This is Part 4 of the series of articles about common mistakes in pedal playing. In order to have a full picture, please read the Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 as well.
Playing too deep on the sharp keys. We should strive to depress the sharp key on the edge of it. So don’t go too deep. Although this might seem very insignificant, keeping the foot on the edge of the sharp key makes the glissando to the natural key very easy. For example, if you want to make glissando from F sharp to G with the toe of your foot, just place the foot on the edge of F sharp and you will have to move just a little. Do not lift the heels into the air. On the contrary, if you play too deep on the sharp keys you have to move your foot much more in order to slide to the white key. In addition, toe-heel technique works much better if we keep the feet on the edge of the sharp keys. In other words, the movement of the foot required is very small when we play close to the white key. For example, in order to use toe-heel technique on F sharp and G, play the F sharp with your toe on the edge of this key. As you depress the G with your heel, just release the F sharp with your toe but do not lift it into the air. I recommend you practice the pedal part of your organ piece very slowly to properly observe these details. Playing too far on the natural keys. This mistake is perhaps even more common among organists than the previous one. Basically the rule is simple - stay close to the sharp keys when playing the naturals. In other words, the feet should be able to feel the edge of the sharp keys which helps to hit the right pedals. For example, when you play F with your right toe, place it so that it would be almost touching the F sharp. Then you would feel the edge of the F sharp with the outside of your toe. However, if you place your right foot on the F too far from sharp key, chances of missing the next note with the same foot are much higher. Lifting the feet off the pedal board. I have met many organists who don’t pay attention to this rule. It is not very serious mistake but it does make a difference if we think about the precision in pedal playing. For a beginner, it is quite a challenge to find the right keys on the pedal board without looking at them. We should slide the feet from one key to another but without lifting them. In other words, the motion should be horizontal and not vertical. Then we could feel the distances from D sharp to F sharp and from A sharp to C sharp with our feet and orient ourselves accordingly. So keeping in contact with the pedals at all times helps to get used to the pedal board and play the right notes. In addition, if we play without lifting the feet off the pedals, we use much less energy. This is because to slide the feet is easier that to lift them into the air in terms of weight. Think of how much your leg weigh. Obviously if the foot is touching the pedal, you just have to slide from one key to the next. Otherwise you have to work against gravity. The list about these common mistakes in pedal playing continues in Part 5 of this article series. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.
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This is Part 3 of the series of articles about common mistakes in pedal playing. In order to have a full picture, read the Part 1 and Part 2 as well.
Not changing the position. In order to play passages in the outer edges of the pedal board fluently, we need to shift the position. This technique also allows us to feel comfortable and avoid unnecessary tension of the body. However, not every organist knows how to use this technique properly. Actually, it is quite simple. When you need to make a large leap in your pedal part, push off the pedals with the left foot if the leap is upwards. Likewise push off with the right foot when there is a large leap downwards. As you push off with your foot, make sure you shift the entire lower part of your body, too. The upper body has to stay stable facing the music. This technique makes playing pedal scales very easy and comfortable. Just shift the position a few times over the course of the scale. By the way, the great resource of playing pedal scales and other exercises is Organ Technique: Modern and Early by George Ritchie and George Stauffer. Playing hands and feet together from the beginning in polyphonic music. Because polyphonic organ music, such as four voice fugues can be very exciting yet quite challenging to learn, I don’t recommend learning the fugue by playing hands and feet together right away. Of course, you may sight-read the fugue a couple of times in order to get familiar with the music, but real practice should be done in a different way for best results. Unless you are very experienced in sight-reading and organ playing in general, learn separate voices of the fugue first. Later practice two-voice and three-voice combinations. Only then you will be ready to play the full four-part texture. Practicing otherwise makes learning the correct articulation quite difficult. In addition, because of complex polyphony you may not be able to pay attention to details in your pedal playing technique. Note that you can subdivide the piece into smaller fragments and learn them in this way first. Then combine the fragments into larger episodes. It may seem time consuming and you may think that playing all voices together from the beginning would be faster. However, if you want some serious progress in your organ playing, have patience, take your time to learn the piece really well and don’t rush. Then you will be able to master any organ composition. Not using pedal preparation. If you know what pedal preparation is all about, chances are that you are practicing correctly. The easiest way to explain how pedal preparation works is this: after playing one note in the pedal part, immediately move your foot to the next position and wait for its turn to play. In other words, as you release one pedal, move the foot to the next note in one fluent motion. This technique helps to achieve precision in the pedal playing. However, even though we may know the right way to play, we don’t necessarily take the steps which lead to success. For some reasons, sometimes we are just happy if we press the right notes on the pedal board. Of course, using pedal preparation takes some serious mindset and patience but I can guarantee that it’s worth it. You see, if we insist on preparing for the next note in the pedal part and practice that specific fragment repeatedly, after a while it will become automatic and the foot will just know were to go next. At first you may even use the pencil to mark note heads in advance in parentheses. Later, it will all become natural because you will develop the habit of pedal preparation. The list about these common mistakes in pedal playing continues in Part 4 of this article series. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. This is Part 2 of the series of articles about common mistakes in pedal playing. You can read the Part 1 here. These mistakes inhibit the progress of an organist and form incorrect playing habits. The quality of the music also becomes not as good as it could be. Therefore, it is important to recognize these mistakes and try to correct them.
