Some of the people ask me this question because it's frustrating for them to notice that they have developed this habit of trying really hard on some days but just going through the motions in other practice sessions.
I think this situation has to do with the lack of vision or a goal. They feel the inner need to practice but it's difficult for them to get excited enough about some pieces and so they practice but don't see a lot of progress in return. Obviously, the choice of the music can be wrong for their current technical abilities, or practicing habits have been incorrect. At any rate they really don't see themselves going anywhere in organ playing as time goes. That's why their efforts are inconsistent, too. In some cases, this kind of practice can lead to quitting organ playing altogether. Because what's the point of playing the organ, if you don't have a vision or a dream of what you want to accomplish in the future? So at some point the efforts of pushing ourselves during practice and playing with determination and focus disappear and an organist might give up playing this instrument in the long run. If you struggle with inconsistent efforts, my advice would be to get really focused about what you want to achieve in playing the organ. Set exciting yet realistic goals. A goal is not a goal if it doesn't have a definite date on it. So write down your goals on a separate sheet of paper and set a date of when you want to meet your goal. Then you have to think about the plan of how to achieve it. And don't forget the importance of writing down the daily steps, too. My final advice would be to surround yourself with positive people you can trust who can support your efforts. It can be a fellow organist or a few friends who might appreciate what you are doing or a mentor/coach. Sometimes your family members can't provide such support and leadership. This way if you can talk regularly about the progress of your practice, you will not feel alone on this mission and you will be more likely to stay on track with your plan of action and daily steps which will prevent inconsistent efforts to appear in your practice.
Comments
My article from yesterday about the difference in meaning between the words "practice" and "rehearse" in organ playing sprakled a nice flow of ideas from people in the comment section. I sincerely would like to thank everyone who shared their thoughts with the Secrets of Organ Playing community.
By the way, this article was inspired by the thoughtful comment (point No. 1) of J David H. in response to my 94 page guidebook "Organ Practice is Privilege". Today I'd like to take this discussion one step further and ponder on what we need more as organists - practicing or rehearsing? From the comments to yesterday's article it seems to me we all agree that the main meaning of practice is to polish something repeatedly in order to perfect it and the emphasis of rehearsing more or less is on preparation for performance in public. Then the question is this - in our everyday practice, do we need more this repetitive drilling which polishes and perfects some exerpt or a specific skill or do we need more of testing different stop combinations or playing run-throughs as if preparing to perform a piece in public? In a way, the answer might be very simple, just as Leon said in his comment - from Monday through Friday we practice and on Saturday we rehearse (if the performance is on Sunday). Of course there is a need to adjust the proportion of the two concepts in many cases depending on the difficulty of music being learned. But it feels to me this question is a bit more complex. You see, I think some people still practice organ as if they are rehearsing. In other words, they play the pieces from the beginning until the end quite aimlessly never stopping to correct the mistakes they make. We need to be really conscious about when we need to practice and when - to rehearse. I feel that this would save some people from a lot of frustration when they struggle to learn a piece of music. Of course practicing and rehearsing can overlap sometimes, especially when we are getting more and more familiar with the piece (even if you are not thinking about performing it in public). That's the idea of playing without stopping 1 beat, 2 beats, 1 measure, 2 measures, 4 measures, 1 line, 2 lines, 1 page, 2 pages, 4 pages, 8 pages etc. What do you think? Join the discussion and share your thoughts in comments. Today I would like to clarify the meaning of the terms "to practice" and "to rehearse" and what they mean in organ playing. Here is what Free Online Dictionary says about the word "to practice": v.tr. And here is the definition of the word "to rehearse": v.tr. I think the point No. 2 is the key for the term "to practice": "To do or perform (something) repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill". In the word "to rehearse", No. 2 is also very similar in meaning: "To perfect or cause to perfect (an action) by repetition". I guess in some cases these words can be used interchangibly. But to me, the word "to rehearse" has more association with No 1. a. "To practice (a part in a play, for example) in preparation for a public performance and b. To direct in rehearsal". The biggest difference in these words for the purpose of organ playing is that when we practice, we polish something, perform something repeatedly in order to perfect it. When we rehearse, we are preparing for public performance. What do you think? Share your thoughts in comments. If you want to read my new free organ practice guidebook - "Organ Practice is a Privilege" on your iPad, iPhone, and Kindle go here and download the files to your device. It's free. Thanks go to Greg Ghavalas from Australia for converting the files for me and making this available for a wider audience.
I would like to tell everyone who sent me feedback about this free e-book I released a couples of days ago (Organ Practice Is a Privilege) that I'm so glad you are finding this free resource helpful.
I'm so overwhelmed. People are keep sending their nice comments and I'm almost keep falling behind at responding to their messages. Here are just a few of the comments I received: Heather: "Thank you so much Vidas, for releasing your wonderful articles in this format, It will be a very valuable resource for me, and I'm sure for many other organists." Marinus: "Dear Vidas, thank you so much for this valuable resource! Your structured approach and advices are of great help indeed." Ferenc: "Thank you Vidas for your valuable gift! I downloaded it, and I will use it daily, thank you once more very much!" Farnes: "Thank you for this. I'm doing my best to adhere to these wonderful tips." Ann: "Dear Dr. Pinkevicius, thank you very much for the collection of organ practice instruction. I read your book last evening and appreciate it very much. In fact, I printed it out to keep as a ready reference while practicing organ. Your suggestions are quite helpful in correcting my incorrect methods of playing. I am also sending your link to a couple organ friends." Gillie: "Thank you for the free book. Your insights are much appreciated." Dave: "Dear Vidas, I wanted to thank you VERY much for the free PDF. Free is a VERY good thing on my church musicians' limited budget." Laura: "Hi Vidas, just a quick message to say many thanks for all your daily nuggets of advice. I’ve found the really helpful and informative. I’m going to transfer your free e-book to my kindle and will read it while on holiday." Giovanni: "Thank you dearest Vidas, every gift from you it's like a gold. have nice day." If anyone hasn't downloaded this free 94 page e-book, they can do it here: http://www.organduo.lt/organ-practice-is-a-privilege.html It's free and no signing up is required. None of this is worth the effort if these ideas aren't shared. Because if there are people who might get also benefit from these advices and tips, they deserve it, too, because it's free for everyone. I know that not everyone can afford my coaching programs, courses, and even practice scores but this free resource is for anyone interested in perfecting various aspects of their organ practice so please tell a friend about it. Last night I finally finished editing and correcting my newest free resource for organists - a 94 page e-book Organ Practice Is a Privilege. I worked on it for quite a while, starting from the end of this May.
