Imagine a situation where you find a really nice organ composition that you like. You know how it sounds because you have listened to recordings or watched the videos of other organists performing it so now you want to learn this piece for yourself.
And so you start practicing it, you apply the same technique, the same practice procedures that you're used to in learning other pieces. However, you suddenly discover that technical demands of this piece are much more higher than you can currently achieve. So what do you do in this situation? You can switch to another organ piece which is easier for you or you can follow through and overcome these technical limitations and challenges and perfect the piece to the level when you will be ready for public performance. The best way to follow through in a difficult organ piece is to subdivide it into manageable units. You see, if the piece is long and difficult when you first start playing it from the beginning until the end, you will be making many mistakes in each line. Virtually every measure will have some mistakes in notes, rhythms, articulation and so on. But if you subdivide your difficult piece into fragments of about four measures long, then you can correct your mistakes on a higher degree. This means that whenever you make a mistake, you can go back right away to the beginning of the fragment and fix it. It is best to choose a practice tempo in which you can avoid making mistakes which means playing at about 50% slower the concert tempo. If you want to follow through in a difficult piece then you can also play these fragments in separate voices. You see, even though the fragment is short enough, you still may be making at least several mistakes, if you play all the parts and all the voices together right from the start. Instead, you should work on practicing solo melodic lines and separate voices. Do this very slowly so in each repetition you will be playing without any errors. This technique works wonders, if you play each step and each combination at least three times in a row fluently (more if you want to be really good). So do this in your challenging organ piece - slowly practice in fragments and solo parts and part combinations and you will discover how possible it is to overcome the challenges, follow through and perfect a difficult organ piece.
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Imagine a situation where you find a really nice organ composition that you like. You know how it sounds because you have listened to recordings or watched the videos of other organists performing it so now you want to learn this piece for yourself.
And so you start practicing it, you apply the same technique, the same practice procedures that you're used to in learning other pieces. However, you suddenly discover that technical demands of this piece are much more higher than you can currently achieve. So what do you do in this situation? You can switch to another organ piece which is easier for you or you can follow through and overcome these technical limitations and challenges and perfect the piece to the level when you will be ready for public performance. The best way to follow through in a difficult organ piece is to subdivide it into manageable units. You see, if the piece is long and difficult when you first start playing it from the beginning until the end, you will be making many mistakes in each line. Virtually every measure will have some mistakes in notes, rhythms, articulation and so on. But if you subdivide your difficult piece into fragments of about four measures long, then you can correct your mistakes on a higher degree. This means that whenever you make a mistake, you can go back right away to the beginning of the fragment and fix it. It is best to choose a practice tempo in which you can avoid making mistakes which means playing at about 50% slower the concert tempo. If you want to follow through in a difficult piece then you can also play these fragments in separate voices. You see, even though the fragment is short enough, you still may be making at least several mistakes, if you play all the parts and all the voices together right from the start. Instead, you should work on practicing solo melodic lines and separate voices. Do this very slowly so in each repetition you will be playing without any errors. This technique works wonders, if you play each step and each combination at least three times in a row fluently (more if you want to be really good). So do this in your challenging organ piece - slowly practice in fragments and solo parts and part combinations and you will discover how possible it is to overcome the challenges, follow through and perfect a difficult organ piece. Imagine a situation where you learned your organ piece and practiced it for a while. What can you do now? Can you perform it during recital or church service or should you perfect it even further at least for now? If you want to know whether you really know your organ piece and are ready to perform it in public, then you can do this experiment.
