One of the main things that keeps many organists from practicing is the lack of time. They say they would want to play the organ more but their job takes so much of their time, not to mention commuting, their families and other important tasks they have to do during the day. However, I believe it is possible to squeeze in more organ practice time in your day. Try applying the following 6 tips and you will be able to spend more time playing organ without sacrificing your other important responsibilities.
1) Prioritize your time. Take a look at your daily tasks and try to make a list of them on the sheet of paper. You will have 10 or more things that you do each day. You will be surprised that some of the things are not really important. So number this list from the most important to the ones that can be omitted. This way you will be able to have more time for organ practice. 2) Practice during TV commercials. You may not realize this but TV commercials might be a great time to practice organ playing. Usually there are 3 or more times when commercials are shown during a show or a film. Each commercial might last at least 5 minutes. This gives you to play the organ at least for 15 minutes or even longer. 3) Practice longer on the weekends. If you work from 8 to 5 on weekdays, then the most productive time for your organ playing might be the weekends. You can spend even 2-3 hours on the organ bench this way. However, make sure you rest every 30 minutes, stretch, have a drink and relax your mind and body. 4) Limit distractions. If you look at the usual day of an ordinary person, you will soon notice at least several distractions which are serious wasters of time and energy, if used not efficiently. These are various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and many others. Note that I am not suggesting you should avoid them completely. Just check your email twice a day. The same applies for social networking sites. You can spend the time saved on your organ practice. 5) Get up earlier or stay up longer. The great times for organ playing during the day are mornings or evenings. 30 minutes might be all you need for practice. Note that you can spend this time doing other important tasks that you need to accomplish which in turn will allow for more organ practice time during the day. 6) Have a constant practice schedule. Whatever time you choose for your organ playing, make it constant. Put it on your calendar so that you will know the exact time each day for playing the organ. Let your family members know about your commitment and ask for their support. Although these tips may seem self-evident, only surprisingly small number of people put them into action. Many of them would want to spend more time practicing the organ but they lack perseverance to see their commitment through. Just like anything worthwhile, organ practice takes conscious effort from the organist's part but if you stay focused on your goal, you too, can do it. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.
Comments
Many organists share a common dream - to be able to play effortlessly on the organ like the masters do. They want to achieve this level, when the listeners have the impression that their fingers and feet play without any conscious effort from their part. If you would like to reach such heights in organ playing, study the following 6 tips.
1) Pay attention to details. When you are practicing a new organ composition, make sure that musical text is correct. This includes playing without mistakes such details as notes, rhythms, fingering, pedaling, articulation, phrasing, ornaments and registration. To achieve the best results, play the above points at least 3 times correctly in a row. 2) Develop a good finger and pedal technique. If you truly wish to play the organ at the level of world-class organists, you should regularly practice some special finger and pedal exercises which will strengthen your technique. My personal favorite exercise collections are Hanon's "Virtuoso Pianist" and George Ritchie's and George Stauffer's Örgan Technique: Modern and Early. 3) Use pedal and finger preparation. This technique is one of the main tricks used for playing automation. In order to successfully implement it in your practice, try to work in short fragments repeatedly. As you depress one pedal with one foot, slide the other foot in a position for the next note immediately and let it rest there waiting for its turn to play. The same principle applies in finger preparation. 4) Correct your mistakes. If you play your organ composition from the beginning until the end, there is a high risk of making mistakes in many places. It is best to work in fragments of 1-8 measures at a time depending on the level of difficulty. Once you make a mistake, go back to the beginning of the fragment, correct your mistake and play this fragment at least 3 times. 5) Practice in a slow tempo. Your organ playing will be much more precise if you practice at a tempo in which you can avoid mistakes. This usually means taking a slow tempo. Remember that practice is not the same as performance. While performing the piece you might be required to play much faster, slow down in your everyday practice to achieve the best results. 6) Keep your fingers and your feet in contact with the keyboard and the pedal board at all times. This technique will allow you to feel the keyboard and the pedal board better. This means that although the finger or the foot is not playing, it should still be touching the key or the pedal. Just let them rest on the keys or the pedals. As you can see, your practice should be very focused and precise. You must have a very clear picture of what it is you are trying to accomplish in each practice session. If you want to be able to play the organ effortlessly like any of the top-level organists can, start using the above 6 tips today. You can also download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Many organists after playing the organ for some years for various reasons stop practicing. They quit playing because of the changes in their lives, such as moving to a different area, starting a family, finding a new job etc. All of this contribute to the lack of time, motivation, practice instrument and a person simply does not continue playing the organ. However, even after many years of silence he or she can feel the renewed interest in organ. In this article, I will give you 4 tips on how to resume organ playing after a long break.
