Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 314 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Dianne, and she writes: I am struggling with keeping the practice slow. I am too goal oriented for my own good. And then of course I am more easily frustrated when I make mistakes. Working on patience and enjoying the process! V: So, Dianne seems to have partly answered her questions, too. A: Yes, that’s true. V: Because she needs patience, and to enjoy the process. Why do you think, Ausra, people sometimes lack this patience and want to practice too fast? A: Well, I think it gratifies one more when you are playing fast, and sometimes it’s so hard to work on a slow tempo and to practice slowly. But you know, if you won’t do it, you will be sloppy and make mistakes. And actually, you know, sometimes, I think about that story, do you know it, about how a hedgehog was competing with the rabbit? V: A hedgehog or a turtle? A: I know one version there was a hedgehog, and one version there was a turtle. V: Okay. A: That they were competing in a race competition, and the bunny was just running back and forth very fast and he thought he will win, but actually, the hedgehog asked his wife to help him, and one was placed at the beginning of the race, and another at the finish of the race, and actually hedgehog won! Of course, he cheated, but he won, in a way. V: I know a different version of the story. A: Okay, tell your story. V: That the rabbit was competing with a turtle, and that the rabbit, of course, was really fast, and almost finished the race, but before he finished, he looked back, and since the turtle was so far back that he couldn’t even see him, then he thought maybe he should take a nap. And, he did. And actually, this nap turned out to be a deep sleep for a few hours, maybe longer, and when the rabbit awoke, then he saw that turtle little by little, step by step, he approached the finish and actually won the race. A: So, I guess in my story, you can learn that the smarter people win. Think about the strategy, and not necessarily doing what we want to do without thinking about it. And in your story, of course, you know, it’s a good story about slow practicing, I think. It shows that if you practice slowly, you will finish the race first, and you will win it. V: That’s right. You know why I like your story, also? Because I think there is another hidden meaning here, that you should always strive to work on things that matter or are important. Like, in the race, the beginning is important and the finish is important. The middle of the race is not that important. Nobody sees the hedgehog, with his running around, the ending is important. So that’s how he won by placing his wife at the finish line. In organ practice, of course, we could think of things that make up the 80% of the practice with 20% of effort, maybe, and that could maybe be slow practice. But even, probably, not necessarily the entire piece, but maybe if you take a prelude and fugue, or chorale prelude, or fantasia, or any other type of piece, you would probably discover that not every line is extremely difficult. Even in the most difficult pieces, there are easy lines. And maybe, we should practice more the difficult ones! A: True! We need to start from practicing the hardest part. V: Mhm! So, for example, right now I’m practicing for my upcoming recital, where I’ll be playing three pieces by Teisutis Makačinas. He is a composer who celebrates 80 years this year, and he was our teacher, professor, at the Lithuanian Academy of Music. What did he teach, do you remember? A: Harmony and Polyphony. V: And improvisation, too! A: It was part of those courses. V: Ah! Not a separate one! A: No, it wasn’t a separate one. V: Interesting. So, he wrote a bunch of popular songs, actually, which are widely broadcast on the radio, but he wrote a few of the organ sonatas and other pieces that are rarely performed, so he asked me to play for this concert, and his music is really advanced, in many places, but not always, right? There are easy spots, easy pages, and even easy movements! So, at first, I was sort of practicing everything equally, but now, I understand that maybe, those easy movements only need to be played once, and I need to focus on the difficult parts. A: Actually, I don’t remember you practicing so diligently for a long time as you are practicing now these pieces by Makačinas, and I’m so glad I told you, “No, I will not take part in this concert,” and, that I don’t have to learn this music. V: Why? A: Well, it’s so complicated, and, well, just not in my taste. V: It’s not in my taste, either, you know…. A: And with years, somehow I want just to spend time on playing what I really, really like, because I just realized that life is so short. V: But, it’s very difficult to say, “no,” because he was our professor. And, I think he deserves that kind of concert at least for his anniversary. And, since he asked me, then I said, “yes.” A: I remember how you tried to convince me to play that recital, too, and after I spent a couple of hours sitting on the organ bench and sight reading his music, actually, I think I got seriously sick. V: Right. A: And I took it as a sign that probably I shouldn’t do it. V: A sign from Heaven! A: Yes. V: Nice. So, when I’m practicing, I usually practice without sound at home, so that you wouldn’t hear it. A: Well, actually, I like how you’re practicing them, because you know what to emphasize and what to hide. And really, in music like this, I think, the more you play it and the more you listen to it, and the more acquainted you get with it, the better it sounds. And it’s just too bad that during the concert, the listeners will hear it only once. So, I don’t know how well impressed they will be, what impression they will get. V: Maybe that’s part of my assignment, too. If I’m used to the piece and I know the good side of the piece, maybe I can transmit this knowledge to them—to the audience—as well! It’s easier than if I were just sight reading it, right? Of course, you couldn’t sight read it, nobody could sight read this kind of music in a satisfactory manner. So, I have a hope, that people will kind of enjoy this performance, because I will deeply know how the pieces are put together. A: Yes, and I will be turning pages for you and changing stops! V: And I just also hope that the composer himself will be happy. A: I know, it’s always scary to play music by a living composer, knowing that he or she will attend your performance. It sort of puts pressure on you. V: If you wrote music, Ausra, and somebody else performed it, would you go easy on that performer, or would you be very meticulous A: Actually, I would be easier, because nowadays, there is so much music that is created, that you really need to be happy and really to appreciate somebody who is performing your music. V: Mhm, that’s what I’m thinking, too. If anybody would play my music in a different way from what I would imagine, I still would be very grateful, I think. A: True. V: And when you release the music into the world, I think you sort of let it go, and let it live its own life without controlling it too much. A: That’s right, and now, as we go back to the question about patience, I think if you will be patient in your practice, it will help to be patient in other ways in life, too. Because, if you will strengthen this good side of yourself, of being patient, I think you’ll benefit in other things as well. V: That’s right. And, I think it’s a good exercise for me to force myself to play this kind of music that I don’t enjoy right away—it has to grow on me—because I, too, have to be patient! Thanks, guys, this was Vidas, A: And Ausra, V: We hope this was useful to you. Please keep sending us more of your questions, we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen!
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By Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (get free updates of new posts here)
Vidas and I enjoy going to the gym group trainings. It's good for staying motivated to continue to care for our physical bodies so that they would take care of us. The other day I've seen a slogan on the T-shirt of one of the coaches in the gym - "Your workout is my warm-up". I started to think about how it relates to organ practice. All of us are different, have different points of view, different goals and different limitations when it comes to practicing the organ. So when you're tempted to look at your mentor and be intimidated by what she or he can do and what you can't, think again. You need a mentor not for comparison but keeping you just a little bit uncomfortable by encouraging you to go where you're afraid to go. The only comparison that is worth doing is between yourself yesterday and yourself today. Oh, and by the way, there will always be people to whom your warm-up will look like their practice. It doesn't matter. Here's what does: Did I push myself today?