Ask your friend or a family member to stand behind you while you are sitting on the organ bench. Now you have to try to play this piece and your listener should stand there watching over your shoulder. If you haven't ever tried this experiment, here is what would happen. If your level of fluency and proficiency with this composition is not enough for public performance, you will make at least a few mistakes, most likely a lot more. It may happen that mistakes will occur in virtually every line. This is because your focus will be weak when someone is watching over your shoulder. Therefore, the places that still need the most work from your part will be the ones in which you make your mistakes first. It's very simple - you are as strong as your weakest link. Yes, you can try to attempt to tighten your focus level and then fewer mistakes will occur. However, if you don't know the piece very well or if your sight-reading abilities aren't developed at the superb level, then it is very likely you will end up with at least a few mistakes. If you knew the piece pretty well, at least well enough for public performance, then even though you would get distracted by a person standing behind you, your playing level would allow you to automate at least the most difficult places. This way you would still be in control - your fingers and feet will do the work for you without you actively thinking about this spot when you are distracted. This level of fluency is not easy to achieve. It requires constant repetitive practice. At each practice session, you must ask yourself, "Is this the best I can do?". Most of the time, you will see that there is still some room for improvement. Apply this trick in your organ practice today. If you find yourself making mistakes, push through, persevere with regular, wise, slow, and repetitive practice and the time surely will come when nobody can distract you and cause you to make mistakes. By the way, if you really want to develop unbeatable sight-reading skills, check out my systematic Organ Sight-Reading Master Course. Although organ improvisation is a very fascinating subject to study for a lot of organists, it is not easy to constantly see the desired improvement and advancement. On the way to perfecting their skills, many people have to face certain difficulties, such as lack of direction, being lost in this process, or inability to achieve the results. In this article, I will share with you tips how it is best to overcome these challenges which may be holding you back in organ improvisation.
1. Lack of direction. A lot of times people who just start improvising on the organ, have lots of wishes, and a lack of proper direction. They want to become very good improvisers in many styles. In reality it doesn't work this way. The more you can improve your focus, and simply work on a certain style or genre for a while, the better chances you have to succeed. When you feel fluent in one style or genre, you can easily begin to explore additional styles or genres. So it is important to stay focused at only one goal at a time. Taking your daily baby steps towards this goal will increase your chances for success. 2. Being lost in this process. Many people don't know where to start when it comes to organ improvisation. There are so many method books and treatises and every one of them requires at least some knowledge in music theory. So it is very difficult to improvise well if you don't know basic concepts of music theory, harmony, and basic elements which constitute a musical piece. If you want to learn to improvise on the organ, it is inevitable that at some point or another you will understand the necessity to learn music theory, harmony, and musical analysis. It is better to start this study sooner than later. 3. Inability to achieve the results. It may happen that no matter how hard you are trying to improve, no matter how focused you are, you are still not getting your results. Or perhaps the results are so small that when you start to think about your long-term goal, you may be thinking that it will take many years to achieve it. This might be very frustrating. It may mean, that you are practicing incorrectly. You see, improvising on the organ is no different that learning to play a written down composition. The only difference is that you have to think and compose while you play. But you should still apply the same practice principles as if you would be playing a real organ piece - slow tempo, practice in fragments, voice combinations, aiming on improving your technique and doing repeatedly over and over again. Think about these tips and apply them in your improvisation practice. You may be surprised how fast your improvement will be if you remember your goal, deepen your knowledge of music theory, and constantly take incremental baby steps. If you need help in practicing organ improvisation, check out my free improvisation mini course. Organists rarely have patience. A lot of times we want to see the results of our practice now instead of later.
Therefore there is a temptation to play the music without stopping as if at the concert. Or attempting to play the thick polyphonic texture right away. Or getting too bored with the slow practice speed. Or practicing until our backs start to burn. This might work fine if you are a seasoned organist with solid education, training and experience. But if you are just getting started or getting back to the organ after being away from it for years, you won't see the results you are after. Here are my recommendations which will help you practice more effectively on the organ: 1) Don't play the piece from the beginning until the end at first. 2) Don't go to the next fragment until you master the previous one. 3) Don't play all parts together at first. 4) Don't take a fast tempo at first. 5) Don't jump from one piece to another without first mastering it. 6) Don't neglect short stretching breaks. Occasionally we can turn these points upside down if we are getting close to a public performance but it must be on purpose. You have to be able say "I do this, because right now it is my next step towards my goal. It is part of my plan". By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Practice length is one of the main concerns of aspiring organists. In particularly, inability to practice for larger amount of time means less satisfactory results in the long run.