1) Do not practice for long periods of time at first. Although you might have used to play the organ for several hours a day, I do not recommend you jump in and resume the practice in the same way. You have to realize that while your motivation and interest in organ might be the same as 10, 20, or 30 years ago, your stamina is not. In addition, your body might not like sitting in the same position for hours. Therefore, I think it is best to expose yourself to organ playing gradually. Start practicing with just 30 minutes a day. This way you will avoid overexertion which is not very healthy. The most important thing about your practice is that it should be regular. You will achieve more if you practice for 30 minutes every day than for 3 hours just once a week. Of course, with experience you can practice for an hour or even longer but especially long practice sessions should be avoided. 2) Choose easy pieces first. Although after resuming organ playing you might have plans to learn your favorite technically advanced organ pieces, you should be aware of your current technical abilities. Remember that after years without practicing organ your level is not the same anymore. Just because you might have played and learned some advanced level pieces years ago does not mean you will be able to play similar ones right away. Therefore, I suggest you do not pick up your organ practice where you left in the past. Instead, play some shorter and easier compositions at first. These could be works with thin texture, slower tempo, simple melodic lines and rhythms and long note-values in the pedal part or even manualiter works (without the pedal). Especially suited for this purpose are 8 little preludes and fugues, BWV 553-560 formerly attributed to J.S.Bach, some easier chorale preludes from the Orgelbuchlein, chorale preludes by J.Brahms, slow movements from Mendelssohn sonatas, pieces from L'Organiste by C.Franck, "Practical Organist" by A.Guilmant and other works. 3) Have a goal in mind. In order to resume organ practice successfully, you must also have a dream. This is what keeps you practicing in the first place. Without this goal, it will be difficult for you to learn the pieces that you choose. Instead of focusing on your goal, you might play many different compositions without ever learning them. However, if you truly want to improve your organ playing, having a goal in mind will greatly facilitate your progress. 4) Make a practice schedule. I have noticed from my personal experience that a detailed step-by-step plan is essential in any kind of undertaking. This plan is precisely what helps your dream become a reality. Your plan might include steps in mastering any particular piece that you like. Once you have your plan, create a practice schedule for fulfilling your plan. Be very precise and indicate specific time of the day which you will use for practicing organ. Your practice time might be the same for every day of the week or you can reserve different times for different days. Whatever you choose, make it constant. Then all you have to do is to stick to your plan and follow your schedule diligently. Of course, adhering to my suggestions will require some willpower but if you truly want to practice for many years, you will not regret it. You can also download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Although many organists start playing the organ, only a small portion of them ever achieve success. This may happen for a variety of reasons but one of the greatest obstacles is when people give up playing this instrument and quit. If you want that this will not happen to you, try applying the following 4 tips.
1. Have a goal in mind. First and foremost your have to find goal which you can focus on. It could be like a dream which keeps you going. Your goal could be a general one, like to become a good organist, or a more specific, like to master any specific piece. However, if you play aimlessly, your chances of keeping up your practice for years to come are not high. In other words, if you play one day this, another day that - such practice will not lead you anywhere. Note that I am not talking here about sight-reading which you should also practice. Instead, I am referring to the pieces that you want to master at a deeper level. 2. Have a schedule for practice. Once you found out what your goal is, prepare a plan with specific steps and schedule for your regular practice. Remember that it is important that you practice regularly. If you skip one day without practice, only you will notice it. Spend two days without a practice and your teacher or friends will start noticing it. As the old saying goes, practice is like boiling water - without constant heat it cools down. Note that your practice sessions do not necessarily have to be very long. Only 30 minutes a day might be all you need to start seeing some positive results after a few short months. 3. Choose pieces according to your level of ability. Try to be realistic about your technical level when practicing organ. Although your dream might be to play something technically very challenging, like Widor's Toccata, you might not be ready for it yet. Instead, take some shorter, slower works from the same period and master them. Think of them as a preparation for your goal which you eventually will attempt to achieve. 4. Find a mentor you can trust to push you. Although you have chances to succeed when working alone, having a good mentor, a teacher, or instructor is much more beneficial. Your mentor can tell you to practice harder, motivate you, give you a daily plan, and other valuable recommendations. However, you must listen to your mentor and do what he or she asks you to do. There is no point of working with a mentor and doing things that contradict with mentor's teachings. Key points to remember: find a goal, prepare a schedule for practicing, practice pieces that are not too difficult for you at the moment, find a mentor and listen to your mentor. If you follow my advice, you will have many more chances to practice for many years successfully. You can also download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Every organist wants to see great results from practicing the organ playing. However, if the results are not as good or if they cannot be achieved fast enough, some people might feel disappointed and frustrated. Practicing with this feeling is not going to help them to advance in organ playing. What they need is to overcome the frustration and focus on what is important. In this article, I will give you 3 tips which might help you to avoid frustration when playing the organ.
