Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 637 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Sally, and she writes, "Do you have a secret to playing melody in the left hand and harmonies in RH? I have a hard time with that. My brain doesn’t want to allow LH to take the melody, at least not for long." V: Do you know what she’s talking about, Ausra? A: Yes. I can guess probably she’s right-handed as I am and you are, and she has the same trouble as many beginner organists have. And not only beginner. V; Sally is our Patreon supporter and she recently watched my Advent hymn improvisation recital. And in a lot of hymns, I place a tune in the left hand part instead of the right hand part. And if I want to play in the tenor range, then I play the melody in the tenor range with the left hand. But if I want to place it in the soprano, I could effectively cross my hands with the left hand playing high. I’ve seen Dutch organists do that and it fascinated me, this technique. Instead of switching hands, soprano in the right hand and accompanying voices in the left hand, they do soprano in the left hand but the higher range, you see? A: Well, I just feel sorry that you have been born in Lithuania and not in Netherlands. Lately you are so much impressed by what Dutch organists do, that I wish you could stay there and learn from them. V: I started to understand Dutch a little bit. It’s a little bit similar to German, and a little bit to English, too. So, when they’re talking about organs it’s not that hard to understand. A: Well, okay. So what could we suggest to Sally? One of my suggestions would be, maybe when she accompanies hymns, she could play the melody in the left hand, and accompany with the right hand and pedals. V: Yes, exactly. So play the tune in the tenor range, right, on the solo registration - trumpet, let’s say. A: Yes, so you need to basically to have at least two manuals in order to do that. V: Yes. Do you recommend crossing voices at the beginning? A: No, I wouldn’t suggest that. It might be really too difficult. V: Not even voice crossing, but hand crossing, when left hand goes beyond right hand. A: I wouldn’t do that at the beginning. V: Yeah, it’s probably too difficult. And I wrote to her that it was difficult for me at first, and even today sometimes I struggle and it’s not that easy. But you just have to keep playing, Keep practicing, and sooner or later something will switch in your brain, right? A: Yes, and if you want to have a real challenge and if you like music of J.S. Bach, I would suggest for you to work on An Wasserflüssen Babylon from the Leipzig Collection, or also called Great 18 Collection. It has this beautiful chorale with ornamented tenor in the left hand. Just as pretty as, for example, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (video), or Schmücke dich, O Liebe Seele, but instead of having ornamented chorale in the right hand as in these two pieces mentioned, here in An Wasserflüssen Babylon, Bach writes down for the left hand, it’s ornamented cantus firmus, really beautiful. V: And you can make it more complex by playing double pedal lines. Five voices, right? For hymns, I think. A: Yes, because I wouldn’t do this in this chorale. V: But hasn’t Bach written double pedal version? A: Yes, but it doesn’t have the melody in the left hand so it doesn’t count. At least not in this case. V: Mm hm. Right. Right. So you have to just keep doing, keep expanding your tonal vocabulary, and when you place the melody in the left hand, right, so what becomes in your right hand, you’re playing alto and tenor. But alto in your own place, but tenor is one octave higher, right? A: Yes, usually that’s what you do when you switch voices. Soprano substitutes tenor and vice versa. V: So maybe if you’re a beginner at this and you struggle with placing melody in the left hand, maybe you don’t need to play all four parts right away, right? What about just playing tenor line, single tenor line, one octave higher with the right hand? And then soprano line one octave lower, both voices together - those two voices only in your hand. Do one voice, solo voice practice, then two voice combinations, three voice combinations, four part combinations finally. Just like a small organ piece. What do you say, Ausra? A: Yes, I think that might work. V: So try 15 combinations in four part texture. And if you do that, you can master any type of hymn, either with the melody in the right hand, or in the left hand, or even in the pedals. How would you do in the pedals, Ausra? If the melody is in the pedals? A: Yes, you could do that, but you have of course to register accordingly. V: But would you use the same harmonies, or you have to reharmonize? A: Well, you - of course it will still be same harmonies, same chords, but maybe different inversions. V: Different inversions because if you have let’s say in the melody, 2nd scale degree, you can play the dominant chord, right? But if the 2nd scale degree is in the pedals, you no longer have the dominant root position chord, but you have 6/4 chord, 2nd inversion, right? A: Or dominant 4/3 chord. V: Or 4/3. And then 4/3 is allowed, but 6/4 is allowed very in specific cases only. A: Yes. V: And therefore it’s better to leave it for more advanced users. So, instead of playing dominant 6/4 chord, you can effectively play 7th scale degree first inversion chord. In C Major, not DGB, but DFB. Make sense? A: Yes, makes sense - I’m teaching harmony (laughs). V: Good - good for you. Harmony never hurts. So, good luck Sally! Good luck whoever is harmonizing melodies in the left hand part. This is really fun. And it is complex at first if you haven’t done this before. And pay attention to what Ausra suggests. Play some pieces with the melody in the left hand part, right? This texture has to become less foreign to you. And this way, you will sort of remember those new positions in your hand. A: Yes, and if you’re playing piano, if you love piano repertoire, I just remembered one piece I played many years ago. It was called Melody by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It’s sort of not too difficult piece, but not at beginner level. I would say somewhere in the middle. It has the melody in the left hand, and accompaniment in the right hand, and left hand always crosses the right hand. It jumps back and forth from the bass to the soprano range, and it also helps to sort of make your left hand more independent. V: Good advice. So please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
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Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 637 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Rosemary, and she writes, Hello Vidas Firstly can I thank you for the wonderfully informative emails you have sent during the last week, To date I have found them very helpful and thought provoking. A good beginning to the information I need to develop my study for the next 12 months. In reply to your first question. My goal for this coming year is a 30 minute lunchtime recital on 8 October 2021. My practice situation is a small instrument, one manual with a full pedal board and 5 stops in our local church (country town). The recital is on an instrument 8 times this size in a provincial city 45 km away. Aug 2019 I was included in the programme and played an all Bach programme (BWV 554, BWV 555, BWV 604, BWV 536 and BWV 570 ) I lacked confidence and found it a rather tough experience and have resolved to better the experience. Important aspects to address. Developing a plan for the year's study. Developing the programme. (Bach again as his music is a passion of mine, or a European tour, (Boellmann, Faure..Italian school, and Bach ) The learning of a piece, bringing it up to concert standard and maintaining the standard for the recital date. Work on analysing the piece, Your email of Dec 1st has been a great catalyst. Maybe this is one of the secrets to understanding the piece and gaining confidence in performance. Additionally, I have shortened the length of the fragments I learn at a time and have resolved to trial your suggestions. The content of the material you've sent seems like a good foundation. I need all these tips and more. I have had no formal lessons on the instrument, gathering knowledge through reading, listening and suggestions from colleagues in recent years. More information on ornaments, (BWV 555 do you include the marked trill on the resolution of the prelude.) The French Noels how do you fit in the mordants and how are they played, Currently I am learning Priere a Notre-Dame L Boellmann your copy with fingering and pedaling, Sicilienne OP.78 G Faure Sonata 5 BWV 529 Bach third movement I am particularly interested in your copy of Ich ruf' zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 639 where you have written out the interpretation of the ornaments and how they fit in. More on this please. Time I stopped, I have gained regular access to the organ for the recital determined to be more familiar with the instrument, I have considerable support and assistance from the regular organists especially with choice of registration. A big learning curve. Hopefully this finds you and yours well, a strange year with so many new challenges. Every good wish for this festive Christmas season. kind regards Rosemary V: First of all Ausra, I recommended Total Organist Program to Rosemary, because her goals are very ambitious, and she would really benefit from our ambitious program. And she just signed up yesterday, I think. A: Wonderful! Congratulations to you both. V: Welcome Rosemary to Total Organist. So Ausra, going back to her experience and feedback, what would you notice at first? A: Yes, that she’s very much determined and motivated, and I think she will succeed, because it seems like she has a clear plan and she’s very persistent and hard-working, so I think she will succeed in playing that recital on the 8th of October in 2021. V: Uh huh. It’s interesting the pieces that she mentioned on the program that she already played in August 2019 was BWV 554, it’s D Minor Prelude and Fugue from the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues; 555 is E minor; 604 is something from the Orgelbüchlein, let me check.... 