We all have these days when it's not that easy to get on the organ bench to practice. And when we sit down to play, every minute seems like an hour - it's very hard to stay on the bench and do the work.
Then you can have these kinds of thoughts: "Maybe it's OK to end my practice earlier than I planned. I think I worked hard enough today." "Why do I need to suffer so much?" "Do I really need this?" "Practice shouldn't be boring - it should be fun and easy." "I can't play any longer - there are more interesting things to do." "My recital is far away - I have plenty of time to learn the music." "Maybe I could stop now and pick up where I left tomorrow?" "Maybe tomorrow it will be easier to practice?" Here's my favorite: "Yesterday I practiced too hard. I should take it easy now." Did you notice that when you persevere, push yourself and continue to practice as planned, your feeling is much better afterwards than at times when you give up? And the harder you have to push yourself to stay on the organ bench, the better your feeling will be. Practice like there's no tomorrow.
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is perfecting pieces during the practice and maintaining this level during the public performance.
The second most difficult thing for many organists is sitting down on the organ bench to practice in the first place. Imagine a situation when you currently can practice organ for several hours a day but in the future you might have a change in your life either because of the birth of the baby or an illness of the family member or some other reason. Will this change mean the end of your organ practice?
The baby will change everything for the parents. That's normal. It would be selfish to let the spouse raise the child while you play the organ for long hours. However, in the long run it's crucial for both of the parents (and for the baby) to keep up personal interests and hobbies alive even for 10-20 minutes a day. You can of course take turns attending the baby. If organ playing is your hobby, this well might mean you keep continue playing the organ. This activity will help re-charge both of you when you feel exhausted, when your energy level is down, when your spirits are low. To help you see why it's important to continue your organ playing journey (if it's important to you in the first place), let's take an example of another sphere in live - piloting the plane. When the plane flies from place A to place B and there is a high turbulence and a storm coming in front of the plane, the pilot normally wouldn't turn around the plane and stop the flight. No, the pilot would re-adjust the course, maybe turning left or right which would eventually allow the plane to reach it's destination by another route. Sometimes the plane has to land to place C and wait there for better weather conditions. Then the trip will last longer but the plane will arrive to its destination nonetheless. Here it's important to point out that sometimes the pilot doesn't fly at all. The pilot waits on the ground for better conditions to fly. The same is in live. When life gives us expected or not expected challenges, we can re-adjust our efforts, re-adjust our schedule, re-adjust our priorities. But if your goal is eventually master some aspect of organ playing, you can do little things that matter most in the long run - short daily practices of 10-20 minutes of duration. If you take a table spoon and try to dig a tunnel for 10-20 minutes a day - in 5-10 years you will move a small mountain this way. Having goals and the purpose are very important here. Without them it is impossible keep going in baby steps and eventually to reach your destination. Besides, keeping up the hobbies of both of the parents will be very beneficial to their baby, too (in the long run). This is because he/she can follow in the parent's footsteps. Also seeing that one of the parents is practicing something, this will teach the baby something about the value of waiting, the value of effort, the value of commitment, the value of delayed gratification. People who grow up as selfish human beings sometimes saw the unconditional attention of their parents in the past, acting as servants. They expect that others will be servants to their needs and wants later in life, too. That's why it's important you also have your own time, too. By the way, this will only make your family bonds stronger. Yes, this would probably mean you should practice at home more than at church. This could also mean, you might practice more away from the instrument - on the table or even while lying in bed with your body still and your eyes shut (I once prepared for an entire recital this way). This could also mean you will value your available time so much more than before and accomplish things faster. Don't turn around your plane. Adjust the course. [Thanks to John for inspiration] When you fall into the trap of practicing without the discipline and you see that your organ playing skills move to nowhere, there are a few preliminary things that have to happen before actually practicing correctly.
Necessity. Ask yourself, do I absolutely must practice organ playing? Would I miss organ playing, if I wasn't allowed to practice? If the answer is yes, go on to the next point. Choice. Understand that changing your attitude towards organ is a choice. You can keep playing the way you are used to and get the same results or you can make change happen. Goals. If you really want to change and get out of the circle, you need to set short-term and long term goals. Where exactly you want to be as an organist in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years or 10 years from now? Obstacles. What are the challenges you must overcome on your way of achieving these goals? Pick at least 3 for starters. Action. Stop wishing, dreaming and take action. Today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. All of the above happens in your mind. Change your mind and you win. Imagine a situation when you had a fairly good organ technique in the past, you could sight-read rather well, learned new pieces quite quickly to the best of your satisfaction and hymn-playing was a relatively easy task.
