Halloween as Springboard to J.S. Bach and Organ? Yes!

I am the first to admit that I am not a huge fan of the organ.  I much prefer my piano.  But one of the coolest "Halloween" pieces of all time is a classical piece written for organ by J.S. Bach.  What is it, you might ask?  Why -- Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565)  -- of course!  If you don't recall what this piece is, check out this video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FXvojtq6g&feature=player_embedded

Ok, so Bach devoted all of his music to the glory of God.  So how did his piece come to be associated with a holiday which is considered to be pagan in origin?  It's simple, really.  The first page or so is very scary-sounding and Hollywood found that it registered high on the fear meter!  It has been used in no less than 19 movies, from the Disney classic "Fantasia" to horror movies.  Although I'm sure J.S. Bach intended to do nothing more than induce a proper fear of God with his bold opening statement (Figure A, below), we actually use this piece to scare each other in horror movies, haunted houses, and Halloween media hype.  Fortunately, our kids hear a little Bach every Halloween because of this media saturation.  So I have begun using the Toccatta's Halloween association as a springboard for introducing J.S. Bach and organ to my students -- especially those with classical phobia (I have some who would never consider Bach as worthy for their attention if it weren't for this piece). 

In addition to giving them some appreciation for the classics of the Baroque era, the Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor presents the perfect opener for a discussion of one of the most complex engineering feats in existence -- the pipe organ.  Your budding engineers and scientists might appreciate this (subject matter for another post).

And you might throw in a little sidenote about how Bach, a gifted composer, was really just this very humble church organist who felt that....

"The final aim of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." 

He didn't seek any fame or fortune for his mind-boggling compositions.  In fact, the guy who created this cool piece was just an ordinary family guy (he had 7 children by his first wife, then 13 by his second wife, whom he married after he was widowed), yet he is now recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time.

And how about showing students how much coordination is required to play this complex instrument?  Show them the video above.  It gives students an excellent demonstration of how the foot pedals work in organ music.  I tell them this is where the very big, low notes come from.  A lot of kids don't know that there is a virtual piano keyboard at your feet and each pedal has a different pitch.  So this video is very enlightening as far as the foot pedals go.   

While some piano teachers may dismiss this piece as too difficult for intermediate students, I think the first page is very attainable through proper instruction.  And my students LOVE, LOVE, LOVE playing this piece!  By showing my students the patterns and chords in the music this month, I was able to teach the first page of this to virtually all of my intermediate and advanced students.  They don't need to play the whole 8-minute piece to get a taste of Bach and organ music.   Even the first page is enough to show their friends.  They can go home and play the piece on their keyboards with a pipe organ sound (most of my students have a keyboard and/or piano).  If two hands is too hard, the piece is easily reduced to right hand only.  One of my students, who is handing out candy instead of trick-or-treating this year, says he is going to put his keyboard out on the sidewalk and play this piece on Halloween night.  And that's what it's all about!  Getting them excited about music and making it fun!

If you take a look at the first measure, it looks pretty intimidating to a young intermediate student.  Imagine how much their confidence is boosted when then leave the lesson, knowing they played this difficult-looking music!



Figure A (Measure 1)

 

Figure B

 



For much of the piece, the left hand is a carbon copy of the right hand (Figures A and B), and that makes it much easier to learn than other two-handed music.  Although I printed the sheet music for them, they didn't have to use it very much since I taught them by rote (memorizing instantly through listening and observation of the teacher's demonstration) and by pointing out the patterns and chords.  To learn how I teach the first page in just one lesson, look for my next post!