Recently I changed my Facebook cover photo to the little organ in my condo, and it raised a bunch of questions about the instrument. In the comments section, I answered by reposting the link to “Birch, cherry, and plum,” to which a friend replied:

Shane Morris Wise I love how you posted “blog” answers to the questions. Your new motto should be, “Have a question? There’s a blog for that!” [Well, no wonder! This is post number 1801 on this blog!]

I’m often asked if I play the organ, can I also play the piano?

Here’s what Rimmers Music Blog says: What is the difference between a piano and an organ? A piano is a percussion instrument, whereas an organ is a woodwind instrument meaning that they produce very different sounds when played. A piano can only sound like a piano, however, an organ can be altered to sound like a variety of woodwind and reed instruments.

To be truthful, it’s like comparing apples and oranges. When I used to give demonstrations of the organ to school groups, I would play a four-part hymn first on the piano, then play the same tune on the harpsichord, and finally, play it on the organ.

Of course, the kids could hear the difference in the sounds of the instruments, and I was able to say that it was because the piano has hammers which hit the strings; the harpsichord has “plectra” which pluck the strings; and the organ has pipes in which a column of air vibrates, and the pitch is based on the length of the pipe: long pipes produce low tones and short pipes produce high pitches.

When I compared the instruments in the Lutheran Church of Honolulu (where I had the school presentations), I could easily point out the differences:

1. The piano has white naturals and black sharps and flats while the Beckerath organ keyboard is reversed with black naturals and white sharps and flats.
2. The piano has 88 keys while the organ has only 5 octaves [actually the LCH organ has only 56 rather than 61 notes]. However the organ can have more than one keyboard (manual)—the largest organ in the world has 7 manuals.
3. The piano has a single damper pedal to extend the sound but the organ has a whole keyboard for pedals. The modern organ has 25 notes in the pedals (2-1/2 octaves).
4. The piano can be played right away; but for the organ you need to find the “on” switch, turn it on, pull out a “stop,” and then play a key. [Sometimes finding the “on” switch can be most challenging!]
5. The biggest difference is that the sound of the organ sustains … you could wedge a pencil in the keys and go out to the lunch, and the key would still be sounding, as long as the electricity wasn’t turned off. The piano’s sound dies away immediately. The sustaining nature of the organ dictates a whole different playing technique.
6. Piano music uses the whole range of the keyboard (uses way more real estate!) while organ music pretty much stays within a narrow range, and you add stops to add more sounds and pitches.

I recently gave a presentation to my online Spanish class in which I stated that I have four keyboard instruments in my condo:

1. A small pipe organ (2 ranks; two manuals with pedal) [Birch, cherry, and plum]
2. A spinet harpsichord [Love at first sight]
3. A fortepiano (a precursor of the modern piano) [The fortepiano returns]
4. An electronic keyboard which is connected to my computer for notating music.

And to the question as to whether organists can also play the piano? For this organist, yes, BUT… the piano is not my instrument, and I don’t play it very well. My husband [who was both a pianist and an organist] used to say that the piano was much more difficult to play than the organ, because you physically have to make the sound, while the organist can hit the key as hard as he or she can, but the dynamic (loudness) is not affected. As I said earlier, a pianist has to cover a lot more “real estate” (be more of an octopus!) while the organist keeps his fingers basically within a two octave range and just pulls out more stops.

As the late John McCreary used to say, he got bored with the piano because it only had one stop!

However, there is the matter of the pedals … and that is a skill of coordination. That does NOT mean, though, that organists are good dancers. I remember taking an Indian dance class at the last Three Choirs Festival and I felt like an absolute klutz! My feet got all mixed up!