Reading about how to practice organ doesn't count as practice.
Planning to practice organ doesn't count as practice. Wishing to practice organ doesn't count as practice. Thinking about yesterday's organ practice doesn't count as practice. Listening to organ music doesn't count as practice (it only counts, if you are listening with a specific goal in mind). Discussing with a friend how to practice organ doesn't count as practice. It only counts, if you actually show up and do the next step which brings you closer to your goal. So I hope you have practiced your organ music today already. If not, go do it now. Even if it's only 15 minutes during that TV commercial. Even if it's these 4 measures which give you most trouble. Even if it's only on the table when the family is asleep. It counts. Then when you go to bed and think of what you have acomplished today, you can say, "yes, I have just made one baby step towards my goal." 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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Sometimes I get asked for an advice on practicing by people who are not sure anymore if they can continue to practice organ playing. In their student years they had lots of time and motivation to play their instrument at the highest level, perform concerts and seek a professional organist career.
But later in life after they finished their training and studies situation changed. They might have dreamed about having a successful international recitalist career and make a living out of it, but in reality, only very few individuals ever achieve this level. Most of the organists I know have to combine 3 things to survive: teach (both privately and/or at an institution), play paid concerts (in their own country and abroad), and play church services. Of course, that's a generalization, and certainly there are people who can do only one of these activities to make a living but I have a feeling that they are not in the majority. A person might have a life-long dream to play regular concerts and when that doesn't seem to work, a motivation to practice organ might diminish. So we have to search for an answer of why do we keep up our efforts at becoming a better organist. I think the answer has to come from within the individual. Money, fame, and career, although they might seem like vital part of the organist's life, is only the result of many years of diligent practice. The real motivation is within us, not from external stimuli, such as paid concerts. Imagine a situation where a person has to play church services every week (or even every day) but his/her duties don't include playing more difficult organ works. So it's easy to fall into the trap of playing just the hymns because there is no need for more advanced music (at present). That might be fine for an organist who doesn't have extensive training, experience, and skills. However, I believe, if the person has the necessary skills to do a better job and to improve, it is already a responsibility for him/her to keep these skills sharp and to advance them even further. We never know when the situation changes, when somebody will offer us a paid concert but if we continue to practice and improve, when the time comes, we will be ready. Did you know that many young conductors began their international career by substituting on the spot a regular conductor who couldn't show up at the concert? They couldn't do that if all they did was wait for that moment and did not practice because nobody paid them money for doing so. So I guess, we have to earn that trust, earn attention from potential concert organizers, and become better and/or more remarkable than our competitors. And how do we earn trust? By practicing, giving our best, staying sharp, and most importantly, by being remarkable. Don't wait for somebody to find you, become proactive in building relationships and networking. Don't just send your resume and your proposed concert program to churches. This approach rarely works anymore because of the increased competition. Instead, think of how you can be different and more remarkable than other organists and position yourself that way. 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. We all have situations when something is not right, when things are not working the way we want.
It could be a tricky spot with that long double pedal trill in the pedal part (like in Liszt's B-A-C-H). For a lot people it may even be as "simple" as putting hands and feet together in the chorale preludes from Bach's Orgelbuchlein. Even playing left hand part and pedals combined in many cases where different rhythms are employed might be a very complex task. If you are an organ improvisor, things can go out of control very quickly - having no interesting ideas to play on, having interesting ideas but limited technique may lead to frustration. If you compose for the organ, a search for originality might be a daunting task. Or we think we wrote something clever, but it sounds dry and unmusical. So we get stuck. What to do then? Should we quit and do something else? Should we continue the task no matter what? These are hard questions to answer. I think, you can try to imagine the end result. If the end result doesn't feel exciting enough, perhaps it isn't worth pursuing. The really remarkable things are supposed to be difficult. Sometimes it means that you have to find easier piece and come back to the difficult one when you are ready for it. Sometimes it also means you have to push yourself one step further and stick to the plan. But the most difficult thing in such situation is to face ourselves strictly and honestly. Remember, it's not really the music we are struggling with, it's we and our weaknesses. Our biggest opponent is ourselves. 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 professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." - wrote Richard Bach, an author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Can this citation be applied to our organist profession?
