In a film to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Richard Brasier looks at his working life and short career as an organist in Bonn. 

Current guidance from the Church of England allows for the organ to be played for communal church services, which recommenced earlier this month.  However there can be no group singing or chanting while worshippers are present, though a single singer or cantor is permissible.  This month’s Learning during Lockdown explores options for suitable organ music when the staples of the organist’s repertoire—hymns, mass settings, and choral accompaniment— are excluded.

To mark the 150th anniversary of Louis Vierne’s birth, Andrew Cantrill-Fenwick presents a film on his life and legacy. 

This week’s Learning During Lockdown is a helping hand towards discovering new repertoire, whether you have access to a practice instrument, or are simply looking for inspiration for the future.  On iRCO we have films from specialists in many specific areas of organ repertoire, explaining the elements of style, fingering and pedalling for the different periods. We also have suggestions for music transcribed for organ, with examples and sources.

The increasing severity of the Covid-19 lockdown means that organists are not just faced with a sudden loss of work, but also restricted or no access to their instrument.  To fill this enforced downtime, the RCO is making their online virtual campus iRCO available to all organists, so that learning, at least, can continue. Here on StopPress we are collating this material into themed packages to help improve different aspects of your playing.

A playlist of much of the music in the new syllabus for the FRCO examination.

The repertoire for the new ARCO examination syllabus, in a Spotify playlist.

Listen to the new syllabus, from July 2020, of playing repertoire for the CRCO examination.

Anne Page discusses fingering and pedalling systems for the music of England, the Netherlands, and Northern Germany in the early Baroque, a period when major stylistic developments were taking place.