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 287 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Laurie and also Dianne and they both are our Total Organist students and I’ve asked the question at the end of the week “What are they struggling with recently?” And Laurie answered by writing: My biggest struggle has always been, just do it. If I can get myself to the organ bench - oh, and by the way I have a practice instrument in my home, I can have a good time practicing. But for some reason, it is very difficult to get myself to the bench. And then Dianne added: I often have the same issue. I have a practice organ at home as well, but I am not actively playing organ in any church right now... Our church only has a keyboard (and unfortunately they are happy with that). So I always feel like there are more pressing things for me to do than practice, but there are few things I enjoy more. That’s a nice comment Ausra, right? A: Yes, it is. And really common for I think many people. V: Sitting down on the organ bench is half of the job, right? A: Yes, it is because if you sit down you definitely will play something. V: If you said to yourself “OK, I don’t have an hour, I don’t have half a day to practice, and I even don’t have 30 minutes, maybe 15 minutes I don’t have.” What about just sight-reading one page. What about 2 minutes. Can I sit down on the bench and play for 2 minutes without stopping. And guess what happens. You continue to play more, right? A: True. But for me for example if I want to relax when I’m playing, I usually play music that I know well. V: What would that be? Songs by ABBA? A: (laughs) No, it would be like E flat Major Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach. Or, if I don’t have time it would be a chorale by J.S. Bach. V: Performed by ABBA? A: No, performed by me. And if I play piano it would probably be a piece by Johann Brahms or a couple of suites by J. S. Bach. V: You have a few favorites, right? A: Yes, I have a few favorites that make me happy. V: And you would take those favorites to an uninhabited island. A: Or the middle movement of Beethoven’s Pathetic Sonata. I love it. In E Flat Major. V: Well, who wouldn’t. Beethoven is so sweet sometimes, especially his slow movements. A: Well sometimes I play Mozart’s variations in A Major for piano. That’s fun too. V: It seems like you are a fan of gentle and sweet music, right Ausra? A: Well for relaxation, yes. V: Would you recommend to Laurie and Dianne to pick some favorite pieces to play? A: Sure, and maybe after playing that favorite piece you would continue playing something else. Something that you need or want to learn. V: Oh, it’s like giving yourself a reward just for sitting down. Give yourself a musical candy. And then once you have your candy you can eat soup and vegetables and healthy stuff. A: Maybe not such a good idea to eat candy before soup but… V: But you do it. A: Yes. V: Nice. A: Well for example what for me is the most motivating thing to play, to practice even when I’m tired and I don’t have time, and then I just want to lie down and don’t do anything. Like yesterday for example. I had a very stressful and long day… V: Doing what? A: Well I was teaching at school and then in the middle of that I had to go the hospital to get my medicine. V: And what did I do during that time. A: Well you drove me to that hospital. But then later on I had to come back at school with all my medicine and I still had to teach classes and Vidas was waiting for me in the car that time. And then I had to come back home to do all the homely stuff and then I felt so exhausted so I decided to take a walk. So Vidas and I walked in the woods for maybe an hour or an hour and a half and I still felt really exhausted and Vidas told me “Oh don’t practice today.” But I thought I have to practice today because it was Friday and upcoming Tuesday I have a recital. V: How was your blood pressure yesterday? A: It was good. It was low. V: Low. So low is good, for you. A: Yes. V: The reason I suggested you skip practice was that I was worried about your blood pressure jumping up to the sky. A: Well you better worry about your blood pressure. V: Why? A: I don’t know. V: OK. I guess walking in the woods really helped you to relax and get some energy from growing things. A: Yes, but you know to make a long story short what I meant is that if you have an upcoming performance, any kind of performance, church service, recital, hymn festival, it will push you to practice regularly. So you always need to have a goal and to set a date by which you have to learn something and to do something. V: I’m just thinking if people can always get this kind of public accountability like we do. We schedule public performances all the time and we have the motivation to practice this way. A: Both Laurie and Dianne thought that we have home organ so we can make recitals, home recitals for family or friends. V: Right, invite… A: Neighbors. V: Pets. If they have pets their pets could sit around. A: Well home music, home concerts. It’s a good idea. Maybe ask the neighbors. Maybe they have never heard organ playing and maybe they don’t know that you are playing organ. V: What if their level is too low for performing in public. If they feel they are just beginners, what to do then? A: Well anyway if you practice then you will improve. V: And you could perform at your level. You don’t necessarily have to play Beethoven or Vierne but you could play 2-part inventions. You could play hymns. Even if you can’t play 4-part hymns you could play soprano and bass with the hands only and that would sound actually very nice. A: And Dianne wrote that her church has only a keyboard and doesn’t care or getting organ maybe she could look for another church. V: Right. Don’t feel like you have to work there or play there all your life. I you do your art and your art is not appreciated there why bother, right? A: True. V: If the church maybe feels that they have other priorities. Of course they should have other priorities besides organ but organ is also very important integral part of the service. Besides Pastor or Priest, organist is sort of communicator and collaborator on the same level and probably most highly trained professional in the congregation. A: True. V: So yes, go where you would be more appreciated. I’m not sure that she is feeling that way but if that would be the case I would probably slowly start looking elsewhere. A: And when you have organ at home think how lucky you are because there are so many organists that would do anything to have an organ at home and they don’t so you are privileged so take advantage of it. V: And when you don’t have an organ at home, when you have to go out and play someplace else you feel more motivated actually. Like if we go to the gym and we want to work out in the gym we feel more motivated than working out at home, right? Because what, we’re paying for the membership at the gym, right? It’s an investment and other people will be practicing in there in that group too so it is supporting each other. So going out to the church to practice is actually good, healthy. A lot of artists don’t like to work and create at home because of family situations, right? So they kind of set up their studio on the other side of the town maybe. A: Well with many artists in Lithuania I think it’s another reason why we don’t want to work at home. Because at least some of the time artists drank a lot of alcohol and if you have a family you definitely don’t want to do that in front of your kids and your wife. So I think it was their way to escape and be a little bit bohemian. That’s my opinion. V: You are definitely right about that. There’s another side of creating art. Escaping reality. A: But I don’t think many organists have the same problem as artists used to have in those days. V: Right. And because organists are always creating alone and performing alone we’re used to being alone. And artists they get together in groups sometimes, right? They discuss art and not only art. In groups it’s a different feeling. OK, so closing probably advice would be to get some public accountability. Definitely. A: Yes I think this would be the best motivation. V: And even consider modern tools. Technology. What about you can perform at home and you can record yourself at home and publish it online. That would be your motivation. You can even set up a social media channel where your followers would start waiting for your new videos or recordings to come up regularly. You would feel responsible for showing up and practicing, right? A: And if your family and other relations live in another town you could perform for them on Skype. V: Oh, nice, right. A: That’s a possibility. V: That’s a nice way to interact with family. Keep connected. Thank you guys for listening, for sending us your thoughtful questions and feedback. We love helping you grow and remember when you practice… A: Miracles happen.