Using heels in the Baroque music. There are exceptions to this rule, but the tradition is that we should avoid using heels in early music. This is because the pedal boards of historical organs very often are built in such a way that playing with heels would be quite difficult. For example, the pedals of the French classical organs are very narrow and short. Even more so is with Renaissance organs. By the way, using toes only technique it is much easier to achieve the desired articulation – articulate legato touch. However, not every organist is taught this way even today. This is partly because the legato school of organ playing was applied to the early music for a long time. Avoiding heels in the Romantic and Modern music. I have met some organists who play even the 19th century and 20th century compositions with toes only. Toe-heel technique has strong foundations in the Romantic organ tradition and we should not hesitate to use it when it is appropriate. My guess is that some organists avoid using heels for various reasons but one of them might be that they don’t know the principles behind toe-heel technique. They don’t know how to do efficient and solid pedaling for scale passages. In consequence, the pedal part performed in such a way might sound too choppy and detached. Using left foot only. This is quite normal way of playing for theater organists and I am not criticizing them now. They need their right foot for many toe studs they have on their organs; they also use this foot for swell pedal and crescendo pedal excessively. Their left feet technique becomes very efficient and virtuosic. However, there are some organists who hesitate using the right foot for pedal playing. This is partly due to the lack of proper training. They are only capable of playing long sustained notes in the pedal part and much of the concert organ music is inaccessible to them. Although people who start playing organ from the beginning using the correct technique definitely have an advantage here, but it is never too late to start forming the right playing habits. Playing with too much power. Have you observed organists who play the pedals (and the manuals for that matter) with such tremendous force that you could even hear the unnecessary noise coming from their feet (or fingers)? I have met such people and they really would benefit much more if they could try to relax their feet (and hands) and not hit the pedals with too much power. Actually, we should have the feeling of playing about mezzo piano on the pedal board. Use only as much energy as you need to depress the pedals and not more. Anything above the minimum power just creates that extra noise, makes the articulation imprecise and creates a chance of even breaking a key or something in the mechanics of the organ, like a tracker. The list about these common mistakes in pedal playing continues in Part 3 of this article series. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Pedal playing is arguably one of the most attractive skills that an organist needs. In order to develop a high level pedal technique, one has to practice pedal playing correctly. However, many people fail to move their pedal technique to the next level because of incorrect practicing habits. Are you making these common mistakes in your pedal playing? Read on to find out.
