Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 433 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Ariane. And she writes: When I am doing the hymn improvisation, should I think in 3rds and 6ths or should I think harmonically? V: Ariane is our Total Organist student, and obviously she practices Organ Hymn Improvisation Mastercourse Level 1. And at some point, she has to add a counterpoint to the hymn tune in the right hand or in the left hand. And usually, this is done in the sweet sounding intervals, thirds and sixths. Well, sometimes, fifths and octaves, but they have to be used sparingly because of danger of employing parallel perfect intervals like fifths and octaves, so therefore, thirds and sixths are most common obviously, in tonal music, for two parts. So, she asks about the concept itself. Ausra, do you think that it needs to be done harmonically, or thinking about intervals? First of all, explain what do I mean by harmonically? A: You mean that you would need to think about chord functions. Like tonic, subdominant, dominant, and all those inversions, and you know, all the other various chords. And if we are talking about counterpoint, then definitely you need to think in the intervals. V: Mm hm. A: Because I cannot imagine how you would think in functional harmony, we are talking about counterpoint. Because counterpoint, guys, that’s polyphonic compositional technique. Before tonal harmony. So, making good intervals was a crucial point in the counterpoint. And if you would talk about chords, you would talk about later developed techniques. Then you know, music is small harmonic, and not polyphonic so much. V: I think my opinion is also similar to yours. I would just expand a little bit. When you have just two voices, obviously, you will think intervals. When we have three or more voices, then the chords are produced, and you would think tonally and harmonically. But, if you analyze a piece of Sweelinck, bicinium, right, for two hands, for two voices, soprano and bass. I’m quite positive that when you see sweet sounding thirds and sixths, you could imagine some chords, you know, at least to some extent. Not always maybe, but sometimes you could think, oh, this is tonic, this is dominant. But not always, I think, especially for that period. A: I think it comes a little bit later, let’s say in Bach, and even in the most complicated Bach fugues, you already can, you know, hear chords all the time, and think functionally. V: But you know why this is the case… A: But not always in Sweelinck. V: Exactly. Because Sweelinck’s counterpoint is more vocal still. And when you sing melodies based on the Renaissance style, you don’t have a lot of leaps. I mean, when you have leaps, then you have to compensate those leaps with stepwise motion, in the Renaissance music. But in the Baroque music, let’s say, string playing was most prevalent. And the string technique allowed more arpeggios. And this arpeggio technique transferred to the keyboard writing as well. So what we see in Bach’s counterpoint, even if it’s created for two voices, you could see some chords, because the second voice jumps up and down, creating arpeggios, based on chords. So it depends, Ariane, obviously, on the style, what you are using, right. But at first I would recommend, and Ausra would join in with her recommendation, to think about intervals first. A: Yes, especially if you have only two voices. Then you just have intervals. V: Mm hm. Maybe later in the course, when you need to move in, let’s say, sixteenth notes. Not eighth notes, but sixteenth notes. So, four notes against one. You might have some arpeggios. And therefore, thinking in chords would be already possible. Or even, six notes against one, like sextuplets. That would be even faster movement. I guess this is more advanced stage. A: True. V: For chordal thinking. Tonal and harmonic thinking. But at first, you have to be really comfortable with instantaneously deciding what kind of interval you want to play, and what kind of note would that be. You know, if you have to think about what is this interval, and there is some delay in your thinking between thinking and playing, then you are not fluent, right Ausra? A: True. V: It has to be instantaneous. How to check this, Ausra, in the score, if you’re looking on the page of music, if you can’t instantaneously say what kind of interval is between two voices, then you need to work on that fluency more. A: True. That’s how my theory professor at Eastern Michigan would say. If you are looking at the interval and you have to think what the interval is, it means you don’t know that interval. Because fluency is all that counts. V: Yes. You might know it mentally, but you cannot apply it in practice. A: That’s right. Because tempo, fast tempo is really important. Fast tempo of your thinking, I mean, not of your playing. V: Mm hm. And we are developing, not compositional techniques here, when you can sit down at the table, think about it, write something correctly or incorrectly, play on the instrument, see if it sounds right, then adjust it – we are not doing this technique, right? We are trying to help you grow your instantaneous, spontaneous playing, right? Thinking while playing, that’s what we’re doing. A: That’s right. V: Creating while performing. 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. DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
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Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 435 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Gena, and she answers my question for Total Organist students on Basecamp, where I ask, “What are they struggling with this week.” So she writes: “Slow practice for accuracy” “Isolating tricky sections to practice them repeatedly”, and, “Faster more accurate manual changes” So basically, those three things were the most challenging for her, Ausra. Slow practice—let’s start with slow practice. Do you find yourself, Ausra, that you tend to play faster than it would be safer when you practice, or not? Can you control yourself? A: Well, I could not control myself when I was young. Now, the older I get, the slower I practice. V: Why was that, when you were younger you tended to speed up a little bit? A: Because I wanted to have a fast result! V: Did it help? A: No, it did not. V: And what made you to slow down? A: Well, because the slower I’ve practiced, the better the results are. And actually, the faster you get with the results. V: Didn’t you understand this when you were younger? A: Well, no. Of course, my teachers would tell me that, but I couldn’t listen. I had to experience it with my own…. V: ….mistakes A: Yes. What about you? Do you like slow practice? Do you find it beneficial? V: Actually, I do. Every day, I sit down on the organ bench, I practice something very slowly—maybe sightread a piece or two in a really slow tempo, maybe half speed. This gives me accuracy, just like Gena writes—slow practice for accuracy. It really helps. But, it wasn’t always that way with me, either. Like you, at the Academy of Music in Lithuania, I wasn’t very conscious about how I would practice, probably, so I would just run through the pieces in a comfortable manner, and mostly that would have been too fast, I would assume. It’s hard to remember now, because a lot of time has passed. A: Too much cholesterol in your blood, yes? Memory doesn’t work as well as you wish. V: Too much Easter eggs! The second point for Gena that she’s struggling with is isolating tricky sections—to practice them repeatedly. Well, this is really common for people, right? You