individual stops. This is an organ on which every note can be heard clearly and the addition or subtraction of just one stop is clearly discernible, even on a loud registration.
Playing a fugue, one can appreciate the clarity of every voice,loudly or softly. Trio movements can be registered in perfect balance, with complimentary tone colours and all the niceties of touch and articulation can be fully realised. Moreover, the organ serves as a superb practice instrument for all styles of organ music, even if that is a chastening experience at times.
Location
119 and 194 buses from East Croydon Station, then alight on the Wickham Road stop opposite the end of Spring Park Road.. The walk up Spring Park Road and the church is at the top on the right. For drivers – the church is on Shirley Church Road, near the junction of Spring Park Road. The church website is here.