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Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 286 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by David, and he writes: When I'm playing Sine Nomine once through or twice through, I do well... but the 4th or 5th time through, I start to make mistakes; particularly at the very beginning and very end of the piece. Also, I picked a prelude that is too long, and at the end of the piece, the organ just does not want to play all the notes that are written in the music... the top notes drop out--not enough polyphony with a large registration, so I lose the melody and part of the harmony of the final cadence of the piece. Ugh.. so here I am the day before the service, and I am cutting the piece in half (there is a fair stopping point half way through the arrangement) and re-writing the end of the first half so it sounds more like it's finished at that point in the music. Unfortunately, the church is reluctant to purchase a newer organ (more capable electronic or even small pipe organ) because they are convinced that it is impossible to find new organists to play them, and there are other priorities for the money. So I am stuck with the instrument that is there and often have to modify pieces. Also on this organ, the pedals are quite noisy.... not when I press them, but when they are RELEASED. So in a piece that moves at a fair pace, like Sine Nomine, or when I'm doing a moderately fast arpeggio, like in Lyons, as the pedal is released, it hits the top of its travel and make a considerable thump, which is annoying. I don't seem to have this same issue on other organs that I play. I try to be so gentle when I play these pedals, that even if I don't want to play legato, they end up legato just so I don't hear that thump. V: So Ausra, I think this question has two sides, right? A: Yes. V: About the sounds of the pedal board, and about starting making mistakes with additional repetitions. Not right away, David is not making mistakes when he plays once or twice, but on the fourth or the fifth time, he starts to make mistakes. Why is that? A: I think he just loses his concentration, because if he would start doing mistakes right away, I would guess that he hasn’t learned the piece to play very well yet. But, because he can play twice through without making any mistakes, it means after that he probably loses his concentration. V: A simple solution would be to probably stand up, walk around, drink a glass of water, and regain your focus. What about this idea, Ausra? A: Well, what if you are in the middle of service or a concert, can you do that? V: No, but if during the concert or service, you play just once. A: Well, yes, that’s true. V: What would you do in this situation, if you lose focus? A: Well, you can do that, but you know, sometimes you need to stay on the organ and try to stay focused. V: So, push yourself. A: Yes. V: Don’t relax, right, your mind. A: Yes, that’s right. But, it’s very hard to do. I think it’s the hardest part of being a performer. Don’t you think so? V: Right, because, when you play the piece, and some parts are difficult, some parts are not, when you conquer the difficult parts you feel sort of proud. You feel sort of good. And, at that particular moment, you tend to relax after conquering that one part. A: Yes, I had that feeling so many times. V: And, when you relax, you… A: ...you make mistakes. V: You trip. A: Yes. In an easy spot. V: Mhm. There are, of course, solutions, two solutions for that. Maybe David could stay focused until the very end. That’s the hard solution. And the easy solution would be to relax yourself right from the beginning. A: True. V: Like, imagine that he is just playing for himself for fun, not in order to avoid mistakes, but just to please himself. Sort of, to lower the stakes. To lower the risk. And then, the fear of making mistakes would be lower. What do you think about that? A: I think, in general, you don’t need to focus making or not making mistakes, you need to focus on your music that you are playing. V: Mistakes will happen, anyway. A: Yes, anyway, because if you would record a CD, then you might do some editing. But if it’s a live performance, you never know what might happen. The organ might break in the middle of your piece. V: Or one particular key might stick. And what would you do then? A: Or the day might be very hot, and your fingers might just get slippery. V: Or, if you’re playing on the upper manual, you start to slip from the bench! A: Or, a baby will start to scream, and you will lose your concentration. V: So we scare people for thirty minutes? A: Well, I just want say that you never know what might happen during your performance. V: That’s the beauty of it, right Ausra? A: Yes. V: If you knew what will happen, then it wouldn’t be that interesting. A: That’s right, and I don’t think I remember playing in Lithuania even once that it would be completely silent during a recital. Do you remember, or not? V: Yes, I did, when I played just for myself. A: Well, that’s another story. V: No one showed up. But I didn’t play that entire recital, I think. Just one piece. A: But especially at the cathedral where tourists come in and come out, you never know how much noise you will get during your recital. And sometimes I just felt like I’m, I don’t know, like I’m sitting in the middle of a farmer’s market and trying to play a recital. And that’s the feeling of playing in the cathedral in Vilnius. V: That’s why we don’t, play there that often. A: I know. Not a very nice feeling. V: Mhm. So, wonderful. You know where is this silence if you play your recital? A: Where? V: At the cemetery! There will be complete silence! A: But then you need to install an organ there! V: Too bad that all the listeners are dead! A: Maybe that’s a good thing! Well, but that’s a nasty humor. We don’t have to joke like this. V: It wasn’t a joke, actually, it’s a reality… A: Well, there are some cemeteries where there are chapels built, so you could put an organ there and enjoy playing in complete silence. V: So, David then struggles with pedal releases, squeaky noises… not only squeaky noises, but some sort of thumps when he releases. Is there a way, Ausra, to diminish that noise? We have some pedals in our home organ which squeak. Do they annoy you? A: Well, actually, not too much. Because, when you are playing a purely mechanical organ, such sounds make me to relax, actually. V: Like a lullaby. A: True. And I like them. But if this is an electronic organ that squeaks, then yes, that’s very annoying. And I don’t think that there could be much done. If you are gentle with what you are doing with your feet on the pedals, if you are wearing quiet shoes, then there is not much you could do. V: I remember, I tried to fix that once in St. John’s church. I unscrewed the pedal board, and then removed the spring underneath one pedal, and then what I did, maybe I put some oil on it. A: Yes, oiling things might help a little bit, at least to reduce that squeaky noise. V: Still it’s a mechanical thing, even if David’s organ is not mechanical. The noise is mechanical, so you can get to the bottom of the problem and fix it mechanically, I think. A: Yes, or you know, if the pedal is worn out, you might think about changing the pedal board. V: Only the pedal board. A: Yes, that should be possible, too. V: Yes, that’s one of the ideas, too. What about Sine Nomine. What is this piece? Do you know Ausra? A: Well I think you want to tell about it. V: Sine Nomine in Latin means, “Without a Name,” but Sine Nomine, I think, is the name of the hymn? Could be. You know, the hymn tune. I’m just looking it up. Oh there is corporation Sine Nomine, Sine Nomine publishing…. Yes! In the Hymnal, there is also a “Sine Nomine” hymn, right? By Ralph Vaughan Williams. So, maybe he is playing a Ralph Vaughan Williams hymn. Could be. A: Could be. V: That’s quite likely. A: I enjoy his music. Great composer. V: Especially his pedal lines are so fast moving. A: True. So maybe he plays too much of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and that’s why his pedal just broke! V: Mmmm.. A: I’m just joking. V: Maybe! We’ll see. A: I was not so sure about that middle section of his question, because I didn’t understand if the problem is with his technique, or if again it’s a problem with the organ. What do you think? V: When he picked a prelude that is too long, and he has to drop out top notes, right? A: Yes, that’s right. V: So that in a large registration, polyphony would be easy to listen to. It’s difficult to understand what he means here. A: Because on the one hand it seems like if it’s a mechanical organ, maybe the bellows don’t give enough air to the pipes, to the wind chest. But if it’s an electronic organ, then I don’t know. Maybe it’s his technique that the texture is too thick and he cannot play it all. V: Yes, maybe the texture was too thick for that registration, and he had to reduce the texture by dropping some notes in the harmony. That’s what happened, I think. A: Could be. But I would suggest that he not pick music then that he cannot perform on a particular organ for any reason. I think it’s better than to reconstruct a piece, although it’s possible, but probably not the best solution. V: And he had to rewrite the ending of the first half so that it would sound like a finished piece, because he cut the piece in half and had to stop in the middle. A: Seems like very much work to do for one piece. Then it’s better to select something more appropriate. Don’t you think so? V: Right. Or simply improvise the final cadence, not necessarily right it out. A: True, true. If you have to manually rewrite it, it takes a lot of time. V: So that’s what our suggestions are to David and to anyone who is sort of in David’s position, maybe, when they have to deal with squeaky noises in the pedal, when they lose concentration on repeated runs of the piece, and when they have to cut the pieces—shorten the pieces for the service to adjust. Thanks guys for listening, for practicing, and for sending us your questions. We love helping you grow. So, please continue writing to us, and we will try to help you in the future episodes of this podcast. This was Vidas, A: And Ausra, V: And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen.
