Thank you everyone for participating! You all made us very happy with your entries. We have all selected the following winners.
Comments
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 559 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Arthur, and he writes: “Hello Vidas, I resigned up for Total Organist in August and was just trying to download some music that you have composed tonight and for some reason I can’t download it without paying extra for the music. Is this the case for Total Organist members? Are the compositions of yours and music which has had fingering applied to it something that we have to pay extra for? Looking forward to hearing from you. Arthur” And I wrote to him: “Thanks Arthur! Up until now my compositions were not available for Total Organist community. If you think they might be interesting to people, I can add them to the list. Please let me know.” And Arthur continued: “Hi Vidas, I didn't realize that they weren't part of the Total Organist "package" as it were. I listen to and watch your youtube improvisations as a way of studying what you do with harmony and have gained very much from doing this. I recently heard a recording of one of your works that was put on Contrebombarde.com - which is a site where organists from all over the world post music which they have recorded on a Hauptwerk virtual organ. This particular piece of yours was posted there by Carson Cooman. I really enjoyed the piece and wanted to study the score to analyze it and learn about some of your composition techniques from this process of analyzation. The particular piece of music was ‘Meditation in D, Op. 35’. Here is a link to the post: http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/36764 For me it is one thing to learn by listening but there are some things that I learn more easily from looking at the music. On the other hand, I understand the need and desire of a composer to make an income from their music so I'm not asking you to do something that isn't part of what you have already set up. Sincerely, Arthur” And I wrote: “Thanks Arthur! I hope you will enjoy playing this piece.” and I sent him the score of my ‘Meditation in D, Op. 35’ to which he replied: “Thank you very much, Vidas! I really appreciate it and know that it will be a piece that I'll play for our church here in Pleasant Hill, California more than one time - so many people here will enjoy it as well. Warm regards, Arthur” So, Ausra, what do you think? Should my music be available to Total Organist subscribers? A: I guess because you are an author it’s for you to decide! V: What would you do if it was your music? A: Well, good question. I would have to consider it very seriously. V: What points would you have to consider? What would the consideration imply? I mean, what are some pros and cons? A: Well, I probably would include them to the Total Organist package. V: Expand the value of the entire program. A: Yes, and that way, you also will become more popular as a composer, I think. V: You know, you’re right in some part, of course. The reason I haven’t included in the past is that I didn’t know that it was a need. You know? Nobody really from the Total Organist community inquired about that. That’s one point, and another point is that with Total Organist, we teach people how to play the organ, and the needs for this group is different than the needs of organists who are looking for new music that I create. But sometimes they overlap, like in Arthur’s case. A: Yes, I think is the kind of piece that is well suited for church music, and it’s not that hard to learn, so it might be beneficial for church musicians. V: On the other hand, yes, I have played most of my pieces in liturgical settings, and they worked in my church, so there is no reason they shouldn’t work in other churches. Right? Except that sometimes they’re too difficult, sometimes maybe the requirements of our organ might be too great for what they have. If they have one manual and it’s a three manual piece, let’s say, but I think in my catalog, there are a variety of pieces that he could choose from. And there are really playable one or two manual organs as well, and three manual also. It’s really a good point that Arthur is asking, right? A: So how many opuses do you have now? V: I think… let me check… A: You have lost the number? V: Yeah. Let’s see. I have my catalog up in our Secrets of Organ Playing store, and there are collections of various scores and training programs, and one collection towards the end of the page is Vidas’ compositions. So that’s what I put all my music in, and let me sort these courses by date from new to old… and the newest is “Echo” from “Organ ABC.” Before that, “Dulcian” from “Organ ABC,” “Contrabourdon” from “Organ ABC,” and “Bellows” from “Organ ABC,” and before that was “The Advent of our God", Op. 70. So I guess Op. 70 is the latest one, complete opus, because what I’m doing with “Organ ABC” is I’m releasing separate parts so that people could play, beginners basically could play, with fingering and pedaling written in—those simple one page pieces. But