1. Check if the piece is not too difficult. Very often organists with modest technical abilities have quite ambitious goals and start playing compositions that technically are too challenging or they simply are too long. For example, such a person might like Bach's or Widor's Toccata or Prelude and Fugue on BACH by Liszt or any other difficult piece. However, no matter how beautiful these works are, beginners have to start with more modest and shorter pieces first. For instance, if you like Bach's D minor Toccata, try several shorter preludes and fugues from the collection of 8 Little Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553-560. Or if you eventually plan to master Widor's Toccata, why not to start with an easier piece from the French symphonic school, such as Berceuse by Vierne, pieces from L'Organiste by Franck or works from Practical Organist by Guilmant. Instead of Prelude and Fugue on BACH by Liszt, play easier movements from Mendelssohn's sonatas, or choral preludes by Brahms. Although they are short and not as difficult, the artistic level of these works is very high. You are probably wondering, how to know if the piece is too difficult? Try sight-reading it in a very slow tempo, and if you make mistakes in every measure, I suggest taking an easier piece first. 2. Practice in voice combinations to avoid mistakes. If the piece you are working on is of your technical level then there is one more thing you can do to make things easier. In order to avoid making mistakes, which will save you a lot of frustration, try practicing your organ piece in separate voices first. After that work on two-voice combinations, do not rush and achieve the level when you can play them at least three times in a row correctly. Then play three voices the same way and finally, the entire four-part texture. 3. Practice in fragments to correct mistakes. If after playing according to the above point you are still making some mistakes, it is best not to play your piece all the way through. Instead, work on one small episode or fragment at a time. It could be as short as 1-2 measures or longer (1 line). If you make a mistake, just go back to the beginning of your fragment, take a slower tempo, correct your mistake and play it at least three times in a row without any errors. Note that your fingering, pedaling, notes, rhythms and articulation must be precise. To summarize: choose the piece which is not too complicated for you at the moment, work in voice combinations and in smaller fragments for best results. Practicing this way will lead you to success in organ playing and will help you to avoid much frustration. You can also download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Have you experienced frustration when practicing organ playing? This feeling can arise from incorrect practice habits and can inhibit the advancement of an organist. Moreover, many organists after feeling frustrated may skip practice sessions for a long time and eventually quit practicing the organ altogether. In this article, I will give you 3 tips which will help you not to get frustrated when practicing the organ.
1. Remember your goal. Usually frustration sets in when we are unsatisfied with our progress or the results we are seeing. However, all this negative feeling can be avoided if you remember your goal, dream or vision as an organist. It may be something general, like becoming a good organist or developing a solid organ technique or more specific, like learning any particular piece that you like or preparing for an upcoming recital or church service. Try to resist the thoughts that let you down and keep your mind focused on your goal. This way your mistakes and challenges will not seem as daunting to you. 2. Make a plan for your daily practice. Once you determine what your goal is, you have to create a plan of your daily steps to reach this goal. In other words, you will have to know what kind of specific action you have to take every day in order for your dream to become a reality. For example, imagine that your piece is 3 pages long, each page having 4 lines which makes total of 12 lines. Your daily plan might be to learn 1 line per day and repeat the previously learned lines. As you can see, it will take 12 days to learn the entire piece and a few more to make your playing fluent. Of course, if you want to progress faster, you can always put in more practice time and learn more lines per day. 3. Take a slow tempo. Usually when we make a mistake it is because our practicing tempo is too fast. Here you have to understand the difference between practice and performance. You see, although faster tempo might be required when performing any particular piece in public, you have to play differently when practicing alone. The best tempo for practicing is the tempo in which you can avoid making mistakes. So check how many mistakes you are making and slow down accordingly until they disappear. It really is that simple. You will not feel any frustration this way. On the contrary, you might feel some pride that you are seeing the results you want. Do not worry about the concert tempo. You will reach it gradually when you are ready. As the saying goes, slow practice makes fast progress. Most importantly, remember you goal, stick to your plan and small challenges will seem insignificant to you. Remember that every practice session brings you closer to your goal one step at a time. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Because much of organ music consist of polyphonic works with several
