Writing for the Organ:

A semi-complete guide

Joshua Nichols

Introduction
When it comes to the organ, the instrument in its capabilities is unparalleled. Between the massive list of stops available and the multiple sets of keyboards (with the frequent use of pedals),
there seems to be no limit on what you can do to satisfy the craving for excellent musical works.
There are, however, some key limitations and issues surrounding this formidable instrument.
One of these limitations is registration (how one goes about writing colors and sounds for a
composition) which is addressed separately.
What this guide will attempt to address are the other concerns for writing for organ. Indeed,
an organ is not a piano, so though one can feasibly play piano music on the organ (e.g. Daniel
Roth playing Mendelssohns Prelude and Fugue in E minor), it should not be seen as piano music
played on the organ.
So given this, there are several areas of concern a composer should be familiar with to begin
writing for organ.
1. There is no sustain pedal.
2. There are only two hands and two feet.
3. There is only a heel and a toe for each foot.
4. The keyboards are not touchor velocitysensitive.
5. Music sounds very dierent from both organ to organ and room to room.
6. The music is written on a grand sta for the hands and a single but ungrouped sta below
for the feet.
So, though the capabilities of the organ are a massive undertaking, it should not be neglected
to observe some simple practices to encourage excellent writing for the organ. Not only do
composers need to write music that can be played on the organ, but that music should respect
the conventions of common practice for the King of Instruments.

The Organ is Not a Piano

But, they are very similar. Like many western instruments, the organ takes after the system
devised in the earliest portions of the common era which utilizes half steps (or semitones), and
those are generally organized by pitch using the keyboard layout. Technique generally transfers gracefully between piano and organ, and very common ngerings are usually transferrable
between the two.
But that is where all similarity ends. The key problem to overcome with the organ is its rst
striking dierence: there is no sustain pedal.

There is no sustain pedal

The piano is, by and in large part, monophonic. The texture of the piano doesnt fundamentally
change: the hammers strike strings resounding against a soundboard and sound is projected
through space. The hammers dont change, the strings dont change; its the same 88 keys and
same range of notes (this is all outside of prepared piano works).
But for an organ, there are only 61 notes per manual (ve-octave keyboard played with the
hands) and 32 notes for pedals. This changes a lot of things, but whatever the organ loses on
physical range it gains with dierent ranks and pitches of pipes.
But, in this trade-o the organ loses the sustain pedal. The modern sustain pedal, having been
around since the 1600s, is an innovation to mimic sustained tones on an otherwise percussive
instrument. This innovation was one of the rst in its time, since most every other keyboard
instrument was not able to change the velocity and sustain time of the notes outside of lifting
or lowering the hand.
This also aects legato. The organist is limited to how connected they can be to each note to
simulate legato, which is very dierent to cheating on the piano using a sustain pedal.
The organ, dating from as early as 300 B.C.E., continues today in its practice of notes being
delivered based on how long the keyboardist holds the note. One cannot rely on writing for organ
like a piano; the mind needs to focus on how the note sounds and how long it sounds, knowing
that the hands and feet control the sounding length of the note, and not a sustain pedal.

The Organist is the Instrument

This is not merely a comment on the lack of 4-hand playing that is done on the organ, but also
the physical limitations of the organist. The organist only has ten ngers and two feet (with
each foot only limited to a heel and toe). And, combined with no sustain pedal, the full arsenal
of writing is limited to what the organist can play immediately with the hands and feet.

Rachmanino Prelude in C-sharp minor: Op. 3, No. 2

This work, as it stands, would be physically impossible to play on the organ. On the piano, the
pianist is manipulating the pedal and the movement of his hands to generate what seems to be
the eect of using 4 hands. The limitations of this work are based on the piano, and not the
instrumentalist.
But trying to do this on the organ would require multiple sets of hands. If there is any hope of
playing this work on the organ then this work would need to be adapted extensively.
Remembering that the organist is the primary limitation of the music and not the instrument
per se is realizing the creative restriction on music written for organ.

