Dear friends,

Here's what we found worth sharing with you this week:

1. SOPP769: Lately I have found myself repeating the same formulas in improvisation week after week
2. Thinking in Sound No. 10 - How Does Architecture Influence Musical Interpretation
3. Be Thou My Vision, Op. 414 - Vidas Pinkevicius
4. Dearest Jesus, We Are Here, Op. 413 - Vidas Pinkevicius
5. Meditation on Ukrainian Folk Song "I Came to You, My Green Oak", Op. 416 - Vidas Pinkevicius
6. Meditation on Ukrainian Folk Song "Blow Wind, Blow Wind", Op. 417 - Vidas Pinkevicius
7. I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, Op. 412 - Vidas Pinkevicius
8. Fantasie in C Major for Organ Duet - Gustaf Adolf Mankell | Haarlem St. Joseph Church
9. Lobet den Herren - Nils Gade | Haarlem St. Joseph Church
10. Live Organ Music - On the Bench with Vidas No. 79 | 2026-03-08

Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free but not cheap. If you like our work and want to support it, you can buy us coffee or forward it to someone who’d like it. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.
And remember, when you practice, miracles happen!

​Vidas and Ausra
​www.organduo.lt

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 769! This question was sent by Mark and he writes:

Dear Vidas,
Thank you for your podcast, which I have found very enlightening! My question has to do with improvisation. As a church organist, I have an opportunity to improvise at least once during every Sunday service. I've been working hard on improving my improvisation skills over the past two years, and I would call myself a capable improviser. But lately I have found myself repeating the same formulas from week to week (often “Rule of the Octave” or Romanesca progressions, which my hands fall into very easily). Any advice for breaking away from these familiar patterns and exploring new territory?
​Thanks, Mark (YT @GaluppiMusic)

Dear friends,

Here's what we found worth sharing with you this week:

1. SOPP768: My organ recital proposal was politely declined by the church committee
2. Canzona by Franz Tunder with complete fingering
3. Meditation on Ukrainian Folk Song "The Sun Sets Behind High Mountains", Op. 415 - Vidas Pinkevicius
4. The Bells of Notre Dame, Op. 409 - Vidas Pinkevicius
5. Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days, Op. 411 - Vidas Pinkevicius
6. Thinking in Sound No. 9 - Can We Think Without Words - Purely in Sound?
7. The Transfiguration - Dom Paul Benoit | Haarlem St. Joseph Church
8. Live Organ Music - On the Bench with Vidas No. 78 | 2026-03-01
9. Live Organ Music - On the Bench with Vidas No. 77 | 2026-02-27
10. Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 566a - J.S. Bach | Albury St. Matthew's Anglican
11. Wave for Organ Duet - Ad Wammes | Haarlem St. Joseph Church

Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free but not cheap. If you like our work and want to support it, you can buy us coffee or forward it to someone who’d like it. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.
And remember, when you practice, miracles happen!

​Vidas and Ausra
​www.organduo.lt

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 768! This question was sent by our YouTube organist friend Rien Schalkwijk and he writes:

​Last year I offered a befriended church a Christmas organ concert — completely free. A festive gesture, I thought. It was politely declined, as the church committee felt it would be “too much work” for the volunteers. Quite what sort of work a solo organ recital creates remains one of the unresolved mysteries of the season. But, a week ago, I discovered the same church had organised a Christmas concert with a choir and a pianist, complete with refreshments and a heated church. Clearly, some musical formats are more theologically efficient than others.

