Today Vidas loaded Dluga Koscielna sample set by Piotr Grabowski for me. I didn't know anything about it at first. When I tried out some stops, I was delighted with amazing acoustical environment where this instrument stands. It was built by Kaminski company in 2012 at the church of St Anne in Dluga Koscielna which is situated in the vicinity of Warsaw, Poland. This building was rebuilt in place of the wooden church which burned down because of the arson. I hope you will enjoy the sounds of these stop combinations! I hope one day to be able to go to Dluga Koscielna and play there physically myself.

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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.

Vidas: Let’s start episode 632 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Diana, and she wants to know: 

“Is there a reason for avoiding parallel 5ths?”

Vidas: Probably, she means parallel 5ths in tonal music, right Ausra?

Ausra: Yes, I guess that’s what she means.

Vidas: What do you say to your students, Ausra, when they ask this question?

Ausra: Well, I have no words, actually. I have heard this question so many times before, you know, I am simply too tired to argue and to convince people. But you know, if you will not hear the difference when let’s say the hymn is harmonized with parallel 5ths and when it’s not, then I don’t think that I could say anything more. Maybe you could try!

Vidas: Yes, good idea for Diana and others who are wondering. Maybe play any type of music, maybe a hymn—your well known hymn, for example, that you’re singing in a church today. Maybe harmonize it in major triads, root position chords like C-E-G if it’s C Major, or D-F#-A if it’s D Major, or G-B-D if it’s G Major. Just major chords, and you will get all parallel 5ths this way, with parallel bass and soprano—between bass and soprano, and then see if you enjoy this kind of sound.

Ausra: And if you will, it means that you still need to have a lot of musical training!

Vidas: And I don’t think people won’t hear the difference. I think the difference will be noticeable if you play the same hymn from the hymnal harmonization and with this kind of parallel 5ths harmonization. This will be very obvious! As a special exercise, I think this type of writing could be done even in your improvisation, right? But it’s a special style. It’s not for everyday use.

Ausra: If you would analyze pieces by early Bach, young Bach, teenager Bach, then you could encounter parallel 5ths occasionally, not very often, but occasionally, yes. But in mature Bach, you would never find parallel 5ths, so I guess that might be true with other composers as well.

Vidas: In Bach’s writing, you would even find spots where in order to avoid parallel 5ths, he makes a very intricate voice leading which is not comfortable for the hand.

Ausra: That’s right! It astonishes me every time when I’m working on a new piece by Bach and I’m just shouting to Vidas, “Oh you know Bach was a voice leading freak!” Of course, I’m just kidding, but he really took the voice leading very seriously. This is obvious in his major works for organ, like “Prelude and Fugues.”

Vidas: And going back to the question about major chords, at one point I was writing pieces for organ just from major and minor root position chords exclusively. They would sound pretty colorful, but I wouldn’t use parallel 5ths very often; I would use strange interval relationships. I would still use probably contrary motion between soprano and bass in order to avoid those parallel intervals but keep the same chord. So for example, if the soprano goes from C to D and the bass goes from C to D we would get two C Major and D Major parallel chords, so instead of this, I would move the bass somewhat downward in a different direction than the soprano and have from C to Bb, and the C Major and D Major I would get C Major and Bb Major chord. Makes sense?

Ausra: Yes, sure!

Vidas: So this is better.

Ausra: And you know, we are talking about avoiding parallel 5ths in the music of the common period, and of course if we would talk about music from the Middle Ages, early organum course the parallel 5ths were perfectly normal.

Vidas: Early polyphony originated from Gregorian Chant in a way that it was like commentary on the chant, and at first it was like a parallel motion in parallel 5ths, and octaves, 4ths, with the chant, and therefore it was not independent, but very gradually the motion because more independent between voices, and composers understood the value of contrary motion and independence of voices.

Ausra: I think as soon as the major and minor triads and sixths appeared in the music, composers stopped making parallel 5ths.

Vidas: What’s interesting… what came first, instrument tuning with major thirds, or musical compositions with major thirds?

Ausra: I think they came together. I think they supplemented each other.

Vidas: Mhmm! Because at first keyboard instruments were tuned in perfect 5ths, like the Pythagorean tuning system, and in that time parallel 5ths were predominant, and sounds of 5ths were also predominant. We also have the earliest surviving keyboard manuscripts from the 14th century. It’s called the Robertsbridge Codex,” (Estapie Retrove is one of more famous pieces from this collection)  or a little bit later in the century, “Codex Faenza.” There, you will find lots of intervals with parallel 5ths.

Ausra: Yes, and it was normal to finish a piece with the interval of perfect 5th.

