 I hope you will enjoy my rendition of Dieterich Buxtehude's famous Toccata in d, BuxWV 155. I recorded at Vilnius University St. John's church which was renovated last year by Janis Kalnins and his team from Latvia. We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pXxZgiFPMKiqBRYi9rSLT?si=Xe1nTroTSmOGPtv8bP8MSw Learn with Vidas - How to Improvise a Meditation on SALVE REGINA Gregorian Chant Tune | 2025-02-092/9/2025  Welcome to Learn with Vidas series! Today I'm going to teach you how to improvise a simple meditation on the famous Gregorian chant tune SALVE REGINA. This process will help you not only to improvise but also to compose a piece of music if you want to. I'm trying to get my friend James Flores to compose a meditation on this beautiful tune so this tutorial is for him. Don't forget to send me your requests of what you would like to learn next. Hope you will enjoy it! Today's sample set - Sweelinq sample set Poligny Cavaille-Coll organ You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/join If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkevicius We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-  Today I'd like to share with you my rendition of these delightful 6 Miniatures for Manuals (Set 4) by Tim Knight, contemporary composer from the UK which I recorded on Hauptwerk Alessandria sample set. Hope you will enjoy it! 00:00 Intrada 01:46 Contemplation 03:49 Old English Tune 05:51 Flute Frolic 07:06 Pavane 09:20 Finale Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/six-miniatures-for-manuals-set-4-22896932.html?aff_id=454957 You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/join If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkevicius We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-  Today I'd like to share with you my rendition of Andante festivo, JS 34 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). This solemn, hymn-like piece was written in 1922 originally for string quartet. In 1938 the composer arranged it for string orchestra with timpani and in 1939 he conducted it for a radio broadcast by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of the World Fair in New York City, making it the last appearance of Sibelius as the conductor and the only instance of the composer interpreting any of his own works. The work was also performed at his own funeral. I'm playing it from Esa Ylönen’s transcription for organ solo which is based on Karl Ekman’s piano transcription. I played it as on the 4 manual and pedal Klais organ part of the Hallgrimskirkja Organ Summer 2024. Thanks so much to Björn Steinar Sólbergsson for invitation, Sólbjörg Björnsdóttir for coordination and Steinar Logi Helgason for hospitality and insightful conversations over dinner after the recital! Hope you will enjoy it as much as we did! Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/andante-festivo-arr-for-organ-21996944.html?aff_id=454957 Organ specification: https://www.hallgrimskirkja.is/is/tonlist/orgelin/klais-orgel We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pXxZgiFPMKiqBRYi9rSLT?si=Xe1nTroTSmOGPtv8bP8MSw  Today I'd like to share with you my Meditation on "Slane", Op. 89. I recorded it using Sweelinq Goch sample set. Hope you will enjoy it! Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/meditation-on-slane-op-89-organ-solo-by-vidas-pinkevicius-2022-22259362.html?aff_id=454957 You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/join If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkevicius We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-  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 716 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Ray, and he writes: “Hey Vidas Thanks for your tips. Here are my goals: - to increase my play from memory ability (given the fact that l am 71) and to perform two major pieces Challenges: - time is a challenge - correct fingering (still fumbling at times) - improve my pedal skill Thanks again for your tips! Regards Ray” Vidas: So let’s recap a little bit, Ausra, and start from the beginning. Ray is 71, and wants to perform two major pieces, and wants to improve his memorization. Correct? Ausra: Yes! I just wonder why to perform from memory, because very often organists perform from the score, and that saves time, actually. But maybe he is uncomfortable looking at the score, and maybe it’s easier for him to play from memory. Because if he is comfortable looking at the score, I would not suggest for him to memorize pieces that he’s playing, because that would take him time. Vidas: 10 times more, probably, is required when you try to learn from memory. Ausra: But of course, if he’s uncomfortable looking at the score, and some people have that issue, that problem, especially those who were trained in the Suzuki method, that learned all music by ear not from the score. But otherwise, I think it would be much easier to play from the score and don’t worry about memorization. But of course it is up to him. Memorization always takes time. If you really want to play from memory and to memory faster, I don’t think that there is a shortcut to memorize a piece. Vidas: There is a shortcut but it’s not short. Ausra: Yes! Because… Vidas: It’s a method! Ausra: Because it’s still based on lots of repetitions, adding, learning like two measures at a time, and then adding another two measures and so on and so forth and