This question is much broader than simply playing organ compositions better during recital. It involves things like relationship of the organist to the listener, general musical education level of the listeners and their expectations, among other things.
Having this in mind, here are a few basic ideas which may help you to ensure that your recital will be appreciated by the audience. 1. Know your listener. What are his dreams, wants, desires, problems, fears? What keeps him awake at night? What is his worldview? How do you encounter him in a way that he trusts you? What are you trying to change in your listener? 2. Connect with your listeners through stories. Story-telling during the recital is a powerful tool which an organist should take advantage of. You can give interesting facts and details about the composer, the music, and the instrument which your audience can relate to. This way people can get much more out of your recital. 3. Choose a repertoire in a meaningful way. Remember that it's the listener that matters, not you. If you play average music for average people, there won't be much connection with your listeners. Instead, if you could program a remarkable recital with pieces that your listeners care deeply about, then you might be on to something. Remember the principle of variety - slow-fast, sad-joyful, loud-soft etc. Thematic recitals work splendidly in this case. 4. Keep in mind your instrument. Try not to play the music which doesn't work for your type of organ. Organ repertoire is vast and surely you can find an interesting program which suits your instrument well. 5. Develop your relationship with listeners beyond your recital. Start a blog, write a newsletter, create a video lecture or two, collect emails through a hand-out during the recital, interact with your fans through social media. These things really help you connect and lead your fan base. A final note: less is more. In case of doubt, always program less music than you want. It's better to leave the listeners wanting for more than to be annoying and overwhelming. What things do you use to keep your audience engaged during your recitals? Share your thoughts in comments.
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Many organists want to develop a successful recital career. This means that they must play recitals regularly. Playing recitals can be very exciting and worthwhile to pursue but you must know how to get such contracts in advance. In this article, I would like to share with you 10 steps for getting successful concert engagements.
1. Create an original and exciting recital program. Think of the ways you could be unique among many hundreds of organists. Keep in mind your audience, an instrument, and your own capabilities. 2. Master this program. Do your best to learn this program thoroughly. Even if you will plan to play your concert from the scores, I recommend you memorize all the pieces in your program. 3. Develop a strong professional portfolio. Create professional website and a page on social media sites with your bio, video samples of your recordings, calendar of past and future concert engagements and start a blog. 4. Start submitting your videos to YouTube. Share them on social media sites. Be careful not to spam and always think of your readers and listeners first so that they get value from your postings. 5. Find a venue. Look online for possible churches, concert halls with nice organs where you would like to play your concert. Make a list of these places with contacts. 6. Send your proposal to the organisers. Write an attractive concert proposal and send it to your prospective contacts. It is crucial that you make an offer that would be interesting to these people. When writing this document, first think why they should select you to play a concert from hundreds of other organists. 7. You can also send some letters of recommendation along with the proposal. Since only a small percentage of your contacts will ever reply to you, it is important that you write to as many people as possible. 8. Decide on the dates and sign the contract. If your proposal will seem interesting to the organisers, you will need to set up your concert dates and sign the written contract agreement. At this point but not earlier make sure you discuss the issue of honorarium with them. 9. Submit the exact concert information to the organisers. Once the recital contract is done and the organisers receive your signed copy of it, it is time to send them the exact program of your recital along with the professional photo and CV. 10. Write the program notes and send excerpts to the organisers. Use a language that the regular organ music listener would understand. This will help for publicity purposes. Use these steps when looking for concert engagements today. If you succeed in getting your first recital contract, it will be quite exciting for you and it may start to open up new possibilities because one event frequently leads to another. You can also recycle the steps you take in preparation for recitals for the future events. This way you will develop a system which will be reliable and efficient. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my free Organ Practice Guide. Or if you want to learn to improvise in the style of Bach, I suggest you check out my free 9 day mini course in Keyboard Prelude Improvisation. Are you wondering what kind of organ music selections are suitable for Bachelor's organ degree recital? In this article, I will give you a list of pieces by Buxtehude, Bach, Handel, Vierne, Langlais, and Franck.