I think it fits perfectly well. How many times it was hard to continue to practice but we didn't give up and didn't quit? We keep going because we believe in our goal no matter how unattainable it may seem at the present moment. Of course, there is so much more to becoming a serious organist than simply continuing to practice but this may well be the key ingredient. When we hear that voice in the back of our heads asking "is it really worth it?" or "is it for me?", we have a chance to show our quality by ignoring it and sticking to the plan. One thing that helps me in such situation, is to remember that all great organ masters who set out to do something remarkable also had these moments but they persevered. (Of course, they had to quit many other things along their journey). In fact, this is called "the Dip" and Seth Godin has written a book about it. Actually, the louder that voice in the back of our heads says that "it isn't worth it", the more reasons we have to believe that it's quite the opposite. If we continue to practice, usually success is not too far away. 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. Improvisation of the French toccata always fascinates both organists and listeners - it's fun, exciting, fast, and loud. If played well, it leaves everybody in awe. Today I would like to discuss some ways how you can improvise a short toccata at the end of the church service.
Preferably such improvisation will be based on the exit hymn at the close of the church service. Here are a few of my recommendations (there are countless variations of such improvisations, but this is good for starters): 1. Place a hymn tune in the pedals. 2. Use easy figuration in sixteenth-notes which fits 5 fingers well: right hand descending (5321), left hand ascending (5321). 3. Play a short introduction of 2 measures in the hands on the first phrase of the tune. 4. Use a fixed harmony (chords) - 7th chords, 65 chords, 43 chords, 42 chords, for example. 5. Change the chords regularly (one chord for every phrase, for example). 6. When the pedals enter with the tune in equal note values, aim for step-wise motion in the hands - it's easier to control. 7. Remember to keep the same mode - then no matter what you play in your manual part will sound well with the pedals. 8. If you want to have more variety in color, change the mode every 4 measures or so - your tune doesn't have to stay in the same mode all the time. 9. Once you play the phrase of the tune in the pedals, repeat it in the manuals (without pedals). 10. End with a short CODA on a Tonic pedal point (the last note of the tune) repeating the last fragment several times in ascending transposing sequence (in major or minor 3rds). 11. Choose a loud registration with mixtures and reeds (if available) based on 16' stops. BONUS TIP No. 1: Although it will be a fast piece, practice repeatedly REALLY slowly in fragments so that you are always in control and let your mind direct your fingers (and feet) and not otherwise. BONUS TIP No. 2: Write down your improvisation on paper and see what can be improved. Having your own completed piece notated on staff notation is an incredible achievement in itself. BONUS TIP No. 3: Actually you can start upside down and write your toccata on paper first and improvise later (it's more difficult but you will thank yourself later for doing so). Remember to analyze real French toccatas (Boellmann, Widor, Vierne, Gigout, Durufle, Messiaen etc.). There you will find even more exciting figures, textures, harmonies, and models. But start small and only expand when you feel like you mastered the current version. 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. Let's give up on making excuses.
Let's give up on paying attention to distractions. Let's give up on the habit of not finishing tasks. Let's give up on halfhearted practice. Let's give up on laziness. Let's give up on waiting. Let's not give up on practicing. Let's not give up on correcting mistakes. Let's not give up on paying attention to details. Let's not give up on pursuit of perfection. Let's not give up on trying even harder. Let's not give up on reaching our dream. Probably every person who sets out to learn the art of organ improvisation at the beginning is facing this problem - his/her fingers (and sometimes feet) can go faster than their brain. In such situation anything you improvise on the spot may sound unintentional and accidental.