play over and over again this piece from the beginning until the end, and you hope for the best results. Is this a good method? A: No, it’s not a good method, because you’re just wasting your time, because I don’t know any piece of music that would be equally hard from the first page until the last one. I think all music that is written, that is composed, has easier spots and harder spots, and you always have to determine which spots are harder, and which are easier, and you don’t have to practice them all the time in the same manner and play the piece through. Because, if you will do that this way, there will always be harder spots for you, where you will not feel as secure and as comfortable as you could. V: The only instance that I would probably approve of playing pieces repeatedly without stopping in shorter fragments is if you are really slow. If you’re taking an extremely slow tempo sight-reading a piece, and want to just get a good feeling of the piece. A: Or, if you are fluent with it, and you are ready to perform it. V: So basically, if you are not making mistakes, you can practice without stopping. A: Of course! V: That means you have to either slow down, or you have to reduce the texture, so that it is easy for you. Maybe take just one voice at a time, and then you can practice without stopping. But most people don’t do that, I guess. Right, Ausra? A: I’m not sure about other people, but for example, if I practice trio texture, then I find it more beneficial to practice maybe in a faster tempo, but to do it in two voices. V: Or even one voice, sometimes. A: Well, yes. Maybe at the beginning even one voice. V: So the third challenge Gena is struggling with is faster, more accurate manual changes. Hmm. What does she mean in your opinion, Ausra? A: That probably, it is hard for her to change manuals. V: Accurately. A: And, you know, in a very fast tempo, because very often, you don’t have much time to change manuals. V: And then if she changes manuals, then she makes a mistake or two. Right? She touches the wrong note, probably. A: I think it’s just a matter of more experience, maybe. V: And even, I would recommend, practicing those changes the other way around. If you have to jump from the lower manual to the upper, maybe do the other way around, from the upper to the lower as well, so that your muscle memory wouldn’t be just one way. A: Yes, and I would suggest even when you start to learn a new piece, and maybe you’re practicing on a one manual instrument, or you are practicing on a two manual instrument, but you are not making manual changes, because you are just learning text, start to think about manual changes right away, that you would know exactly where you will be switching off and changing it—that you could be mentally prepared right away. That will help. V: And also, you don’t know what kind of instrument you will be playing in the future, in public for example. Maybe you have to jump from the lower manual to the upper manual, or from the upper to the lower. Therefore, it’s good to practice both ways. Or even, sometimes, from the first manual to the third manual, and vice versa, if you have three manuals available. Do all kinds of possibilities. A: Plus, I’m also thinking about the compositional structure of the piece, because you rarely change the manual in between the phrase—in the middle of the phrase. Usually, it happens at the end of a phrase, after, let’s say, some sort of cadence. And it also gives you a little bit more of extra time, because we might slow down just a little bit at the end of the phrase, and take a breath before the next phrase. V: This reminds me. Sometimes, maybe fast manual changes are over exaggerated, maybe. Maybe sometimes we need, as you say, to take a breath, especially if you change the manual from the loud registration to the soft registration, you need to give a space for the echo to sound. A: Yes, especially if you are playing in large acoustics. Because, in a larger acoustics is the most space you need to give. V: Don’t rush, then. Drag. Ok, guys, please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. DON'T MISS A THING! 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Vidas: Hi, guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 432, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Irineo, and he writes: Now that WAS an interesting post. I recall when I started to think of pedal exercises in order to achieve as close a legato as possible. I took a long look at the pedalboard and imagined which pedals would turn out to be most comfortable for each foot while playing scales upwards. Then downwards. It became clear rather soon that the bottom C would be perfect most of the time for your left foot while the upper C for your right. But when I started playing pieces a bit more demanding, I realized that not all the time that would be the case. For instance, when I played my own arrangement to Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", there's a measure where you should interchange your left and right feet at bottom C [while playing C(left)-F(right)-G(left)-C(right)-F(left)-G(right)-C(left)]. Afterwards I thought about what would happen if I turned things around while playing the "regular" or "standard" order while rehearsing scales/arpeggios. What I'm getting at is that maybe inverting the apparent "standard order" of playing could help Terry with his problem, because I'm of the opinion that NOTHING should warrant undergoing surgery (especially regarding your feet) only to solve a purely mechanical challenge, because you might actually create a bigger problem. Hope this helps him. Irineo. V: Remember, Ausra, we talked about Terry writing that certain passages on the pedal, would require surgery of his feet. Probably he was joking, obviously, but now, Irineo has his own experience to share. A: Well, if you will do something really stupid, while playing pedalboard too much—you might really need surgery. Because I’m trying to picture how would I play my right foot with the lowest C note in the pedal keyboard, and I cannot imagine that. I would probably really need surgery if I would to that regularly, or I would simply just fall down on the pedalboard. V: I guess you need to have long legs, first of all, and then you have to shift your lower body to the extreme right. And then, maybe, maybe, it’s possible, I don’t recommend it. A: I don’t think any composition is worth hurting yourself too much. So what I would do, I would rearrange that transcription, since it’s not original piece for organ—it’s piano piece. So you could easily arrange things your own way. Anyway, it’s not original so why not to do some more, take some more liberty… V: Mmm-hmm. A: and do things more suitable for yourself, and not torture yourself. That’s what I would do, because anyway, maybe it’s not a case with the men so much, but for women, usually women clothes are sort, of made of slippery fabric. V: Mmm-hmm. A: And then you are on the wooden bench, you would simply slide down on the pedal if you would move to extreme… V: Uh-huh. A: sides of the organ bench, or try to reach the extreme, with your left or right feet. V: Mmm-hmm. So guys, always try to maybe use the things that you have at hand creatively, and not to torture yourself, not to think that you have to take the score to the letter and play everything that is written, in the way it is written—especially if it’s an arrangement; especially if it’s a hymn; especially if it’s a choir piece; especially if it’s an accompaniment of some sort. Sometimes composers don’t have good grasp of organ capabilities and tend to write