“Get off the bench and give me ten!”--An investigation of the benefits of physical stretches on organ performance posture
Organists too often break their performance posture at the upper and lower back due to weak abdominal muscles. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of physical stretching exercises on three organ performance majors’ posture as demonstrated at weekly lessons.
For organists Mendelssohn’s works for their instrument admirably fill the void that had developed after the death of Bach, a period virtually devoid of significant writing for the instrument. They have maintained currency to the present and inspired an interest in the instrument on the part not only of Mendelssohn’s contemporaries, but several of his successors as well.
How many organists tell of their relationships with their instruments in such colorful loving terms? Because organists cannot take their favored instruments along to distant gigs, they must make peace, love, war, or at least a truce with whatever organ they encounter.