The height and the distance of the organ bench are incorrect. Sitting too low or too high on the organ bench will form an incorrect playing habit. Try to adjust the bench so that your feet should be hovering and touching the pedals but not pressing them. The distance from the keyboards should be adjusted that when you sit normally, your feet should be almost touching the sharp keys. Some people like to position the organ bench diagonally with the left side further from the keys. This habit is incorrect and actually unhealthy for our body because we would then always sit stretched a little to the left side. Completely different story is with historical organs. If you ever have a chance to play organs from the 17th, 18th, or 19th century, you may notice how low or how high their organ benches are. It is just the way it is. We have to accept it and adjust to the instrument, not the other way around. But with modern instrument there is often a way to sit on the bench in a convenient position. Playing with the outside of the foot. This is perhaps the most common of all mistakes an organist can make. I see it over and over again in many of my students as well. Look at your technique and see if this is something you should work on. Try to always play with the inside of your feet. The contact is made with the big toe. When you play with your heel, also depress the pedals with the inside of your heel. Note that you should not lift the part of your foot which is not playing higher than necessary. That way you will avoid unnecessary strain. Not keeping your heels and knees together. The previous mistake is actually connected with this one. If you play with the outside of your feet then naturally your knees are looking outward. On the contrary, try to always keep the knees together, at least for smaller intervals. The heels then should also be connected and both feet would move as one unit. This is crucial when playing pedal scales and other fast pedal passages. Of course, when we have to play wider intervals, it is not possible to keep the heels together. In this case, just try to play with the inside of your feet. Not writing in pedaling. Many people find the task of writing in fingering and pedaling boring and too much time consuming. This is partly because they might be quite good at their piano technique, in which case writing in fingering is not always necessary. However, pedal playing is entirely new skill for any organist. Whether or not he or she has any experience on the piano is not as important for their pedal technique. It only seems time consuming. In reality, it saves a lot time because once the correct pedaling is written in, then all you have to do is to stick with it. Of course, sometimes we may write in an incorrect or awkward pedaling and then we have to change it. That’s OK. As long as you know what is correct, what works, and what doesn’t you should be fine. By the way, as you advance in your pedal technique and organ playing in general, there will not always be any need to write in fingering and pedaling. You will just form correct playing habits will be able to play on the spot. These are the mistakes that many organists do when playing with their feet. But the list continues in Part 2 of this article. I have written earlier about the secret to a perfect pedal technique. That's an article about Marcel Dupre's rocommendations. You might find his suggestions surprisingly simple yet very powerful. If you would like to know more about pedal playing, I highly recommend studying Organ Technique: Modern and Early by George Ritchie and George Stauffer. This method book has separate chapter on pedal playing with many important exercises. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. For many organists who come to the organ after some years of piano studies, playing hymns poses certain challenges. One of the most obvious problems is being able to play independent tenor part in the left hand. This is because for pianists the left hand very often symbolizes the bass line which on the organ is usually performed in the pedals.
In other words, this skill requires hand and feet coordination which beginning organists naturally have not yet fully developed. Therefore, they may get sometimes frustrated how difficult is to separate the left hand part from the pedals and they start doubling the bass part in the left hand. If you find yourself in this position, this article will show you how to overcome the left hand and tenor problem while playing hymns on the organ. Never double the bass in the left hand. I understand that this might seem as the easiest fix to this problem. Even some of my colleague organists still play the hymns this way sometimes. They basically play two voices in one hand and two voices in the other plus they add the bass line in the pedals. Some of them even know that this is incorrect but they claim that it is faster to learn new hymns this way. And of course, if you have reasonable sight-reading skills on the piano but very little or no practice time on the organ, you can even sight-read the easier hymns on the spot. But you have to understand that this kind of playing will not lead you very far. You see, while practicing playing the tenor part in the left hand and the bass part in the pedals you are developing hand and feet coordination. On the contrary, while practicing doubling the bass line in the left hand part you are developing the skill of doubling which is not useful. The longer you play the bass line both in the left hand and the pedals, the longer it will take you to develop hand and feet coordination in organ playing. You don’t always have to play the hymns with pedals. This might seem like a strange suggestion coming from the organist but it is true. The hymns sound perfectly fine even without the use of the pedals. Of course, you have to add the correct articulation, interesting registration, and other things that are specific to the organ (I have written an article earlier about hymn playing which you might find useful). The use of 16’ in the pedals while playing the hymn adds the gravity to the sound. On the other hand, if need more juice you can add 16’ in the manual (if there is such a stop on your organ). So if you feel like you have not enough time to prepare for the service properly, just play all parts on the manual. Start with just one pedal hymn per service. In the beginning, when you are new to the organ or when it is still hard to coordinate the left hand and pedals for you, prepare just one hymn using pedals. This will save you much of your time. If you can sight-read the hymns reasonably well on the piano, play them through a few times on the organ a week before service without using the pedals. Then choose one hymn and practice it with the pedals over the course of this week. Gradually, when your skills will become more developed, add a second hymn and prepare it with pedals. With time, you will notice that it gets easier