Hoang Nguyen Class section: 3185 Mr.

Wolter 10/22/2010 Organ Performance As an attempt to escape my hurried and busy life, I attended an organ concert at the SPC music center on October 22, 2010. Even though this two hour concert was not a big production, I had a chance to see a truly talented musician. The perf ormer for this concert was Nigel Potts, a professional organist, who is famous f or his brilliant performance of English cathedral music. With his expertise as a skillful organist, Potts led listeners to adventures in each piece and created a peaceful and warm atmosphere that overwhelmed the concert hall. As I entered the concert hall, I felt at peace as if I were in a totally different world. Under the warmth of the yellow light, the setting was very re laxing, comfortable, and free of all the worries of the outside world. An organ with glittering golden pipes was put at the center of the stage, and it made the stage stood out from the audience section covered by dim light. When Potts star ted to play the first song, the hall resounded with melodious music notes. The s ound overwhelmed the concert hall quickly and flew into audiences ears as if it had been waking up somebody s musical emotion having hibernated for a long time. This c reated a joyful and comfortable feeling which is hard to be described by words. In this world, music replaces everything; there are no conversations, no car noi ses, no television nor any electric devices, and people seem to communicate to e ach other by the rhythm of cathedral music. This is the first time I attend an o rgan concert, and it brings me different feelings: pleasure, peace, and relaxati on. Each piece performed in the concert had a specific rhythm which took the audience through different adventures. Most pieces are notated in three staves. The primary part of each piece is often played in the top two staves. The overt ure always flows softly like the happiest stage of a human life. The secondary part is the turning point of a story in which people have to struggle for surviv al or to oppose rivals. At this point, pieces are played in three staves with fa st rhythm and high volume. Most pieces end by the recurrence of the overture; ho wever, some pieces are finished by extending a high tone at the end. This ending is much like the happy ending of a story, high point of a life, or the winning moment of a war. Most of the pieces performed were written in the Romanticism an d Modernism era. One piece, known as Veni Redemptor Gentium, was composed in the Reformation era and was written by Thomas Tallis. Compared with other pieces, t his work has simple counter points, homophony is used frequently. In contrast, M arch for Retreat of the Governor of Hong Kong written by Paul Spicer is polyphon ic and has many recurrences. All these specific features of the pieces in conjun ction with the professional skills of this organist created a musical world with both a strong and joyful melody; thus, it brought mixtures of emotion for liste ners in the concert. Pipe organ is a classical music instrument which requires great skill to play. After attending this organ concert, I was able to recognize the incredibl e skill of Nigel Potts and I admire him for it. Potts had to operate keyboards a nd pedal boards at the same time in order to play a piece in three staves. Moreo ver, his combination of operating swell shade pedal and activating was flawless; this helped him control air flow through wind chest and made pipes sing melodio usly. His fingers seemed to dance on three organ keyboards as his legs operated the pedals flexibly. This is all while his body swung along with the organ melod ies. By operating the Heissler pipe organ skillfully and harmoniously, Nigel Pot ts turned the lifeless pipes into beautiful melodies overwhelming the concert ha ll. Living in a modern world, people are usually deep in works and easily pr one to headaches. Therefore, we sometimes need to get away from stress and ferti lize our mental life. An organ concert performed by Nigel Potts at SPC music cen ter is a perfect remedy. This experience has changed my viewpoint about music. T he concert created a proper value of art; that is the music which can lead liste

ners to adventures and give them peace and emotion.