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 275 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. And this question was sent by Carsten. Dear Vidas and Ausra, I'm glad to hear from you and I'm happy as well that my donation is so highly appreciated. Please take it as my personal way to say "Thank you!" to both of you for all of your great inspiring and continuous advice, newsletters and videos, which always helped me out when I got stuck on my way to further dive into playing the organ. Apropos getting stuck: My current job of being a software developer was very demanding over the past months -- and still is, with still no time to relax within visible reach. This had a big impact on my schedule, so my hobby of organ playing suffered a lot since I did not feel like sitting down on the bench every day. Of course, I had a bad conscience about this because I remembered all of your articles about time management, being consistent in practice, taking the daily 15 minutes and so on... But in the end, to my very surprise, I was even able to improvise on some symphonic pieces for about 2.5 hours on a big IV+P cathedral organ during public opening hours -- without having played a single note for about four or five weeks before. Sometimes it seems like energy cells have to recharge for a while and it also seems that a bit of distance isn't a always a bad idea. Of course, I do not feel to have reached "concert level" yet -- but to be honest, this is nothing that I personally NEED to achieve (yeah, I take the relaxed way and do that for my personal fun and the joy of others). Also, "concert level" could mean a wide variety of things and may not mean anything to the listeners who do or even do not enjoy the music at a certain moment. What mattered in my opinion was that (a) I was present there on that wonderful organ, (b) had no fear or performance anxiety, as you called it, even with numerous visitors walking through the huge building, (c) seized the moment despite of people talking, making their phone calls (what the ?!?!?) and children screaming, (d) let a number of friends, relatives and random visitors have a good time with my music and finally (d) was able to conduct the first surround recording of my impros. If I made you curious about the result, I'd happily invite you to watch my "Dom Momente Live" playlist, which you can find on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/WoodyofmC . In case you'd like to keep an eye on my progress: During the past years, I recorded a number of pieces and performances for my family and friends (CDs are a great gift for any occasion...) and I'm currently in the process of creating a discography page in case one of them would like to order additional copies as a gift for his or her own friends. At http://en.wpoa.de , you may keep track of how my hobby is evolving -- last but not least, thanks to your highly appreciated mentoring! :-) V: So what do you think about this long and fascinating feedback Ausra? A: Truly fascinating. V: What? A: So, you know I think that the main idea of this letter is that you could have sort of a break from the organ and then go back to it and it might do you good. V: Exactly and Carsten gives us 5 YouTube links here of his improvisations and he is interested in knowing our feedback. But I don’t think were able to do that in detail in this episode but maybe in the next one we can listen to them beforehand and say a few things about those improvisations. We’ll be glad to do that. So my comment about this performance in cathedral is that yes, he was honest about those four things he noticed and even though it was not perfect, performance was not perfect, but he didn’t beat himself up for this. That’s a good, I think, character trait. Positive outlook. A: Yes, it’s excellent and I think he chose very wisely to improvise because he hadn’t played the organ for a while before that. So I think in such a case improvisation is always a better idea than to play repertoire that you haven’t practiced for a month or more. V: Umm-hmm. A: Don’t you think so? V: Right. Here I would like to add a comment about something that was written in the beginning. Carsten wrote that “his current job of being a software developer was very demanding and this had a big impact on his schedule and so his hobby of organ playing suffered a lot since he did not feel like sitting down on the bench every day.” I’d like to add a comment here. Feeling is less important, I’m talking about my own perspective of course, if I have a goal and I don’t have time, or tired, or even sometimes sick, which might happen and I feel the pressure to keep on track of my schedule I would do, no matter what my practice look like, maybe fifteen minutes would be enough, not maybe an hour but fifteen minutes I could do no matter what even if I did not feel like sitting down on the bench. What do you think Ausra about that attitude? Strict attitude. A: Well, I don’t agree actually with you. V: See guys, we are so different and that’s so wonderful because you get both perspectives in one Podcast. A: Well, in July I spent a week in the hospital and then was sick for a few weeks and I haven’t practiced at all because I didn’t have any possibility to do it. V: No, I understand that. A: And I still went to London and gave that recital together with you. V: Did they come to your hospital and say “Ausra you need to practice” while lying in bed? A: I’m just giving you this example that you would understand that there are periods in life when you really cannot practice. V: No, of course when you are sick, like really sick, cannot really move or work. A: Maybe I had to ask you to bring me organ to the hospital. V: Or have temperature, high fever then it’s even dangerous to do that, but still you know what I would do? I would practice in my head while lying in bed. A: With a fever of forty degrees, yes? V: No, forty degrees no, but thirty-nine degrees, yes. (Laughs) A: Well let’s wait until you get sick and then we will see how much you will practice in your head. V: And then we will record another Podcast episode about that. A: Yeah. You know, when you have fever I can see it from my experience now that such a high fever you don’t understand what is real and what is not real. And then yes maybe in your head somewhere you can practice while hallucinating. V: What I was meaning of course Ausra is that Carsten was not having a fever, you know. A: Well but you know his job is his job it’s his priority because it pays his bills so you have to do that thing. V: Listen to this. He had the bad conscience about skipping practice because he remembered our article saying about importance of being consistent and taking at least fifteen minutes a day. So he knows that it’s important, right, but he didn’t feel like sitting down. It’s basically saying that he knows the right way but his will is not strong enough to do it sometimes. A: But look, even you know things happen and you cannot practice for some time no matter what the reason is, don’t feel guilty because that feeling of inner guilt is bad for you. V: Yes. Guys please don’t think that I’m practicing like a saint every day for seven hours straight. No. I also skip practice from time to time and I don’t recommend doing this but sometimes life gets in the way. But don’t beat yourself up if you do this. Be always positive and love yourself. A: For example right now we spent two days on the seacoast and we haven’t practiced for those two days and this morning I practiced again and actually I felt even better because given those two days without practicing helped me to look to my repertoire with new eyes. I got some new ideas. I heard and saw some things that I haven’t noticed before and I think it’s good to give yourself sometimes without practicing. But of course don’t do it too often. V: We won’t try to give you a recipe how many days you can skip, right? It’s dangerous. A: Sure, because I think it’s individual for everybody. V: If the reason is really important then of course go ahead and skip and don’t beat yourself up for that but then maybe try to make it up the next day, right? A: Yes. V: OK guys this was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: We have different opinions, right Ausra? A: That’s right. V: But that’s the beauty of it, right, our conversations. Sometimes people can choose whichever opinions they like and which advice they can take to heart. A: True. V: So please send us more of your questions, we love helping you grow even though we don’t always agree with each other, but we always support each other. A: True. V: That’s another thing. So remember when you practice… A: Miracles happen.
