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Music which has tremendous artistic value but are relatively easy to learn and play sometimes is difficult to come by. This is understandable because when a player has very limited technical skills and experience, melodies, rhythms, harmonies and texture have to be simple enough to be accessible.
On the other hand a lot of easy music is simply not worth your time and effort because it has little artistic value and can sound boring. That's exactly why Menuets, Polonaises, Marches and other pieces from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach are so charming and never gets tiring to listen to and play. To help people with modest skills learn to play these keyboard pieces (and develop manual technique) I created this video course which you can check out here. Because the videos are shot from the position where you can see my fingers very clearly, it's like sitting on the bench with me or looking over my shoulder.
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Many people know that J.S.Bach's first wife Maria Barbara died early under mysterious circumstances when Bach was on his travels with his employer Duke of Köthen in Carlsbad spa resort because it was customary for the Duke to bring his court musicians with him.
When Bach returned home, he found his wife already buried on July 7, 1720. The exact cause of death remains a mystery because she was healthy before Bach went to Carlsbad. There are a few theories that Maria Barbara might have gotten an infection or perhaps it was a complication of her pregnancy. At any rate, this very unfortunate event left Bach in a situation when he had to find another wife rather quickly. 17 months after the death of Maria Barbara he married Anna Magdalena Wilcke. She raised her step-children along with her own. Anna Magdalena was an accomplished singer and rather proficient keyboard player. To further her musical education, in 1722 and in 1725 Johann Sebastian compiled two collections of keyboard music for her which are rather similar - the first has only compositions of Johann Sebastian and the second also includes pieces of other composers of this period. The bulk of the collections is music for keyboard - menuets, polonaises, marches, gavottes, rondeaux, chorales, sonatas, the French suites etc. with a few selections of vocal music as well. The Notebooks for Anna Magdalena Bach gives us a glimpse into the domestic music making in the Bach family and provides a rather detailed picture of what Anna Magdalena played at home on the keyboard instruments the Bachs had at their disposal. What is the value of these collections for today's organist or keyboardist? The charming menuets, polonaises, marches and other dances are among the most-loved pieces by people who are relative beginners of any keyboard instrument. Their simple but artful musical language makes them perfect pieces for music-making at home. Although composed almost 300 years ago this music never gets old or boring. I'm sure you are familiar with these 3 famous menuets (2 in G major and 1 in G minor). If you want, listen to them here, here and here. Most keyboard music from this collection are dances for two or three parts divided into two halves and each of them is often repeated. For the repeats it's quite appropriate to add ornamentation or melodic figuration. By the way, if you want to learn to play simple and beautiful menuets and other dances from the Notebooks of Anna Magdalena Bach, check out this course. People like playing what they like playing (myself included). Most of us have a list of favorite composers or favorite pieces we want to learn sometime.
But some who have the curiosity to search for something new, like the surprises that come from discovering a collection or a composer they didn't know existed and playing music they didn't think they might like. So here are the two questions: 1. When was the last time you played something you didn't think you like and discovered that it's wonderful? 2. Would it be worth to do it more often? (One of my favorite places to look for unfamiliar music is here). [Thanks to Marcel for inspiration] Some of you may have seen my video on playing the C major with pedals. What is missing in this demonstration is the reasoning for choosing this kind of technique and pedaling. I'll try to explain them today.
The basic principle (left toe, right toe, left heel, right heel, keeping the heels and knees together) used in playing scales comes from the French legato organ school which was basically invented by the Belgian organist Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens in the middle of the 19th century. However, unlike with manual scales where there is a certain uniformity in fingering, pedaling was never uniform. The main principles are there but certain authors (Dupre, Gleason, Davis, Ritchie/Stauffer and others) can differ slightly from one another with their scale pedalings. In this video I play 5 pitches (C, D, E, F and G) with the left foot only because some people would feel it very awkward to play with the right foot on the D and F. Other authors might be a little more strict with their approach. Of course, if we would be dealing with early organ technique, then the proper way to play the scale would be with alternate toe pedaling - left, right, left, right etc. Importantly, there is no foot crossing here - you have to move both feet together as a unit. Two feet are like two fingers of an extra hand in early music (and to a certain extent for the Romantic music, too). [Thanks to Andreas for inspiration] Imagine a situation when you currently can practice organ for several hours a day but in the future you might have a change in your life either because of the birth of the baby or an illness of the family member or some other reason. Will this change mean the end of your organ practice?