repeating, repeating, repeating. So it’s a really long process. Of course, there are different kinds of memory types that different people have, because if you have like good visual memory than you are lucky, like photographic memory. You would just look at the score and you would memorize it. But very few people actually possess that ability, and others have just to take this painful long and boring process of memorizing measure by measure, step by step. But of course, it might be a good way also to improve your mental state, for example, which might prevent diseases like Alzheimer or dementia. Anyway, memorization for me always gives a lot of pain. I always struggle with it because basically I have never started to memorize things on time, and the last-minute memorization would never work really well, because then you would get extremely high performance anxiety. I still have nightmares about it. Vidas: I have a suggestion for Ray to use Marcel Dupré’s system. It’s solid, it takes only 15 minutes a day to do it, but with time, you can learn major pieces like this from memory. Would you like me to refresh how it works, Ausra? Ausra: Sure, although I’m not sure if I will use this method myself. Vidas: No! Ausra: But I will gladly listen to your advice. Vidas: Okay, divide a piece into four-measure fragments. And that fragment, four measures long, will be your menu for each day. The next day, you will learn another fragment of four measures long, and the third day will be another fragment of four measures long. Not long, right? Four. Ausra: But it will take forever then to learn the major piece! Vidas: Just let me finish, because it’s kind of very systematic. You first learn one measure at a time in this fragment, in these four measures. So you learn measure one, measure two, measure three, and measure four. And the way to do it is you play five times, while looking at the score, one measure, and then the same measure, without looking at the score, five times. You start and end at the beginning of the down beat. In other words, you start and end at the beginning of every fragment—new fragment. Right? If measure one is your goal right now, you start with the measure one downbeat, and you end with measure two downbeat. Right? Until you can do it five times from the score, five times from memory. Then you do the same with measure two. Five times from the score, five times from memory. Measure three then the same way, measure four. Right? So far so good, Ausra? Are you with me? Ausra: I am sleeping already, but anyway… go ahead… continue please. Vidas: Okay. It’s a good story before going to bed. Right? Ausra: Yes! It’s like counting sheep. Vidas: And then you learn measure one and two. So you start from the downbeat of measure one and end on the downbeat of measure three. Then you learn measures two and three, measures three and four. Then three measures at a time: one, two, three, and then two, three, four. And then finally one, two, three, four. Repeat one, two, three, four. Ausra: One, two, three, four. Vidas: One, two Ausra: One, two Vidas: Two, three Ausra: Two three Vidas: Three four Ausra: Three four Vidas: One, two, three Ausra: One, two, three Vidas: Two, three, four Ausra: Two, three, four Vidas: One, two, three, four. Ausra: One, two, three, four. Vidas: See, you already memorized it. Ausra: But, you know, while you are telling about this method, I kept thinking about Reincken’s “Chorale Fantasy: Was kann uns kommen an für Not” which I’m preparing for our Bach’s birthday recital, and it has 222 meaures. Vidas: Yes. Ausra: So, do you know how many days it would take for me to memorize it if I would learn, let’s say, only memorize only four measures per day? Vidas: I agree. Ausra: Maybe I would be able to be able to learn it not for this upcoming birthday in March, you know, but maybe… Vidas: The next one… Ausra: ...the next one, yes. Vidas: It would be still a major achievement. But what I mean to say is that you don’t have to only play 15 minutes per day. This takes four measures at a time. This takes 15 minutes only. I tested it myself. But if you want, you can play 30 minutes per day the same piece, so you can learn two fragments at a time. Right? Or if you have 3 fragments, you could learn 45 minutes at a time, or even one hour. So it speeds up your practice. Ausra: But it still takes a lot of time. Vidas: Yes, that’s what memorization is supposed to do! But the trick is that you won’t forget it after even many months. You will come back to this piece and it will be easy to refresh it. Sure, you will miss some details, but it will easy to relearn it from decades not learning it afterwards. So that’s my suggestion about memorization. Time is a challenge. Well, we cannot give him time, but he has to make time for practicing. Right Ausra? Ausra: Yes, you know… Vidas: If he has a goal, he has to make time for that goal. Ausra: Yes, we all make sacrifices in our lives in order to be able to practice. But that’s true. We cannot give him more time. Because I think time is a challenge for everybody. Just look at your routine! Maybe you can really shorten something and add more practice hours. And… well… if you would stop memorizing pieces, then you would save time! Maybe this could help you to have more time. So maybe you need, really, to sacrifice memorization, so think about it. Vidas: Mmmm… yeah. Could be. And then correct