The idea was to put together a guidebook that people could use for their organ practice. As you probably know, I've been writing about this topic starting from the late 2011, constantly answering burning questions people have about various aspects of organ practice on my blog. After writing about it so much I realized that these posts on their own are greatly appreciated by eager organists but the actual e-book, as a larger body of my work might be able to help people even more. A single blog post is like a drop of water but an e-book is like a river - that's how much valuable information you will find there. People who are following me and reading my emails and articles regularly might find this free resource as an reinforcement of these organ practice ideas that I myself use every day. This e-book is a collection of articles about multiple aspects of organ practice written in 2011-2013. Every advice and tip is hand-picked and tested by myself so that you could be sure it works. So here it is - Organ Practice Is a Privilege (named after a post of the same title I wrote in December, 2012). This idea was introduced to me by my Professor Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra at EMU for which I am deeply greatful. Please use it and share if you find it helpful. Here is a free gift for you I prepared:
Organ Practice Is a Privilege On this page you will be able to download the PDF file (94 pages). Enjoy it! But even more important, I hope you will do something with it. Perhaps there isn‘t any food which we could eat every day, such as bread. Some people like white bread, some – sourdough, some – other sorts of bread. It depends on our culture. But still the bread in general is vitally important to us.
But what if we tried to eat something else for one week every day? Even cakes, pies, fruits and vegetables would start to become boring. The same would be with the meat, fish, porridge, pancakes and everything else, if we had to eat it every day. In one sense, organ music is similar to food. There are pieces of immortal classic, such as opuses by Bach and other great masters which we could study, practice, play and listen to every day. Their musical language (including melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, form etc.) is literally perfect. We couldn‘t make it more perfect even if we wanted to. Such music connects us. If we listen or study it with another person, an interesting harmony, a real connection arises between us. But there is also and quite a lot of organ pieces of shallower nature which can be really loved by listeners during concerts. Nevertheless, they lack such depth as the others. They are more for entertainment. By the way, there were even the entire historical periods in certain countries were composers created exactly such music. If we would constantly practice and play only such pieces, after a while we would become not as sensitive for these real masterpieces. Of course, we have to remember that our food has to be varied enough. We eat not only bread. Therefore, we also need a variety in our organ repertoire – virtuosic, and meditative, polyphonic, entertaining, ancient, modern etc. But try to include at least a little of this timeless classics in your every day practice. To make shish kebabs on a fire in an open air could be an excellent task – it is really exciting to prepare a delicious food for a delightful company of friends or family.
However, the entire cooking process is quite a responsibility because not only the fire has to have just enough of hot burning coal but also you have to turn over the meat on time, otherwise it may get burned (as sometimes happens). However, the real responsibility begins even before cooking or starting a fire – the meat has to be well-chosen and marinated. Otherwise even the well-cooked shish kebab can turn out not as juicy and tasty. However, when you skewer the meat there is one additional problem – you have to guard it against flies that are constantly trying to land on it. If only you turn your back on the meat or go bring a cup of water, the flies will beset the skewers or a pot with meat in no time. When you practice playing the organ, the situation is similar to skewering the meat for shish kebab. Our mind has to be focused and keep away other thoughts that can steal our attention. After all, when you practice organ music that you love, it is very easy to start thinking about the events of the past or plan the tasks of the future. When you come back to your senses, you will notice that you forgot or even didn‘t pay attention to things that took place in your organ piece. When you practice organ playing, pay attention to any detail that you find – melody, rhythmical figures, colors of harmony, stop combinations, form, dynamics, texture etc. Learn to pay attention. It is very rare that the fire in the open field can be started with large firewood. Usually we use paper or bark, small branches or sticks. This way the fire starts very easily, after minute or two we can hear how larger firewood is burning merilly.
Everyone who tried to start a fire from large branches or firewood remembers that small flame, bitter smoke and... a waisted match. When we start on our organ practice journey, the beginnings are similar to starting a fire. It is best to get used to the organ playing in small dozes, playing short and easy compositions and exercises. This will help you build a solid foundation for advancing your organ playing skills. But if you start with grandiose symphonies, polyphonically complex fugues, advanced musical language and modern harmonies, this music can be too difficult for you at the moment. Some people can begin to have an impression that organ playing is not for them. Then they give up and quit. Therefore at the beginning the best pieces you could play are short chorale preludes, inventions and exercises, and only after that – more complex and developed polyphonic compositions with 3 or 4 parts. Let your organ playing fire start little by little with baby steps. P.S. Sometimes if you want to start a fire, you can use fuel mixture or a gasoline – then the size of the firewood is not that important. In organ playing – that‘s education. |
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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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