604 is Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ. And then 536 is A Major Prelude and Fugue, and 570 is C Major Fantasia without the Fugue. So, well polyphonically, these pieces are, with the exception of A Major Prelude and Fugue, I would say basic level. Not even intermediate, right Ausra? A: Yes, maybe between beginning, beginner and intermediate. V: A Major Fugue is more complex. It’s a minuet probably, and dancing rhythms 3 part, 3/4 meter, kind of tricky to get, because sometimes they have canons in the middle. So it’s maybe intermediate piece. Good that she is determined to learn a new program for October, right? Hopefully she will adapt to a new instrument eight times the size of her practice organ. Eight times - so what is this, like 40 stops? A: Yes, that’s a good size organ. V: Three manuals probably. A: Not necessarily. It might be two as well, with pedal, but it might have the third division. V: Mm hm. Yeah. Generally with three manuals you can do a lot, but it takes a little bit more coordination. You don’t have to play all three manuals, though. You can couple the Swell to the Positiv and play like on two manuals, right? Pretend you are playing three. A: Yes, but Rosemary has one manual at her church, so how would you suggest she practice pieces that requires at least two manuals? V: I would either play right hand higher or left hand lower, depending on which sounds better. But you see what I mean, right? A: Yes, on the same keyboard. V: On the same keyboard. It’s like practicing on the piano. When you have to cross hands, but if you move one hand higher or one hand lower, you can effectively play two manual pieces. A: Yes, that’s a good suggestion. As you said it before, I imagined that you would play in the air with your hand higher or lower. (laughs) Do you see what I mean? V: Uh higher, like not an octave higher but a little bit higher. A: In the air, in the air I mean. V: Oh, virtually higher. A: Virtually V: Imagining there is a second keyboard. A: So better don’t do that. V: Actually, I’ve done some practice on our instrument at home, before Hauptwerk, when we only had two manuals, and if I had to make echo passages from second manual to the third at church, I would pretend I have three manuals here at home, and jump from the second manual to the music rack and back and forth. It’s about the same size, so it fits. It’s a little bit maybe higher jump, but teaches you the same physical movement. A: Yes, true. But it’s nice that Rosemary does a lot of Bach’s practicing, and actually you can pretty much play entire works by J.S. Bach just on one keyboard. V: You mean practicing. A: Yes. Not, of course not all of them. Like not ornamented chorales, and obviously not Trio Sonatas, but like all preludes and fugues you can easily do on one keyboard. V: But again, if you want to play Trio Sonata, like she was mentioning Trio Sonata someplace… A: Middle movement, I believe. V: The third movement, actually… A: Oh, the third! V: C Major Trio Sonata 529. She’s currently actually working on that. So I would probably drop the left hand one octave lower. You see, the key with this kind of trick is to check the lower part, the middle part. If it descends lower than the tenor C, if it descends lower, then when you drop one octave lower, it goes beyond the range of the keyboard. Then maybe some notes have to be rearranged, not necessarily entire voice, but maybe a measure here and there, a phrase you know, to make it meaningful. But in general, yeah, Trio Sonatas work on one keyboard if you adjust the left hand one octave lower. A: Is it safe to prepare it for a recital when you know you don’t have much time to play before it, actual performance? V: No, of course not. That’s very risky. Actually, Trio Sonatas in general are very risky, and even if you have a lot of time - myself included. Whenever I played Trio Sonatas in concert, I didn’t have good experience. A: Ha ha ha! V: What? A: But I have a good experience about this particular movement. I played it on my exam for my Bachelor’s Degree at the Academy of Music, so I remember it quite well. It’s not a hard movement, well of course it’s hard, but it’s not long comparing let’s say to the first movement of the same sonata. But it’s trickier than the first movement. V: Mm hm. So the last thing that we need to mention is the ornaments, right? A: Yes, and basically if you know you study well that Vidas’ example of Ich Ruf Zu Dir, I think it’s sort of a key to the rest of Bach’s ornamentation. And Rosemary asked about French Noels and how to ornament them, so basically, Bach used the French ornament tradition. V: It’s actually in the preface to Klavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Bach copied by hand ornament table by d’Anglebert. And you can find this example online, the same ornament table. So basically, you need to just play most of the ornaments from the upper note in his mature works, and there are some other exceptions of course, which we could discuss on a deeper level. Maybe I should do a video or something. A: I think this would be very helpful. V: Okay. Stay tuned, guys. Thank you for listening to our conversation. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 630 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Andrei, and he writes: “Hi Vidas and Ausra! I have a question for you: If in a church there is a need for an organist, and the only two keyboardists are a professional concert pianist and a mediocre/intermediate organist, who do you think would be better to play on the organ?” Vidas: That’s an interesting question, right Ausra? Ausra: Yes, but if I would have to choose, I would choose the mediocre intermediate organist, because you can be a perfect professional concert pianist, but that doesn’t mean you will be even a mediocre on the organ if you don’t know how to play it. Vidas: Because let’s face it; piano and organ have similarities, only certain similarities, like the keyboards are the same, right? Sometimes reverse color, but basically the keys are in the same order. What else, Ausra? Ausra: And that’s pretty much all they have in common. Everything else is different. Even the sound is produced by a different principle. Vidas: Yes. On the piano, they produce the sound with the help of the hammers and the strings, hitting the strings, and as soon as the hammer hits the strings, the sound starts to fade. What’s different about the organ, Ausra? Ausra: Organ basically is a wind instrument, because it consists of pipes, and it has bellows, so basically it’s a different kind of instrument comparing to the piano, and the approach to it is very different. Of course, if you have a good piano technique, it never hurts for you, and it would help for you on the organ, but still, it’s not the only thing. Vidas: What if you really are a professional concert pianist and want to play the organ? Is it possible to get used to the new techniques? Ausra: Sure, but I guess you will still have to have some, at least some, organ lessons that will teach you the basic approach to the instrument, because it has pedals, because if you will only play the manual part or accompany hymns on the manuals, it wouldn’t do any good because playing pedal is a crucial part of any organists routine. Vidas: What about if the situation were reversed, and you needed to play professionally the piano and there are a mediocre pianist and then world class concert organist? What’s then? Ausra: Well let’s not bother to turn our heads about that, because this is not our question; not what Andrei is asking. Vidas: But, hypothetically, this situation might arise in some churches if they only have like a piano, and two choices: very poor pianist, poor sight-reading pianist with poor technique, and very good organist. The organist probably would do it. Right? On the piano… Ausra: Yes, I think that’s the easier way than another one. Vidas: So probably organists are in more demand than pianist, right Ausra, because of this? Ausra: Yes, because piano doesn’t require such a good coordination as does the organ. Let’s face it, it’s thinking in sort of steps while playing the organ, and while playing the piano you have only one keyboard, of course it’s much wider, but still, you don’t have to coordinate so much. You just have to coordinate between your right and left hand, but with an organ you also have plus two feet, two manage, too. Vidas: And we’re not talking about the most advanced piano repertoire. We are talking about general basic piano repertoire that could be played in a church setting, liturgical setting. Of course, the organist will have an easier time adapting, but what’s different with the organist is the organist will then have to learn how to use the sustain pedal—the right pedal—from scratch. Right? But usually, organists play piano before starting to play the organ. Right? Ausra: Yes, so I don’t think that’s a real problem. I think it’s harder to go to play the organ if you only took piano