and easier to coordinate the left hand and the pedal part in your organ playing. Then you will be able to sight-read them all using pedals effortlessly. Practice the hymns as real organ compositions. Although hymns are short and may seem very simple, you should treat them as organ compositions while practicing. You see, even though the texture is straightforward, rhythms are simple, melody is easily recognizable, very often the bass line is the second most developed voice in hymns. This is because the bass part is the foundation of harmony (chords and their relations), just as it is in concert organ pieces. Therefore, learning the bass line may take the same approach as learning solo organ music. I have written earlier about how to master any organ composition which you can refer to here. In short, I suggest that you subdivide the hymns into fragments according to the lines of the stanza. Practice solo voices separately, then two-voice combinations, later combinations of three voices and only then the entire four-part texture. If you follow my suggestions and take practicing the hymns seriously, you will notice that you are on the right track. Just be patient, practice regularly, slowly, and wisely, and know that the day when you will find no trouble playing hymns is not very far. By the way, if you would like to know more about hymn playing, I highly recommend studying Organ Technique: Modern and Early by George Ritchie and George Stauffer. This method book has separate chapter on hymn playing with many important exercises. Another great resource is Art of Hymn Playing by Charles E. Callahan. It has 250 Introductions, Preludes, Free Accompaniments, and Alternate Harmonizations. The pieces range from 2 part voicing to more complex. It is meant as a graded guide to hymn playing. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Organ technique can be developed through regular, smart, and persistent practice. One of the best ways to advance in organ playing is through piano practice. People who start playing the organ after some years of piano studies are definitely in better position than those who start directly from the organ. In this article, I will give you five reasons why practicing on the piano can make wonders to your organ playing.
The basis of modern legato organ technique is piano technique. Ever since modern organ technique was first formalized by Jacques Lemmens (more on this history you can read in this Orpha Ochse's book)in the middle of the 19th century, the legato touch became a norm even for baroque compositions for a long time. Lemmens’ method was perfected by a few other organists, like Marcel Dupre and Harold Gleason who published their own organ method books. Traditionally, normal touch for much piano music is also legato. I am not suggesting that baroque music must be played legato on the piano too, but I want to demonstrate how all pervasive romantic piano tradition was to organ paying. Piano keyboard is often harder than organ. If you compare various organ keyboards to that of the piano, you will find that to depress a key on the organ (without couplers, of course) often is easier than on the piano. This is especially true on electronic organs, on electric action organs, on pneumatic action organs with barker levers, on electro-pneumatic action organs, and even on small tracker action organs, such as positive organs. This feature of the piano keyboard gives you a lot more resistance. In other words, if you play technically challenging fast exercises, like Hanon virtuoso pianist exercises on the organ for some twenty minutes, your fingers are likely to be less tired than if you play them on the piano. On the piano all inequalities of the touch is much more visible than on the organ. Try to play an excerpt of any organ composition on the piano and you will notice right away how easy is to play one note too loud with your thumb or too soft with your pinky on the piano. In other words, you must work very hard too make all notes sound dynamically equal on the piano. This is so because of the dynamic possibilities that piano action allows. Therefore the stronger and longer fingers often play too loud and shorter fingers too soft. To equalize all notes, by the way, is our goal when practicing organ music on the piano. Piano practice develops finger dexterity. If you play exercises and organ music on the piano regularly, gradually you will notice how much easier it will become for you to play in a fast tempo. Your touch will become light and swift, your virtuoso passages will sound truly virtuosic. Such technically challenging pieces, as Prelude and fugue on BACH and Fantasy and Fugue on “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” by Liszt or Sonata by Reubke will pose no difficulty to you. Piano practice develops finger independence. If you ever have noticed in your organ playing that technically advanced pieces sounds sloppy, practice them on the piano. All these technical challenges arise because our fingers might not be independent enough. You may notice it very clearly if you play a scale in a very fast tempo on the organ. It will sound legato, of course, which is not necessarily a bad thing. What is worse that this scale may be performed unequally. In other words, if you record this scale and play it back in slow motion, then you may be able to hear that a few notes could be stuck together and others would sound too detached. Therefore, piano practice helps in developing finger independence needed for technically challenging music. If you practice your organ pieces and exercises on the piano regularly, chances that you will achieve a high level in organ playing are quite good. Piano practice will give you finger dexterity and independence that will propel your organ performance on to the next level. When play piano, you can practice playing pedal part of organ compositions on the floor. That will save you much precious time. However, never forget that organ touch is very different from piano touch and practice accordingly. If you would like to know more about the practicing techniques on any keyboard instrument, I highly recommend Keyboard Practice Skills by Elaine Grover. This compact book presents a comprehensive presentation of all the basic practice techniques needed for successful mastering of keyboard skills. Chapters include "Warm-up Exercises," "Creating a Practice Routine," "Learning the Basics," "Developing a Practice Mind," "Using Practice Skills," "Building Momentum," and others. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. The foundation of responsibilities of every church organist is hymn playing. Although solo organ music might be desired and even required during services, the majority of music performed at church is hymns. Hymn playing has its own rules, techniques, and traditions which the organist must know in order to perform them well. In this article, I will give you my advice on how to play hymns on the organ.