fingering. He struggles to play with correct fingering. And for that, there is a shortcut, actually—to get our fingered and pedaled scores with correct fingering and pedaling. It’s not necessarily correct 100% for every person, because every person has different types of hands, but the majority of times it will work. You have to sometimes adjust some things. And they will help you play with ideal perfect legato if it’s a Romantic piece, or with articulate legato if it’s a Baroque piece. We have designed scores like that with these fingerings and pedalings. Ausra: Yes, and just be sure that you use the same fingers all the time when you are playing the same piece, because that will speed up the process of learning the piece. Because if every time you will use, let’s say, slightly different fingering, then your final goal of achieving smooth playing will be postponed. Vidas: Ausra, can we recommend to Ray our Pedal Virtuoso master course for him if he wants to improve his pedal technique? Ausra: Yes, sure. Definitely that would be a really good… would we… because we have more than one course of improving pedal skills. Vidas: Yes. “10-day Pedal Challenge,” I think it’s a shorter one, and a longer one it takes over a number of weeks is, “Pedal Virtuoso Master Course,” if he likes playing pedal exercises like scales and arpeggios. Ausra: Yes. Like one of our friends recently said he wanted to hire an organ teacher, and I just asked, “What is your goal? Why do you need to hire?” And he said, “I want to improve my pedal technique!” And I said to him that if in order to improve your pedal technique, you need to play pedals more. That’s it! No teacher can improve your pedal technique, you just need to sit down at the organ and do it yourself. So either get Vidas’s courses that he is suggesting, or for example, if you don’t have time or you want to learn only your repertoire, you could also make exercises from your repertoire, too. You know, just select the hard places and work on those many many times. That will help, too. But of course, if you will take a pedal course, that would help you improve in more various ways and prepare you for more advanced and versatile repertoire. Vidas: Okay 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 Buy Me a Coffee platform: A: Find out more at https://buymeacoffee.com/organduo  Today I'd like to share with you a video from Ausra's and my organ trip to Haarlem last September. At St. Joseph church we had a chance to try out a multitude of historical keyboard instruments, including organs, harmoniums, harpsichord and piano. Hope you will enjoy this sweet Elevation in G Major by L.J.A. Lefebure-Wely played on Orgue-expressif by Fourneaux ca. 1840 in the balcony. Thanks to Erik Jan Eradus for invitation and generosity! You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/join If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkevicius We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-RKg  Today I'd like to share with you my rendition of Fugue in C Minor by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784) who was the eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. I recorded it at Vilnius University St. John's church. Hope you will enjoy it! We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pXxZgiFPMKiqBRYi9rSLT?si=Xe1nTroTSmOGPtv8bP8MSw  Welcome to Learn with Vidas series! Today I'm going to teach you how to improvise an easy processional and recessional which would not be based on any pre-existing melody, hymn, chant or chorale tune. This tutorial was requested by my friend Rien Schalkwijk because I told him that these last two weeks I've been playing a lot of graduation ceremonies at Vilnius University and improvising processionals and recessionals. So he also wanted to find out how I do it. Don't forget to send me your requests of what you would like to learn next. Hope you will enjoy it! Today's sample set - Sweelinq sample set the Bach organ Doordrecht, NL. You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/join If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkevicius We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-RKg  Today I'd like to share with you my rendition of this joyful Jubilate by my good friend Graham Twist. I recorded it back in 2021 during a live recital as part of the 16th organ music festival Clavis Coeli at St. Anne's church in Lazdijai organized by the local Cultural Centre. It is a Lithuanian town next to the border with Poland. The organ there was built in the early 1900's (before 1905) by a famous Lithuanian organ builder from Kaunas Jonas Garalevičius. In 2000 this two-manual and pedal organ with 15 stops was restored by Antanas Šauklys from Panevėžys. Thanks to Lazdijų kultūros centras for invitation! The score is published by Tim Knight Music as part of their Organ Music for Joyful Moments collection. Hope you will enjoy it! Score: https://www.timknightmusic.com/product-page/organ-music-for-joyful-moments-pdf More info about the organ: http://vargonai.lt/vargonai_lazdijai.htm You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/join If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkevicius We support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-RKg |
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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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