The baby will change everything for the parents. That's normal. It would be selfish to let the spouse raise the child while you play the organ for long hours. However, in the long run it's crucial for both of the parents (and for the baby) to keep up personal interests and hobbies alive even for 10-20 minutes a day. You can of course take turns attending the baby. If organ playing is your hobby, this well might mean you keep continue playing the organ. This activity will help re-charge both of you when you feel exhausted, when your energy level is down, when your spirits are low. To help you see why it's important to continue your organ playing journey (if it's important to you in the first place), let's take an example of another sphere in live - piloting the plane. When the plane flies from place A to place B and there is a high turbulence and a storm coming in front of the plane, the pilot normally wouldn't turn around the plane and stop the flight. No, the pilot would re-adjust the course, maybe turning left or right which would eventually allow the plane to reach it's destination by another route. Sometimes the plane has to land to place C and wait there for better weather conditions. Then the trip will last longer but the plane will arrive to its destination nonetheless. Here it's important to point out that sometimes the pilot doesn't fly at all. The pilot waits on the ground for better conditions to fly. The same is in live. When life gives us expected or not expected challenges, we can re-adjust our efforts, re-adjust our schedule, re-adjust our priorities. But if your goal is eventually master some aspect of organ playing, you can do little things that matter most in the long run - short daily practices of 10-20 minutes of duration. If you take a table spoon and try to dig a tunnel for 10-20 minutes a day - in 5-10 years you will move a small mountain this way. Having goals and the purpose are very important here. Without them it is impossible keep going in baby steps and eventually to reach your destination. Besides, keeping up the hobbies of both of the parents will be very beneficial to their baby, too (in the long run). This is because he/she can follow in the parent's footsteps. Also seeing that one of the parents is practicing something, this will teach the baby something about the value of waiting, the value of effort, the value of commitment, the value of delayed gratification. People who grow up as selfish human beings sometimes saw the unconditional attention of their parents in the past, acting as servants. They expect that others will be servants to their needs and wants later in life, too. That's why it's important you also have your own time, too. By the way, this will only make your family bonds stronger. Yes, this would probably mean you should practice at home more than at church. This could also mean, you might practice more away from the instrument - on the table or even while lying in bed with your body still and your eyes shut (I once prepared for an entire recital this way). This could also mean you will value your available time so much more than before and accomplish things faster. Don't turn around your plane. Adjust the course. [Thanks to John for inspiration]  How did organ builders and carpenters make organ benches back in the 18th century? In this picture on the left you can see an organ bench from the Holy Ghost church in Vilnius, Lithuania where in 1776 Adam Gottlob Casparini built an organ with two manuals and pedals which today is considered one of the best preserved historical organs in northern Europe. This organ currently is under restoration which is on hold because of lack of finances.
To me this organ has personal value as well because in 2000 I was one of the people who helped in the documentation project of this priceless instrument. I helped make various measurements, drawings etc. I remember how I made a drawing of the very same organ bench - my task was to draw it as closely as possible to the real thing. Therefore everything had to be copied exactly as it is. It was especially difficult to copy all these ornate curved lines you can see in this picture. The final details in my drawings were always made by an expert organ restorer from Sweden, Niclas Fredriksson who led the documentation project of this organ. He spent hours upon hours sitting inside of the organ meticulously making computer measurements so that this documentation would be as complete as possible. In fact, the documentation was so thorough, that they were able to build a replica of this organ in Rochester, NY. Note that the bench is made without any nails - on top of it, you can see 5 wedge-shaped connectors which had to be masterfully calculated so that the vertical and horizontal parts of the bench would hold firmly together. Incidentally, when an organist sits on this bench, there is not enough room to put the entire foot (toe and heel) on the pedals. This may well be one of the indicators that they didn't use heels in pedal playing of the early music back in those days. Some people who try to follow my improvisation exercises don't understand the concept of ABCDCBA form. To help them get the most of these exercises, today I would like to make myself more clear what do I mean about this particular form.
The different letters here refer to different melodies or thematic material. If you look closely, although you can see 7 letters, in reality there are only 4 options - A, B, C or D (it's quite different from these 7 letters - ABCDEFG, isn't it?). The episodes A, B, C and D have to be quite different from each other - perhaps they all have different melodies, harmonies, tempos, meters, rhythms, textures and they could be performed using different registration. Let's take a look at this structure (ABCDCBA). What do we see here? D is in the center, A is on the outside, then comes B and finally C. In other words, CBA in the second half is like a mirror version of ABC in the first half. Therefore, one of the terms used to describe this form is Concentric form - meaning that in the center you have an episode around which there are mirror episodes of several other themes. We could also regard this form as having a ternary structure - ABC-D-CBA. Then we could have something like compound ternary ABA form which could be the simplest example of concentric form. Concentric form can have 5 parts - ABCBA, or 9 parts as well - ABCDEDCBA. The main idea is the mirror version in the second half around the central section which forms a nice symmetry. I hope this explanation made the principles behind this form more clear to you and you can apply it in your 10 minute improvisation practice.
A: 2 min., 3/4 meter, use the notes F, G, and A exclusively.
NOTE: Do not use any other notes except the ones listed. Feel free to use any rhythms that can work for these meters. You may play in any octaves you want. Share your experience in comments.
A: 2 min., 5/8 meter, use the notes G and A exclusively (Flute 8') B: 2 min., 4/4 meter, use the notes G and A exclusively. (Flute 4') A: 1 min., 5/8 meter, use the notes D and E exclusively. (Flute 8') C: 1 min., 3/4 meter, use the notes E and F# exclusively. (Flutes 8' and 4') A: 1 min., 5/8 meter, use the notes C and D exclusively. (Flute 8') B: 1 min., 4/4 meter, use the notes C and D exclusively. (Flute 4') C: 1 min., 3/4 meter, use the notes G and A exclusively. (Flutes 8' and 4') A: 1 min., 5/8 meter, use the notes G and A exclusively. (Flute 8') NOTE: Do not use any other notes except the ones listed. Feel free to use any rhythms that can work for these meters. You may play in any octaves you want. Share your experience in comments. Set your timer for 10 minutes and improvise a piece in ABACABCA form:
A: 2 min., 4/4 meter, use the note C exclusively. B: 2 min., 3/4 meter, use the note C exclusively. A: 1 min., 4/4 meter, use the note G exclusively. C: 1 min., 6/8 meter, use the note A exclusively. A: 1 min., 4/4 meter, use the note F exclusively. B: 1 min., 3/4 meter, use the note F exclusively. C: 1 min., 6/8 meter, use the note C exclusively. A: 1 min., 4/4 meter, use the note C exclusively. NOTE: Do not use any other notes except the ones listed. Feel free to use any rhythms that can work for these meters. Share your experience in comments. |
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 Photo by Edgaras Kurauskas
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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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