things that are simply not playable. So we as organists have the responsibility to adjust things. And never, ever, do something that is hurtful to your body. A: True! Plus when you are playing arrangements or transcriptions, always think that organ has so many stops, and you can manipulate a lot by just changing them. Because, let’s say if you are playing pedal, you might, and you need to know that, let’s say lower note, you could substitute something by just adding or changing stops. V: Right. A: Or manipulate in different octaves. V: Correct. Excellent! We hope this was useful to you guys. Please send us more of your questions. And we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice… V: Miracles happen! DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 431 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. And before we go to the podcast question for today, we’d just like to express our feelings about what happened at Notre Dame a little bit. Right, Ausra? A: True. Such a tragedy. V: How do you feel about it? A: Well, I feel very sad, as I think many people feel right now. And now, reading all those expressions that Macron promises to rebuild it, to rebuild it even more beautiful, already seems for me like somebody’s making for himself political dividends! Because right now, I’m sort of worried that because of the water and of all that damage, it could collapse. V: The first, most important present task would be to secure the structure of the cathedral, what is left, and preserve it from collapsing, so that the remaining artifacts and instrument, the Grand Organ, I think, has survived in some shape, we don’t know yet what kind of condition it is in, but if this structure wouldn’t hold, for example, because there is lots of water on the vault above the church, and it would be tragic to see it collapse. Another idea is to take the organ apart and preserve it in some workshop, and then later assemble it when it’s completely rebuilt, and when the cathedral is rebuilt. A: I guess you cannot do that right now, because you cannot even enter the cathedral. It has to stay like this until Friday, until the water will dry and it will be possible to enter. V: So, imagine if it’s soaked up with water, everything is flooded with water, when it’s dried up, I’m not an engineer, but it seems to me that everything will shrink a little bit, and there might be cracks in the walls and structures, and how that will affect the resistance of the walls and vault, I don’t know. A: In general, I think that it’s a horrible thing that in the 21st century, all the world could watch on the TV how really one of the most beautiful and important cathedrals in the world just goes in fire like that, and couldn’t do anything, because at the beginning, it seemed that nothing happens at all, that nobody even tries to put the fire down, which is horrible. I don’t know who did that reconstruction and how all of this began, but it’s unforgivable, I think. V: I think we have to just wait for the investigation to reveal some details, if it will reveal the real causes—I don’t know—but, I’m hopeful. So, as sad as it is, I think the life still must go on, and we still have to practice the organ the best we can, and we have to try to answer Sally’s question today. So Sally wrote: “I struggle with finding time to work on expanding my organ skills and techniques. It seems I spend most of my time at the organ prepping for choir rehearsal and weekend Mass. I also work full time, so there not a lot of hours available for practice.” So this is a very common situation, when people work full time and they don’t have, seemingly, time to practice the organ. A: Well, then just try to improve your skills during your preparation for choir! I guess I assume she’s talking about accompaniments, yes? You could also expand your skills on playing accompaniment, if you will do it mindfully. V: And she needs to prepare for weekend Mass, which probably involves playing organ. A: True! So she spends quite a lot of time playing, maybe she’s not practicing what she would wish for, but it’s still a practice. V: At this stage of your life, Ausra, if you had to play in church, would you spend a lot of time playing hymns? A: Definitely not. V: Right? So, what it means, is that you can kind of gradually mix them together—hymns and techniques—and maybe even repertoire, and once your techniques and repertoire are much more developed, you will have an easier time to prepare for weekend Masses, I think. A: I guess it’s the same as teaching for school, for example. For the first few years, I really had to struggle, and I really had to prepare for every class that I would teach, but you know, after having experience teaching for 13 years, I don’t need to do it anymore, because I have enough experience just to keep me going, basic like, and do many things really mechanically. It’s all there, and I guess it’s the same with playing organ service. Of course, sometimes you need to do something special, and maybe add something special and learn new things and add new things, but in general, it may be quite automatic. V: And for me, too, I’m working with technology for many years now, since I first started Secrets of Organ Playing back in 2011. I was doing this alone at first, and later Ausra joined in, but she’s always responsible with content, with ideas. Technology is left to me. Which means, at first, I had to figure out how to do it, and it was a slow process. But I didn’t give up, and taught myself some things, and at first it was simple things, then gradually advanced things, but now what I do doesn’t take much time for me to maintain the things that I need to do on a daily basis, because the experience is there, and my skills are quite fast, I think, with computers. I’m not a coder, not a programmer, but what I’m doing—publishing, editing—those things come to me very naturally, now. But, of course, there are always new things on the horizon to learn, so I’m kind of looking out for some innovations that I could apply, also. So, it kind of relates to Sally’s situation, also. At first, she has to spend some time developing the skills, and then later there will be less time required to maintain it, but mixing some time to add some more new skills, because this current level never is satisfying. Right? We always move on and move up, hopefully forward, hopefully improving ourselves. A: Yes, there’s always something new, totally new. V: Okay guys, we hope this was useful to you, so keep your minds and hearts focused on Notre Dame, maybe donate something to the funds of restoration, if there are some options. I haven’t seen some accounts or some foundations set up yet, because it’s too early. It has just happened two days ago as we are recording. We are recording Wednesday morning, and it just happened Monday night. So, by the time you guys hear this conversation, there might be more details about what has been preserved, what has not, and we are also looking forward to finding out everything we can, and we will keep you up to date, as well. So, stay tuned. We hope you will keep sending us more of your questions, because we love helping you grow, guys. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 429 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. And today, I’d like to talk a little bit about what Jeremy wrote about Total Organist when I asked him how is total organist working for him so far. He wrote: "Just so much to learn! Loving every second as it gives me something to work on daily." V: Do you know what he means, Ausra? A: Well, I guess that I do. V: We have plenty of materials in that database that we’ve prepared—fingering and pedaling and training, and programs, and anything you’d probably wish, too. And it’s constantly improving and updating. So, the good thing is that we have subdivided the Total Organist achives and training materials into the levels of difficulty. You know, Ausra? Beginners, Basic level, Intermediate level, and Advanced level. A: That might be very useful, because sometimes it’s confusing, and you don’t know which one you need. How does one determine which level he or she is in? V: Well, there are quite a few ways, but the first way, very intuitive way, for example, if a person thinks he or she is at the advanced level, they could download a score from the advanced level and sightread it. If it’s too difficult for them, then go one level earlier, into the Intermediate level, and if that’s too difficult, maybe go to the basic level, and something like that. Then, sooner or later, you will discover your true situation. Another thing that is possible to do with Total Organist is that you look at your interests. Some people like Bach’s music. Some people like Harmony and Theory. Some people like Hymn playing. Some people like improvisation, and Sightreading. And we have courses and training for any area of that level of expertise. So, you don’t have to play all of it that we provide, but you can choose what works for you, for your goals. A: Excellent! V: Now Ausra, do you think that Jeremy and others download those materials on a frequent basis? Maybe not daily, but something like that, or do they practice one score for more than one week? A: I think it depends on the score—what kind of a score it is. If it’s a more advanced organ composition, then yes, you wouldn’t be able to learn it, maybe, in a day. You would need some time to work on it. V: You know what an interesting thing is, that whenever I sightread organ music, I record it. And my hands are clearly visible from above. And then, I upload this video to YouTube, and then distribute that video to our team of transcribers who work on fingering and pedaling for these scores. And as soon as they’re done, they send me the link of that score, and as soon as I’m able to double check their work and finalize the score and upload it online, then I’m sharing the link with the Total Organist community as well. So, they don’t need to wait for the rest of the Secrets of Organ Playing community to get it, because we have a waiting line, which may form quite in the future waiting list. But the Total Organist community would get it first. A: Excellent! So it’s very beneficial to belong to this community. V: You know, and just so you know, for example, yesterday, I submitted “Sinfonia No. 9 in F minor” to transcribe by Bach to Jan, who has just finished transcribing the “Sinfonia” by Bach, also, and she needed more work afterwards, so I went to YouTube and gave her more work. And, before that, obviously, I recorded a “Andante Sostenuto” by Widor, and this is an assignment for Juan, who has just finished something else. And, by the way, yesterday, I recorded a long video, maybe 30 minutes long, with the piece by Vierne, “Carillon de Westminster,” because one of our subscribers, I think it was John, asked for the fingering and pedaling for this wonderful piece, and I haven’t done this before, so yesterday, I put a camera above my hands, and recorded it for half an hour and uploaded it to transcribe for Alan. So hopefully, this piece will come quite soon, too. A: It’s a great piece! V: Maybe by the time you guys hear this conversation or read the transcript of it, maybe by that time, this score will be already available. So guys, if you want some kind of material to work on on a daily basis, and support from other members of the Total Organist community, we would highly recommend this course. And not only we, you see, Jeremy recommends it wholeheartedly, as well. Thanks 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! DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
Vidas: Hi, guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 430, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by May, and she writes: Hi Vidas, Thank you very much for addressing to my concerns in this email! I have been spending over an hour each day on the harmony exercises for a few weeks. I worked on the difficult way whenever possible (using 2 fingers from each hand) as suggested by you in an earlier email. Ever since I could manage to use to play the bass part (of hymns) with the pedals, I always use the pedals. I find it much easier to play the hymns with 3 fingers and both feet. Now I am not comfortable at all playing hymns with hands only. I am hoping I can slowly regain my hands-only hymn playing skills by doing these harmony exercises. For quite many chords in the exercises, there is no way I can play them with hands only and 2 fingers from each hand. I need the help from the pedals anyways. I always wonder how piano players practice these chords. A question from the week 8 harmony exercises… we should skip all D-T sequences starting with the 3rd note (from the dominant chord) on top. Is this correct? I saw that you have made the fingering of BWV 618 available a few days ago. I love to learn this chorale prelude but my hands are small and my fingers are short. My hands and fingers could only stretch to reach one octave only, meaning I am not able to reach certain intervals (e.g. from the low A to middle C in measure #7). Does it mean I could never play this chorale prelude? Is there any ways I can overcome this difficulty? May V: So, Ausra, let’s start from the top, okay? A: Yes! So many things to talk about. V: Mmm-hmm. She’s spending a lot of time on those harmony exercises from Harmony for Organist Level 1. And the first thing that she struggles is playing hymns with hands only, right? A: Well, that’s an interesting struggle, because usually it’s not a problem for people to play hymns by hand. It’s more often problem to play with the pedals. V: I guess she would struggle with pedals also if she used left hand also. A: Well, true. The most, easiest way is to play with pedals and right hand playing in closed position, three voices with your right hand. V: Mmm-hmm. So she probably should practice playing the tenor line with left hand. A: True. This would be a beneficial exercise. And it would improve coordination a lot. V: Mmm-hmm. And um… A: Because since she wrote herself, that she has a small hand, she won’t be able always to play three voices with the right hand and she really needs to play one voice with the left. V: You teach a lot of students on the piano—those harmony exercises. A: Yes. V: She wonders how piano players practice the chords when they have to reach between the bass and tenor, for example. A: Well, of course, we have pedal, sustaining pedal in the piano, but I would not offer, would not suggest my students to use it. Well, but in that case, if you cannot reach, let’s say, bass and tenor voices at the same time, you would hit the bass note first and then would play the rest of the chord… V: Mmm-hmm. A: tenor, alto and the bass. That’s what we do. V: Yeah. A: Or sometimes we can manipulate bass and put it an octave higher. V: Exactly. And she is also wondering about those sequences, dominant to tonic, and the third note, the seventh scale degree… A: Yes. V: is problematic, right? It also, always has to resolve to the first scale degree. A: Well, not always, always. It has to resolve to the first scale degree when it’s in the soprano voice. V: Yes, in the soprano. And in those exercises from week eight, I am skipping dominant to tonic sequences