before. It takes a while. It takes a while to find the right touch and to manage to coordinate everything. Well, because, you know, just don’t think that if you are a good piano player that you will sit on the organ bench, you will do exactly the same thing that you did on the piano and that it will work. No! It will not! Definitely it will not! Vidas: So you need some basics, basic foundation techniques to learn about the organ, get used to it, maybe observe a real organist working on the organ for starters, and then a little bit later, ask permission to play a short piece here and there with the guidance from a real organist. Ausra: You know, I have happened to observe a few times in my life as the good pianist comes to the organ, for example, to accompany a choir. That’s a very common situation. And he or she sits down at the organ and starts to play and starts doing all these twists and elbows motion, and using your shoulders, and basically it’s so different from the organ, and they try to force it as they do on the piano to make the sound deeper or louder, and it’s just not how it works. Instead of that, you just have a slower tempo and a really big mess! Vidas: Yeah, one of the most crucial differences on the organ from the piano is that you have to control your releases very much—the endings of the chords. When you release both hands together or not together, it’s really audible on the organ, much more so than on the piano. Ausra: Definitely. That’s because the sound doesn’t die on the organ. Vidas: Right. But that’s a good question. Sometimes really churches have to pick which one they would find more usable in a liturgical setting—professional concert pianist or a mediocre organist. Ausra: Well, though in Lithuania, usually the church organists don’t get paid well enough, so I think even to have a mediocre or intermediate organist is too good for the salary that usually organists in Lithuania get, so… Vidas: Yeah, the salary that they pay is usually only for showing up. Right? If you showed up, I think that’s good enough for that salary. But if you want to play something in a Western society, it would be just not enough to survive. Ausra: Yes, but let’s say if that professional concert pianist is young and is willing to learn, I’m quite sure that with time, he or she could adjust and become an excellent organist, as well. And if that organist, let’s say, is older in age and is only mediocre and intermediate level and doesn’t want to improve, then I think it would be harder to achieve a higher level. So it depends on the situation, and of course it depends on what the church needs, actually, what kind of music they need to support their liturgy. Vidas: Yes, whether they need more organ music or keyboard music. That’s the big big difference. Right? If they need the piano music more than the organ, then… you know. Ausra: But if they do a lot of congregational singing and value the hymns, then I would say that an intermediate organist works better than a pianist. Vidas: Agree. So 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, Ausra: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 628 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Stephen, and he writes: “At 72 years of age my goal is to play some of Bach's organ music with musicality and appropriate style...i.e. registration ...trills ..phrasing. I have explored the "Little preludes and Fugues" using Soderlund's book on authentic technique for that period. To be able to continue to practice. (I own an Viscount Digital Organ with appropriate AGO standards. I also studied formally with an organist for 2 years) To be able to improve my pedal technique. I have used your Pedal Mastery Course to help in that regard. I purchased it when you first offered it to us. I would like to know other sources of exercises that might help in improving. To be able to memorize even at my age....I find that practicing the organ and piano HELP keep my mind sharp ...Excellent therapy... Stephen” Vidas: So Stephen is 72 years old, and he has several goals. Let’s talk about them in turn, shall we? Ausra: Yes, of course. Vidas: He wants, first of all, to play Bach’s organ music with appropriate sense of style, basically probably historically informed performance practice. That’s what he means, right? Ausra: Yes. That’s what I understood from his letter. Vidas. Hmm. I would suggest, beside Soderlund’s book, which is obviously an excellent manual and resource material, but I also recommend my own video course called, “Bach Organ Mastery, Level 1,” where I teach how to play those little preludes and fugues—Eight Little Preludes and Fugues. It’s, I think, a 16 week course. In each week we learn either one prelude or one fugue. We start, not with the first prelude and fugue, which is not the easiest one, but with the easiest, which is probably G minor, I would say. Ausra: Yes, Prelude is definitely G minor. Vidas: So, that’s my suggestion. I not only teach the techniques, how to master them, but I also teach how those pieces are put together, analyzing them. Ausra: I think this is very important, too, to understand how the music is put together. Vidas: And I’ve got very good feedback from students who watch those videos and say that they appreciate my analysis as much as or even more than my teaching of techniques; how to play them. Analysis is kind of a hidden thing. You can maybe teach yourself how to play the piece, but if you don’t understand how the piece is put together, it’s kind of difficult to analyze it yourself. You have to consult some sources, and one of them is my course. Ausra: Plus, I think a video course is more beneficial because you can see another person playing and how another person sits and touches the keyboard. I think this is very important, too. To see it, not only to read about how it should be done, and to listen to how the final result should be. And another suggestion for Stephen from me would be maybe you are willing to find some kind of tracker—access to a tracker instrument, just to see how it works and to play it, to practice it for a while, because that might give you more idea about how Baroque music should be performed. Because you have that practice organ at home, which is great, because you can do it every day then, but I think getting on the tracker organ would help you to understand the meaning of Baroque articulation and ordinary touch. Vidas: Yeah, speaking about the tracker organ, at home we have a Hauptwerk setup, and also a practice organ with two stops, which is a tracker organ. The keyboards in our Hauptwerk setup have a very light touch. Basically, no resistance at all. So, I made a video a few days ago how to play, I think in 12 steps, the famous Gigout Toccata. It’s not a Baroque piece, but I bring it up here because it’s appropriate, because I started learning it and recording it on the Hauptwerk, on the plastic keyboard. And it went well! I applied my own steps, taught myself… you can watch the video. But then, I think the next day, I sat down on the pipe organ at our house, and it felt almost like sight-reading all over again, and I was scared, because my recital is coming up in a few days, you know, this weekend, of this particular piece I am planning to prepare. Of course, I can postpone it or substitute with another piece (I have plenty to choose from), but I was kind of frustrated because a day before, I was doing well, and now I cannot play it at all! What’s happening? Then the next day, like yesterday, I sat down on the Hauptwerk setup again and tried to play the same Gigout Toccata, and guess what? It wasn’t that bad. It was sort of not perfect, but close to ready. So, my point is that playing on even a small practice organ with two stops which have genuine tracker action is much much more difficult than any type of electronic organ, virtual organ, digital organ, which has very very light touch. Ausra: But you know, yes, it’s more difficult, but at the same time, it’s more fun and it makes more sense, because sometimes when you are trying to do all the Baroque articulation on the light keyboard, it doesn’t make sense, very often. And then you start to think, “Why do I need to do this all? I might just play all things legato and that is comfortable to me.” But when you sit at the tracker organ, you will then understand why all these rules and all this trouble. Then it really makes sense, all those tips. Vidas: Yeah, absolutely, I agree with you on this question. Just understand that even though it’s more difficult to play on the tracker organ, from time to time it’s much more beneficial. If you don’t have access to it every day, going to a church with a pipe organ which has a tracker action from time to time regularly will help you a lot. Right? Ausra: Yes, of course. Vidas: What about improving his pedal technique. Can we talk a little bit about that? He used the “Pedal Mastery Course,” which is of course great to start. He said that he purchased it when I first offered it. He doesn’t say if he completed it. Ausra: Yes, we don’t know about that. Vidas: It’s a long course! It’s… or not. No, it’s not that long. The “Sight-reading Master Course” is 40 weeks long, but pedal mastery course is probably 12 weeks long plus some bonus weeks, bonus material, Ausra: Does that include bonus material right from the beginning of the scores, or did you add them later? Vidas: Right from the beginning, yes, so that people could get extra value. Ausra: Oh, okay. Vidas: So yeah, even those 12 weeks—I’m not sure if Stephen has completed, or how… I offered it a while ago, many years ago I would say. Right? Ausra: Yes, it’s