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MONTHLY MUSICAL OFFERING: In the Hall of the Mountain King

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Recorded on a Rodgers Imagine 359 Tab

In the Hall of the Mountain King

The month of October is a time when organists get to play music outside of the liturgical tradition. Whether it's for a Halloween concert, a silent horror film, or a practice session of Bach's most famous toccata, October is a great month for spooky organ music. With that in mind, Rodgers is sharing an arrangement of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King," which falls under the fingers easily and has a wonderfully chilling sound.

Grieg was one of the leading composers of Romantic Nordic music, and he was called upon to compose music to accompany a new play called Peer Gynt in 1874. The play is loosely based on a Norwegian fairy tale, and several of the themes from his score have become iconic, as they perfectly capture the imaginative mood of the play. This edition was arranged by Harvey Gaul, an Episcopalian organist and choir director from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working at the turn of the 20th century.

Performance Tips

Here are a few tips for working through this fun piece:

1. Use percussion stops to help keep the tempo steady.
Adding chimes, celesta, or glockenspiel can help keep both hands and feet together when the music gets busy.

2. Practice the middle section slowly.
The middle section features a difficult rhythmic pattern of straight eighth notes against eighth-note triplets. Start by practicing slowly, accenting the first note of each beat. This will help keep both hands synchronized.

3. Make the climax dramatic.
Emphasize both the big Full Organ accents and the beats of silence.

Bonus Tip

Get creative with registrations! Find stops with contrasting voices, and especially if you have theater organ stops to play with, move the melody between divisions and experiment with different registrations to create unexpected sounds and a spooky atmosphere.