Organ Music

The organ is a keyboard instrument with one or more manuals, and usually a pedalboard. In contrast to most other keyboard instruments, the organ's sound output is produced by wind and therefore continuous and constant for as long as a key is depressed. more...

Home
Accessories/ Storage
CDs
Cassettes
Music Memorabilia
Other Music Formats
Records
10" Singles
12'' Singles
7'' Singles
78 RPM
Albums/ LPs
Avant-Garde/ Experimental
Blues
Brass Bands/ Military Bands
Children's
Christmas/ Seasonal
Classical
Ballet/ Dance
Chamber
Choral
Early Music/ Baroque
Keyboard
Opera/ Vocal
Orchestral
Organ Music
Other Classical
Comedy
Compilations
Country
Dance
Big Beat
Breakbeat
Chillout/ Ambient
Disco
Drum 'n' Bass/ Jungle
Electronica
Garage
Hard House
Hardcore/ Rave
House
Lounge/ Downtempo
Old Skool
Other Dance
Progressive House
Techno/ Industrial
Trance
Easy Listening
Instrumental
Vocal
Folk
American
English
Other Folk
Indie/ Britpop
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Irish Folk/ Traditional
Jazz
Acid/ Fusion
Big Band/ Swing
Bop
Contemporary
Free/ Avant-Garde
Latin
Other Jazz
Traditional/ Dixieland
Metal
Death Metal
Heavy Metal
Nu-Metal
Other Metal
Speed/ Thrash Metal
Other Albums/ LPs
Pop
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Pop & Beat: 1960s
Beat: 1960s
Pop: 1960s
The Beatles
R&B/ Soul
Funk
Mainstream
Motown
Northern Soul
Other R&B/ Soul
R&B
Soul
Rap/ Hip Hop
East Coast
Freestyle
Gangsta
Hip Hop
Old School
Other Rap/ Hip Hop
West Coast
Reggae/ Ska
Dancehall
Dub
Other Reggae/ Ska
Popular
Roots
Ska
Religious/ New Age
Rock
Alternative
Classic
Country
Doo Wop/ 50s Rock 'n' Roll
Elvis
Folk
Glam
Gothic
Grunge
Hard
New Wave
Other Rock
Progressive
Psychedelic/ 60s Garage
Punk
Rockabilly
Soft
Soundtracks/ Themes
Film
Musicals
Other Soundtracks/ Themes
TV
Spoken Word
World Music
Other Records

Unlike the piano or clavichord, the volume of the sound does not depend on how hard the key is struck, though some modern instruments are touch-sensitive. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the Western musical tradition, with a rich history connected with Christian liturgy and civic ceremony.

The most well-known type of organ is the pipe organ, so named because it produces its sound through pipes, although many people simply refer to it as the "organ". Another type is the electronic organ, which does not have pipes, is technically not an organ, and propagates its electronically-produced sound through one or more loudspeakers. There are many other instruments that fall under the category of "organ"; see below.

A musician who plays the organ is an organist. A person who builds or maintains organs is an organ builder. The organ repertoire encompasses a wide variety of styles and eras; the most famous composer of music for the organ is Johann Sebastian Bach.

Pipe organs

The pipe organ is the grandest musical instrument in size and scope, and has been around in its current form since the 14th century (though other designs, such as the hydraulic organ, were already used in Antiquity). Along with the clock, it was considered one of the most complex man-made creations before the Industrial Revolution. Organs (the "pipe" designation is generally assumed) range in size from a single short keyboard to huge instruments which can have over 10,000 pipes. A large modern organ typically has three or four manuals with five octaves (61 notes) each, with a two-and-a-half octave (32-note) pedalboard.

Church organs

The principal purpose of most organs in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand is to play in Christian and Reform Jewish religious services. An organ used for this purpose is generally called a church organ. The introduction of church organs is traditionally attributed to Pope Vitalian in the seventh century. Due to its ability to simultaneously provide a musical foundation below the vocal register, support in the vocal register, and increased brightness above the vocal register, the organ is ideally suited to accompany human voices, whether a congregation, a choir or a cantor or soloist. Most services also include solo organ repertoire for independent performance rather than by way of accompaniment, often as a prelude at the beginning the service and a postlude at the conclusion of the service.

Today this organ may be a pipe organ (see above), or it may be an electronic organ which synthesizes the sound with computer chips. It may be called a church organ or classical organ to differentiate it from the theatre organ, which is a distinctly different instrument. However, as classical organ repertoire was developed for the pipe organ and in turn influenced its development, the line between a church and a concert organ is hard to draw.

Read more at Wikipedia.org