been a while. Vidas: It was one of my first courses, maybe from 2012, 2013, something like that in the early days, and this is 2020. We’re talking about maybe 8, 7, 6 years of not practicing from this course. Maybe let’s recommend that Stephen go back to this course! Ausra: Yes, it might be beneficial to refresh your pedal technique. Vidas: He will be surprised, obviously. It’s not that he would have forgotten everything that he learned if he had completed this course in the early days, but it will be beneficial, nonetheless, to refresh. What about memorization? Can he try to memorize? Ausra: Yes, of course, if he thinks it is beneficial for his brain, then of course, why not? Personally, I don’t memorize music very often, because that way I cannot do as much repertoire as I would want to do, because for me, it’s better to learn more pieces than to memorize one piece during that time. But some day I might change my mind! Vidas: When you have played all of them. Ausra: I don’t think that’s possible. Vidas: Yeah. We have so many scores at home that we will probably never run out of music. Right? Ausra: Yes, that’s right. Vidas: But yes, I agree with you. I also don’t memorize regularly nowadays because my goal is like yours—to master it, and perform in public, to record, to live-stream as much repertoire as I can, and memorizing takes maybe 10 times as much of work with one piece. Right? So I could learn 10 pieces in that period of time. Right? In my case, it’s not worth it. Ausra: Yes, because I think the sight-reading new music, learning new music gives your brain enough of exercise. Don’t you think so? Vidas: Right. Right. Also excellent therapy, like Stephen adds at the end. Vidas: So choose whatever you feel works well for you in your situation at your age, for example. Right? Maybe people who are past 60, let’s say, 65, have different goals than we have right now. Ausra: Yes. Vidas: That’s okay! That’s okay. And maybe our goals will change with time. Ausra: I have no doubt about it. Vidas: So guys, please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, Ausra: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 635 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Scott, and he writes, Hi Vidas. I'm new to organ playing and came across your site. Do you have a course that goes in order from kind of the beginning? I'm an intermediate piano player who doesn't read well yet. I also don't have pedals nor multiple manuals right now. Just using a midi controller with organ presets. Can a membership on your site help me where I'm at now with organ? V: So Scott is probably wondering about Total Organist. A: Yes. I guess so. V: But he is interested in learning the organ kind of from the beginning. What I don’t really get is how he can be an intermediate piano player, but at the same time doesn’t read well. So if you are intermediate, you already read well, right? A: Maybe he meant that he doesn’t read difficult pieces well right away. V: If you are a beginner you don’t read well, but if you are intermediate you are reading well. A: But intermediate is not advanced. V: Mm. I would think advanced players read very well. Not well but very well. A: Maybe he’s just modest about… V: Or maybe he’s more of a basic level organist, not intermediate level - pianist - let’s say pianist. What’s your instinct on this, intuition? A: My guess that he needs right now, because he has only one keyboard and no pedal, to work on manualiter things, and do you have such a course in your Total Organist program? V: Oh yeah. Specifically designed for people who don’t have pedals, or who start with piano skills first. I made fingering for all the Bach Two Part Inventions and Three Part Sinfonias. But also, for Cesar Franck’s L’Organiste. Basically, L’Organiste teaches legato technique with finger substitutions, and Bach works show you and teach you about articulate legato style, suitable for early music. A: And all these great collections can be done on one manual, is that right? V: Yes. For Franck, sometimes you do need sort of a second keyboard because of a different sounds required for the right hand as a solo melody, or the left hand. Because if they were written, let’s say for harmonium, harmonium would have a divided keyboard. Certain stop would only affect let’s say the right hand side of the keyboard but not the left hand side of the keyboard. So you can draw out one stop and play with solo out melody, but left hand would be softer, and vice versa. So if you only have one keyboard, then you would not get this diversification easily, unless you have let’s say Hauptwerk or Grand Orgue, let’s say - virtual pipe organ software, where you could have a sample set for one organ, one organ, but with divided keyboard. There are some Spanish organs like that, maybe Italian organs, maybe Positivs for three or four stops - they could be suitable for this kind of division between the hands. What do you think, Ausra? A: Well what I think that it’s very important to spend every day practicing, no matter what kind of instrument you have at home. And maybe instead of searching for, let’s say more variety, other instruments, I think it’s more beneficial to spend that time just working and practicing and increasing your technique. V: Hm. You are so right, Ausra. You are painfully right, I mean you’re right at the degree that I don’t have anything else to add. And I would like to add something, actually, but I don’t know what. A: Yes, because you know, if we are talking about the same collection by Cesar Franck, L’Organiste, you can still do a lot on just having one keyboard without any other extra division and other manuals. Most of them can be done on one keyboard. V: Yeah. I didn’t specify that some of the pieces need a sort of division between the hands, but a lot of them not. A: So basically, all those, like Inventions by J.S. Bach and Sinfonias by J.S. Bach, and Cesar Franck L’Organiste can be easily done on one keyboard, and it’s just very important for Scott. V: Exactly. And by the time you finish learning all Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias as well as most of the pieces by Franck in L’Organiste, probably you will have saved some money to get a MIDI pedalboard, or MIDI-fy your old pedalboard, sort of to be used together with the MIDI controller as a manual, together with pedals you could play both. It would be like a second step. A: Yes, and at that time you can start learning new pieces with the pedals. V: That’s a good advice. Thank you guys for watching, for listening to us. We really appreciate your questions. Doesn’t matter if you’re an advanced player or a beginner player, we really want to help you grow. And obviously there is no better way to grow than in a community. We have this Total Organist community on Basecamp, which asks and answers questions every day, reports how they’re practicing, what they’re practicing, what they’re struggling with, and they support each other. They sort of see commonalities between each of them, and it’s really really rewarding experience to be a part of that group. Even if you are an advanced organist, you would definitely benefit from being in a group of like-minded individuals who want to improve their organ playing skills, don’t you think, Ausra? A: Yes, I think it’s nice to be a part of community where share same ideas, and have some struggles that are common for everybody. V: From my experience, people basically quadruple their results from being a solo player, from studying on their own, and then when they join the community of Total Organist, in some months they quadruple their results. That’s unbelievable. A: I would say maybe double at first, but of course I’m a pessimist, or a realist in life, and you are optimist, so. V: Who wins in life, pessimists, or realists, or optimists? A: They end up the same for everybody. V: Which is? A: Death, of course. V: (laughs) A: You shouldn’t be laughing about that - it’s serious things. V: Yes, but since we all have the same results, so why bother? Can’t escape. A: Well, don’t talk nonsense, okay? V: All right. Ausra is getting too serious for this conversation, so we better go and play some organ duets now, right? A: Yes, because we have recording upcoming next week. V: Remind us, what will you be playing? A: I’ll play Offertory by Alexander Guilmant, based on two noels. And of course I’ll play a bunch of duets together with you. V: Christmas Oratorio excerpts, as well as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart, and I will improvise something on the Christmas tunes. Wonderful! 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. