[HANASHIR:9070] wedding music & the organ

[Erik L. F. Contzius <contzius...>]

regarding weddings & recessional music...

the recessional should be joyous & upbeat... Erev Shel Shoshanim and 
the like are too mellow for a recessional. 99% of the weddings i 
conduct end with Siman Tov, people clapping, and YES, the pipe organ. 
My reaction to those of you who are closed to the pipe organ as an 
accompanying instrument is that you either have not heard a decent 
arrangement of siman tov on the instrument, have not worked with a 
master of the instrument, or have an electronic or electric 
instrument whose sonority leaves you little to be desired.

in the right hands with a decent arrangement, the pipe organ can be 
most affective (sp?) at a wedding. I would strongly recommend that 
one should use, whenever possible, through composed and realized 
music and not lead sheets. It makes a world of difference. Tara's 
books on wedding material are not bad, but they tend to be solely 
lead sheets, limiting the accompanist to their ability and 
imagination (and even the best accompanists sometimes do not know 
what to do with a lead sheet). However, Tara also sells music 
arranged by Edward Kalendar for keyboard which is quite good. I use 
Kalendar's arrangement of Siman Tov, as well as a host of other 
pieces for weddings, even though Kalendar's material doesn't appear 
in a separate volume just for weddings (perhaps it should!).

Still desparate for music for the pipe organ/keyboard? It just so 
happens that Transcontinental is publishing and producing a music 
book that should fit the bill for weddings ranging from traditional 
to contemporary, from european to sephardic. It is being marketed now 
and should be ready for distribution over the summer.

mazal tov!

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