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Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 255 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Heidi and she writes: Since I have imposed upon you again with a lengthy answer to what I’m sure you thought was a question that would have a succinct reply, I will reduce my desires into a few bullet points: (although I’m glad you know a little bit more about who I am) * I wish to expand my grasp of Theory to enable me to learn Improvisation * Most difficult are the physical challenges and the lack of motivation to practice because I get discouraged when I remember how I used to play. I still play well, just not as well as I was able to, and I remember that whenever I play. It is a blessing, and a curse! * My wishlist: Training materials and perhaps video? ? for the Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C-Minor. V: Let’s start from the ending, right? We have this fingering and pedaling prepared for the score of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, right Ausra? A: Yes, that’s right, we have it. V: So Heidi and others who are interested in learning this piece can take advantage of it right away and Heidi is a new Total Organist student, she joined it recently and let’s welcome her and we hope that she can also quadruple her results and motivation. That’s her second challenge, right? The lack of motivation to practice because she remembers in the past how she used to play well. A: And I think she mentions herself those two problems are connected. Between physical challenges and lack of motivation I think that physical challenge comes from the lack of motivation to practice. It means that she practice not enough. V: Umm-hmm. And that’s the reason I thought about this problem for a very, very long time when creating materials for Total Organist and everything seemed right for that program. It’s very comprehensive. Actually too many materials to choose from and now we have organized everything according to the level of difficulty for beginners, basic level, intermediate, advanced level so everyone can choose whatever it is their skill level to learn and practice, whatever they like best. But you feel Ausra what’s the problem, right? That people who start learning a piece and not necessarily finish it. A: That’s right. Actually yes, that’s a problem with many of us in many cases. Even when we studied for our doctoral at UNL. I have learned that there are so many doctoral students who are not able to finish their dissertations and I think after taking all those years of studies, all those travels, getting all those credits done and taking comprehensive exams, I think to write dissertation and to finish it is just like a piece a cake, but it seems that it’s not and so many just quit doing it and will not receive their degree and that’s a pity. V: Maybe they don’t want it badly enough, right? A: But after spending so many years doing extensive studies. V: But I mean the diploma, the degree. Maybe it was important for them in the beginning and less important at the end. Maybe their goals changed. A: I think it’s some sort of procrastination that catches them up at this stage of getting a degree. V: I see. So, talking about Heidi and others who feel the lack of motivation to practice I came up with a solution recently. A: Really, tell us about it. V: I told you about that yesterday. Technology can save us, you know. A: How? V: There is a platform called BaseCamp and now I set up a communication channel for our groups. People who are transcribing fingering and pedaling for us, who are transcribing podcasts, and also for Total Organist students. And right now we have like sixty-seven students on the team and the good thing is you can have instant, automatic accountability. At the end of the day I can send them a question, “What did you work on today?” Every day, unless they decide it’s too much or they quit, right? It’s their choice. But I want to help them quadruple their motivation and if they quadruple motivation they will quadruple their results of their practice too. Because every day they know that I am going to ask this question of them and they will feel responsible to practice a little bit, at least fifteen minutes a day. What do you think about it, Ausra? A: So you will be like a mother for them, yes teaching, “No, no, no, you have to finish your meal, you have to brush your teeth before bed.” V: Sure, yeah. I could be mother or father, I don’t care as long as it gets people results. A: Yeah. V: What’s your question would be at the end of the day? A: That’s a too hard question, maybe I will not answer it. V: Maybe at the beginning of the day you could ask what people are going to practice on today, right? A: Yes, that’s right, I would like it more. V: At the beginning Ausra, and at the end Vidas. A very nice team. So you see guys if we used email coaching, right? Like we did, people would send us questions with their problems and we would answer those questions via email. That is helpful, right Ausra? But people first have to send them to us. That’s a big, big hurdle. And then nobody sees them, nobody notices. But here on this platform, on BaseCamp, everyone on Total Organist team, about sixty-seven people, will get a notification that somebody has written an answer. What did he or she practice on today, right? And then perhaps they will comment on it and perhaps they will share their own answer, too. You see, it’s like a community. A little bit of a community feeling and we could grow together. What do you think, Ausra? A: I think that’s a nice idea. V: I wouldn’t be able to do that on my own writing those questions to sixty-seven students, sixty-seven times but now technology allows me to automatically set up this question at the end of the day and people just get it and write an answer if they wish. So Heidi is Total Organist student and I think she will get so much out of it too. A: So now what about the first question. Heidi wishes to expand her grasp of theory in order to be able to improvise. V: Obviously, you could start improvising without any knowledge of theory by choosing random four pitches as we sometimes like to suggest, right? But Music theory never hurts. So we have a few courses on chords, on harmony, and she could take advantage within Total Organist. A: Yes, as you say theory never hurts. Tell that to my students at school. There will be a different opinion I think, that theory actually hurts. V: You know Heidi says she has lack of motivation to practice but in comparison to your students at school I think she has too much motivation to practice because she sends me questions like that. A: That’s true, that’s true. V: Has anybody asked this question before at school? A: Only “why do we have to do it?” V: So that’s the big difference. And remember when you practice… A: Miracles happen.
This blog/podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training online. It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online...
Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more... Sign up and begin your training today. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. Check it out here Here's what one of our students is saying: My favorite things are: the daily encouragement and the reinforcement of technique which serves me well and helps to keep me focused as a full time church musician. Having some of the scores pre-marked saves me preparation time and can allow me to learn a piece faster. Have a great day, Robert Would you like to receive the same or even better results that Robert is getting? If so, join 80+ other Total Organist students here.
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 250 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast This question was sent by Reggie, and he writes: Hello Sir, Thank you for your question. In answer to #1, I want to play the pipe organ at my church. In answer to number 2, I bought my first keyboard a month ago so I am still learning my first piece: Bach Preludio 1. I practice everyday but I am still internalizing the note and finger positioning. I had some musical training as a child and currently sing in the church choir. Thanks for asking! Reggie V: So, it seems, Ausra, that Reggie is playing the C Major Prelude, BWV 846 from the Well Tempered Clavier, Part Iago . Could be? A: Could be, yes. V: This is a wonderful piece, of course, it has a lot of arpeggio figuration, and even 5-part texture. A: True, but it’s not that hard. V: Much easier than the fugue that comes afterward. A: That’s true. That fugue is one of the hardest, in my opinion. V: Do you know why Bach chose to write the opening prelude as such an easy piece, and then right away the following fugue very very hard? What’s your hypothesis? A: Well, do you want to scare people for his new collection? I don’t know. That’s just a joke, but actually if you look at the Well Tempered Clavier, you can find, actually, various preludes. This one is not as hard, but for example, C minor, which is the second one, has a very fast tempo and a toccata like motion, so… V: But also, that C minor has one figuration extended throughout the prelude, like C major, too. A: Well, that’s usually the case with most of the preludes. V: And the fugue here in C major has four parts, and is very complex, because it’s a scholastic fugue. A: It is! It has that stretto at the end of it, which makes things even harder. V: Basically, in every measure, you will find the subject of the fugue. A: True. That’s, true. V: Maybe Bach wrote such a difficult fugue at the beginning because he was proud of it and he wanted it to be as a model for an entire cycle. A: Could be, and if you will think about the role of the prelude, prelude was sort of an introduction to the fugue. He had to warm up to set up the key. V: And, it wouldn’t make sense if the prelude would be even harder than the fugue. A: True. This usually doesn’t use the polyphonic texture. V: With some exceptions, of course. A: Yes, true. There are always exceptions to