in that position. There is no seventh scale degree in the soprano, and she’s wondering is this correct. Yes! She could do other dispositions but not when soprano is in the seventh scale degree. A: But it’s one of the most common positions of the dominant to have the seventh scale degree in soprano… V: Yes… A: in general. V: but the connection was not harmonic but melodic, and therefore… A: But you could do harmonic connection with the seventh scale degree. That’s very easy. V: I mean melodic. A: Oh, yes, but you said harmonic. V: Did I? A: Yes. V: Okay. I meant melodic. If you have… A: But when you do melodic you could do three melodic connection. V: Oh, I didn’t teach her that. A: That’s the easiest way. If you have let’s say from the bass, G-D-G and B… V: Mmm-hmm. A: you would resolve it to C-C-E-C. V: Skipping G. A: That’s right. That’s one of the most common way in general to resolve dominant. V: And it works in C minor as well. A: True. V: With B natural in the soprano. A: Yes. V: So, G-G-D-B natural, resolving to C-C-E flat C. Mmm-hmm. She’s wondering about reaching certain intervals in Bach’s chorals from the Orgelbuchlein, and since she has short hand only reaching one octave, I think I wrote to her that she could use those lines a little bit creatively, right? Most of the time it’s possible to play Bach with short hands—most of the time. A: Yes, I wouldn’t say that Bach needs a wide hand. V: But from time to time you see like an interval of a twelfth, for example. Maybe that was the case because short octave was present. A: Yes, that’s possible. Also maybe you could help with another hand at that concrete spot. V: Yes. Or… A: Always need to check on this concrete situation. V: Or raise the bass one octave higher for a measure or two... A: Yes that’s possibility too. V: to make the connection logical. Not one note, which is inconvenient, right? But, entire motive, let’s say. A: That’s possibility too. V: Yeah. A: But if you would look at the Bach hand, from the pictures we have left, he didn’t have a big hand himself. Although he had sort of short fingers, but widely spread… V: Mmm-hmm. A: if you can say so. But that’s a good hand for playing polyphonic music. V: Yeah! Maybe people need to do more yoga for fingers. A: I don’t think so. But you know, if you have really long fingers, then maybe organ is not your instrument. Maybe you need to practice violin. V: If you have long fingers? A: Yes. V: Yes. Like Paganini. A: That’s right. But with short fingers and small hand you can perfectly play organ. V: Yes. A: There is plenty of music that could work for you. V: But probably not Vierne. A: Well… V: And Franck. A: Well, I have played some both, although I don’t have such a big hand. V: But it wasn’t comfortable. A: Well, actually it was, after playing for some time. V: I guess your span of your fingers improves with time. A: That’s true. That’s true, especially in the left hand. V: The more difficult music you play, the more it stretches. A: That’s right. V: Mmm-hmm. Thank you guys. We hope this was useful to you. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice… V: Miracles happen! DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 427 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Marjorie. And she writes: Thank you! You were very helpful. My problem: I passed my Grade 7 for Associated Board Organ Exam about twelve years ago. Since then, my playing has deteriorated. I play for church services every Sunday, but I am not challenged. I play a two manual tracker organ with limited stops, and only a bourdon in the pedal. I took my exam on a four manual Cathedral organ. My dream is to play fluently on the organ. Pieces grades 6 and 7 standard. Thanks -Marjorie V: Marjorie probably refers to the English system, where they have graded organ repertoire lists and also exams for those grades. A: Yes. V: And this is rather practical for students who take those grades, take exams and see their progress. So I guess Grade 7 was awhile ago for her. And she needs to pick up, not where she left, but where she is now. A: True. So, she needs to know to think through, and to evaluate herself, to see at which level she is now, and where to move forward. Because now if we don’t make new challenges for us on a daily basis, on a regular basis, then, you know, we are just like standing water. V: Mm-hm. Still water. A: Still water, yes. V: Mm, with certain odor. A: (laughs) That’s right! So, in order to make things better, to improve, we need to be more like a river. V: Flowing somewhere. A: Yes. V: Direction. I could compare this with my pull-up exercises that I do every day. Before going to the French Alps, I could do 17 now. But after I came back, and during that time when were in the Alps, and after when we got back, I had to have some time to recover from the trip, and I didn’t exercise. So, a few days ago I started again doing my pull-ups, and I only could do 15, not 17. A: But it’s still better, Because I remember when you just started to do them, you could hardly do one pull-up, and now you can do 15, so it’s not that bad. V: Yes. It was, now it’s what, the beginning of April? So it was in last August I couldn’t do one pull-up. I could just hang for ten seconds while holding the bar. And then twenty seconds, and then thirty seconds. And then, after awhile I did one. After maybe three weeks, or two weeks. A: So the same for organ playing. V: Mm hm. A: Like, Marjorie is playing the same instrument for many years now. Well, and it seems that it’s not a bad instrument. It’s a tracker organ. Even if a limited stop list, it’s still, you know, a tracker. So I think it’s much better than electronic instrument with a lot of stops. V: She would take advantage of our recommendations for Two Part Inventions and Three Part Sinfonias easily on that instrument. A: But of course, she wants to know to improve, and to know to take the next steps. So I think she might find some other instruments to, maybe not to practice on a regular basis, but maybe to perform some recitals. To travel somewhere else, to get new experience. Because I think it’s nice to change the scenery time after time. It gives some inspiration, and helps us to move forward to the next level. V: Mm hm. If we have two manual organ, even with limited stops, she can practice just about any type of organ repertoire. A: True. That’s true. V: And then perform it on much larger instrument, for example. A: And I’m guessing that you would have to have couplers to the pedal, too, I guess. V: Right. Because just one Bourdon would not be enough. A: That’s right. But with the couplers, you could manage quite a lot of repertoire. V: Mm hm. We at home have only one stop, or no, two stops. A: Two stops. V: But we only use one. A: Yes, because that second one is still too loud. V: Yes. And it has two manuals, and we only use a Rohrflöte or Bourdon, I don’t know exactly. Maybe it’s… A: It’s Gedackt. V: Gedackt. Yeah, Gedackt. Eight foot. A: Because that Rohrflöte is louder, we don’t use it so often. But you can still do a lot with such an instrument in terms of learning new repertoire. But then of course you wouldn’t want to perform on it for a recital. So you would search for a new venue. V: And if you find one, do good research. Ask for photos from up close for this organ console, the position of stops, and layout of organ handles and stops. Where are they located? And when you practice your repertoire on your tracker organ at church or at home, maybe imagine yourself in a target situation. Maybe reach for some stops with left hand instead of the right hand. Of course, use the swell box