Dear friends,

Here's what we found worth sharing with you this week:

1. SOPP767: What strategies can help us expand our organ repertoire?
2. Toccata in F Major, BuxWV 157 by Dieterich Buxtehude with Fingering and Pedaling
3. Learn with Vidas - Improvising on Forty Days and Forty Nights | 2026-02-22
4. Thinking in Sound No. 8 - Using AI in Music
5. Ukrainian Folk Song "Whose Horse Is Standing", Op. 80 | Vidas Pinkevicius
6. Meditation on Ukrainian Song "Moonlight Night", Op. 85 - Vidas Pinkevicius | Alvitas
7. Alia Phanthasia Primi Toni from Gdansk Manuscript - Haarlem St Joseph Church
8. Melodie in G Major - Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens | Haarlem St Joseph Church
9. Live Organ Music - On the Bench with Vidas No. 76 | 2026-02-20
10. Trying Out American Reed Organ in Albury, NSW (Australia)
11. Carillon-Sortie – Henry Mullet | Walla Walla
12. Canon in D Flat Major – M.K. Čiurlionis

Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free but not cheap. If you like our work and want to support it, you can buy us coffee or forward it to someone who’d like it. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.

And remember, when you practice, miracles happen!
Vidas and Ausra
​www.organduo.lt

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 767! This question was sent by our YouTube organist/composer colleague Alejandro Consolacion II and he writes:

This question is especially for organists with regular church responsibilities. How can we keep track of the pieces we have already played and continue discovering new repertoire—particularly newly composed works by international composers published online? What strategies can help us expand our literature in ways that are useful for both liturgical playing and recital performance? Again, I hope these questions will be helpful to me and to your regular listeners. More power to you both!

​Warm regards, Alejandro

Dear friends,

Here's what we found worth sharing with you this week:

1. SOPP766: How can musicians effectively deal with nervousness and stage fright?
2. Thinking in Sound No. 7 - Making Organ Music Accessible
3. Learn with Vidas - Improvising on Be Thou My Vision | 2026-02-15
4. Live Organ Music - On the Bench with Vidas No. 75 | 2026-02-13
5. Juozas Gudavičius - Kur giria žaliuoja | Onuškis
6. Verset in C Major - Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely
7. Trying Out Alexandre 2 Manual Harmonium in Albury, NSW, Australia
8. Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų - Lithuanian National Anthem (Organ and Soloist)
9. Trying Out the House Organ in Albury, NSW, Australia
10. Canon in F Sharp Minor – M.K. Čiuriionis

Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free but not cheap. If you like our work and want to support it, you can buy us coffee or forward it to someone who’d like it. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.
And remember, when you practice, miracles happen!

​Vidas and Ausra
​www.organduo.lt

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 766! This question was sent by Alejandro Consolacion II, our YouTube organist/composer colleague and he writes:

"There are times when, despite thorough preparation, things still fall apart during concerts or recitals. How can musicians effectively deal with nervousness and stage fright? What positive attitudes or mental approaches are essential in order to persevere and continue striving to give one’s best?"

Dear friends,

Here's what we found worth sharing with you this week:

1. Could you suggest a recommended sequence for students working through BWV 553-560?
2. Thinking in Sound No. 6 - Composing Trumpet Tunes
3. Learn with Vidas - Improvising on BEACH SPRING | 2026-02-08
4. Live Organ Music - On the Bench with Vidas No. 74 | 2026-02-06
5. Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr - Johann Ludwig Krebs | Haarlem St. Bavo Cathedral
6. Lied ohne Worte - Sigfrid Karg-Elert | Piano and Harmonium | St. Joseph Church, Haarlem
7. Festive Postlude – Graham Twist | Walla Walla
8. Carillon-Sortie – Henry Mulet | Sydney St. Stephen's Uniting Church
9. Fugue in F Major, VL 135 – M.K. Čiurlionis
10. Andante in D Major – Felix Mendelssohn | Walla Walla

Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free but not cheap. If you like our work and want to support it, you can buy us coffee or forward it to someone who’d like it. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.
And remember, when you practice, miracles happen!
​
Vidas and Ausra
​www.organduo.lt

Welcome to the 6th episode of my new podcast "Thinking in Sound"! Today I will discuss the idea of composing trumpet tunes because I want to start such project soon. Hope you will enjoy my thoughts!