1. Praeludium in C, BuxWV 137 by Dieterich Buxtehude. One of the most famous of all of Buxtehude's organ works will serve well for the opening of your recital. This is a perfect example of multi-movement North German Baroque Stylus Phantasticus writing. This work is also known as Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne in C major. 2. Chorale Prelude "Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott", BuxWV 199 by Buxtehude. This is an ornamented chorale prelude - a perfect example of Buxtehude's style. This piece will make a good contrast with the preceding and following pieces. 3. Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 by Johann Sebastian Bach. A joyful prelude with elements of Ritornello form. You will find a complex Stretto section towards the end of the fugue. 4. Chorale Prelude "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland", BWV 659 by Bach. A very famous chorale prelude from the collection of Great 18 Chorales (Leipzig Chorale Preludes). Slow tempo and fascinating ornamented chorale melody in the right hand part. 5. Trio Sonata No. 1 in E flat Major, BWV 525 by Bach. This is the easiest of all of 6 trio sonatas by this composer. However, the organists will still encounter many technical challenges which have to be overcome at the Bachelor's degree recital. 6. Organ Concerto Op. 4, No. 5 in F Major, HWV 293 by George Frederic Handel. This is the shortest of 6 most famous organ concertos by Handel. It consists of four contrasting movements: Larghetto, Allegro, Alla Siciliana, and Presto. 7. Allegretto, Op. 1 by Louis Vierne. A rarely performed early work of Vierne of moderate difficulty. Nice ABA form with charming oboe melody in the right hand. 8. Meditation from the Suite Medievale by Jean Langlais. Very colorful French style modal writing. Slow tempo makes it a wonderful preparation for what is coming next in your program. 9. Chorale No. 3 by Cesar Franck. This is perhaps the most famous and the easiest of all of 3 chorales of Franck. A perfect closing piece for your recital - very dramatic work with a beautiful slow middle section. Take any or all of the above pieces and start practicing for your recital today. The compositions from this list constitute a recital of approximately 1 hour of duration which is an optimum length for organ recital. They provide a welcome variety in character, mood, tempo, mode, keys, and registration for positive listener experience. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my free Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Are you wondering what kind of organ music selections are suitable for Bachelor's organ degree recital? In this article, I will give you a list of pieces by Buxtehude, Bach, Handel, Vierne, Langlais, and Franck.
1. Praeludium in C, BuxWV 137 by Dieterich Buxtehude. One of the most famous of all of Buxtehude's organ works will serve well for the opening of your recital. This is a perfect example of multi-movement North German Baroque Stylus Phantasticus writing. This work is also known as Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne in C major. 2. Chorale Prelude "Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott", BuxWV 199 by Buxtehude. This is an ornamented chorale prelude - a perfect example of Buxtehude's style. This piece will make a good contrast with the preceding and following pieces. 3. Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 by Johann Sebastian Bach. A joyful prelude with elements of Ritornello form. You will find a complex Stretto section towards the end of the fugue. 4. Chorale Prelude "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland", BWV 659 by Bach. A very famous chorale prelude from the collection of Great 18 Chorales (Leipzig Chorale Preludes). Slow tempo and fascinating ornamented chorale melody in the right hand part. 5. Trio Sonata No. 1 in E flat Major, BWV 525 by Bach. This is the easiest of all of 6 trio sonatas by this composer. However, the organists will still encounter many technical challenges which have to be overcome at the Bachelor's degree recital. 6. Organ Concerto Op. 4, No. 5 in F Major, HWV 293 by George Frideric Handel. This is the shortest of 6 most famous organ concertos by Handel. It consists of four contrasting movements: Larghetto, Allegro, Alla Siciliana, and Presto. 7. Allegretto, Op. 1 by Louis Vierne. A rarely performed early work of Vierne of moderate difficulty. Nice ABA form with charming oboe melody in the right hand. 8. Meditation from the Suite Medievale by Jean Langlais. Very colorful French style modal writing. Slow tempo makes it a wonderful preparation for what is coming next in your program. 9. Chorale No. 3 by Cesar Franck. This is perhaps the most famous and the easiest of all of 3 chorales of Franck. A perfect closing piece for your recital - very dramatic work with a beautiful slow middle section. Take any or all of the above pieces and start practicing for your recital today. The compositions from this list constitute a recital of approximately 1 hour of duration which is an optimum length for organ recital. They provide a welcome variety in character, mood, tempo, mode, keys, and registration for positive listener experience. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my free Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Are you struggling with the quality in your organ recital playing? Or perhaps you are frustrated with the stress level concert playing may bring? My guess is that you haven't played many recitals in the past. You need quite a few recitals under your belt to be an experienced and fearless performer. In this article, I will explain to you what quantity can do to your success level.
