Posted on by Msgr. Charles Pope

Easter Jig

                     OK. Christ is Risen and it’s time to dance a jig. There is no better way to do this than to dance to J.S. Bach’s Jig Fugue and also to sample one of the nice aspects of traditional Church liturgy, The Pipe Organ. It has been said that the greatest virtuoso is the organist and you’ll see why when you view this video of Diane Bish playing the Jig Fugue. Not only are both hands and all fingers going at rapid pace but so are both feet as she literally dances a jig on the pedal board. The piece starts out with hands only and then builds and gets more complicated as it goes on. Christ is risen, Dance a Jig.

6 Replies to “Easter Jig”

  1. Organs vary in the number and type of stops they have.

    I suspect that there isn’t a standard stop layout.

    I wonder that organists can manage without a stop-changing assistant…

    1. Yes,it is necessary that organist study the instrument on which they play. The instrument here had five keyboards and thus, likely five divisions. It isn’t as easy as it looks to switch up or down onto keyboards while playing. As for switching stops while playing it is made easier by the use of combinations actions, those little white buttons under the keyboard. The organist can set those buttons to create a variety of sounds using combined stops. There are also similar buttons the organist can tap with his or her feet to create the same effect.

      1. I’m glad I’m a clarinet player…using my two hands for one note at a time. I couldn’t keep track of multiple keyboards, multiple lines of music AND feet.

  2. The jig of joy I danced in the bright sun of Easter gives way to a contented waltz tonight in the quiet twilight. On Good Friday at St. Matthew’s, Archbishop Wuerl said: “Today I joined” with those who suffered from sexual abuse and those who protested it outside the Cathedral. He and Fr. Tillotson, who preached on Jesus seven last words, asked for prayers for victims. Today our pastor at Blessed Sacrament, Fr. John Enzler, reflected on the seeing and believing of the other disciple at the empty tomb in John’s Gospel. Fr. John’s “I believe” includes the prayers we will say every week from now on in the Prayers of the Faithful for victims and their families, bishops, perpetrators, and all who suffer from this terrible scandal in our church. Abp. Wuerl in today’s Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/02/AR2010040202983.html) writes one of the wisest reflections I’ve seen on the response of the American Church and Pope Benedict XVI to the crisis. Our prayer together is beginning, and with it, God’s healing…and the music that calls us to dance.

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