Vidas: Open 5th.

Ausra: Open 5th or an octave.

Vidas: Yeah, but later tuning changed, and the style changed at the same time. We would hear more and more sounds of major 3rds. At first not in a root position, but maybe in the first inversion. Fauxbourdon, it was called.

Ausra: That technique of parallel 6th chords was very common, actually, at one point. 

Vidas: Mhm! It was transferred to the continent from England, actually. John Dunstaple was using that at the end of the Gothic period—beginning of the Renaissance, basically, and then it moved to France and Burgundy.

Ausra: Yes, because the major and minor systems were sort of completed during the Renaissance period, and during that period parallel 5ths started to disappear very fast.

Vidas: Except in final cadences. Right?

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: Because it was still a perfect interval to finish the piece or a section. So, I hope this answers Diana’s question somewhat. But as Ausra says, people need to get more basic training first in order to understand these concepts.

Ausra: Sure because the scientist musicologists from ancient times wrote treatises about all these things that we are talking about, and even just about simple intervals you might find many many volumes of treatises written, and so in order to understand that, you need to dig deeper.

Vidas: Alright guys, this was Vidas,

Ausra: And Ausra!

Vidas: 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

Thank you everyone for participating! You all made us very happy with your entries. We have all selected the following winners. You can congratulate them here. And here are the rules for joining this week.

This hymn setting Christ, the Life of All the Living will be very useful for the upcoming liturgical season of Lent. In this video, I will analyse each chord. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of Obervellach organ sample set by Piotr Grabowski.

​Thanks so much for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going.

My friend @James Flores​ graciously agreed to play a joint recital with me which we will premiere today. We will both feature different Hauptwerk sample sets - I will play on the organ in Szczecinek (sample set by Piotr Grabowski) and he - on Rotterdam Laurenskerk the main organ by (sample set by Sonus Paradisi).  

Program  

Vidas Pinkevicius (Hauptwerk Szczecinek)  

1. Offertoire, Op. 122 No. 2 by Louis-James-Alfred Lefebure-Wely 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​

2. Melodia, Op. 59 No. 11 by Max Reger 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​ 

3. Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele, from Op. 65 Sigfrid Karg-Elert 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​ 

4. Preambule, Op. 31 No. 1 by Louis Vierne 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​

5. Cortege, Op. 31 No. 2 by L. Vierne 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​ 

James Flores (Hauptwerk Rotterdam)  

6. Passacaglia, BuxWV 161 by Dieterich Buxtehude 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​ 

7. Partita on Adoro te devote, Op. 76 No. 1 by Flor Peeters 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​ 

8. Toccata in G Major from 12 Pieces for Organ by Theodore Dubois 
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...​ 

If you liked this recital, please subscribe to James' YouTube channel to get notified about his future videos and our collaborations: 
https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesFlores...​ 

You can also support James by buying him coffee:
​https://buymeacoffee.com/jamesflores​ 

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This Recit de Hautbois is taken from Meditaciones Religiosas, Op. 122 by the great mid-19th century Parisian organist, improviser and composer Louis-James-Alfred Lefebure-Wely. The composer calls for Hautbois or Trompette Harmonique for the solo part, soft 8th stops for the accompaniment and 8' flute for the pedal part. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of Saint-Jean-de-Luz organ sample set created by Piotr Grabowski on my Hauptwerk setup.  

Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/meditaciones-religiosas-opus-122-sheet-music/21063833?aff_id=454957 

​Thanks so much for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going.

Today I tried my hand at a bit longer piece by Max Reger from his Op. 59. This is No. 11 Melodia. It has a very beautiful and lush chromatic harmony. Composer calls for 8' stop in the right hand part and soft 8' and 4' stops in the left hand part. I found multiple flutes and strings of this pitch level on Szczecinek Voelkner organ sample set by Piotr Grabowski on my Hauptwerk setup. Hope you will enjoy it!

Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...

​Thanks so much for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going.

Back in 2017 Vidas and I played an organ duet recital at Vilnius University St John's church. Vidas' mom was in the audience downstairs and filmed this video and recently shared it with us.  
Here were are playing Sonata in D Major, K. 381 for four hands by W.A. Mozart. It has 3 parts - I. Allegro, II. Andante and III. Allegro molto. Hope you will enjoy the reverberation in our church!  

Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/works-for-piano-four-hands-sheet-music/19532812?aff_id=454957 

​Thanks so much for your support! You get early access and we get to keep going.  

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

Thank you everyone for participating! You all made us very happy with your entries. We have all selected the following winners. You can congratulate them here. And here are the rules for this week's contest.