with the right foot sometimes when it’s needed. Those things. Pistons – remember to do many motions with your thumb and toe pistons and studs. That way, you can mentally basically prepare for anything. Right, Ausra? A: Yes, that’s right. V: But it’s good that Marjorie wrote to us that she is lacking a challenge while playing at church. So of course, she only plays probably hymns every Sunday, because that’s what is required. Do you think, Ausra, that she could play something that is not required at church? A: Well, I don’t know how the routine works in her church, and what the clergy is, and what the congregation is. But if it’s very conservative, then no, it’s risky to play something out of common way. V: I’m not suggesting that she could elaborate in the service itself, but pre-service music and post-service music, like prelude and postlude, could be two places where she could challenge herself. And learn every Sunday something new. A: True. I remember my last year of working at Grace Lutheran Church in Lincoln, when I had to know , I think I would have a couple Sundays to play every month, and a couple Saturday nights. Well so, on Sundays, I would do one of chorale by J.S. Bach from the third part of Clavierübung, one of the big ones . V: Mm hm. A: So, and at the end, I think we had like a hymn festival, and I performed Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat Major. And it was nice, I actually think, because it still gets me, you know, V: Motivated. A: Motivated. Yes, because it’s not that easy, you know, to play a big chorale for each Sunday. V: Mm hm. A: But it was nice, I think, for congregation to listen to such music. I don’t think they ever had another chance… V: Afterwards. A: Yes. V: Hm. I hope so. I hope that they did. Maybe somebody else took our place and continued that tradition. But… A: I’m not sure. I greatly doubt it. V: Mm hm. All right. We hope this was useful for you guys, and especially to Marjorie. Always challenge yourself, and try to learn something new every week. A: You know, you could establish some contacts with colleagues from other places, with organists from other places. And maybe you could visit them and they could visit you. V: Do an exchange. A: Yes, do an exchange. And that way you will try new instruments, and will have more interesting venues to perform. V: If you have ten friends, you can have ten different organs to visit. A: Well, you could start with one friend at the beginning. Vidas always, you know, wants to make as much as possible out of every situation, and I am more realistic. V: You know what’s my vision in this? Reach for the stars, and then you can land on the moon, and that’s not too bad, either. A: True. So, I think Marjorie will find her own way, somewhere between your and my suggestions. V: Mm hm. Okay! Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
Vidas: Hi, guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 426, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by John, and he writes: I have struggled to get much quality organ practice in the last 2 weeks, but family has to come first. Prior to that I have been diligently practicing the first 10 Hanon exercises with a metronome, starting at 60 bpm and working my way up to 80. I started noticing a few small issues where I was drifting off beat. I have also tried practicing pieces to a metronome as I am subconsciously changing the tempo without realizing. I have learnt the first 2 pages of Wachet Auf from Schubler chorales, and playing it ok, it took quite a while to get the chorale tune, it certainly tests my coordination and independence of RH, LH and pedals. Page 3 with the modulation to minor mode is taking even more work, but slow practice is working. I am playing for our church service on Sunday, I am really excited as I haven't played at church for since January due to Isaac arriving. One of the hymns is a new one, and when I practiced it, I had a special moment of realizing how much my skills have improved. After 3 days of very slow practice, I was able to play all four parts together with hardly a mistake! I reckon even 2 years ago it would have taken 7-10 days to achieve this. In fact 2 years ago I remember emailing you saying I was struggling with playing all four parts of hymns when I had only 1 weeks notice. I think I have finally reached a point where I am committed to trusting the learning process, whereas sometimes I would skip some combinations, or try and play at performance tempo. Now I really focus on slowing the tempo right down, and sometimes practice each fragment 10 times instead of 3 times. I wanted to thank you and Ausra for being the reason for my first DVD sale in the USA from one of your subscribers Paul Anderson! I had a go at organizing the payment and shipping through PayPal, and so far so good. Also could you and Ausra give your advice on a podcast on some practical strategies to improve my phrasing, this could apply to hymns but particularly Bach pieces and music in general. How do you incorporate pauses/breaths while still keeping a steady tempo. It is getting close to 1 year since my Vilnius trip, the memories are still fresh, and I would love to come and visit you guys again one day! I hope the weather will soon warm up and bring you more energy! Take care, God bless, John... V: So, Ausra, it’s very nice to receive a letter like that from John from Australia, who exactly one year ago played a concert in our church. A: Yes, I think I saw it on Facebook today that it’s exactly one year... V: Mmm-hmm. A: since he performed at St. Johns, in Vilnius. V: By the time our listeners will hear this conversation it might be more than one year. But still, the memories are fresh, and we were really amazed at the, John’s improvement over seven years of training. And, now, he writes that he was able to master a hymn in four parts with hardly a mistake, after three days. And this is achievement in itself, because two years ago, he remembers that he had to do this in maybe, seven to ten days. A: Anyway, hard work always gives its results, at the end. V: Mmm-hmm. I, you know, it’s so nice that he made his first sale of his DVD to one of our subscribers—Paul Anderson. And I guess it’s not easy to sell something online, right! And I’m very happy that from our discussion when we mentioned John’s DVD, people picked up. If anyone wants to get a copy, the best way would be to contact John by email: [email protected]. A: True. And I think it might be interesting for somebody to see what the organs look [like] in Australia. Because for many of us, it’s still such an exotic and far away country. V: Right. So, John is wondering about advice on improving phrasing, maybe incorporating pauses and breaths. In Bach’s pieces, not only in Bach’s but also in other stylistic influences. Do you think that phrasing is important, Ausra, first of all? A: Yes, of course! It’s very important. V: What would happen if we didn’t include phrasing in our playing? A: Well, all the pieces of music would sound very dry and mechanical, and lifeless. V: Have you ever listened to that 18th Century mechanical organ? Remember, I think in Nebraska, somebody gave us a recording of Handel’s Concerto, as recorded on that particular mechanical organ. A: I don’t recall it right now, but you do. V: Yes, I do. A: Evidently you do, so maybe you could explain what you mean. V: And it was very virtuosic. Absolutely stunning passages, and ornaments. But I found it quite unmusical, actually. Because to program a piece on a mechanical device like that, in 18th Century, would have been really difficult. Now you can play back, play