We are recording our current series of live webinars on harmony for the RCO examination written papers, so they can be viewed on iRCO.  This month’s Learning during Lockdown suggests how you could use these, and other resources, to start or continue your studies of harmony, depending on your existing knowledge.   We also introduce live looping, an improvisatory technique from the world of electronic music, which can be creatively applied to the organ.

Darius Battiwalla shows how improvising music for the movies differs from improvising during a church service, and suggests ways to develop the skills, and stamina, required.

This week’s Learning during Lockdown focusses on improvisation, a skill all organists are encouraged to acquire, and which is expected, at some level, in most organ examinations.   Here on iRCO you can find films demonstrating improvisation skills for organists at every stage, from total beginner to FRCO. 

Andrew Cantrill-Fenwick and Ronny Krippner present a video on improvising a hymn partita – using the blueprint of a hymn tune to create a set of variations based on the creative manipulation of harmony, rhythm and registration.

The 2019 East of England Organ Day celebrates the world of film in May, with concerts of cinematic repertoire for the organ, and improvisations, featuring the majestic 1933 Grand Organ in the Chapel of the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, in Suffolk. School organist David Pickthall will create live, spontaneous soundtracks at the piano to two short Harold Lloyd films – here he explains the techniques that both pianists and organists can use to improvise to live films.

Composer and organist Matthew Martin presents a film on the requirements of improvisation for the FRCO examination, with a discussion of how to approach the four possible options: cantus firmus, romantic prelude, variations and récit en taille.

In this film Matthew Martin discusses how to approach the improvisation tests in the ARCO examination syllabus. He suggests devices, patterns and techniques for the different tests, and demonstrates them on the Kenneth Tickell organ of Keble College, Oxford.

This video, presented by Andrew Cantrill with contributions from Nigel Allcoat, David Briggs, Ronny Krippner & Martin Baker, has been prepared to help organists of every age and stage to get started with improvisation.

‘To accompany hymns well is our bread and butter’, said Daniel Moult, at the start of our RCO workshop on hymn playing last year, ‘but also quite an art.  So take pride in your hymn playing – have your own hymn book marked up with your pedalling, cues, and notes.’