everything. V: So, Reggie is struggling with internalizing the note and finger positioning. Which means, that basically, he wants to play without mistakes. A: True. And I thought about if picking up a repertoire as a beginner is a good way to learn. And, I realized that, of course, you have to play some repertoire, but definitely, you have to work on the technical exercises. V: Such as? A: For example, Hannon. V: Hannon? A: Hannon, yes. And scales, arpeggios, chords… V: Maybe two-part inventions by Bach... A: True. V: ...if Reggie likes Bach’s music. A: True. I think that the two-part inventions are probably the best way to get acquainted with Bach. Well Tempered Clavier is too hard. V: Sometimes, I like to sight read music, and whenever I don’t have much time, I open two-part inventions and play a piece or two. It just takes a couple of minutes. What’s a favorite way of sight reading, Ausra? A: I never thought about it. What do you mean, a particular collection, or a particular composer, or what? V: Maybe, let’s start with collection. A: Well, I like to sightread Bach, of course, inventions, but also his suites, French, English, his Partitas. V: I bet they would sound wonderful on our piano at home. A: True. V: A half step lowered. A: True. V: I see. Do you have some suggestion for Reggie, how to increase finger positioning, which is probably the way of playing an entire passage in one position? Can he transpose a passage and go up and down as an exercise? A: Yes, well, it could be an exercise, but for this particular prelude, I would suggest for him to play it in chords, first. Don’t do that arpeggiated motion, but to play the full chords to find out what the harmony is about it. V: And how many parts there are! A: True, and later on this will help him to play in the right fingering and to play everything smoothly. V: Recently, I asked my kids at school to find out how many voices there are in this prelude, and nobody could guess that it’s a 5-part texture. Somebody said 4, somebody said 3, because there are 2 voices clearly in the left hand part, and a passage arpeggiated passage in the right hand part, right? But they didn’t think that those three notes in the right hand part are like three separate voices. A: True. V: So 3 + 2 would be a 5-part texture. Excellent. And Reggie wrote that he had some musical training as a child, and also sings now in the church choir. Do you think that helps? A: Yes, of course. Any kind of musicianship helps. Singing in the choir, too, it develops your pitch! V: And you get to know what the music director is doing, and sometimes you can observe how they conduct, and even if he becomes better at playing from sheet music and sight reading he can sometimes accompany the choir and play in the church service. A: Yes, and it’s too bad Reggie didn’t tell how old he is now, because we don’t know how many years he hasn’t practiced since his childhood. So, it’s very hard to say what to do next. V: True. A: What would you suggest if he would be a senior person? V: Like over 65? A: Yes. V: That’s a nice age to take up some hobby like organ playing and start practicing more seriously, because when people have more time after the working years, sometimes they have less motivation to do that, right? Because it seems like they are old and everything is behind them, and they cannot improve—which is, of course a total myth, and we have so many senior people to prove otherwise—that they are constantly improving every day. So, if he is over 65, I recommend, of course, to schedule some regular organ practices, or at home on piano, or keyboard, or go to church, if he sings in the choir, ask the musical director to let him do this once in a while… In exchange, he can volunteer sometimes to pay for church services….a hymn or two once in a while, if he feels comfortable. Right? Of course, don’t forget improvising, maybe. It’s a good way to warm up, to get to know your keyboard….things like that I do all the time. It works for me, and I hope it will work for other senior people. A: Those are very good suggestions. V: What about if he is just…. You know, he is obviously not a teenager, but let’s say if he is like our age, what would you suggest for him? A: Well, he could still apply to a music school, maybe. V: Right. A: To take a couple of courses. V: Or, he could prepare for the AGO Service Playing Certificate Test. That would be a great motivation to improve over the course of six months or one year. A: That’s true. That’s a very good suggestion. V: Ok, thank you guys. This was Vidas, A: And Ausra, V: Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: miracles happen!
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Check it out here Here's what one of our students is saying: I really appreciate your attention to detail, especially the thoroughness in approach to practice. My original organ teacher of 40 years ago emphasized the need to work in short sections, with much repetition - your approach is the same. Fingering is excellent and incredibly helpful. You explain things very well. I am reviving my long-dormant organ playing skills, and your method is exactly what I need. Many thanks, Andrew Would you like to receive the same or even better results that Andrew is getting? If so, join 55 other Total Organist students here. Before we go into a podcast for today, I want to add that yesterday I forgot to share a video of Ausra playing Andante in D Major by Felix Mendelssohn, when I announced a score with fingering and pedaling so here it is now. Enjoy! Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra V: Let’s start Episode 240 of #AskVidasAndAusra podcast. This question was sent by Mark. He writes: Unfortunately I am not playing the organ at present due to a hand injury. I should be most grateful if you would cancel my subscription to Total Organist at present and not automatically renew my subscription when it becomes due. All being well I will rejoin your site once I am back playing in the future. V: I wanted to include this question about what to do if you have a hand injury. Should you postpone your playing, delay your playing, or is there anything you could do beside your hands. A: Well, if you have injury to only one hand you could still practice with another hand and of course your feet. V: I remember reading about Marcel Dupre when he was in his youth during one summer he injured his wrist and it was quite dangerous. A few centimeters off he would have cut himself to death. But luckily it wasn’t very serious but still he couldn’t use his hand so what he did, he practiced pedal playing entire summer until his wrist healed. And in his memoir he wrote that he played pedals with vengeance. Basically pedal scales and arpeggios and that’s where he developed unbeatable pedal technique. A: Yes, this accident, this injury could be thought of as a new possibility to improve your pedal playing. V: Yes, because it’s good dream for many people to perfect their pedal playing but a lot of people don’t even get around to this, right? Because they have so many things to do, so many things to play and they simply don’t have time for playing pedal exercises, right? But if you are in a position where you can’t play with your hands for a period of time, let’s say a few weeks or a few months even, right? You don’t know how long. Then that might be the ideal time to perfect your pedal playing. A: True, and since you still have another hand that you can use you could work in combinations too. V: Mark doesn’t write which hand he injured. A: It doesn’t matter because he can be both right-handed and left-handed so it doesn’t matter so much. But I think if you stop practicing at all through that time of healing it will be very hard for you to return back to playing. V: Yes, it’s not only like not practicing for a few months and your hands will become weaker, right? Or feet too. It’s not only that, it’s your will, right? You have to persevere. It’s difficult to even sit down on the organ bench in general, right? And if you leave that for several months and try to come back it will be even worse I think. A: Yes, but also you could draw a useful lesson from a situation like this because this situation shows how fragile the organist or any musicians’ life is. For example you could injure one finger, or lose one finger and wouldn’t be able to play again as you did before. So what I mean is that you need to have a backup… V: Plan? A: Yes, for example like I teach music theory but I can also play the organ. So in the case where I couldn’t play the organ, I can still teach. V: That’s right. In general I think organists are in a position to do at least three things. To teach, to perform, and to play in church services. A: Sure, and I would say also to conduct the church choir. I think it’s also part of organists job. V: Yes, conducting would include that too. But there are several other options that depend on your own interests and your skill set and your talents and even on your hobbies. Right Ausra? A: True. V: What is important is that you don’t stay for an extended period of time without creating anything, right? Because you will actually weaken your creativity muscles, so to say. So maybe changing medium, maybe it doesn’t have to be music for that time. Maybe see if you like other artistic ways to express yourself. Only you can know that but it’s important to immerse yourself in creating every day, at least for fifteen minutes a day, right Ausra? A: Yes it helps to be in good shape mentally and physically both. V: Excellent. So I hope Mark and other people who are struggling with hand injuries can still practice. The least they could do is to practice pedals. And in our courses we have Pedal Virtuoso Master Course which has complete set of pedal scales and arpeggios over one and two octaves and this will help you to perfect your pedal playing technique in twelve or thirteen weeks. So check it out if you haven’t seen this. Thank you guys, it’s really wonderful to receive all kinds of questions. It doesn’t have to be direct questions like