However, the years went by and for some reason you had fallen into bad habits of practicing and as a result you started to play organ music quite poorly - with lots of mistakes, with accidental fingerings and pedalings. Also you seem to have forgotten everything about articulation. Does this sound familiar? If so, I have a few tips which might get you on track right away: 1. Pay attention do every detail. Things to keep in mind obviously are the correct notes, rhythms, articulation, fingering, pedaling, ornaments and posture. 2. Because the above point is easier said than done, work in small fragments of about 4 measures repeatedly. Playing the entire piece too often does no good. 3. Reduce the texture for practice purpose to a single voice. If you can play a soprano line of that fragment effortlessly, practice the alto in the same way and so on. In this manner you can later do all combinations of two and tree voices before putting everything together. 4. Resist the tempation to speed up. Play at 50 % the concert speed at first. Only when you can effortlessly play at this tempo your entire piece, you can start playing a little faster. I know the above points sound like a lot of focused work. But it does make a difference and it is well worth the effort. The joy of playing organ music beautifully will transform your life and the life of those around you for the better. Have you redeveloped your bad practice habits into the efficient ones? If so, please share your experience of how you did it in the comments below. Thanks to Jonathan for this important question which I received a couple of days ago. In order to answer it, you have to look at how your mentality and physique works. How long can you practice effectively before your mind and body feels tired? What do you want to achieve during your practice session?
It really depends on the individual. Some people have better endurance and some don't. In this case it doesn't matter. To my mind, people who get tired fast are just as worthy of progress as people who can practice for several hours straight. What matters is this: what do you do when you get tired? Do you close the instrument lid, put down your music and do something else? Or do you keep on playing regardless of how you feel? Or perhaps do you take a rest, drink a glass of water, take a short walk or stretch, do some other short tasks and then come back to practice for some more? (That's the best solution, I think). Of course you are aware that it takes some 10 minutes just to warm up the fingers and feet. So if all you practice is 10 minutes, then it will be difficult to accomplish much in organ playing because in reality, you are just repeating previously learned material and not learning anything new. If on the other hand, you are constantly learning something new every day, then you don't have time to repeat what you have learned in the past during these 10 minutes. From my personal experience I can say, that people usually get tired in doing one task after about 30 minutes. So if you practice for 30 minutes, then you get about 20 minutes of real practice after your body feels warmed up. That's not bad. You can still practice effectively in the long run if you spend 30 minutes daily on the organ bench. By the way, don't forget that our practice is not limited to the organ only. Here is an article worth reading. All of the above thoughts apply when you are practicing for your own pleasure only. If you are preparing for public performance and have a due date, then the situation is entirely different. Here other people depend on you preparing on time. Then you need a very effective practice plan with different length of practice sessions which would ensure you would reach your goal on time. Because having a real plan means you are going to have a much better chance of reaching your goal, I highly recommend you think about your goals in organ playing and set some deadlines even if nobody else knows about it and even if you play just for your own pleasure and not for performance in public. Please note that I'm talking about the scenario when you can choose the length of your practice session. A completely different case would be if you only have 15 or 30 minutes a day available for practice. Then it would seem you don't have much choice of how long should you practice. Even then, I recommend reading this article which perhaps would give you some ideas how to find more time for organ practice during your day. So you can see that the practice length is a far more complex issue than simply playing until you get tired. It also involves planning and goal setting. Therefore, the time you spend practicing depends on answering these 6 questions: 1. What do you want to accomplish? 2. Why do you want to achieve this goal? 3. When would you like to reach this goal? 4. What is your plan of action needed to reach this goal? 5. What are the daily steps to fulfill this plan? 6. What is the time required to complete the daily steps? If you think deeply about these 6 questions and you write down the answers on a separate sheet of paper, then you will find the ideal length of your practice session very easily after answering the last question. By the way, if you would like to explore the topic of goal setting more fully, then the works of Zig Ziglar would be a great help. What about you? How long are your daily practice sessions? Share your thoughts in comments. Recently I received a similar question from an organist who is permanently in a wheelchair. It got me thinking about what do you do if you are in such condition? Is it possible to maintain organ practice habits somehow even though you would not be able to play the organ with real pedals?
I think if you really have a strong desire and a passion to enjoy and practice organ music, you can remember that organ practice is primarily a mental activity which of course involves the entire body. Although you might not be able to move your legs, you could still practice manual pieces on the organ or on any keyboard instrument, such as a piano. There is such a vast amount of unexplored repertoire for hands only which you could take advantage of. You can also practice on the instrument without a score. Here you simply memorize your piece or pieces and play them on the piano or a similar keyboard instrument. You can do it without using your feet while sitting in a wheelchair. Another way to practice is on the table with the score. You can sit in a wheelchair and pretend you are playing the keyboard. Move your fingers on the table as you would on the manual. Also try to practice with the score sitting anywhere you want, not necessarilly at the table. You can keep your hands on your lap. Your fingers could move in one place. The last method would be to practice without a score and without an instrument. Memorize your piece and play it on your lap. This is a very powerful way to increase your mental capabilities because you will have to learn to hear the music in your head. Apply any or all of the above tips in your practice if you are in a situation where you have to sit in wheelchair. Your medical condition should not limit your passion and dream in organ playing. Do you use any other methods of practice which would be helpful for people with various disabilities? If so, share your thoughts in comments. If you feel that you are not making enough progress in organ playing, it may be because of your lack of self-discipline. Self-discipline is crucial to have, if you want to overcome any obstacles and challenges in your path to perfecting your skills.