--> Choose the right tempo. Because hymn playing involves singing as well, perhaps the most important aspect here is tempo. How well you choose the tempo will determine the success of your performance and congregations’ ability to sing it with energy. Although there are many variables to consider, the general rule of thumb is such: Play a hymn in such a tempo that you could sing each of the lines in one breath loudly and with energy. --> Play a short introduction. It is the norm to introduce the hymn before singing it. You can construct your introduction in many ways: if the hymn is short, you could play it through once. For longer hymns, you may want to play a few lines (the second half of the hymn; first and last lines, if they fit together; create a short fughette out of the opening line) etc. Whatever you do in your introduction, play it in the same tempo as that of the hymn and choose a different (not necessarily softer) registration. --> Play hymns in time. Always keep the tempo steady and do not slow down or speed up. Start each line also in time. People will soon get confused if they don’t feel the steady pulse. I suggest that you try always to be aware of the meter and count out loud the beats, if you need to. Maintaining one tempo often also depends on how well you are prepared or how good your sight reading skills are. Remember this and practice accordingly. --> Do not correct your mistakes. If you make a mistake, never try to correct it during your performance in public. Just keep going at the same tempo and forget the mistake. Otherwise you could make another mistake just because you are thinking about it. Keep your mind focused on the measure you are playing now. This rule is as valid in concerts as it is in hymn playing. Many people who will be listening to you or singing together do not read music. Therefore, they are not likely to recognize every wrong note (if you hit not too many, of course). However, if you show them your mistakes yourself by correcting them and don’t maintain a steady tempo, then everyone will notice them. --> Use good articulation. Playing with clear articulation is important because it helps people to appreciate the melody and the harmony of the hymn better. Look at the date of the hymn. If it was created before the 19th century, use articulate legato, or the ordinary touch. Make small rests between each note and feel the strong and weak beats of the measure. Articulate more before the strong beats. Do not make the notes too detached but with a cantabile or singing manner. On the other hand, if the hymn was created in the 1800s or 1900s, the normal articulation is legato. Shorten the notes by a half only when you see repeated notes and at the end of the lines. However, whether you play legato or with articulation, always try to coordinate the releases – depress and release the chords exactly together. --> The beginning and the end of the stanzas is important. The end of the stanza should propel people to sing the next one. There should be no confusion about when does the new stanza starts. Make it constant with every stanza. It often sounds best, if you add two extra beats at the end in the 4/4 meter or one full measure in ¾ meter. Note that the last beat should be a rest for taking a breath before singing. --> Do not double the bass with your left hand, if you use pedals. This suggestion is very important if you want to develop hand and feet independence. For those of us who start playing the organ after some time of piano playing, the left hand naturally tends to play the bass. But if you play hymns in four parts and use pedals for the bass line, play soprano and alto in the right hand and tenor in the left hand. There are other possible dispositions for playing hymns as well but this is most common one. --> Think about registration. It is wise to change the registration according to the meaning of text of the specific stanza. For certain texts Organo Pleno registration with principal chorus and mixtures works well, for others experiment with reeds or flutes. Gentle, joyful, sad, or energetic texts require adequate registration as well. If you follow these suggestions, you will be able to play any hymn you want with confidence. Congregation will be much more eager to sing together when you will play the hymns in time, with good articulation, registration etc. People will know when to start new stanzas, if you finish correctly the previous ones. In turn, they will appreciate your organ and hymn playing on a much higher degree. If you would like to know more about hymn playing, I highly recommend studying Organ Technique: Modern and Early by George Ritchie and George Stauffer. This method book has separate chapter on hymn playing with many important exercises. Another great resource is Art of Hymn Playing by Charles E. Callahan. It has 250 Introductions, Preludes, Free Accompaniments, and Alternate Harmonizations. The pieces range from 2 part voicing to more complex. It is meant as a graded guide to hymn playing. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. The vast majority of organ music is polyphonic. This means that it consists of two or more independent melodies which comprise the composition. For an organist, playing such music can be a real challenge. Not only one has to play the correct notes and rhythms but also to achieve the precision of articulation in each part. This requires developing advanced hand and foot independence.
