Introduction

Repeated Notes: Repeat or Tie?

All hymns include some repeated notes. If many repeated notes are present, and if all are repeated as written, a choppy effect may result (see green box). Also, playing repeated notes wherever they happen to occur may cause "false accents"--accents where they are not desired (see blue box--a false accent occurs on beat three of measure 9).

Some experts suggest that all repeated notes be performed as written, with no tying. This may be effective under these circumstances:

• INFREQUENT REPEATED NOTES, as in many old German chorales
• LIVE ACOUSTICS
• where a NON-LEGATO is used as the basis
• in a more LIVELY HYMN

However, this lesson relies on this premise: tying some repeated notes may result in an organ arrangement that is more satisfying musically.