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If you have ever tried to practice sight-reading regularly on the organ, you undoubtedly have discovered the tricky question of fingering and pedaling. More specifically: when you play unfamiliar organ music at sight, how do you know which fingers and pedalings to use?
Here is the thing: if you play a normal organ piece which you practice for a long time, you would most likely figure out the fingering and pedaling in advance. Of course, you can write in all your fingering and pedaling in advance OR you could write in them only in specific spots as you are progressing through the piece OR you could mentally fingure out fingerings and pedalings without writing them down. Not taking the time to figure out fingerings and pedalings would be counter-productive because you would be making unpredictable and inefficient choices which would result in a sloppy performance. Whatever the case might be, you might have a difficult time sight-reading organ music precisely because of this issue - there are no fingering and pedaling indications in the score. So the question is this - how can you play a new score, if you don't have the time to figure out the fingering and pedaling? Is it even conceivable to hope to be able to play an unfamiliar organ music and figure out fingering and pedaling as you are playing? My answer is yes, if you practice sight-reading wisely and systematically. First of all, you should pick the music for sight-reading very methodically. You should assess your level of accomplishment very strictly and choose a collection to sight-read which is FAR EASIER than you would normally be able to practice. Second, don't attempt to play all voices at once. Start with playing solo parts. After a while, graduate to 2-voice combinations, 3-voice combinations and so on. Third, since the tempo should be slow, choose a convenient fingering but avoid finger substitutions in an early music piece which are not suited for this type of composition. Finally, the feeling of choosing the right fingering and pedaling for the Romantic and modern music comes from an extensive training in playing scales, arpeggios, and chords because in every passage you can recognize a pattern from these technical exercises. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. If you practice pedal scales and arpeggios regularly, you know that with time it will help you develop a perfect pedal technique. The problem with such training is that there is a temptation to rush through many scales a day, to do many exercises but not necessarily perfecting them all.
Sometimes we do that because we feel we need to attempt to do everything at once. But in reality, when we play too many things, too many exercises, too many pieces in one practice session, we don't accomplish anything substantial. If we play through 24 different scales and arpeggios a day just once, it takes considerable amount of time but the progress is very small, if any. This is because in every scale we might make a mistake or two. The wisest thing would be to correct that mistake but sometimes it's difficult to force oneself to stop and perfect that pedal scale or arpeggio. But there is no other way - we have to perfect what we do, if we want to accomplish something remarkable. So it's better to play only 2 or 4 scales a day but aim for perfection instead of rushing through all of them at once. Of course, once you master all the pedal scales and arpeggios and want to keep up your already polished technique, then playing through them only once is sufficient. But that's after the real hard work is done, after you master scales in 24 different keys in one octave, two octaves, tonic arpeggios, dominant seventh chord arpeggios, diminished seventh chord arpeggios, scales with double pedals, chromatic scales and so on. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. Yesterday my post was about the Prelude in D minor, BWV 554/1 and today it's the turn for the analysis of its fugue, BWV 554/2. Every organist knows them as being a part of the collection of 8 Short Preludes and Fugues BWV 553-560.
The fugue is considerably more difficult than the prelude primarily because it features imitative polyphonic writing for 4 highly independent voices. Nevertheless, it is within the reach of any organist with basic organ playing skills. This composition starts out with the subject presented in the soprano voice in the key of D minor (the Tonic) which is followed by the tonal answer in the alto (A minor, the Dominant, measure 4). The exposition continues with the subject entry in the tenor voice (D minor, the Tonic, measure 6) and the answer in the bass (A minor, the Dominant, measure 9). In measure 12, we can see a head motive of the subject in the soprano voice in A minor (the Dominant) which leads to the cadence and subject entry in the alto voice in C major (the relative key of the Dominant, measure 14). In measure 18, the pedals play the subject in F major (the relative key) after which we can find an ascending sequence (measures 21-24) formed by the head motive of the subject. This sequence moves through the keys of C major (relative of the Dominant), F major (relative key), G minor (the Subdominant), and A minor (the Dominant) and finally reaches the full-length subject in the alto voice in the key of D minor (the Tonic, measure 25). As it is customary for many Baroque compositions, this fugue closes with an excursion to the Subdominant (G minor) which is presented by the subject in the bass part (measure 27). I have prepared a score of this composition with complete fingering and pedaling written in which greatly facilitates practicing and learning process of this exciting work. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. This prelude is included in the collection of 8 Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553-560. Earlier it was thought that the composer was Johann Sebastian Bach but currently scientists believe they might have been written by Johann Ludwig Krebs, one of Bach's most talented and accomplished students.
