“For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.”
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Let’s celebrate summer with a vibrant, joyful melody. And you may be surprised what kind of music I chose to feature this week. It is church organ music.

I used to dislike organ music. I found it stuffy, outdated, boring, even spooky at times. Some people can make the organ sound like a nightmare. But after attending a church who had a talented, dynamic organ player (who played the organ for about 47 years), and accompanied the church hymns with organ music, I developed an appreciation for this complicated instrument. If it is played correctly, it can lend a majestic, even royal air to the music of the church.

You do have to admire all the effort the musician has to put into playing the organ- using both hands and often both feet! Quite a workout!

This melody is called the Prelude in Classic Style by composer and organ player, Gordon Young. Here is the surprising part. Although it sounds very much like a baroque style music, the piece was composed around 1966!

It is a lovely tune, and I’m sure you all will enjoy it too! This can even be played by a whole orchestra. The moment I heard it played at the end of the church service, I wanted to find out the name of the melody, and thankfully it was listed in the bulletin. Unfortunately, I did not have a recording of the organ player from church, but I found plenty of skilled organ players on youtube.

Have you ever listened to church organ music? What did you (or do you) think of it?