The ultimate level of this skill is demonstrated in the notorious 6 Trio Sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach which he wrote for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann to complete his education in organ playing. In this article, I will give you my personal tips and advice on how to develop hand and foot independence in organ playing.
2) Right hand and pedals 3) Left hand and pedals
If you want some real challenge, play them in the key of A minor, too and start transposing them into different keys with ascending number of accidentals (G major and E minor – 1 sharp, F major and D minor – 1 flat, D major and B minor – 2 sharps, B flat major and G minor – 2 flats etc.). Need help with your music theory skills in building these scales? Just let me know and I will explain it to you. If you follow my suggestions, in time you will be able to play technically advanced and polyphonically challenging compositions very well. You will be surprised how fast you will advance. Hand and foot independence will skyrocket your organ playing to the next level in no time. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. In order to learn any organ piece, regular practice is required. However, if you want to make some real progress in organ playing you need to develop good practice habits. Practicing sporadically or without a goal in mind will not get you very far. Every time you sit down on the organ bench, you have to practice correctly. Over time correct practice leads to correct practicing habits. In this article, I will teach you my favorite 10 techniques which will help you to develop good organ practice habits.
By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. In organ playing, the basis of the modern technique is a legato touch. Finger crossing is one of the most powerful ways to achieve a perfect legato on the organ. We can use it where glissando or finger substitution is not the best option. In this article, I will teach you how to achieve a correct finger crossing technique on the organ.
The most common use of finger crossing is in scale playing. This technique allows a quick way to change position. When playing scales, the thumb is placed under the third or the fourth finger in the right hand (ascending) and the left hand (descending). On the descending scale, the third and the fourth finger is placed over the thumb in the right hand, and on the ascending scale – in the left hand. Note, that we must also make use finger preparation in this technique as well. This means that we must place the crossing finger to the next position in advance. It will prevent your fingers from hitting the wrong keys. Relax your fingers and make them slightly curved. Remember to keep all fingers in contact with the keyboard at all times and play with as little excess energy as possible. Another instance of finger crossing is when playing two notes in one hand. At first, try finger crossing when one note is held and another is moving. Note the general rule of thumb here: place the longer finger over the shorter one and place the shorter finger under the longer one. Try this use of finger crossing in the following exercise: 1) Play a note C with the thumb of your right hand. 2) While holding this C, play an ascending scale using fingers 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the same hand. 3) As you reach G with your fifth finger, place the fourth finger over the fifth and play A. 4) Then play B with your fifth finger. 5) Repeat the steps 1 through 4 playing the descending scale in the left hand. 6) Now play a note C with the fifth finger of your right hand. 7) While holding this C, play a descending scale using fingers 4, 3, 2, and 1 of the same hand. 8) As you reach F with your thumb, place the second finger over the thumb and play E. 9) Then play D with the thumb again. 10) Repeat the steps 6 through 9 playing the ascending scale in the left hand. 11) Repeat the entire exercise starting on D, E, F, G, A, and B. Play slowly using just one hand at a time. After some time, when it will become comfortable, you can practice this exercise with both hands together. Finger crossing is especially useful for playing scales in parallel intervals using one hand in difficult music, most often the thirds (and the sixths, if you are technically advanced). Then you would need to hold one note with the fifth finger in the right hand (ascending) or the left hand (descending). As you hold this note, lift your third finger and place it over the fifth finger to the next note. That way the top note will be played legato. When playing an ascending scale with the left hand, hold your thumb. The same applies for the descending scale using the right hand. As you hold the note with your thumb, lift your third finger and place it over the thumb to the next note. Again, playing this way will ensure a smooth legato of the top voice. Try this exercise on C major scale. First practice it over one octave, later move to two octaves, and finally, play it over four octaves. Play very slowly using just one hand at a time. After some time, when it will become comfortable, you can practice playing the C major scale in double thirds with both hands together. This exercise will develop your finger independence as well. By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide: "How to Master Any Organ Composition" in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. |
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