The prelude is written in a classical ternary ABA form with exact recapitulation at the end. By the way, the final cadence of section A reminds very much the opening phrase of the choral "Jesu, meine Freude". In section A (measure 1-6), composer establishes the tonic key of D minor and shows the first musical idea of the work. The texture varies between 4 and 5 parts (6 parts at the beginning of the 2nd measure) so anyone interested in learning it will do well to practice all 15 combinations of solo voices, 2-part and 3-part combinations before putting everything together. The first episode in section B (measures 7-12) is written for 3 upper parts without the pedal. Here the composer explores a few compositional devices such as runs in the left hand, descending sequence and right hand suspentions. They lead to a cadence in F major (the relative key of D minor). In the second half of section B (measures 13-24) we can see the ascending chromatic sequence which moves through various related keys, namely B flat major, C major, and D minor. In fact, the entire episode is constructed from sequences because right after this ascending version, we can see two descending versions (in 4-part texture and in 3-part texture) which lead to the scalar passage connecting section B with recapitulation (measures 25-31). The most common mistakes I see people make when practicing this prelude is playing it without paying too much attention to detail which results in a sloppy articulation because the texture might be too complicated to play all parts together right away. Playing without forcing oneself to stop frequently and correct the mistakes a few times is another mistake which slows down the progress of an organist and even might result in unnecessary frustration. I have prepared a score of this composition with complete fingering and pedaling written in which greatly facilitates practicing and learning process of this exciting work. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. People often get discouraged when they make mistakes. They feel that there is something wrong with their practice. While it may be truth sometimes, very often it is a natural part of how we learn.
For example, it can often happen that you play correctly the 1st time, the 2nd time and you make a mistake on the 3rd time. Is that what happened to you in your organ practice? That's OK. Failing and making mistakes is an integral part of our learning process. So please don't get frustrated when you make mistakes. In fact, if you don't make a mistake at the beginning stages of your organist training, then something is likely wrong with your organ practice. If you don't fail enough times, you will not know what success is. If you feel you are not making any mistake at all, it probably means you are not looking hard enough and not concentrating on details (such as notes, rhythms, fingering, pedaling, articulation, ornaments, hand and feet position etc.). It probably means your mistakes get unnoticed. If this is the case, record yourself and listen to your recording. Ask yourself, "would I pay money to get to this concert if someone played like that?". Practice until the answer is yes. As they say, Practice Makes Perfect. Let's add to it Wise Practice Makes Perfect. Make sure you take a really slow controlled tempo in which you can think of the next note before you play it. Practice in fragments of 4 measures as I always recommend (do 10 times each fragment) in separate voices and all combinations of 2 and 3 voices before putting everything together. If you struggled with making mistakes up until now, apply these tips and in just 7 days, you will feel the breakthrough. If not, then it may mean that the piece is too difficult for you at the moment and that you need to work on your organ technique. Force yourself not to look at your fingers and feet while you are playing. Look at the music. If you play from memory, just close your eyes. This is tough, I know. But trust me on this, it will get easier with time and the benefits of doing so are enormous. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. Have you ever wanted to know one organ technique which would make your pedal playing automatic? In other words, instead of struggling to hit the right notes with your feet, would you like to know how to achieve the level when you could play any pedal line fluently even without thinking on auto-pilot?
The answer is simple: make use of pedal preparation technique. Here is how it works. As soon as you release the note with one foot, slide it in place for the next note of the same foot with one swift motion. Don't depress the new note yet but let it wait for it's turn. Do the same with another foot for the entire pedal line of your organ piece. If you tried it on your organ, you would soon discover that at first you really have to think about the next note and its preparation. So now you might have an obvious question - how many times should you repeat the pedal passage to make it fully automatic? What I have found from my personal practice is that I need to repeat a small pedal fragment (about 4 measures) in a slow fully controlled tempo 10 times for 10 days in a row. That makes a total number of 100 repetitions (more in cases for extremely difficult music). This make sense when you think that it takes about 80-100 times of repetitions of the word in a foreign language to fully sink in in our long-term memory. If you haven't ever used this organ technique in your pedal playing, I encourage you to try it out. Make a little experiment. During the period of the next 10 days, learn one passage of pedal part with pedal preparation and another passage of similar length and difficulty without it. You will be amazed when you compare your fluency of both passages. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. I hear this question a lot: what's the least amount of time required to work on improving your organ technique through technical things, such as exercises, scales, arpeggios, and chords and still see the progress in the long run?