In other words, a lot of times such playing sounds like a bunch of unconnected notes, which doesn't make sense musically. Usually the result is not something we all are very proud of or intend to re-create in the future. But this experience is vital, I would say, not only because it helps to brainstorm all kinds of musical ideas but also because it helps you to understand how much you still have to learn. In a sense, it helps us to feel humble enough at our first steps as improvisors. Of course, not everything what we improvise in such manner might sound ugly or not worth remembering but if we play something which our brain doesn't orders our fingers, we will have a hard time re-creating the nicely done passages or excerpts that we want to save for the future. So obviously we have to ask this question - is there a way to ensure that our improvisations become more intentional? In other words, how to let the brain direct our fingers and feet and not the opposite? Now I can hear some people who are reading this ask that isn't the true improvisation non-rational? Isn't the purpose of improvisation something we create without predetermined thinking and planning? Of course, improvisation can have many forms and shapes but now I'm talking about this definition of improvisation - Composition at the Time of Performance. It's no different from written down works, the only difference being that when you improvise, you don't have much time to think and correct your mistakes with eraser like you would do when composing on paper with a pencil. Let's come back to our concept that our mind has to direct the fingers. I think it's easier to achieve that than we think it is. Although you might be tempted to say that only geniuses can create something on the spot and it would sound like a fully worked out written composition, I think everyone is capable to achieve that on his/her level. Of course, it wouldn't necessarily be a 4-part scholastic fugue right away but we can reach this level very gradually (remember the concept of "Baby Steps"). Let's start with limiting the possibilities because one of the main problems we face when improvising is the seemingly limitless number of options we could take and limitless number of paths we might follow. Think of the 6 most important elements of organ music (the are more of course): melody, rhythm, harmony, registration, texture, and form. Limit your improvisation to just one single option in each category and master it. Choose just one melodic theme, one rhythmical pattern, one meter, one mode, one registration option, one kind of texture, and one kind of form. Practice in a slow tempo many times until you feel you can safely add one more option to your "bag of tricks". If you practice improvisation in this manner, you will discover that it's so much easier to create something much more intentionally and you can grow from there. Try this approach today. 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 heard stories about organists who practice all day long? Or perhaps about students who stay all night at the conservatoire or another school and practice without stopping until morning? I know some organists do that.
Let's imagine for a second that you have all the time in the world (most people don't) and you are free to practice as long as you want. Here is the question: are these long practice sessions helpful in the long run? Can you really stay focused all seven hours on the organ bench and put in all your effort? I think that it is counter-productive to practice for seven or more hours a day regularly. I personally have practiced that much or even more when I had to prepare for a recital in 2 days. That was a marathon practice. Very difficult for the mind to endure. But I had no other choice. However, I would say an organist can achieve good results with 2 hours of regular, focused and wise practice. It's not really the length but quality of the organ practice that matters. After 2 hours, your mind and body gets weak and you really have to push. So I don't recommend for the majority of people. I think it's also important to make breaks of 5-10 minutes every 30 minutes or so (drink a glass of water, stretch etc.). Then you will feel refreshed and never tired. 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. Sometimes I get asked by organists and organ music lovers where to find free organ music scores. To make things easier for everybody, today I would like to share with you a special list of compositions featuring the organ and harpsichord solo:
http://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositions_Featuring_the_Organ_and_Harpsichord_solo This list is not complete because it's updated manually, so if you don't find what you are looking for, double check in the search bar in the upper right side of the page. This list is systematized under special historical periods (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and early 20th century) and national schools and each composer is arranged alphabetically. When downloading the scores please observe if the work is in public domain in your country and what kind of licence is granted for the use of this work (some modern editions allow only non-commercial use of their scores so it's always good to check that). I think this list is a real treasure not only for organists who are looking to expand their concert and/or liturgical repertoire but also for people who enjoy playing organ at home for their own pleasure only. Of course, printed and copied music does not have any long-term value and may quickly deteriorate and nothing can change the wonderful feeling of holding a real book or collection of music compositions in your hands. However, for a quick everyday use you will not easily find a better place. In fact, the list is quite large and extensive and one can get easily lost while scrolling through pages and pages of music. In a sense it's a wonderful education in itself available for us just one click away. 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. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
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