The title is naturally a pun on "organum" and anyone acquainted with the harmony in 12th century composer Perotin's stunning organum quadruplum such as Sederunt Principes or Viderunt Omnes will know precisely what I am after in terms of glowing sonority. The "aum" part of the pun is the idea of spiritual transcendence represented in an ascending scale. The piece opens with this scale and draws all of its energy in a sense from that burst of rhythm
and harmony.

Registrations and colors are left to the discretion of the organist because the nature of each instrument will require a completely different approach to insure the balance of powerful sonority with clarity of line. I've used descriptive titles such as "distant chant" or "quasi birdcalls" to serve as a guideline.

The piano transcription uses the sostenuto pedal to substitute for the pedal manual drones. Conventional pedaling should be used liberally along with the sostenuto pedal to create the best blend of harmonies while not obscuring the chord changes.

Organ-Aum was commissioned by organist Hans-Joachim Dumeier who premiered it in July 2005 for the Colorado College New Music Festival in Colorado Springs. A susbstantial revision was completed April 2010.