in general we receive, but it could be like practice experience, it could be your feedback, it could be anything you struggle with. We try to find ways to improve, right Ausra? A: Yes, and by helping you to improve we actually improving ourselves too. V: Yes, it’s very selfish. We are very selfish. We are always helping ourselves. Because when we teach we think deeper about these questions, right? And how we practice, how we did in the past, right? For example, I also had a finger injury at one point, but many, many years ago and the easiest way out for my teacher would have been to just say “Oh, Vidas just skip practicing piano for three months.” But instead she gave me etudes for left hand because I injured my right hand and I played a few etudes for left hand alone for that period and I passed examinations in the school and practiced like everyone else. It wasn’t a vacation for me. A: True. And I remember reading about Maurice Ravel's’ friend who lost his hand in the war and he was quite a good pianist so Ravel actually composed a concerto for his friend for one hand so things happen in life. We just have to adjust I guess. V: I think the pianist was Paul Wittgenstein and he was an Austrian concert pianist and he performed Maurice Ravel's’ concerto for the left hand only when he lost his right arm during World War I. So there are always options to keep practicing, keep improving every day, right? A: True. V: That’s what we do. Thank you guys, this was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: And remember when you practice… A: Miracles happen. Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start Episode 217 of Ask Vidas and Ausra podcast. This question was sent by Francher. My Dear Vidas… Thank you so much for your response and inquiry! Although it is unlikely that I’ll ever perform, I do practice “very well”…and, for at least 2 hours every day. I start my day with an hour to an hour and a half practice, and end my day with another hour (with several shorter sessions, as time permits, throughout the day). I knew I wanted to be an Organist when I was about 10 years old…I also knew I wanted to be an Architect then too. As a profession, Architecture “won”. So, I spent my “productive” years doing the Architecture thing. Although I “piddled” with the organ for many years, I didn’t start serious music study until I retired at age 72. I found a wonderful teacher, who convinced me that I would learn more quickly if I knew some theory. So, I went back to college (at 74) and studied Music Theory for a year. Then, after studying with her for four years, she abruptly gave up all her students and quit teaching. That’s when I discovered “Total Organist” and, I’ve been studying with you ever since. I am so grateful for your teaching efforts. Based upon your reorganized material, I would place myself in the “Early-Intermediate” stage of development. At 80, I learn much more slowly than in my youth… Now, I say, I’m 8 years into, what will be for me, a 20 year program. So, as long as I am able, we’ll be working together far into the future. Thanks, again, for all that you and Ausra do for Organists and the Organ. Francher V: So it’s really wonderful to read this type of feedback, right Ausra? A: Yes, it’s amazing. V: It’s never too late to play the organ and to improve, even at eighty or even later in life, right? A: And it’s so nice that you know some people are able to do that. V: Yeah. Because when we are younger we so many other things that we have to do and there is not enough time, right? So then when we retire sometimes we get to do what we really want. A: Yes, that’s absolutely amazing. V: And Francher also rightly mentioned that her previous teacher encouraged her to study music theory. Why music theory is so important, Ausra? A: I think it’s important. It’s you know in order to be a good musician you need to have performance skills, technical abilities you know to play music well, but it’s also important to understand it, you know too. And that’s where theory comes in. And you know we keep fighting with you know with my students and other colleagues at school all the time. It’s like endless war you know between theory teachers and performance teachers because performers often say “Oh we can teach them to play without any theory.” V: Which is partly true. A: Well yes, but theory teachers just laugh about their attitude because I think it leave you, it takes you to a dead end. V: And in today's environment where everybody can do what you do you have to be unique. And if you have two people doing what they can at the same level like all things being equal, right? And one person knows music theory well and another doesn’t its I think a no-brainer to understand who will be picked in promotion and other things because theory background gives you as we say understanding how the music put together which in turn lets you to interpret music better. A: Yes. V: And people who don’t know this they will never be able to teach. A: That’s right. V: Right? Because they have only been taught themselves how to do it without understanding why. The reason behind the solutions. And then if you never teach, right, if you never share your experiences to other people you will never grow to the best of your ability. You will grow somewhat but not as much as you could. And you don’t have to teach at a formal institution, right? Like we both teach you right now, right Ausra? It’s teaching. Blogging is teaching. Podcasting is teaching. Everything that you share freely with the world is in a way teaching. A: Yes, so I think you know it was smart whoever you know suggested for Francher to go to learn some music theory. It doesn’t mean that you would need to write a dissertation and all about any theoretical subject. But you know still it broadens your horizons. V: You know with our rigid system I think we have trouble communicating this correctly with young generation and sometimes really we miss the mark like two passing ships in the middle of the ocean. We don’t communicate well. They want to play and we want them to understand the music and they don’t want to understand why they need this. The best way for Francher and others who are listening to this to think about music theory would be to learn it and right away apply it in your organ practice. Analyze the pieces you are playing. Be aware of how it’s put together. Not so much theoretical concepts for the concepts sake which is fine but you will forget it if you are not apply it, right Ausra? A: Yes and no. My colleagues at school they simply stop arguing with me when they find out that I am also performer, not only theory teacher. V: Yes, and in our school the best theory teachers are always performers. A: That’s true. V: Not necessarily performing right now but they were performing majors because they know real music not just dry rules. So Francher discovered Total Organist over the years and yes, she is a long term student of ours. And of course just recently we decided to reorganize the materials so that they could look at the levels of difficulty. For example, music for beginners, music for basic level, then intermediate, and then advanced level organist. And this way people really simply pick what they like from that level, right? So Francher is putting herself in early intermediate stage. What does that mean in your opinion? Is it that she can play more things than the basic level students can or something else? A: Of course, I think she should be able to play more advanced pieces. V: More advanced pieces than the Orgelbuchlein probably. A: Yes, yes. V: Because Orgelbuchlein would be like the best example for basic level stuff, right? Orgelbuchlein and probably Eight Little Preludes and Fugues. A: That’s right if we are thinking about Bach. V: And if we're thinking about let’s say romantic music. What would that be for basic level? Like Boellmann maybe, Vierne. A: Yes, Boellmann and probably like L’organiste by Cesar Franck. V: Uh-huh. Slower basically movements of the large-scale works, not to fast, not to virtuosic, not too chromatic also. A: Yes. V: So wonderful and then early intermediate level allows you to gradually progress to longer preludes and fugues, right? Maybe not two pages long or three pages long but maybe four or five or even six, right? A: That’s right. V: What about chorale based works, Ausra? A: Well I think you could select some of Leipzig chorales. Slower, like Nun Komm probably. V: Um-hmm. Like the one we recommended to study for John from Australia, BWV 569 or 659. Yes, 659. A: Yes. V: It’s longer and ornate in melody but not too difficult. A: That’s right. V: Because Schmucke Dich from the same collection is much harder. OK, so what would you wish for Francher in the upcoming months? A: Just you know to wish her to continue what she is doing. I think it’s great that she is still you know able to play. V: And practicing at that age really I think slows down aging process, don’t you think? A: I think so yes. V: Would you Ausra, hope to practice at this age for example when you reach eighty years old? A: It would be wonderful but I don’t know how I will succeed. V: But if we live that long I think ideally would be to continue to push, to continue to practice, at least a little bit every day. Because when you practice every day you stay curious every day, and if you stay curious every day your mind is engaged every day, and if your mind is engaged every day you are using your mind and it’s like a muscle, your brain right? It gradually also becomes stronger even at that age when your body for example gets weaker. A: True. V: Um-hmm. And it definitely prevents Alzheimer's for example. A: Maybe we need to do you know a research about to find out how many organists at elderly age have Alzheimer's. V: We could do a survey. Starting from like 65+, right? And from our subscribers they could vote, right, whether they have Alzheimer's or not. And we could see the percentage and I think that percentage might be quite small. A: I hope so. Because playing organ trains your brain. V: Exactly. And body and mind coordination too I think is connected here. So thank you so much Francher and others who are sending these wonderful questions. I think this discussion allows us to really help you grow. So please keep sending them and keep practicing. Because remember when you practice… A: Miracles happen. Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start Episode 185, of #AskVidasAndAusra Podcast. This question was sent by Leon. And he writes: Dear Vidas: I have a ways to go before I am ready for BWV 531 by Bach, let alone Franck’s Finale. Thanks to one of your recent podcasts I have added the "Applicatio" to my Dupré chorale time each day. I had already changed his heel-&-toe pedals to toes only. When the "Applicatio" is comfortable, I will change the fingerings. My skills are generally improving, but I had still been resisting putting in 4 hours a day. From a recent discussion with my brother, I was reminded that I could have done more back in high school if I had followed our then teacher's advice to practice 4 hours a day. Writing up new practice schedule now. Thanks! Blessings, Leon V: Ausra; do you regret of not playing for four hours a day when you were first studying playing the organ? Or maybe you did play four hours a day. A: Not every day, but sometimes, yes, I would play four hours a day. V: How did you feel afterwards? A: Well, I felt good, but of course, I didn’t have the possibility, you know, to play and to practice every day for four hours on the organ, because I did not have an access to the instrument. V: What is the average time you would suggest people might practice every day, depending on their schedule, health, condition, and availability of the instrument? A: Well, you know I think that the best way to practice for two hours. But one hour is already good, so everything depends on the, you know, your, your way of life, and you know. V: And your goals. A: Yes, and your goals. V: It’s hard to tell precisely for everyone, but probably for the most efficient way of practicing I’ve found is depending on your own plans and goals, that you could play at least three times, you know, each fragment or each piece, you would have enough time. For example, if I’m practicing really slowly and I’m playing, let’s say, five pieces at the moment, and if those five pieces take about, about maybe half an hour to play, so I would maybe practice ninety minutes, you know, with some breaks in between maybe in order to be able to repeat everything three times, at least three times. How does it sound for you, Ausra? A: Yes, it sounds perfectly fine. V: And um, what would be the incorrect way of practicing, scheduling for practice? Too much or too less time? A: Both these, you know, ways would be wrong. You know, you need all this to practice as much as you know, your head can still guide you. Because the mind, you know, what you’re thinking is the most important. Because, you know, if you just play, you know, to break up some records, you know, or to make some records, oh, today, practice for six hours straight. That’s wrong way you know, of practicing. V: What happens tomorrow, right? You’re exhausted. A: Yes, I know, and plus, you know if you practice too much it means that you just are doing mechanical work without much thinking, and it’s never good. V: Mmm, hmm. So, two hours is probably optimum time. A: Yes, I would say so. V: So in my case, for example, if I can play a few of my pieces three times right, or more, maybe five times, so I might play a little bit more than two hours. But then I am careful and take breaks, frequent breaks, drink a glass of water in between, have a walk, stretch, things like that, to refresh my mind. A: Yes. I wish I would have time for to practice everyday for two hours. V: Would you practice if you had? A: Yes, I would. V: How much time would you practice if you had all the time in the world. A: I think I would practice more than two hours. Three maybe. V: Three! That’s a lot. A: Yes. V: You can do a lot of things in three hours. A: Well, you know, every day I spend a lot of time at the keyboard, but unfortunately instead of practicing what I need to practice for my organ things, I just play, you know, the pieces for my students at school. V: Could you divide the dictations based on your pieces? A: Probably not. V: Like I do sometimes? A: No. I don’t think administration would be happy about it. V: (Laughs). I know what you mean. Um, sometimes I choose segments or, or, or even variations from my, you know, pieces that I’m playing right now at the moment, and especially if I haven’t practiced that day, that I’m teaching, and I say “oh guys, now there will be dictation, in two parts. Right hand in the treble clef and the bass clef will be played by the left hand”. Let’s say we’ll have like twenty measures, not eight measures, but long dictation, and I would play for them like ten times or twenty times. A: And, are they will to write it down? V: Oh, that’s a good question. Something like the soprano voice, yes. But when it comes to the bass clef they generally are lost. A: Because you know, when I’m giving them like Christmas dictation, based on Christmas carols, some of them that we know well, some of them they can write down, but if it’s a little bit more sophisticated then that’s all. They cannot, you know finish it. V: Why do you think the second voice is so difficult to hear for them? A: Well, um, for those who play just a melodic instrument like flute or violin, I think they are not used to hearing the bass line. Or like piano measures you know, choir conducting measures, that’s an easier way to write the bass. Or for someone who plays cello or trombone. V: But even people who play cello they cannot really think in two parts, they just hear one voice. A: Well you know for kids, it’s often the case that they can write down what they can sing, I mean what is in their voice range, in their diapason, so, and usually because kids have high voice and they can sing in the first and then second octave but not so much you know, in the lower octave, in the bass range, so, and because the second voice in those low octaves. V: Do you think that some of our organ students around the globe are writing dictations too, based on their organ works, let’s say? A: I don’t know. And honestly, the longer I live, the less I think, you know, that writing down dictations improves you hearing so much. V: Why? A: I think there are better ways how to improve your hearing and your pitch. V: Oh, you know a secret. Tell us. A: Well I think actually that singing what you are playing improves it a lot and playing organ improves it a lot. Because let’s say for example, pianist plays a Bach’s fugue on the piano and you know, let’s say three voices, three parts with fugue, so, you know the theme comes and he can play it louder, and you know other voice not so loud. And when another you know, theme comes in and he can also to play it forte, or you know louder in other voices. But in the organ we don’t have that possibility. For example you playing the fugue by Bach and you play it organo pleno. How can you make one voice sound louder than another voice? V: Then you need to hear it. A: Yes, you need to hear it of course,,, V: Listen to it. A: Of course, you need to articulate it but definitely need to hear it, and how can you hear it if all voices, all four voices, sound, you know, loud. Equally loud. V: Would singing each part help? A: Yes. It helps a lot. V: Mmm, hmm. A: I’m convinced of it. V: So, guys, whenever you have some quality time at the organ, consider singing some of the inner parts, especially. And not playing not necessarily all other parts, but just let’s say, one additional voice, like in two parts, combinations. Or just maybe, for starters, just a single line, right? Especially if you know the melody well, you should be able to repeat it with your voice. A: Yes, and I’m convinced that if you can sing all the voices you can play them too. V: Mmm, hmm. That’s a good advice. I think that we are singing not enough in this age and day. A: Well, that’s because we have, you know, iPods and MP3 things and smart phones and all that our day of technique. V: Which sings for us. A: Yes, and plays for us too. V: Mmm, hmm. Back in Bach’s day, probably they didn’t have any other options to entertain themselves but to sing and play. A: That’s right. Even not as far back, even when my parents were young for example. They would go dancing each weekend, and they did not have recordings you know, and they spent time in the villages so they had to play themselves. V: And making music together with other members of the family or your friends, it’s so rewarding. It strengthens probably your connection with those people. Like you become closer basically. A: That’s true. V: Would you, Ausra, recommend, our students make music together with their family members, let’s say? A: That’s a lot of fun if you have opportunity you know, if you have family members that can sing or you know, play an instrument, you definitely have to make music together. V: Like we do on the organ bench. We sit and we play together with four hands. Is it fun for you, or, or you feel some pressure? A: Well yes, it’s fun. V: You don’t feel like pressure, from me, or I don’t feel pressure from you. A: I don’t feel pressure from you. I don’t know about you, maybe you feel pressure, pressure from me. V: Stupid question. I know. A: I enjoy playing together. V: So why don’t we now go and practice together,,, A: Yes. V: Organ duets. V: And you guys do the same, right? If you find a friend on the street, grab him or her and bring them to church or whatever, and practice some Bach. Thanks guys, this was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: And remember to send us your questions. We love to helping you grow. And don’t forget to practice. Because when you practice… A: Miracles happen! |
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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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