independent melodies, it is important for the organist to be able to hear and play each voice independently. If you focus on emphasizing different voices, your playing will become very clear and much more interesting to the listeners. By hearing each voice independently you will let your audience appreciate the structure and the thematic material on a higher degree. However, if you want to achieve such level in organ playing, you must know the correct way of practicing polyphonic compositions. Practice solo voices first. If you take an unfamiliar polyphonic organ work, such as fugue and try to play it as written right from the beginning, there is a high chance of missing many important details, such as articulation and phrasing. In addition, you might make many mistakes. However, if you truly want to master a polyphonic piece and play each line independently, I suggest you practice solo voices first. Practicing this way might save you a lot of energy and you will avoid frustration. In fact, you will master each line separately and know how the piece is put together. This way you will build a solid foundation for your further practice. Make sure your fingering, pedaling, rhythms, articulation, phrasing and ornaments are precise in each voice. Practice two-voice and three-voice combinations. After you master each voice part separately and are able to play them at least three times correctly in a row, work on two-voice and three-voice combinations. This step will be more difficult to master, so take a slow and comfortable tempo in which you can play without mistakes. The most challenging combination will be the one which requires to play the left hand and pedal part together. Coordinate the releases. After you can play three voices together in a polyphonic composition, make sure your releases are precise. This means that you have to treat each voice separately with correct articulation. Often suspensions and syncopations in one voice must be played using a different articulation from other voices. Work repeatedly in fragments. The best way to practice either each voice or various voice combinations is in smaller episodes or fragments. This way you can either prevent making mistakes or to correct them immediately. Therefore, I suggest you avoid playing long episodes or the entire work, at least in the beginning stages of your practice. Note that you must try to notice and execute such details, as articulation, ornaments, fingering, pedaling and phrasing correctly. This way your voices will sound very precise and independent. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Beginner organists usually struggle with reading three staves of organ scores. Although they may have some experience in reading piano scores with two lines, adding just one more line for the pedals seems a daunting task. Not only they lack the technical ability to play the right notes on the pedal board but also they have to face another challenge – their left hand naturally wants to play the bottom line. Prospective organists might get frustrated with these difficulties and quit practicing the organ. However, there is an easier way to read three lines of organ music which will help you to simplify this task.
Practice 1 line at a time first. Since 3 stave notation is new to beginner organists, it is not surprising why they find it so difficult to read all the lines together at first. However, we should remember that even two lines of piano scores were difficult to read at first. Therefore, I suggest you practice one line at a time in the beginning. For example, when you take a new organ composition, don’t attempt to play the entire organ score with pedals, but practice the right hand part at first, then play the left hand part, and, finally, master the pedal part. This will be the hardest task. Practice 2 lines later. When you can play your solo parts at least three times in a row correctly without hesitations and interruptions, put 2 lines together and practice them. You can work in the following dispositions: the right hand and the left hand, the right hand and pedal part, and the left hand and the pedal part. As in the previous step, try to achieve some fluency and play each disposition without mistakes, with the right articulation at least 3 times in a row correctly. The most difficult disposition undoubtedly will be the left hand and pedal part. Here you will have to repeat the most times. Stop at each measure when you make a mistake, go back a few measures and correct each mistake. Finally, practice 3 lines. If you are honest and practice sincerely the two previous steps this final step will not be as hard as it have seemed to you originally. Now you are ready to play all parts together. Again, work in smaller fragments for best results and correct your mistakes. Note that every step requires practicing in a slow and comfortable tempo. Although the concert tempo might be much faster, don’t worry about it at first. You will be able to play up to tempo naturally when you are ready. Practice sight-reading the same way. If you are interested in reading music at the organ, you can try practicing 371 Harmonized Chorales by Bach. Although their are short but their harmonies are spectacular. We know that Bach never wrote a treatise on harmony. But these harmonisations are like a real textbook of harmony. Many theorists after Bach analyzed them and developed a system of tonal harmony. You can practice these chorales (with bass part on the pedals) to improve your sight-reading abilities at the organ. Apply the same above steps and play solo voices, combinations of 2 voices, combinations of 3 voices, and finally, the entire four part texture. If you really want to develop unbeatable sight-reading skills, check out my systematic Organ Sight-Reading Master Course. To complete the practice material of this course will only take 15 minutes a day of practice but you will learn to sight-read any piece of organ music effortlessly. Every organist wants to achieve a high degree of fluency while playing the organ. It is rewarding to be able to perform pieces without mistakes, without faltering, and without stopping. However, achieving this level requires a very specific way of practicing without which your chances to succeed are not as high. In this article, I will give you five tips which will help you to play the organ smoothly, freely, and without interruptions.
