Improvisation on “We Shall Overcome”

Carl Haywood
Piece Duration: 05:17

About this Piece

Improvisation: a common staple of organ repertoire, notated pieces with the title “improvisation” consist of music that was created during spontaneous improvisation, transcribed and often revised at a later date to be performed in the future. 

Melody: Notated here - https://musescore.com/user/498481/scores/6302925 

Woodwind Instruments: “The organ is a keyboard instrument that belongs to the woodwind family - it creates sound by blowing wind into metal or wood pipes that are controlled by a set of keyboards played either with the hands or feet (using pedals).” - Live Music Tutor

Notable Passages

Time Stamp: 0:00 — 2:28
Description:

The composer writes rolling arpeggiated textures underneath the melody. These arpeggios come back again at 3:39-4:16! 

Can you spot them in the organist’s sheet music? How do all of these arpeggios make the music feel?


Keywords: Arpeggio - Harmonic