Here I don't mean the situation when a person can't practice for long enough because of the busy schedule at work or family responsibilities. Instead, I'm talking about an organist who wishes to spend more time on the organ bench but is either bored or otherwise can't commit to longer practice hours. Let's discuss a little bit what happens when we practice. This way you will see the situation in a different light, I hope. When we first sit on the organ bench and start working on some exercises, we notice right away how rigid and inflexible our hands and feet are. If we keep playing the instrument gently for 15 minutes, the feeling is that our hands and feet start to feel a little better - we are starting to warm up. In the next 15 minutes we can start to see the actual immediate results of today's practice. For example, we can learn a fragment of 4 measures which will be one step towards our long-term goal. Of course, we can stop here and start doing something else. If we do, then what we have accomplished today is only these 4 measures. What about the previously learned material that we mastered in the past practice sessions? Have we had time to play it at least once in a slow tempo and refresh our memory? No, we only mastered these new 4 measures. Of course, we can repeat the old material before learning something new but the situation is the same - we either haven't learned anything new today or learned some new fragment but forgot older fragments. Can you see the problem here? If we want to start learning something new and at the same time build on what we have already mastered, we need to put longer hours for practice. Let's say we spent 15 minutes for warm-ups and exercises, then another 15 minutes for repetition of older material. So after half an hour only we can start learning something new today. A lot of people stop practicing right here. The question is why? To answer it, we must ask ourselves, how do we feel after these 30 minutes? Well, if we play with pedals, our back starts to feel a little tired. What happens with our mind? If we honestly were focusing on the music for half an hour, then surely our mind starts to feel tired, too. If we want to continue to practice, we could either push through the feeling of being tired or we could take a short 5-10 minute break. In order to not overexert ourselves I recommend a break. Drink a glass of water, relax a little and stretch your upper and lower body for 5 minutes. That's it. All you need is some air, breathing, and you will start to feel refreshed. Then come back and practice for 30 more minutes. After that, take another short break and so on. This way, your practice will become more enjoyable and not become tiresome. If you have enough time, you can easily practice for 2 hours a day this way. Is it OK to push through and practice longer without resting? Yes, it is great to do it occasionally because your mind also needs to have the ability focus for longer periods of time. In fact, you may want to learn to focus for at least one hour - that's an average time of the organ recital. If you practice this way, don't forget to rest more after this hour. However, your normal everyday practice should be fun and easy - your goal is to practice for years to come and not to burn yourself out. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. I hear people describing this situation - they practice organ playing a lot (1-2 hours) every day but it doesn't seem to get them results they are after. After such an hour or two spent on the organ bench they tend to feel a sense of frustration rather than tranquility, completion, and that they achieved something remarkable today.
If you are in such a situation, here is what I recommend you can do: Make sure you have your fingering and pedaling written in (at least for 4 measures at a time). Practicing organ piece without the predetermined fingering and pedaling will make your playing very insecure, unpredictable, and not fluent. Play slowly only 4 measures at a time. If you make mistakes, make a mental note of them and start practicing these 4 measures one more time. Fix the mistakes and aim for at least 3 correct repetitions in a row (5-10 repetitions if you are really serious about your progress). Practice separate voices or parts first. Don't attempt to play two voices unless you can play solo lines slowly but perfectly repeatedly. Only then practice all available combinations of two voices. If you did the previous step honestly, then these two voices are going to be just a little more difficult but not out of reach. The same holds true with playing combinations of three voices - do the two parts first. In a four-part piece, remember to play all four parts together only after you did all these preparatory steps. You can also check if the piece you are working on is not too difficult for you at the moment. Try to play it at 50 % slower tempo than a concert speed. If you make more than 3 mistakes in one system while playing slowly - there is a good reason to believe that you need to take an easier piece for practicing now and work on improving your organ technique. Apply these tips in your organ practice today. They really work. But don't expect fast results. Instead celebrate each conquered four-measure fragment. Then little by little you start putting them all together and your piece will begin to sound much better. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. When everything is going smoothly, it is easy to be patient in your organ practice. It is easy to reduce the tempo up to half speed and really focus on playing every note correctly. When things go as you planned, it is relatively easy to work in smaller fragments because you hear correct results right away.
