Richard Van Auken is an Artist-Teacher in the Music Department of Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pa. where he holds a special title related to his work. He has been a visiting Instructor at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. since 1984. He has spent many years as an Organist and Choir Director. He also teaches workshops, maintains a private teaching practice and performs as a soloist and accompanist on both piano and organ.

Organ Registration
Some General Pointers

The organ as a musical instrument offers many possibilities in regard to the use of stops (registration), which is a primary concern for organists. History has provided some dos and don'ts. This has made some teachers of organ so fixed in their ways, that they do not use their auditory sense in choice of stops, particularly in church service playing.

An example of this is the hold over from the 17th and 18th centuries, which taught that an organist should build a registration in a vertical way and not horizontally. The vertical build using one 8 foot stop with one 4 foot stop and one 2 foot stop. Generally using two or more 8 foot stops together (horizontal building) was discouraged.

Historical Perspective
Awareness of some historical facts can bring to light the thinking behind vertical building of registration. During Bach's time, keeping an organ in tune was not as easy as it is today, since air supply was a major problem as is noted in the first chapter of "J.S. Bach as Organist" by Stauffer & May (Indiana University Press). It was necessary to hire a person(s) to pump the bellows. With these conditions, the organ had to be registered with a minimum amount of stops to conserve air, which often meant one 8 foot with one 4 foot, etc.

With technological advances made over time, these problems were overcome and horizontal registration building became achieveable. Ensemble sound is very important. Do not hesitate to use several 8 foot stops together to provide a full, round foundation sound built up with 4s, 2s, and mixtures from there. If you are playing for a church service, the use of combined 8 foot stops will give the congregation a better sense of wanting to join in with the sound.

Learning to Listen
It is worth the time and effort to study and learn many facts and ideas about organ registration. The fact remains there is one final determination for stop choice, and that has to do with the ear. Hearing; learning to listen and apply the auditory sense is what best tells us the stops to be used. Practice cultivating your ear (hearing/listening). Do not be fooled into thinking you are using your ear as you work at music. The mind can become so busy with visual and physical activity during the music making process, that we have a great loss of auditory activity. Make hearing/listening and ear-training a primary goal, and you will find choice of organ stops (registration) will become easy.

Richard Van Auken
2435 Old Bethlehem Pike
Quakertown, Pennsylvania 18951