Making Music

Repeating All Repeated Notes

Some organists simply repeat all repeated notes as written, with no added ties. This approach may appear to be at the extreme opposite end of the OrganTutor approach. However, if some of the basic standards to which this lesson holds are applied, and if touch is varied with control and good judgement, a fine musical result is possible using this approach.

The first example applies the following standards with reference to repeated notes:

• Adjacent notes that MOVE within a part are played legato.
• Adjacent notes that REPEAT IN THE SOPRANO are always repeated.
• Adjacent notes that REPEAT within a part or between parts are always repeated.
• Various TOUCHES are used to contribute towards the smoothness of the melodic line when repeated notes are present, and to reflect the natural accent pattern of the meter.

For comparison, the second example applies some ties. Where breaks are used, they are uniform in size: one-third of the shortest value found most frequently (a triplet-eighth rest).