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 633 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by André, and he writes, Hello dear Vidas, I received the statement from Patreon about your support. I am extremely honored and grateful for your help, which means a lot to me. First, because I’ve been following your channel for many years, long before you started using Hauptwerk. In fact, many years ago you recorded a video about possible works to study with only a manual, which was a starting point for me in the organ. And finally, I printed the paper pedal board that you made available on your website! Anyway, receiving your support means a lot because you have always been a person who inspired me! Here in Brazil things are scarce in relation to the practice of the organ, but I was never discouraged, I was always positive. And now with Hauptwerk, and with my future equipment, I will be able to study this instrument that I love so much more! Thank you very much, affectionately, André Barbosa V: André later wrote that he is looking forward to receiving his two keyboards and MIDI pedalboard later, in a few months. So this will really enable him to start playing real organ repertoire. A: Yes, this is such inspiring story for people showing that you just don’t have to give up. If you don’t have something available for you for a moment, that you still can do something and practice something. Maybe just do manual work first of all, and to have like a paper pedalboard, and with time, your dreams will come true. The most important thing is to do something constantly, to be very consistent and work on it on a regular basis. V: Sometimes I get to see people’s questions on various social media sites, and they ask, “What can I do? I don’t have an access to the organ anymore. My church is closed, so I don’t have a place to play and practice. My basically organ playing career is over.” And just recently I discovered this question on the forum, and suggested, “Maybe you need to start thinking about getting Hauptwerk organ of your own at home. Very affordable.” And the person wrote that she’s broke. And then I said, “Maybe you need to think about some revenue stream first,” instead of getting access to the organ, and only then about instrument. But as it turns out, organ and revenue is not mutually exclusive. You can get one and the other at the same time. I’m talking about a platform called Emanate now. Emanate is a platform which rewards musicians fairly instantly and directly. So if you upload your recordings, and with Hauptwerk you would get really high quality recordings right away, you share those links, your recordings with your friends, family, and work fans, and you will start getting real revenue. A: I think you know, if you really want to play organ, if it’s really important for you, you will find a way to do it if it’s really important for you. And if you don’t, maybe it wasn’t that important. V: Yeah. I think people are sometimes just looking for excuses instead of solutions. A: Yes, and sometimes people just like to complain. Some people complain about things all the time, like my mom, for example. V: But she cooks well! A: (laughs) Yes, I can see that, looking at you and at myself of course. She could cook much less. V: We look healthy, you mean. A: I don’t think we would look healthy for cardiologist. V: Yes, but she listens to our organ playing. That’s a good sign. A: Yes. We are educating her a little bit. V: And she uses tablet, internet. A: Very advanced. V: Yes. Can swipe with her finger from left to right. A: Okay, don’t make fun of my mother. Don’t want me to start talking about your mother. V: What did my mother do? My mom is teaching also online, like you. A: So she’s much more advanced, comparing to my mother. But she doesn’t cook for us, so…. V: Yeah, too bad. A: I prefer my mother. V: What if both of our moms could cook for us. (laughs) A: Hardly to imagine that - your mother cooking all the time for us. V: And listening to organ music in the background. So, wonderful question. Yeah - André really made my day with this answer on Patreon. Sometimes, sometime ago, when I decided to support more organists on Patreon, I was looking for other small channels. And apparently there are not many. There are a few big names which have at least hundred subscribers, which really don’t need much support from outside right now, because they are already flying well. And there are a few of us who are doing small work, like André Barbosa, Paul Fey, James Flores, our channel, and that’s about it. You know, there are a few amateur organists who don’t play organ repertoire, but just play pop music on the organ. So I was not compelled to support them, because they’re not really organists. A: Maybe they have more even followers than we do, don’t you think so? V: No, no. A: Oh, good. I’m so much relieved. V: Yeah. At first I thought maybe, but I didn’t feel any emotional connection with their music, so… so I guess Barbosa is one of them who is connected with us. A: Yes, I really like his playing and I’m following his YouTube channel. V: And he only has one keyboard right now! One MIDI keyboard. Anybody can have a keyboard at home, you know, like it costs, let’s say for argument’s sake the cheapest one is less than $100. You can find $50 keyboard right now. Or a used one you can get for $20 or $30 - very cheap. If you install Hauptwerk, or if you don’t have resources for Hauptwerk, you can install Grand Orgue - it’s free. And you can start making music from your home with virtual pipe organ software, with beautifully sampled pipe organ sounds - virtual pipe organ sounds. And you’re no longer stuck - you’re starting, you have a starting point. Then later, little by little, you can earn more money, and later you can buy a pedalboard. A: Yes, and the rest is up to you, right? V: Yes, the rest is history. Excellent. So guys, don’t give up, even if you’re in a country where organ culture is not popular. You just have to keep positive mentality and look for solutions to your challenges, and not for excuses. 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. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 626 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Mario, and he writes: “Hello Vidas, my name is Mario I am a 25 year old musician from Panamá. My dream is to become Panamá's first organist, we have two pipe organs in the country and lucky for me I have access to both. One is Spanish pipe organ with 2 manuals and 30 note straight pedalboard and 51 keys on each manual. Second is a Renaissance pipe organ built in 2019 by a Polish organ company, it has 3 manuals with 51 keys also and a 27 note pedalboard. I am very interested in developing my sight reading abilities to a high level, where I could Just grab any composition and play it at tempo, and I mean piano or organ composition. I am wondering if your sight reading course would be good for me. I am comfortable sight reading hymns, but I don't have knowledge on pipe organ repertoire, only Bach. I practice on a digital Piano a Yamaha p155. I bought an AGO pedalboard and it should arrive in 2 weeks. Let me know if you can help me become a master at sight reading.” Vidas: So Ausra, where do we start? Ausra: Well, what I can say: Mario seems to me a very ambitious young man with a future vision! Vidas: Yes. Now he has access only to two organs in Panamá. Both… the only two organs in Panamá. And he has a goal in the future to have a pedalboard at home so he could easily practice every day. Right? Ausra: Sure, of course! Vidas: The first thing that came to mind is how did a Polish organ company build an organ in Panamá? Ausra: I also thought it sort of bizarre, and the choice of building a Renaissance pipe organ, which is also very bizarre. Are they sort of doing something with early music in Panamá? Vidas: Yeah, strange coincidence. Maybe Mario could follow up and tell us the story of how this organ came to Panamá. Ausra: Because I don’t think that Poland itself is very famous for Renaissance instruments. I think it’s more famous for Baroque and later instruments. Vidas: Right. Well, there are a number of historical organs, probably old ones from the Renaissance times in Poland, but it seems strange to build in organ in the country which only in the previous days has only one previous organ. Right? And you are building a second organ which will be a Renaissance type organ. Ausra: Yes, because this sort of very much reduces the chances of your repertoire, because if it’s a renaissance organ, then you will be able to play only Renaissance music on it, and it’s not such a large variety of repertoire. Vidas: I hope we are missing something. Maybe there is something behind the scenes that we don’t know. Ausra: Yes, could be. Vidas: So, concerning probably the sight-reading goal that Mario has, he has probably a basic understanding of playing hymns. Right, Ausra? Ausra: Yes, that’s what I understood, because he says that he sight-reads hymns. Of course he didn’t tell us if he just plays them on the piano, which is one thing, and if he plays them with the pedal, which is a big difference. Vidas: Yes, it is. But obviously, if he took my sight-reading Master Course on the organ, then obviously, he will start with one single voice, like any other student, and progress through other voices, then within a number of weeks, he will start playing two voice combinations, later add three voices, and finally sight-read all four voices together. Does this plan sound like something Mario could do? Ausra: Yes, obviously he could do it. Of course, I don’t know if he would be sort of fluent in sight-reading any music at any tempo after that, but I don’t think very many people could do that in general. Vidas: This course is not a substitute for regular organ repertoire. You have to mix both things together. You have to simultaneously play repertoire and at the same time this course, let’s say. And then you will progress through sight-reading that repertoire which you are playing much faster. Does that make sense? Ausra: Yes, it makes sense, of course. Vidas: So that’s my main suggestion. Obviously, you need a pedalboard, and it’s best to have it at home, so maybe in two weeks, or maybe by the time that Mario hears this podcast episode, maybe he will already have acquired a pedalboard at his home. Possible! Ausra: Yes, that’s possible, of course. Vidas: I would think that a digital piano like Yamaha would have a MIDI outlet, right? Ausra: I’m not good with technologies, but yes, I think it should have one. Vidas: This particular model I’m not