July 19th, 2010
If you’re lucky enough to have access to a real organ, don’t waste your opportunity! Learning how to play the organ can take a while to master, but it takes almost no time to get started feeling your way around simple songs and melodies. Follow the steps below and you’ll find yourself on the way to organ glory.1. Practice on a regular piano or keyboard. Organs can have anywhere from one to seven manuals, or keyboards, which can be quite intimidating if you’ve never touched one before. It’s much easier to learn to read music and practice simple scales on a regular keyboard. You can even find one online if you can’t get an actual one.2. Look into formal lessons. This actually doesn’t have to be the second step if you want to give it the old college try on your own first, but it’s always useful to have a guiding hand. You can often find teachers at churches or colleges. If you don’t want to proceed to this step right away, at least find a reputable guidebook to show you the basics.3. Buy some stylish organ shoes. These will only set you back about 60, but they’re well worth it for the assistance they’ll give you in mastering the organ’s foot pedals. This is one of the most distinctive aspects of organ playing.4. Practice making sounds. Just spend time playing with the manuals, pedals, and stops and see what happens. Quickly switching between stops may not make a classic concerto, but it will definitely get you used to the capabilities of the organ, and make it easier to use it in actual songs.5. Learn the details of organ playing. There are many distinctive techniques for playing the organ, including keeping your heels no more than a fifth apart and playing on the inside of your foot. These techniques will take a while to become second-nature, but they are integral to mastering the instrument.