I think people who struggle with self-discipline often have a choice - to continue practicing the way they are used to, keep doing what they are doing and keep getting the same results. Another choice would be to change inefficient practicing habits and start working on disciplining oneself. Lack of self-discipline often arises because we as humans have love for things that are new. That's where so-called "shiny object syndrome" appears in your practice. This could be in the form of a new method, new technique, new piece etc. You might think that the new practice method is going to get you better results. (Remember these new, easy, fast, and simple shortcuts dishonest marketers are promoting - like to learn to play organ confidently in 2 hours?). Shiny object might also be when you become bored with some challenging piece and start looking for something new. Of course, we need some variety in our practice - there is no question about it. The days when a practitioner of martial arts would learn just one form or kata for 5 years are long gone. The same is true in organ practice - we need something exciting to keep our motivation up and to push through difficult days. That's why the process of goal-setting is so important here. If you could write down a really exciting specific goal with a date, plan of action and daily steps, then all you need to do is simply stick to the plan. One thing in particular is helpful to me in terms of self-discipline is the habit of performing in public. If I can arrange a date for the piece or pieces which I'm working on to play in a public setting (church service, recital or even for my friends or family), then I'm so much more likely to keep myself on track. Then it would be much easier for me to stay motivated and self-disciplined throughout the long weeks or even months of solo practice because I would have an obligation to prepare well. This would prevent me from losing my focus and become a victim of "shiny object syndrome". Do you have some tips and techniques which you use personally in your practice which help you discipline yourself? If so, please share them in the comment section below. The aging issue is of course universal for many senior organists. They still want to practice, still want to perfect their skills and share them with other people.However, they also feel that learning process takes more time and it's not as easy as they would want to.
Although I'm not at that age, from what I hear what is helpful to senior organists are a few things: 1. Enjoy every moment on the organ bench. Always remember that practice is a privilege which we have to be grateful for. Sharing your skills with others to make their lives better is another privilege. Keeping this in mind, organ playing should be an activity you would simply treasure and miss if you couldn't practice. 2. Take your time and don't rush. At this stage of your life don't push yourself too hard. Although learning process might take longer than earlier for you, you are still making progress. Also don't attempt to play very fast. Start your practice at the tempo in which you can avoid making mistakes and stay in control. The general techniques for good practice habits still apply here. 3. Play only pieces that you really love. There is no point in practicing music someone else given to you that you don't enjoy or has little musical quality. The same could be said for the dry exercises unless of course they are meaningful to you and lead to the advancement of your skills. 4. Make frequent breaks in your practice sessions. I generally advise people to take rests, relax, and stretch about every 30 minutes or so. For senior organists, the breaks could be even more frequent. If you feel tired after playing for 15 minutes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Take a short break, walk a little, stretch or lie down with your eyes closed and drink some water. Then you will feel refreshed and will be able to practice for at least another 15 minutes. 5. Imagine master organists of the past who might have been your age. For example, Johann Adam Reincken (baptized 1643-1722) was said to have lived until 99 years of age and was still active as an organist in St. Catherine's church in Hamburg at the beginning of the 18th century. However, baptismal records in his native town of Deventer indicate that Reincken must have been born much later - but still he was almost octogenarian at the end of his life. By the way, Reincken was a key figure in the formation of J.S.Bach as an organist and composer. Do you have any special tips that you apply yourself in your practice which would be of value to elderly organists? If so, share them in the comment section below. You can rarely find more frustrating situation than playing for several hours a day, 5 days a week, 20 days a month, and 250 days a year without seeing significant results of your practice. This is due to inefficiency in practicing methods and techniques.
Such person usually plays both hands and feet together right from the start regardless of the difficulty level of the piece. What happens is that a bunch of mistakes appear and the frustration kicks in. The irony here is that sometimes we know that it's not correct to practice this way but we do it anyway. Sometimes we are aware of the need to play separate voices at first and combinations of voices later, to master shorter fragments repeatedly first and combine the fragments later but the thing is we are the creatures of habit. It's really difficult to break that incorrect and inefficient practicing habit and start building something which will last a long time. I guess the real reason often is our inability to believe in the right practice methods and lack of internal faifth in what we are doing. But there is no other way. We have to realize that only we are responsible for changing our future. Taking action and implementing the right techniques in our practice require guts and will-power for sure but if we want to achieve something which is worth seeking out, something which matters, then we simply have to do it. There is no point keep doing things in your practice which develop more mistakes. Instead push yourself one step at a time every day a little further in your piece or pieces practicing the right way. Start a new chapter of your practice. Right here and right now. You won't regret it. From what I hear, so many people have switched to efficient practicing methods little by little. Never once I met an organist who said, "you know, I applied all of the correct ways of practicing an organ piece. As a result of that, my learning process is much faster and easier now. However, I decided to switch back to my old inefficient studying methods anyway". No one would say such a thing, right? It's worth the time and effort, although these steps might sound like a really boring thing to do. In just 3-4 weeks, you can perfect your piece you are working on right now AND build a firm foundation for the future practice. Start today. |
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Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
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