sure, but in general digital pianos should have MIDI-in and MIDI-out, so if it does then he could connect Hauptwerk. Ausra: Yes, that’s a possibility. Vidas: Hauptwerk is a virtual pipe organ software where you download samples, install sample sets, from real sounding organs, and you can choose many many sample sets on your machine and switch them according to the needs of your repertoire. If you’re playing Baroque music, you can choose a Baroque organ, if you’re playing Romantic music, you could choose a Romantic organ. French, German, Dutch, whatever you want, you know! Ausra: But since Mario has only one keyboard and one pedalboard, I don’t think he could benefit a lot from adding Hauptwerk, because if you want to use Hauptwerk, you have to have at least a couple of keyboards. Don’t you think so? Unless you practice only Baroque music. Vidas: Yeah, for this particular course, Sight-reading Master Course, this could be done. This could be done with pedals and one keyboard. Remember, we listen to the entire “Art of Fugue” on harpsichord without… Ausra: Of course, but I’m not talking about “Art of Fugue!” I’m talking about what you just told about—the possibilities of Hauptwerk having all of these different French, German, Dutch instruments. I’m saying that it doesn’t make sense to have all these sample sets if you don’t have more keyboards. Don’t you agree? Vidas: Agree. Ausra: Okay! Vidas: Alright! So, it seems that… but my proposition to try out Hauptwerk is because if you are playing on a digital piano, you will have piano sounds, and piano sounds are not the same as organ sounds. Maybe it’s just a basic one-keyboard organ sound that he needs, but still, to have a virtual, at least one sample set installed would be nice! Ausra: Yes, especially since he will have a pedalboard as well. Vidas: Right. So 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, Ausra: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 624 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Diana, who transcribes fingering and pedaling from our videos, and she writes that: “Sometimes I read a treble clef like a bass clef...” Vidas: I don’t know if it’s a common problem or not, Ausra. Ausra: Well, actually, it’s a very uncommon problem. The problem is usually that people read bass clef as treble clef, but not otherwise. So, I really don’t know what to say and how to help! Vidas: Yeah, because if you start your musical training with the bass clefs, so it becomes your native clef, so you learn it first, and then every other clef becomes like an addition to that, so you then judge, let’s say, treble clef by the notes of the bass clef. Ausra: Well, do you know many musicians who start their training with bass clef? Because I personally don’t. Vidas: Exactly. That’s what I meant, you know, common experience is starting from the treble clef nowadays. Maybe she means that she’s mixing up treble clef with bass clef, but the other way around, could be. Ausra: Yes, that would be a very common problem for people, but I would say that the more you play in different clefs, the easier it gets, because usually this problem is for beginners only. Do you mix clefs, Vidas? Vidas: Yes, I mix them all the time, but intentionally, because I know 10 clefs. There are five C clefs on every line which indicate treble C, there are two F clefs like a bass clef and the baritone clef. They indicate the note tenor F. And there are three... or two… two G clefs. The descant and the treble clef. And I probably should mention that there is another one; an extra F clef to basso profundo. Right, Ausra? Ausra: Yes. And are you comfortable with all of those clefs? Vidas: No, I don’t use them everyday, but probably the four of them are the most common: treble clef, bass clef, then alto clef and the tenor clef. But I also use very often soprano clef. What about you? Ausra: Well actually, I use four of C clefs very often, so soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and tenor, but not so often the baritone, and of course the treble and bass clefs. I don’t use this contra- clef or another F clef. Vidas: You teach students at school about those clefs. Right? Ausra: Yes. Vidas: What do they say when you teach them? Ausra: They hate them, and they hate me! Vidas: “Why do we need them?” Right? Ausra: Yes! Actually, not really, because among my students, there are some who use C clefs in their daily life, because they play alto cello and like trombone, so they are sort of used to other clefs as well. Vidas: But I mean when you explain why they need them, what do you say? Ausra: Well, I explain how the tradition of writing music was, that paper was very expensive and the use of these clefs allow us to omit ledger lines, so and in that case you save space, you save paper. Plus, it was tradition that each voice has its own clef. It was really comfortable. And I give them for an example Mozart’s Requiem. Vidas: “Lacrymosa?” Ausra: Yes, because it’s in the textbook, but I guess other parts of and movements of the Requiem are written in the same manner. Vidas: To me, there is another benefit of using clefs that changing clefs and using them in my daily training, because if you have a theme written, let’s say in the treble clef, the theme of a musical, idea four measures long or two measures long, whatever your theme is, or even an entire chorale or hymn written in the treble clef, and you want to improvise on that theme, one of the techniques that makes your improvisation more colorful and interesting is to transpose this theme into other keys. Not to play in one key, which is okay for a short time, but to change to the dominant key, to the relative key, to the subdominant key, to the relative of the dominant, relative to the subdominant, those closely related keys, let’s say, and one of the ways to easily do this is by changing the clef. You read the notes as they are on the stave, but in your mind, you change the clef, and therefore, you read different notes—you transpose them to different keys—adding different accidentals, of course. Ausra: But that way you really need to be closely familiar with these keys and clefs. Vidas: Of course! Ausra: Because what I do when I have to read, let’s say, from the C clefs, I just transpose back of an interval. And I’m very good at doing that. Do you think it’s possible it’s also one of the right ways to do it? Vidas: Well, yes, it’s not difficult if you are transposing just a major or minor second up or down, but other than that, you need to then switch something in your head. Right? So either you switch the clef, or you switch the position of the note on the staff. You can choose whichever feels more natural in this particular situation. Ausra: You know, for me, for example, it’s very easy when I have to transpose things a second or a third below the given melody, and therefore in order to use all these C clefs, I’ll just have to switch in my head between treble and bass clef, and I can do that very easily then. Vidas. Right. So I have this training, “Transposition for Organists, Level 1,” which teaches you to transpose 4-part hymns at sight fluently. And the goal of this course is to help people perfect their hymn transposition skills so that they would be able to transpose any 4-part hymn at sight fluently and without mistakes by the intervals of the half-step and the whole-step up and down. So this is the first step. The first level. Then the second level would be probably wider intervals, like a major or minor third up and down, and then a perfect fourth up and down, a fifth, and so forth. Ausra: Well, but you know in a practical way, I wouldn’t say that you need to go to wider intervals, because you rarely will encounter a case that you have to transpose so far away. Vidas: Yes, the widest interval that is probably practical, I would say, is perfect fourth up. Ausra: Well, I would go to a major third, probably. Vidas: But, you know, if you want to transpose from C major to G major, what do you do then? Right? Ausra: Well, yes. Vidas: From the tonic to the dominant. Ausra: But lets say we are talking now about hymn transposition, and all the vocal music including hymns are related to a human voice, to a diapason of human voice, and I don’t think any of us have such a wide range in our diapason, so I don’t think you need to transpose in such wide intervals. Vidas: No, but if your goal is to learn to improvise, transposition is one of those steps. Ausra: Well, yes. Vidas: Trust me. I know. Ausra: Anyway, I don’t have any trouble to transposing anything to any key, so I don’t think it’s really for me, your teaching. I could teach you. Vidas: Yes. Which intervals would you teach me? Ausra: Perfect octave! Vidas: Perfect octave. Ausra: That’s the easiest transposition! Vidas: Yeah, but people who need to perfect their, let’s say, transposition skills would find this course really helpful. This course is not written, of course, in different clefs. It’s in treble clef. Or not… let me think… Oh yeah, actually, I’m looking at the picture of the course, and yes, we have alto clef! Yes, we have transposition by the clefs, so it applies to those people who want to read the clefs, too. Ausra: Well, because what I’m thinking is that if you are transposing only by a second or a third, then you could think about a given interval and which direction you are transposing by a second or by a third, but if you need to transpose by a wider interval, then probably you need to imagine a different clef. It’s easier that way. Vidas: Yes. And the wider the interval, the more difficult it becomes. So level 1 is just major or minor seconds. So