Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 26: Organ - Praise the Lord

by Johann Gottfried Walther

Performer: Ian Dollins

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

This lesson introduces the organ, a keyboard instrument. Unlike harpsichords, organs do not produce sounds by plucking strings. Instead, organs produce sound by moving air through pipes of various sizes. Musicians press keys with their fingers and pedals with their feet to control the sound. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Lobe den Herren (Praise the Lord),' by Johann Gottfried Walther, features the music of an organ. The painting included in the lesson, 'St. Cecilia at the Organ,' shows a women playing an organ next to two angels.

Vocabulary

Organ: An instrument with rows of tuned pipes sounded by compressed air, and played using one or more keyboards to produce a wide range of musical effects.
Pedal: A lever controlling the sound produced by an instrument that is pressed by the musician's foot.
Saint: A person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

Keyboards include instruments played using a set of keys. Keys are levers pressed by the musician's fingers.

Keyboard instruments include harpsichords, pianos, and organs.

Examine the picture of a keyboard.

Examine a closeup of keys below.

See another picture of a keyboard below. Find the keys and find the strings.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of an Organ

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the harpsichord.

Activity 2: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'St. Cecilia at the Organ,' by an anonymous artist, and find the following:

• St. Cecilia
• Locket
• 2 Angels
• 2 Angel Carvings
• Lion's Paw
• Tablecloth
• Organ
• Organ Keyboard
• Organ Pipes

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the keyboard group.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which keyboard instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the organ.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the major parts of the organ?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Major parts of the organ include the keyboard, the pipes, and the pedals.

4 / 5

Question 5

How do musicians make sounds with an organ?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Musicians use their hands and feet to press keys and pedals, which trigger a mechanism to move air through pipes.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument group does this lesson feature? This lesson features the keyboard group.
3. Which keyboard instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the organ.
4. What are the major parts of the organ? Major parts of the organ include the keyboard, the pipes, and the pedals.
5. How do musicians make sounds with an organ? Musicians use their hands and feet to press keys and pedals, which trigger a mechanism to move air through pipes.

References

'Keyboard instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Picture of Keyboard and Strings (CC BY-SA 3.0).' Wikipedia. File:MDMB 418, detall de clavicèmbal, Christian Zell, Museu de la Música de Barcelona.jpg. n.p.