something on a media equipped organ or keyboard, and it would playback exactly as you were performing. A: You know, in some sense, it seems that it’s harder to learn all the technical stuff, to develop your technique, in order to be able to play in the right tempo and without mistakes, with the right articulation. But, on the other hand, I think phrasing and playing musically things, is probably the hardest thing to do, especially if you don’t have it from your birth. And by telling this I can tell one example. I had recently, have had a student, with whom we were working on several pieces, and basically I was arranging each measure for her—what to do and how to play it and where to slow down and which chord to listen to more carefully than another one, and explain that all. Basically, I arranged it sort of like a, I don’t know… V: Show? A: Like a, well, not exactly like a show, like a theater… V: Mmm-mmm. A: production. V: Right. A: And still at the end, it all sounded just like chopping the wood sticks with an ax. She couldn’t pick it up. V: Hmm-hmm. She needs musical intuition. But that comes I think, with experience also. A: So, what would help in case like this? I think you need to listen to a lot of music in general. V: Mmm-hmm. A: All kind of music. Not only organ music, but organ too—by various performers. V: Mmm-hmm. A: And you will find out that after comparing, let’s say, some of different people playing, let’s say the same piece, you would feel that you like one recording more than another. V: Exactly. A: And you will develop a musical taste and musical intuition. And later on it will be easier for you to adapt it in your pieces that you are playing. V: I would say the more you notice something happening in the music, the more you can show it to your listeners. And that includes phrasing, breaths and pauses, all those things, in certain places. Not in all episodes, but where something important is happening in music. So you have to dig deeper into the composition itself, analyze it, and notice it. A: Yes. I think that this musical logical background is also very important—in knowing structure, in knowing style. V: One last think I want to say, is, that I remember when I was a student, my professors would tell me sometimes that I’m playing statically. Especially if it’s a slow tempo piece, that, the music doesn’t flow. Did you ever have this experience? A: Yes. I have had it. V: Mmm-mmm. Earlier. A: Yes, it was a way back. V: Mmm-hmm. A: Now, it’s hard for me even to remember it, already. V: And exactly. And I was thinking about your performances, my own performances, but probably I’m a little bit, less objective about myself. But you could tell me about me. I never once noticed static performance from you. What about you? A: I also haven’t noticed a static performance of you. I think you have just changed a lot... V: Uh-huh. A: over past what, 25 years. V: We never think about it—playing statically or not statically, right? We make music. A: Yes. It comes naturally. V: We make music. It’s like telling musical story. If you don’t know where the story ends, then you might tell your story statically, right? A: True. I think it’s very important to sing your pieces. V: Mmm-hmm. A: Because very often we might play unmusically, and dull, and statically, but people rarely sing unmusically—unless we don’t have musical pitch. V: Mmm-hmm. A: Sort of it’s hard to put an accent, let’s say, at the end of the face if you’re singing it. It comes naturally because it’s all related with the breathing, and somehow, I think, it’s in everybody’s insight. V: Mmm-hmm. A: This gives you that right feeling of right phrasing. So just sing what you are playing. V: Good advice. Thank you guys. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: We hope this was useful to you. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember; when you practice... A: Miracles happen!
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 406 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Jay, and he writes: Hymns for church service on Sunday. Trying to get to the point where I know the music well enough, to recover quickly if (or when) I mess up. V: Jay is on the team who transcribe our podcast conversations, and I asked him what he was working on today, or struggling with today. So, Jay is probably struggling with knowing the music well enough not to mess up, or recover quickly, too. Is this important, Ausra? A: Of course it is if you are playing at church and accompanying a congregation, then yes, it’s very important. V: So, if the person is playing a hymn at church, how well should they know this hymn, in your opinion? Imagine yourself, for example, being on the organ bench. How well should you know it or how well should you sight read it, too? A: Well, I wouldn’t suggest for anybody that is not advanced enough to sightread during the actual service. You need to prepare in advance. And then, I would suggest that a beginner organists would get prepared for each service and learn all the hymns in advance. V: If you are a really beginner, sometimes it’s not enough time to play all of the hymns. A: True, but then you need to do something. Maybe skip the pedals. I did that way back in my life. And another thing you could do if you want to have pedals, you could omit the alto and tenor voices, and just play melody and pedal. That’s also an option. Another option, and I think this would be the easiest way, just take up the melody, and play it only with your hands in octaves. That’s also a possibility. But anyway, any of these ways that I mention now are better compared to if you would play all the written notes and do many many mistakes or stop somewhere. V: Or play….. A: ...in an unsteady tempo. V: Exactly. Because, you’re leading the congregation, and the congregation doesn’t care if you know the music or not. They just keep singing, and you have to be maybe one millisecond ahead of them, too. A: That’s right. True. V: Have you been in the situation, Ausra, when an organist drags, and for example, the tempo slows down? A: Yes, I have had an experience like this. V: Why does this happen sometimes? A: There might be various reasons. Well, one of the ways might be that maybe the organist is very, very old, and wants to play in a slow tempi. That sometimes happens with people with age, that you slow things down. But, there might be various reasons, actually. He or she might not listen to what the congregation is doing downstairs, or maybe her or his technique is not advanced enough to play up to tempo. V: Or maybe they are listening to the congregation too much! A: Yes, and then, because the congregation wants to slow things down, and if the organist listens too much to the congregation and cannot keep his or her steady tempo, then the tempo might slow down, too. V: It’s like playing with an orchestra, too. And if you are a soloist, you have to lead the orchestra, too, especially in episodes when you are playing solo, and then after you and orchestra comes in. You have to keep the tempo steady, and try not to slow down at the end. A: True. And this also might happen when you have so many people singing that the organ cannot be heard, too. I had that experience once in my lifetime, when I was playing at Grace Lutheran Church in Lincoln on the Christmas Eve service. There were so many people downstairs, and everybody was singing so loud that even though I played Organo Pleno, I could not hear a single note from the organ. V: Right. So, I hope Jay and others will have plenty of time to prepare for Sunday services, and to know the music well enough to recover