Pipe [Organ] Dreams

Well, I feel so much better now. So, onward and forward. A couple of weeks ago, a church in Venice was putting on a free concert by an organist, showcasing the pipe organ at the church. I'd never heard a pipe organ in person so I was quite intrigued.

The pipe organ itself was located at the back of the church, so that when people sat on the pews and looked forward, the pipe organ was in the back and upstairs so you couldn't see the organist at all.

But not to worry, the event organizers had put up a screen up in the front of the chapel, showing a video feed of the organist playing, so that not only do you hear the music, you can see how the organist is creating it.

This was truly amazing. I loved the sound of the pipe organ, producing an enormous range of sound and volume, and the pipes distributed the music throughout the chapel so that I really felt like I was being enveloped by sound.

I guess I never really thought about or saw an organ, but I never realized that there were keys to be played by the performer's feet! It's like an entire keyboard at your feet. At times, the performer was playing a different melody on each hand, AND FEET! It was really mind-bogglingly impressive.

This was a great start to the holiday music season.