Although I'm not a big fan of "minimum efforts" when it comes to organ practice, I can understand people who are asking this question. Not too many people can devote 3-4 hours a day for practicing organ music. Only full time concert organists can do that and even they have to face multiple other tasks in their day. So it's only natural for a person who only has, say total of 60 minutes a day for organ practice to wonder if it's reasonable to expect results from a short period of practicing technical exercises. What I had found through my personal practice is that it takes about 10 minutes of playing just to warm up my fingers. So anything less than that will hardly produce any effect in the long run. But if you could spend about 20 minutes a day playing scales, arpeggios, or Hanon exercises after a period of 2 weeks you will begin to notice some gradual improvement of your technique and stamina. If you want to improve your pedal technique, then 15 minutes of daily playing of scales and arpeggios with your feet will do the trick. Of course, keep in mind that your practice in developing your organ technique should be wise, meaning that every detail should be correct: notes, rhythms, tempo, fingering, pedaling, articulation (perfect legato whenever possible), hand and feet position, pulse among other things. It is dangerous to try to play faster before you are ready for it. Please note that this advice is only for people who absolutely can't find more than 60 minutes of time for organ practice. On the other hand, if you have more time available in your day, devoting up to 1 hour for technical studies would be much more beneficial for your development as an organist in general. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. Everyone of us knows that playing piano exercises can make wonders for your manual organ technique. However, playing through the collection like Pianist Virtuoso by Charles Louis Hanon can seem a little too boring for some people.
Personally for me, the results which are gained from such practice over time are far greater than the need to force myself to keep up playing. But if you feel like you need a greater motivation to play these exercises, here is what works absolutely wonderfully for me. Instead of playing every exercise from Part I and most of exercises from Part II in C major, like it is written, I play them in different modes but use the same fingering. You too, can choose any mode that you want and play each exercise in a different mode. In fact, you can create an entire system of modes (Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, Frygian, Locrian, Pentatonic, Blues, Octatonic, Whole-tone etc.) You can even go wild and play 7 modes of limited transposition as used by Olivier Messiaen. If you don't know the names of these modes, no problem - just play everything from C but with different accidentals (1 sharp, 1 flat, 2 sharps, 2 flats, 3 sharps, 3 flats etc.). This will keep your mind engaged and focused. Try this approach in your organ practice today. I have to say that playing Hanon exercises in such a manner is not at all boring. In fact, it is very musically interesting and even addictive because in addition to supercharging your organ technique, it also helps to improve your music theory skills. Moreover, because the modes constitute an integral part of modal improvisation in the 20th century French style, playing Hanon exercises using different modes will definitely improve your improvisational skills. 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 video Organ Practice Guide. A couple of weeks ago when I asked my readers what it is they struggle the most in achieving their goals in organ playing, I was surprised how many of them answered "Organ Technique".
I wasn't expecting this answer to show up so frequently in their emails because I constantly write about these technical issues of organ playing, among other things. When I think about it now, of course it makes sense - lots of people find their left hand technique too weak in comparison with the right hand. Techniques like pedal preparation are so powerful in making ones pedal playing automatic, yet so few people really take advantage of it in their daily practice. In particular, I found that left hand and pedal coordination is a real pain for the majority of organists. This is so true because when people come to the organ after having studied piano for some time, one of the first things they need to overcome is this notion of reading music from 3 staves (and the bottom stave is not suited for the left hand part, as in the piano, but for the pedals). So in order to help overcome the struggles many people are having with their technique, today I have finally completed my new audio Organ Technique Training. If technical aspects of organ playing are holding you back from achieving your dreams, I suggest you check it out. When we practice organ playing, this is what we do - we continue centuries-long tradition of excellence so that future generations can also have a part in this.
If we think about it deeply, almost all of us are students of Bach, Sweelinck, Frescobaldi and many other masters of the past in some way or another. We can trace this geneology of teachers back 300 or more years ago. Every single one of the masters did their best to create unique and remarkable art, to pursue perfection even though they knew it can never be attained. So when we sit down on the organ bench we do the same - we try to push ourselves, be honest with ourselves, and constantly ask ourselves how can this piece be even more improved today. If this means that in order to fully appreciate the piece and transfer this feeling to our listeners we need to be aware of how the piece is put together, then we analyze the piece. If this means that in order for the composition to sound as authentic as possible (there are certain limitations, of course) we need to re-create the ideal articulation, fingering, pedaling, ornaments, and registration then we do that, too. It really doesn't matter if the majority of our listeners don't know the difference about early and modern organ technique. As long as we stay honest with ourselves and give our best in our organ practice, then we are continuing this long tradition of excellence, we are staying on the same path that Bach went when he wrote "the goal of figured bass (like all music) is the glory of God and re-creation of the soul". 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 video Organ Practice Guide. |
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Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. 
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