Do you remember your very first organ recital? Most people do. The first public appearance is usually very exciting. Yet it may bring a lot of stress and the performer can make quite a few mistakes, if he/she is not properly automated his/her playing. Then usually the 2nd and the 3rd recitals go worse than the first because now you know what to expect. You get nervous and start making mistakes in places which are ridiculously simple. I have to say that this is perfectly normal. It is just a natural learning progress. Then starting from your 5th recital, you begin to feel good about your playing. When you reach 10 recitals, you can consider yourself passing to the next level. Although playing 10 recitals is a good start, you need around 50-60 to gain experience. Try to play as many recitals with the same program in different venues in the same year as possible. Then learn a new program and do the same. Imagine you learn a concert program and play a concert once a month for a year. That makes 12 concerts per year. If you learn one new program a year, which is easy to do, and keep the same concert schedule for 5 years, you will have 60 recitals under your belt. That's the initial number you should aim for. Incidentally, notice how your playing becomes very solid after about 10th recital of the same program. You may even memorize the pieces to feel even more secure. Use these tips in playing organ recitals. In time, they will empower you to become a respected expert who will have no fear in playing concerts. This way your performances will become of high quality level and free from mistakes. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Have you ever thought what successful concert organists have in common? They all think outside the box. They try to be different than their competitors which makes them unique. In this article, I will show you how thinking outside the box in programing organ recitals can help you to achieve success as a concert organist.
If you want to become successful in giving organ recitals, try to be different from the majority of organists. Think of what can you do differently than anybody else in the organ world? Think of your listeners. If there are many organ concerts in your area, you should be thinking of what will propel your audience choose your concert instead of others. In other words, why they would go to your recital? You should think about the program of your concert very carefully and try to make it unique. You see, the majority of organists play organ recitals which consist of a mixture of pieces from various historical periods and national schools of organ composition. Although this approach works perfectly fine when programming organ recitals, it will not necessarily make your recital unique. Consequently, the listeners might not be drawn to your recital because they will think of it as one of many others and not something extraordinary which shouldn't be missed. Possible solutions to this issue might be giving your recital a unique title, programming it around a specific and colorful theme, including informative and/or entertaining verbal presentations and explanations about organ pieces and composers in your program, and even thinking about the involvement of members of the audience. Use the above tips and think outside the box in your preparation for your organ recital today. With time, this approach will put you in a situation when you can become a leader in your field and you will be considered as an expert by others. Consequently, being an expert will give you success you deserve as a concert organist. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Have you been to an organ recital which lasted too long or too short? I have. For organists the question of timing is really important because if they play a recital which is too short, the listeners will be disappointed and if it's too lengthy - they will be bored and want to leave. If you are wondering what is the optimum length of an organ recital, read this article.
I have found that the optimum duration of a recital without intermission should be around 60 minutes (with stop changes). However, the ideal length of a recital depends on other factors, such as how cold it is in the room. If the recital is during winter time and the church is not heated, it is probably better to make it shorter than usual, perhaps 30-45 minutes. Otherwise, people might catch cold during your playing. If the building is heated all year round, you can make the length of a recital as usual - around 60 minutes. In cases when the program consists of long cycles, such as Clavierubung III, the Art of the Fugue, 18 Great Chorale preludes or other collections by Bach or other composers, you can plan for a longer duration. This is acceptable because people will expect it to be longer. If the recital is with intermission, each part could last around 40-45 minutes (encores not including). This is usually the case in large concert halls. The length of the recital does not matter so much in cases where the organist is of world class caliber. Then the listeners would not want him or her to stop playing anyway. In such cases, one or more encores is normal. Generally speaking, it is better that listeners would want for more music than to become bored. In other words, if your program is just a little under 60 minutes (around 50-55 minutes) it is OK. There is no need to try to squeeze in an extra piece or two if the program is ideally balanced. In addition, you have to remember that people who are going to attend your recital, might be frequent concert-goers and they might be used to the normal recital format of 60 minutes. I usually plan around 50 minutes of pure music. That leaves me around 10 minutes for registration changes between the pieces. One more thing is important to remember here. If you plan on talking during the recital, try to calculate the time of your presentations so that recital would not last too long. The bottom line is this: your listener's time is as precious as yours - don't make your recitals too lengthy. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Organists preparing for an organ recital often have a dilemma of what pieces to include and in what order. While concert organists with much experience normally have their own method of programing a recital, beginner organists often struggle with this question. This is because technical possibilities of the beginner organists are very limited, yet they still need to provide enough quality and interesting music for the audience. In this article, I will give you an example of beginner level organ recital with the most famous pieces of the repertoire of approximately 1 hour of duration (with stop changes). The compositions are arranged in an order for optimum listener-friendly experience. 1. Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major, BWV 560 formerly attributed to J.S.Bach. An excellent opening composition for your recital. The prelude is joyful, loud, and fast with an exciting pedal solo. The fugue is in triple meter and fairly straightforward. Organo pleno registration with mixtures is very appropriate. 2. In dulci jubilo, BWV 751 by J.S.Bach (?). Soft and gentle chorale prelude will be a nice relieve both for the listeners and organist. 3. Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 by J.S.Bach. This slow and meditative organ chorale prelude is among audience most-loved chorale preludes by Bach. 4. Pedal Exercitium, BWV 598. This piece was earlier attributed to J.S.Bach. Fast tempo, virtuoso pedal solo line will surely leave your audience stunned, especially if your feet are visible. By the way, this piece is a perfect work-out to develop your foot technique. 5. Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 formerly attributed to J.S.Bach. Playful character of this piece does not require heavy Organo pleno registration with mixtures. Instead, various flute combinations work very well. 6. Herzlich thut mich verlangen, BWV 727 by J.S.Bach. A slow tempo and prayerful mood will be a nice contrast with the previous piece. Since it is an ornamented chorale prelude, use a soft reed, such as oboe, mutations or other colourful stops for the chorale tune in the right hand. The other parts can be played with the flutes and 16' in the pedals. 7. Gottes Sohn ist kommen, BWV 600 by J.S.Bach. Although the texture is in 4 parts with an obbligato pedal line, the pedaling is very comfortable and easy. Joyful registration with mixtures are perfect for this chorale prelude. 8. Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 558 formerly attributed to J.S.Bach. Although this is a free work, the registration could be without mixtures because of the serious and sad character. Even 8' principal will sound nice. The fugue is much more difficult than the prelude to learn because of the imitative polyphony. 9. Andante tranquillo from the Organ Sonata No. 3, Op. 65 by F.Mendelssohn. A slow, elegant, and soft piece. Easy to learn. 10. Fugue from the Organ Sonata No. 6, Op. 65 by F.Mendelssohn. Fairly straightforward fugue, serious sound and character. 11. Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, Op. 122 by J.Brahms. Gentle and sweet chorale prelude, one of the most popular organ pieces by this composer. For manuals only. 12. Herzliebster Jesu, Op. 122 by J.Brahms. A fairly slow tempo and lack of imitative polyphony makes it easier to learn. 13. Schmucke dich, o liebe Seele, Op. 122 by J.Brahms. For manuals only. Lack of pedals make it quite easy to play but the polyphonic 3-voice texture is complicated. 14. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, Op. 122 by J.Brahms (6/4 meter). Easy to play because of very slow tempo, easy pedal line, lack of imitative polyphony. Gentle but sad character forms a welcome contrast in mode with the previous piece. 15. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, Op. 122 by J.Brahms (4/4 meter). Another setting of the same name, much louder and a bit faster. 16. Le Banquet Celeste by O.Messiaen. This fantastic meditative work is the easiest organ composition by the famous French composer. However, don't be deceived by the apparent short length of the piece. Although it is notated on 2 pages, the normal performance time is around 6.5 minutes which is extremely difficult mentally for many organists. 17. Fanfare by J.Lemmens. A joyful closing piece of your recital. Your listeners will love it. Loud but not too fast which makes it possible to play for an organist with little pedal experience. You will find repetitive motion of sixteenth notes in the right hand which reduces the stress for people who have a weak left hand technique. You can use the above list as it is in preparing for a recital or plan your own program based on this example. Even if your technical abilities are limited, the pieces listed above should be within your reach with sufficient practice yet quite musically interesting. However, please note that although the pedal part is easy in all of the pieces, you should have some background of the piano playing to successfully learn this music. Although the order of pieces may be changed according to your taste, they display the welcome variety in registration, tempos, mood and keys. Therefore, your listeners should be happy with your program. All you have to do is to master them one by one or all at once. This takes regular, wise, and persistent practice. 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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