Today’s postlude is a jaunty little number by the English composer, John Rutter, who has gifted the church with so much music. To my knowledge, this is one of only a handful of organ pieces that he’s written. As you can see in the bulletin, it’s called Toccata in 7. The word toccata is a term we use to describe keyboard music that contains sparkly, fast-moving notes, played by the fingers. There are also toccatas for the pedals, believe it or not.

Toccata comes from the Italian, toccare which means “to touch.” In English, we say that one “plays” the organ. However, if you wanted to say “he plays the organ” in Spanish, you would use the Spanish word for “touch,” Toca el organo. This piece contains the essences of both touching AND playing! In a toccata, keyboard players are actually tickling the keys, to be more descriptive. So yes, we touch, but there’s a playful nature behind the touching. The secret to playing (or tickling) the fast, sparkly notes of a toccata, is in feeling an internal ease, whilst the fingers effortlessly dazzle the audience. If one bears down, or digs into the key while playing a toccata, it just falls apart. In essence, you have to be light and playful. When you’re playful, there’s no room to be heavy and serious. So toccatas should be fun, not laborious.

And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t explain the last part of the title, “in 7.” Sometimes we title music according to what its tonal center is. For example, you might see some toccatas listed as Toccata in D Major. Other times, composers will use descriptive words like, Toccata Festiva. But rarely, would a composer title a piece according to the way the beats are grouped. It’s complicated, but not much classical music is grouped with 7 beats in the bar, or 5 beats in the bar. Usually, you’d tap along by clapping 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, or 1-2-3-4, or 1-2-3. It’s a bit awkward to dance, clap or move with the flow of the music if you have to count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. This sort of asymmetrical pulse gives the music a peg-legged sound, for lack of a better description. You might think of a dancer with two left feet (or a pirate with a pegleg!), trying to glide across the dancefloor. Actually, if you are a dancer with two left feet, you’d “hobble” across the dance floor, awkwardly trying to keep up. The most salient example of this illustration would be Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. It has a delightfully jaunty, and awkwardly pleasant beat structure, that makes the 5^th beat of the bar feel like a hiccup.

So now you’re fully equipped to hear the postlude, but allow me to retitle it from Toccata in 7 to Playfully Tickle the Keys With a Hiccup on Beat 7. If that doesn’t make you smile, then perhaps just listening to the music will. Sometimes it’s best not to be so serious about church music. Besides, that’s the only way I know to successfully play a toccata anyway. Let those with two left feet (and our pirate friend!) have a chance to dance without being judged. Afterall, everybody is just trying to glide with the dance of life anyway. You might as well smile and enjoy it, even during times when there is an odd hiccup along the way.  Soli deo gloria!