Practice in a slow tempo. When you start practicing a new organ composition, it is crucial to play in such a tempo in which you could avoid making mistakes. Usually, this means practicing very slowly. Don‘t worry so much about the concert tempo. You will be able to achieve it naturally, when you are ready. Practice in voice combinations. If you have a challenging polyphonic piece, such as a fugue in front of you, it is best not to jump and play all the voices right away but patiently practice in solo voices first. Usually this is not too difficult. When you can play your piece fluently in separate voices, start working in two-voice combinations. Later advance to three voices and only at the end, when you can play this version correctly at least three times in a row practice all the voices together. Choose compositions of your ability. Although it is tempting to play your favorite pieces right from the beginning, always think about your technical ability level. So choose the pieces wisely. This may mean that some of your favorite organ works must wait until you are ready for them. For example, if your dream is to be able to play Widor‘s Toccata, start with easier French Romantic pieces first. Practice in fragments repeatedly. I have seen many of my students play organ music from the beginning until the end in their practice. Although this is not necessarily an incorrect approach, the best way to practice is to choose shorter episodes or fragments and practice them over and over. This way you can correct your mistakes right away and develop the right practicing habits. It is not too difficult to decide when you have practiced this fragment enough times. I suggest a minimum of 3 correct repetitions in a row. Write in fingering and pedaling. Although this particular point might be a little boring, but trust me, it is well worth your time and effort. You see, whenever you encounter a problematic place and make a mistake, chances are that you need to think about more efficient fingering and pedaling. Do not play the organ music with accidental fingerings. Since your fingers can remember the particular passages, it is very wise to reinforce the correct fingering. Since pedal playing is a new skill for every beginner organist, writing in pedaling is even more important. An excellent resource on using early fingerings is the book "Early Keyboard Fingerings", ed. Maria Boxall. As you probably understood, practicing this way requires certain amount of patience. It is important not to give up and start playing the organ without a method or a system. Always have your goal or a dream in mind of what you are trying to accomplish. Know that every correct practice brings you closer to your goal one step at a time. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. I have written earlier about the need for a slow practice and the work in fragments, and attention to detail which are all technical things. Although attention to detail is crucial in practicing your organ music, it is not enough to be able to play without mistakes. You need to have a special kind of mentality. Here I am referring to the focused mind which can help you to reach that optimum performance state which in turn will empower you not only to play without the mistakes. Moreover, your performance will have the special power over listeners and you will have their attention fixed on your playing without interruption. In this article, I will explain this mental technique and how to achieve it.
The mentality or the mindset of a world class organist is similar to the state of mind of an athlete or a martial artist. Athletes refer to it as “Being in the Zone”. Martial artists say that “their body should be relaxed but the mind should be on fire”. In other words, they have to have an alert but clear mind. They have to throw all of their thoughts, insecurities, and mental blocks away and simply be in the moment. Various traditions have different techniques which can help you to achieve that state of mind. Some of the most popular are breathing, meditation, or prayer. In organ playing, I find that deep, regular, and slow conscious breathing from the lower abdomen actually helps me to improve my mental focus. When playing a piece of music, I often try to find the natural breathing rhythm. Usually it coincides with the cycle of measures. For example, I may inhale over two or more measures and exhale over the same number of measures and repeat this process over the course of the piece. The breathing should be done through the nose. You can do the same in your piece and you will start to notice some really interesting things over time. If you stay focused on your breathing then your mind gradually calms down, your body relaxes, and you will be able to control your movements much better. In turn, the risk of hitting the wrong note by accident is much lower. If you do play an incorrect note or two during your performance, let it go and force yourself to stay focused and not keep your thoughts on this mistake. Very often if we make a mistake, we think about it for a while when we are playing, we loose focus, and consequently make more mistakes. So no matter what went wrong you have to try to stay focused until the very end. It is interesting how we can make mistakes even in a slow tempo in an easy spot. This is how it may happen. As we are playing, we might be aware how well we play or how easy is this particular episode and again, we may loose our focus. The solution is to keep your focus until the very end. The legendary American organist Marilyn Mason used to say that the recital is not over until you are in the parking lot. Actually, it is so true because if for a moment we relax our focus, we can make a mistake and loose control over the piece. The master French organist Marcel Dupre suggested that we keep our attention fixed on the current measure that we are playing in order to avoid mistakes. This thought is similar to the idea stated earlier of being in the moment. I understand that for most people it will be hard to achieve this level of focus on the organ. However, if you consistently practice slowly, work in fragments, give a great attention to details, and keep your attention on your breathing, eliminating mistakes actually is not too difficult. Simply change your focus from how not to make mistakes to fulfilling the musical needs of the piece, be in the current measure, and your performance level will improve dramatically. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. |
DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.Thank you!You have successfully joined our subscriber list. ![]() Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
Categories
All
Archives
July 2024
|