I suggest people start from there and see how it goes for 12 weeks in a row. That’s the length of the course. Ausra: Well, another way would be if you imagine all the music in the scale degrees, then you could use that skill to transpose, and I don’t think then the right interval would be a problem. Vidas: Yes, but then this music needs to stay in one key, like a hymn. But in hymns, sometimes, we have also temporary excursions to different keys like the dominant or to the relative key as well. So in that instance, in your mind you have to switch to another key, and then to another scale degree. That’s complicated a little bit. Ausra: Isn’t that self-explanatory? Vidas: Maybe, but we have to explain everything none-the-less. Right? Ausra: Well, if you are smart enough to understand that the key is changing in a concrete part, so I don’t think it would be a trouble for you to switch to other keys’ scale degrees. Vidas: You haven’t forgotten how you first learned, let’s say, about those clefs and transposition twenty years ago or more… it’s really... Ausra: Yes, it was a very long time ago! Vidas: Yes, so I think people start really from scratch and they need to do the basic stuff. Ausra: Probably 30 years ago! Vidas: Could be. We are very old. So guys, check out this course, “Transposition for Organists Level 1” and spend some time with those clefs and see if that helps you internalize them and my experience tells me you need one month for one clef to perfect it. Ausra: Well, for some people it’s trouble to play in treble and bass clef enough that they struggle for years and still cannot do that. Vidas: I mean one month, seven days a week, eight hours per day, you know! Ausra: Like a full-time job, yes? Vidas: Yes! For one month! Alright guys, please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, Ausra: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying SOPP631: What is a minimum of major/minor scales, vs Hanon finger exercises, vs practicing a piece?12/4/2020
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 631 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Keith, and he writes in response to my letter asking what are his goals and challenges in organ playing. He writes, Vidas, Thank you for sharing your knowledge and love of organ playing. My dream for organ playing is to facilitate the expression of worship in music, with the language of harmony. What things are holding me back from my dream? 1. My ignorance/lack of skill. - In February I dusted off my marginal four years of grade school piano lessons, after 34 years. 2. Realizing what good technique is - what such technique should feel like when I practice and play. 3. Practice method/discipline - What is a minimum of major/minor scales, vs Hanon finger exercises, vs practicing a piece. - I practice about an hour a day, some days twice that. Wish I could practice more. The mini-course emails have been very helpful to me. I let them queue up behind each other, until I have a chance to fully consider each one. Regards, Keith V: So Keith has been a recent subscriber to our newsletter, and his question is kind of very interesting, right? Where do we start, Ausra? A: Well I wish to congratulate him first, that after not playing for so many years, he realized that he needs to do it. I think that’s a wonderful way to get back to music. V: Yeah. We’re recording this in the month of November, so he writes that in February he started playing again the instrument, right? Which is half a year or so, more a little bit, almost a year, I would say closing to one year. So his dream of facilitate the expression of worship with the language of harmony, how do you understand it, Ausra? A: Well that’s a very poetic way of expressing himself. V: Language of harmony. Harmony means connection and science about the chords, right? So does it mean that the harmony needs to be taken into consideration when Keith plays in a worship, or what.... A: Well I think in this context I would say that harmony doesn’t mean that what I teach my school kids about connection of chords. It’s more probably about harmony in general, as overall understanding of music for worship. V: Uh huh. How music harmonizes our souls, right? A: Yes, I think this is more what he meant, if I’m correct. V: Okay. So the things that are holding him back - the first is lack of skill and his ignorance. Obviously after not playing for 34 years, you have to start someplace, somewhere, right? Doesn’t always mean that you start in an advanced stage. Most likely you start at the basics. A: Sure. But you know, it’s good that you don’t start from scratch, because I understand from the letter Keith had a few years of school piano lessons, which is good. Because then it’s easier to remember what he has done, and for his muscles, it’s easier to remember what he has done and to practice and to improve in an organ. V: So to answer the first part of the question, it’s like the skill will increase along with his experience. The more he practices, the more it will increase. A: Yes, it’s very simple. The more you will put in, the more you will get back. V: Mm hm. The second question is about the technique. What good technique feels like when people play. I would say, before you answer, Ausra, I would say that it’s very obvious. It’s effortless. A: Yes. That’s what I wanted to say. If you sit down on the organ bench and you can play a chosen piece without any hesitation and without too much of an effort, and obviously fluently without mistakes, then I think you will know that your skills are good enough, and that you are using good techniques and right fingering. V: So correct. I think the technique will come also from practice. And I think he doesn’t have to worry about the end result right now, it’s just he has to do the steps, do the process right now. A: Yes, it’s like right now I am working on the Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541, and it has that nice opening in the pedal section where it’s only one single line. But then later, after two lines, the whole texture appears, and pedals come up and it’s quite a thick texture. And I usually play that introduction at the right tempo, at the concert tempo, and then I have to slow down when other voices come. But I dreamt that someday I can play everything in the same tempo and I won’t have to slow down when the hard spot begins. And I’m getting close to it, and it’s, actually it’s coming very gradually. But it’s sort of like a miracle, all this learning process. V: To me, I just played my recital last weekend, so I’m also starting to pick up new repertoire for my next recital by recording 10 step videos for people to practice alongside with me. And I also notice that when I sit down on the bench, I know that I can practice the first step, but not the tenth step. Tenth step is way out of reach today. But in a longer piece, like today I played the five pages long Allegretto by Vierne, it is an intermediate level piece, very nice harmony, Vierne’s chromatic harmony, and I thought that I would need a couple of more days to master this. So today, it felt rather good, but tomorrow when I will come back, I know that what I worked on today will be much less secure. And that’s okay, you need a few extra days and don’t rush things. A: Well, and about the last part of the question, how about… V: Scales, Hanon exercises, and the repertoire practice. A: Yes. About proportional, how all this should be done. I guess half and half would probably wouldn’t be the right way. I would do much less. Just simple exercises and more work on the repertoire. Because while working on the repertoire, you can solve also some of your technical issues, technical problems, and just playing scales and arpeggios and chords might be too boring, and you might give up after awhile. So I would say if you are practicing for an hour every day, do 10 minutes of practicing scales and arpeggios, and spend 50 minutes for working on the repertoire. V: You, so you mean like ⅙ of the time should be spent on the technique, right? If you have only one hour. A: Yes, that’s what I said. V: If you have three hours, then you can spend more. A: Yeah. V: But in one hour, it’s not enough to play the repertoire for 20 minutes or 30 minutes. You have to do more at the expense of the technical exercises, obviously. Hopefully, Keith can practice more than one hour per day if he wants to achieve better results from time to time. A: Yes, because this art of playing organ, of playing any kind of musical instrument is time consuming thing. V: Yes. Today I practiced, I think for two hours almost. One hour and 15 minutes I spent on that piece, Allegretto by Vierne, and 30 minutes, I spent 35 minutes maybe, on improvising a fugue. And that’s not enough. Obviously I will practice at the end of the day the rest of my concert repertoire. A: Yes, and people who are not related to music, non-musicians, they don’t understand the time we spend actually working on our repertoire to get ready for our recitals. Like my cousin just asked me recently, “Why do you still need to practice? You are a professional.” And I told her that if I would play the same repertoire over and over again, let’s say I would have like 10 or 20 pieces that I would play my entire life and would repeat them over and over again, then yes, of course I wouldn’t have to practice. We would be alive all the time. But because I’m playing a different repertoire and still learning new pieces, so I still need to practice. V: Yes, and I mean that you need to repeat each step that you're learning at least three times in a row without mistakes. Well