But what to do if the episode you are working on is extremely difficult and you make too many mistakes, despite the fact that you hear the perfect performance in your head? Is it possible to keep you patience and faithfully practice as if nothing is bothering you? Is it possible to really let go that tension and stress rising inside of you and just to enjoy your practice? I think what you can do if you are feeling impatient is to focus on the basics. Here I mean correct notes, rhythms, fingering, pedaling, ornaments, articulation, tempo, and hand and feet position. Check if any of these elements need correction and simply repeat the excerpt 5-10 times with the aim to improve them. These repetitions could be your immediate goal. Having a clear goal in mind while practicing really does help to calm down and relax. Don't forget the power of slow and deep breathing through the nose which improves the focus of your mind. This in turn will help you to avoid mistakes, and consequently, unnecessary frustration. You have to understand where your frustration and impatience are comming from. A lot of times they come from unrealistic expectations of wanting to play perfectly the entire piece too soon. What you can do if you run in such problems is to focus on playing separate voices or parts for a while. This again will help you to calm down and be happy with your organ practice because the texture will be easy enough to manage and you will begin to see the results you like right away. When this becomes easy, slowly add one more voice. By doing so, little by little you can master even pieces which currently might seem out of reach for you. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Reading about how to practice organ doesn't count as practice.
Planning to practice organ doesn't count as practice. Wishing to practice organ doesn't count as practice. Thinking about yesterday's organ practice doesn't count as practice. Listening to organ music doesn't count as practice (it only counts, if you are listening with a specific goal in mind). Discussing with a friend how to practice organ doesn't count as practice. It only counts, if you actually show up and do the next step which brings you closer to your goal. So I hope you have practiced your organ music today already. If not, go do it now. Even if it's only 15 minutes during that TV commercial. Even if it's these 4 measures which give you most trouble. Even if it's only on the table when the family is asleep. It counts. Then when you go to bed and think of what you have acomplished today, you can say, "yes, I have just made one baby step towards my goal." By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Sometimes I get asked for an advice on practicing by people who are not sure anymore if they can continue to practice organ playing. In their student years they had lots of time and motivation to play their instrument at the highest level, perform concerts and seek a professional organist career.
But later in life after they finished their training and studies situation changed. They might have dreamed about having a successful international recitalist career and make a living out of it, but in reality, only very few individuals ever achieve this level. Most of the organists I know have to combine 3 things to survive: teach (both privately and/or at an institution), play paid concerts (in their own country and abroad), and play church services. Of course, that's a generalization, and certainly there are people who can do only one of these activities to make a living but I have a feeling that they are not in the majority. A person might have a life-long dream to play regular concerts and when that doesn't seem to work, a motivation to practice organ might diminish. So we have to search for an answer of why do we keep up our efforts at becoming a better organist. I think the answer has to come from within the individual. Money, fame, and career, although they might seem like vital part of the organist's life, is only the result of many years of diligent practice. The real motivation is within us, not from external stimuli, such as paid concerts. Imagine a situation where a person has to play church services every week (or even every day) but his/her duties don't include playing more difficult organ works. So it's easy to fall into the trap of playing just the hymns because there is no need for more advanced music (at present). That might be fine for an organist who doesn't have extensive training, experience, and skills. However, I believe, if the person has the necessary skills to do a better job and to improve, it is already a responsibility for him/her to keep these skills sharp and to advance them even further. We never know when the situation changes, when somebody will offer us a paid concert but if we continue to practice and improve, when the time comes, we will be ready. Did you know that many young conductors began their international career by substituting on the spot a regular conductor who couldn't show up at the concert? They couldn't do that if all they did was wait for that moment and did not practice because nobody paid them money for doing so. So I guess, we have to earn that trust, earn attention from potential concert organizers, and become better and/or more remarkable than our competitors. And how do we earn trust? By practicing, giving our best, staying sharp, and most importantly, by being remarkable. Don't wait for somebody to find you, become proactive in building relationships and networking. Don't just send your resume and your proposed concert program to churches. This approach rarely works anymore because of the increased competition. Instead, think of how you can be different and more remarkable than other organists and position yourself that way. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. |
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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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