quickly from the mistakes. A: And luckily, after some time, hymns start to repeat themselves. So, I guess you will get used to your hymnal, and I think with time, you will know some of the hymns by heart, so it will be much easier then. V: Thanks guys, this was Vidas, A: And Ausra! V: Please keep sending your wonderful questions; 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 425, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. And this time, Colin writes: Thank you for the bonus materials for the Pedal Virtuoso Master Course, I shall look forward to working on them. V: Ausra, would you like to take a look at what kind of bonus material I’m sending? A: Sure, of course, I would be very interested. V: Okay. I’m sending three things. Right away when they sign up, or the first day after they sign up, they’re receiving a bonus video training, which is “How to play the C Major Scale on the Pedals”. This is my most popular video on YouTube. A: Ah, interesting. People are interested in fun things. Although it’s not that easy to play, the C Major Scale, on the pedals. I think some other scales are more comfortable. V: Uh-uh. Let me take a look at how many views it has. People are eager to learn C Major Scale but not so much C minor. (Vidas is looking for the video.) It was published back in 2012 and it has 70’223 views right now. A: Wow! If you would live, I don’t know, 500 hundreds more years, you might reach the numbers of Lady Gaga! V: Haha yeah, and Lady Gaga would reach like gazillions numbers! So this is the video sent on day 1, after signing up for this course. Then I’m sending people two more things: 12 weeks and 13 weeks after they sign up, they receive Bonus practice material number 1 and number 2. A: Which is? V: Number 1 is “Pedal Exercitium”, BWV 598, by J-S. Bach and some scientists believe it might have been written by C-P-E. Bach, Bach’s most prominent son. Nevertheless, this piece is a classic exercise for pedal playing. And I have prepared the complete pedaling for this piece, and people have to make sure they use detached articulate style, articulate legato touch which is used for early music. A: I remember I had to play this piece, during my first year of organ studies at the academy of music in Lithuania. And my teacher required that I would play this during my exam actually. I was quite embarrassed actually, because I was the only one that was required to play some solo piece for the exam. But I think I did quite well. And what I like about this piece, beside teaching you to play baroque music, how to articulate, actually it’s quite beautiful in itself. It’s really not a boring exercise. If you listen and study carefully this particular piece, you can find that there’s actually two distinctive melodies in the same piece, even though it’s written in one voice. V: Right. With Bach and other baroque composers, the case is that the less voices you have, the more fluid the melody becomes. And if you have a solo voice, like in the pedals, somehow the composer needs to make sure that the harmony is there, and he makes use of arpeggios, things like that, and sometimes pretends that there’s a second voice in the top and at the bottom. So at the pedals it’s very prominent because you have two legs. A: Well, not so much. V: Not so much, yeah. You’re focusing on the process not on the result. Results probably will come by themselves. A: That’s true. And now that you have started to talk about that, I remember that beautiful cello piece by Bach (the Prelude from the Cello Suite No. 1), that Yo Yo Ma played so beautifully and other famous celloists. V: Do you think that people could play it on the pedals? A: Well yeah I believe so. You could do it on the pedals. But sometimes my students start arguing: “why do I need to learn harmony? What good is it to me?” And usually choir conductors or piano majors understand why we need to understand harmony, because we deal with more than one voice, but flutists or violonists, they don’t think about that. But we really need to know harmony because let’s say you play Bach and have one voice, you still don’t think about it as having just one line, because in itself it contains all the harmony. V: This is true. It would be fun actually to play all the unaccompanied cello suites by Bach on the pedals. It’s a good exercise. It would be interesting to transcribe. A: It’s wonderful how in one voice you can hear so many things and do so many things. That’s the genius of Bach I guess. V: But the pedaling has to be adjusted somehow. I believe that toes-only technique wouldn’t be easy to do. A: True, true. V: Because sometimes you need to play with big leaps and almost legato so then heel and toe technique needs to be adjusted because it’s rather advanced. A: But I guess it would be OK because it’s not originally intended for organ pedals so we could give us more freedom. V: Right. So guys, if you need something for the pedals, extra-exercises, go take a look at 6 unaccompanied Bach’s cello suites, and if you need some help from us, like extra pedaling let us know. Maybe I could create some videos and send them to our team to transcribe, and prepare the score this way for you. That would be a good exercise for early music Pedal Virtuoso Master Course. A: And what is your last bonus? V: Bonus number 2 is a piece by Charles-Valentin Alkan, who was a 19th century French composer and virtuoso pianist, and he created many etudes for piano but also for the organ pedals solo, I think 20 pedals solos. And I prepared a score with pedaling of the first one. It’s again a very advanced piece but now we are dealing with the legato technique and you can play with heels and toes. And if you don’t feel right about some markings, you can adjust, because some people have smaller feet so they have some problems. A: But it's nice because it teaches different technique compared to Pedal Exercitium by J-S. Bach. V: Yes. Again, if you would like to learn all 20 of them, let me know and I could prepare those videos for our team and this way you would get transcribed scores with pedal markings as well. Alright, so take a look at our Pedal Virtuoso Master Course, it has 12 weeks of material + bonus exercises, as we were discussing a moment ago. At the end of the course you’ll really start to feel that you gained greater flexibility of the ankle, which is the secret of the perfect pedal technique. At the end of the course you might be not be able to play anything that is written for the pedals, just yet, but I can guarantee that if you go back to some of the pieces that you could not play three to six months ago, you would definitely see some genuine improvement. Right Ausra? A: Yes, I’m pretty sure about that. V: People have written multiple times about that, about seeking improvement, and not one person said “No, after 3 months of practicing pedals I didn’t see any improvement!”. People who didn’t finished this course, it was for different reasons: perhaps it was too difficult for them, or they were not into exercises at all: they might prefer genuine organ music. And that’s OK, there are several types of people. But for those who like it, scales arpeggios etc, it is a perfect opportunity to get flexibility of the ankle. OK guys, this was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Please send us more of your questions, we love to help you grow. And remember, when you practice… A: Miracles happen! DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL. |
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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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