at least three times in general, not counting the mistakes. But imagine if you just sit down and play one step, whatever that step may be at the current stage, either in quarter notes or in half notes, or one line at a time, or maybe one hand at a time, or just the pedals - whatever is your current goal with that segment or that piece. So, if you just play through, what you're doing is you’re basically just repeating previously mastered material. Yesterday - you learned something yesterday, you repeat it today. And that’s it. You don’t progress. But if you play it one more time, the second time you start to feelsome, a little bit of progress. Obviously not enough to advance faster, but the second time is already I think noticeable. So I suggest you do it at least three times. Do you feel that way, Ausra? A: Yes, I feel that way too. V: Each step, I mean. A: Yes. V: Mm hm. So when you practice G Major Prelude and Fugue 541, you practice it three times as a rule, right? A: Yes, that’s what I usually do. And the first time is always the worst. And the last one is the best. And if I would, let’s say I would come up the next day and I would be able to play right away as my third time of previous day, I would feel very happy. V: But that only will happen when you are ready, right? When you have repeated, I don’t know how many times, 100 times entire piece? Played all those steps totalling 100 repetitions. A: Well, I haven’t counted them, but yes, I guess you need to do that. Because it’s sort of, it’s a not very hard piece, but it takes some time to learn it. V: Yeah, it’s not very hard when you’re playing in the comfort of your home. But if you’re pretending to play in public, like at home but recital, like we do on Hauptwerk, or in a church, different acoustics, also in public, then entirely different situation. So yeah, spend at least three repetitions with each step. That’s the minimum to progress. And only 10 minutes a day for technical issues. A: If you’re practicing only for one hour. V: Yeah. All right, 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. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 629 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by James, and he writes, Thanks Vidas for acknowledging my donation. With lockdown and retirement I have a bit more time to work at learning the organ. I am now 73 so things are a bit slower for me. I have an old analog Viscount organ but I have found that my new iPad can produce even better and authentic sound. Favourite at the moment is Pipe Organ and St Just. So I have brought out my old Casio keyboard which has a MIDI possibility and bought the necessary connectors and connected it to my old stereo system, it really can sound amazing and have to keep the volume down. Love the “pedal notes”. Over the winter I shall follow your example and buy new keyboards, I think it will be better than only one. Music wise I continue to work away at hymns and have started flowkey. I bought your Prière à Notre-Dame as it is just about my level though hard work with all the accidentals. So I would appreciate you doing more of the simpler stuff, I am not quite ready for the toccata. The likes of simpler advent music and Rhoysymedre like what you are beginning to play with fingering would be really useful. It helps build confidence and speeds the process up if an expert such as yourself does the ground work. So thank you for all you do, all you online organists are amazing at this time and offer so much to those of us who feel safer not going to church, a real godsend indeed. So you keep safe and bless you, Jim (James) V: So, wonderful. James donated, I think, some money for us after probably seeing one of my videos, I would say. A: Yes, I guess so. And we appreciate it very much. V: Yes, and I asked him how is your, how is his organ playing doing these days. And he wrote that rather extensive feedback message. A: I think it’s so nice that nowadays you can have instruments at home and have different sample sets and that would connect you to organ from various countries. And that way you might not feel lonely, and you always have some goal and I think this will help so many organists to survive this pandemic. V: Yeah, definitely. It’s like a hobby - a good hobby, right - to keep your mind and body occupied while so many terrible things are happening around the world, and you are sort of trying to forget it all, or distract yourself. A: And I think making music is an excellent way to entertain yourself. V: Yeah, in early days without the recorders and stereo systems, YouTube and internet, people would really entertain themselves while playing, by reading out loud to family members, playing games, probably board games, card games, right? What else - probably drawing, probably acting together, like a small theatre production. It’s all amazing pastime. And I think people who don’t have hobbies, who only have a job and after job they return home, they sort of are tired. They get something to eat, go to bed, get up in the morning and go to job again, miss a great deal something in life, don’t you think so? A: Yes, I think so. I think we are really really lucky to be able to make music. V: Who? A: You and I, and all people who can play. V: Oh you mean we. I thought you said “they.” A: No, I did not. V: Okay, I need to wash my ears more often. More often than twice per year. A: But I think this is a great idea that James suggests, to record easier music for beginners. You should think about it and do something. V: And I did! For example, during my this recital upcoming Saturday, I’m playing - well, it’s not that easy, but - I’m playing a piece which people could start learning themselves. For example, Crown Imperial by William Walton. Very nice, fanfare-like voluntary. Then I’m playing Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, but a short one, BWV 549, which starts with a pedal solo. It’s a basic level piece, it’s not a difficult piece. So maybe James could pick it up. I have fingering and pedaling available in the score. What else I’m playing...I’m playing Eleven Preludes, Chorale Preludes, by Johannes Brahms. Those are really basic level pieces, not very difficult, although some have more thick texture than others. But they are short. A: And some don’t have pedal. V: Exactly, yes. And then after that, I’m playing two Chorale Preludes by Jan Zwart, Dutch Romantic composer, which I love very much. Recently discovered his music from some of my Dutch organist colleagues. A: Well, his name, sorry for that Zwart, but makes me laugh every time. Because somehow that Zwart sounds like a “dwarf” for me. V: Oh, you mean Zwerg. A: Yes, that’s what I mean. V: In German, Zwerg means dwarf. A: Yes. V: Okay, and then I finish with the Gigout Toccata. Gigout Toccata is not a basic level piece, but it’s one of the easier ones in the toccata repertoire. A: Yes, I guess it’s sort of manageable. V: Mm hm, yes. So even after 25 plus years of experience, I can choose a variety of repertoire. Some of it is difficult, some of it is easy, some of it is medium, intermediate level. Right? And you can do the same if you follow our work. Ausra is also practicing at home. What are you playing right now, Ausra? A: I’m practicing the G Major Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach. V: 541. A: Yes, and I’m also learning the Offertory by Alexander Guilmant. V: On the two noels. A: Yes, on Adeste Fideles and another French noel. V: Mm hm. So, it’s a wonderful piece, and I think you play it already very well. A: Well, but I will play them for Christmas time. V: And Christmas is so far away, I think you are ready for another challenge right now. A: Well, we are still learning that Haydn quartet, quartet. V: Yes. We decided to play for four hands, arrangement of Haydn, Josef Haydn’s quartet, it’s called Emperor’s Quartet in C Major. It’s called Emperor’s because one of the movements I think… A: The second one. V: The second one has this traditional anthem. Right now, it is German national anthem, but in earlier days it was Austrian anthem too. So I think people who will listen to us will recognize this theme right away. A: It’s very beautiful one. My favorite. V: All right, so hopefully we will manage. We will start to practice it more often this week after tomorrow’s TV production. Can you tell us a little bit what’s going on with TV? A: Well, yes. And I’m afraid of it so much, so tomorrow we are going to our church to be filmed by national television for so-called interesting learning, or… V: Curious lessons maybe. A: Yes, maybe curious lessons would be the best translation. And we need to, in two minutes, basically to represent our organ at St. John’s. V: So we’re kind of, for the first minute, I will go upstairs and show some pipes. Ausra will stay at the organ console and also play some sounds with those pipes, or maybe operate some organ stops so that people could see how the mechanics work. And in the second minute, maybe we will play a coda, only the ending, from Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. A: Yes, that’s our plan. We will see if it will work. I’m already having goosebumps. V: (laughs) That will be fun. So interesting week. I hope this was helpful to you guys. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: 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... V: 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… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying |
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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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