There are only two hands and two feet

One should generally be restricted in writing organ music limited to only one note per nger
and only one note per foot at once. There are some ingenious exceptions, most notable works
written in the late-19th20th century and onward, and even those works are limited in their
writings (e.g. J. Langlais, Hommage Frescobaldi).
This practically looks like three to six voices of polyphony per hand and one to two voices of
polyphony in the feet at a time.

The Foot Doesnt Have Five Fingers

Though it was briey mentioned before, the feet need extra special attention within writing.
The physiology of the hands is quite complex, with great attention through the design of the
brain and hands being focused on the ngers and independence. This is starkly contrasted with
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the feet which do not have the same modus operandi that the hands have. Thus, pedals do not
have even remotely the same general sensibilities that the manuals can exert.

There is only a heel and a toe for each foot

So, not only are there no ngers, but generally speaking, writing for feet is limited to alternating
feet and moving back and forth between heel and toe. It is also possible to slide the foot
around, but not for more than 2-4 notes.

This Aint No Rock Concert!

The primary method of musical expression in the piano is dynamics. The novelty of the fortepiano was that one could not only play the note as long as he wanted but also as soft or hard as
he wanted.
So while the piano doesnt have stops, one of the greatest forces of musical expression is its
ability to manipulate dynamics arbitrarily. The pianist can also change how the note is played
by changing the velocity of the ngers before he plays the piano.

The keyboards are not touch (or velocity) sensitive.

The pipe organ has one glaring problem: it cannot play notes more softly or loudly than another.
Drop a hammer on a keyboard and the note will sound the same as if you play the note with a
feather.
So, how does one manipulate velocity and dynamic range on the organ? Generally it is accomplished through creative registration, the swell pedals, and length of note.
Using a creative registration (moving from softer registration to brighter and louder registrations) is a great vehicle for changing the character and qualities of a work. They work in a
spectacular way when they are combined with quickly shifting textures. It can seem as if the
organ is manipulating the sudden change in volume much like a piano can.
The swell pedals, another way of changing the volume, open and close blinds that cover a
particular division and thus either deafen or release sound ad libitum. Generally hairpins are associated with the opening and closing of shutters, and words like crescendo and decrescendo
are concerned with the adding and subtracting of stops (usually accomplished with a crescendo
pedal).

Play the Room

One nal issue regarding playing is the room in which one can nd an organ. Organists are
responsible for playing any given work according to the rooms they are played in, because some
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rooms are more reverberant and alive than others. However, writing a work and instructing the
organist to play something as short as possible or as long as possible usually has unintended
consequences. If the organist is primarily concerned with playing the composers wishes with
the room they have, then specifying detailed instructions for a room the organist is not familiar
with could lead to ambiguity and difficulty in interpreting the remarks of a composer.
As with all things, however, designating exacting articulations (especially given in a specic
room) is a discretion that may be tting for the occasion. At any rate, the composer must exercise
prudence and sound judgement.

A Postscript On Notation
When it comes to organ music, it is typically written with a grand sta above and a single ungrouped sta below. Here are some other considerations:
Dynamics written below the pedal line do not traditionally indicate dynamics for all manuals.
Dynamics written in between the grand sta are typically indicating dynamics over the
entire organs registration.
It is common that the pedal part is written using the lowest voice of the bottom-most
sta in the manuals, should there be a need to save space. It is also common for more
simple pedal parts, such as:

Here, Pedal is indicated and the lowest voice (voice 2) is designated as the pedal line.
Slur markings generally indicate when the hands are to play legato. Exceptions would
be in using both a slur and a phrasing slur, if the overall phrase is longer than where you
desire the hands to break.
Manual changes are marked directly above the sta they are set to change on, unless a
curly brace is used in between the sta:

Here, there is a general manual change to both hands on the Great after the curly brace.
The physical range of the individual keyboards also varies from all pianos. The organ
manual (what you play with the hands) spans ve octaves (61 notes):

The pedal contains a range traditionally from C below the bass clef to G above it:

Take particular mention that with the notation of pedal notes one should avoid using the treble
clef to indicate pitches above middle C.

On Novelty and Exception

It should be noted that with everything in this guide there is always a notable exception or
novelty to go against it. And while this may be the case, writing on the basis of novelty and
exception is no way of developing a strong experience for organ writing, and the likelihood of
a work being worth playing is very low.