Last Friday, I attended Vincent Dubois’ organ recital at Hill Auditorium on the campus of the University of Michigan. Vincent is a French organist and was a guest artist at U of M during the Fall 2013 semester and worked with their organ students. The concert was well played. Here are my highlights:

Played by Memory
In the picture of the pipe organ, a chair is visible to the left of the organ console. Just before the concert began the chair was removed. I overheard the person who removed it say it was for a page turner, but Vincent didn’t need one. He played every piece from memory. And Vincent was very good. Playing 90 minutes of music from memory was quite impressive!
Sonata on the 94th Psalm – Julius Reubke
I first heard this piece played at the closing concert at the AGO convention last July. I remember liking it back then and was quite taken with the piece. It was a joy to hear it performed again. It is a dramatic piece about 24 minutes in length. If you like to hear it, listen to Steven Stromberg’s video.
Improvisation
After Vincent played his prepared pieces, he was given two themes. The themes were just the melody lines from two pieces that Vincent had not played before. He was seeing them for the first time. He studied the pieces for a few moments. Then he began with his improvisation of the themes. The organist can make a simple tune sound grand. I am fascinated with improvisation. I learned a little bit about it at the AGO convention and understand that there is some techniques for it. It is absolutely amazing to hear when the improvisation is well done.
If you are wondering, I do not know how to improvise yet!
Heidi Bender writes about her experiences of learning to play the organ. She started on the adventure in 2009.
She also writes on her website Tons of Thanks, which helps people write thank-you notes. Heidi is also a cat lady who writes at The Joy of Cats.
That does sound very impressive. I hope your studies are going well.
That was quite a concert. Can’t even imagine playing by memory for 90 minutes and one piece being
24 miutes long. I had to play Rustic Dance by memory when taking piano lessons. I will never do that again.
Hi Mom,
I wonder if you could still Rustic Dance from Memory!
Heidi
You need to learn that list of hymns that I gave you before you start improvising !!!
I have a long to do list!