Every year I look forward to the Advent Season and the Christmas Eve service. It is my happy privilege to play a cir.1848 George Steven’s organ. For many, listening to the organ is an acquired taste, but I would like to argue that being accompanied by this pipe organ is a treat. The organ is a relatively small organ of eight ranks and one manual, with a baroque straight pedal board. The technician who last serviced and tuned the organ believes that the pedals were added later, as he believes the organ to be patterned after the English organs of the time.
Playing this organ and other organs, in and about the quiet corner of Connecticut, inspires me to record more recorded organ arrangements. The accompaniment I am offering here is one that I’ve played for some seasons now. It was recorded using a Roland organ, but the sounds used are from other sound libraries.
Adeste Fideles is Latin Hymn, 17th Century. …words by J. reading, 1692, tr. by F. Oakeley, 1852. The words can be found in many hymnals and other online sources. This arrangement sounds fantastic with a choir or for congregational singing.
Included in this download:
O Come, All Ye Faithful – accompaniment track, 3 verses (mp3 256Khz at 44.1Khz)
O Come, All Ye Faithful – accompaniment track, 3 verses (no special effects – dry) (mp3 256Khz at 44.1Khz)
O Come, All Ye Faithful – sung demonstration track (mp3 256Khz at 44.1Khz)
For my first offering in a while, I am uploading an accompaniment track for The First Noel. I have seen up to five (5) verses available for this song, and there may be more. As it goes, the tradition was to teach the Christmas story through song and stain glass windows. Sometimes the lyrics were straight forward, and at other times it was an allusion to the content found in the Biblical narrative.
Here I am offering 3 verse and 5 verse accompaniments. The three verse version starts off with the refrain as the introduction. It ends with the refrain being repeated and ending with the phrase, “born is the king,” being repeated. Catching on to it’s form should be no problem. The 5 verse version starts with the refrain as an introduction, then it continues straight through the five verses. The demonstration track has a scratch vocal. Feel free to choose any verses you may find available for this song.
These accompaniments should be easy enough to follow for congregational singing. They should also work for the choir director wishing to be a bit more creative with solos and additional voices. Also, the lyrics should be easy to find on the internet or in a hymnal.
Included with this background track:
The First Noel – Performance/Accompaniment Track – 3 verses (as an .mp3 256Kbps, 44,100 Hz 16 bit audio)
The First Noel – 3 verses – demonstration track – sung by David E. Gonzalez (as an .mp3 256Kbps, 44,100 Hz 16 bit audio)
The First Noel – 5 verses – demonstration track (as an .mp3 256Kbps, 44,100 Hz 16 bit audio)
Every year I look forward to the Advent Season and the Christmas Eve service. It is my happy privilege to play a cir.1848 George Steven’s organ. For many, listening to the organ is an acquired taste, but I would like to argue that being accompanied by this pipe organ is a treat. The organ is a relatively small organ of eight ranks and one manual, with a baroque straight pedal board. The technician who last serviced and tuned the organ believes that the pedals were added later, as he believes the organ to be patterned after the English organs of the time.