later, when it’s done, I will compile them into one collection of all 26 pieces that are like a part of the Latin alphabet. But that will be later, and the opus number will be assigned, probably, at a later date. So I guess opus 70 for now is the last one, and right now I am transcribing my organ improvisation based on the “Silent Night” Christmas carol from 2016, I believe. It was improvised during the recital—Christmas recital, I think, on Christmas carols. And just recently, our friend and student John Higgins from Australia sent me an email asking if I would consider transcribing this piece, and I thought it would be a nice composition to have, because it worked for me as an improvisation, it’s a beautiful tune, and people could play it for next Christmas. So I’m working on that and basically taking audio dictation from my audio recording and notating what I hear on Sibelius notation software. It’s a slow process, therefore. I need to repeatedly listen to a small fragment over and over. A: I guess it’s much easier for you to improvise than to transcribe your improvisations. V: Definitely! You know, I have this fantasy that somehow this technology development would advance so much that I could upload an mp3 or another sort of audio file, and automagically the nice score would appear after improvisation. That would be really… A: I don’t think it will happen the near future. V: If I played a piano keyboard instrument with no acoustics, no sound distortion, that would be much simpler, but with organ and different registration, what the software hears is multiple octaves and overtones. It’s simply, for now, too difficult to process sound. But I think it could get there. It would be magic, right? You play in the church, you record, and then go back at home, upload the file, and in a few minutes you have a score, and next time, the next day, you can improvise something new and release the score an hour later. Wouldn’t it be great? A: Yes, but I’m a bit afraid of that, because we would be overloaded with your improvisations. V: With my...? A: Yes! V: Not only mine, perhaps. I always wondered why so few great French improvisers notate their improvisations. In Paris, there are quite a few people improvising, but very few of them are real composers. I suspect it’s because it’s easier for them to play than to write. But if the process was facilitated, imagine how this would benefit the organ world in creative ways. Right? A: Yes. Who would learn all that music? V: People like Arthur who would rather play somebody’s music than to learn to improvise. You see? I am always amazed when people play my music, especially at the Unda Maris studio, for example. Last time, somebody wanted to play my music, and I said why don’t you learn to improvise, too, and take my composition only as a starting point, maybe as a model, but grow from there. A: Well, I don’t think that people in Unda Maris studio have that ability to improvise yet. That’s my opinion. V: Ability to improvise, everyone has that, but just what kind of level. Right? And I don’t think they have the desire to improvise yet. That’s the most important thing. Some of them do, like my Unda Maris member Maris, but he has to learn to play from the score, too. Without the scores, it’s pointless. A: I have nothing to add to this. V: Okay guys, I guess we will end this conversation with the question for all of you. If you think that it would be helpful for the Total Organist community to have access to my organ compositions at no additional cost, please let us know, and if there is enough demand, we can really start uploading those scores into the Total Organist training material file. That would be easy, right? A: Yes. V: And for now, I have just uploaded this work to one person who asked, basically Arthur. Okay guys, this was Vidas, A: And Ausra. V: Please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen! UPDATE: Upon careful consideration I decided to offer my compositions without extra cost for Total Organist members. Not only I hope this will expand the value of the program immensely but also many more people will have the chance to enjoy my music. So when you sign in into our Basecamp communication channel for Total Organist and click on "Announcements" you will see this announcement about my music as a separate post with the coupon link for free downloads. Enjoy!
Have you ever wanted to start to practice on the organ but found yourself sidetracked after a few days? Apparently your inner motivation wasn't enough.
I know how you feel. I also was stuck many times. What helped me was to find some external motivation as well. In order for you to advance your organ playing skills and help you motivate to practice, my wife Ausra - @laputis and I invite you to join in a contest to submit your organ music and win some Steem. Are you an experienced organist? You can participate easily. Are you a beginner? No problem. This contest is open to every organ music loving Steemian. Here are the rules
Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 561 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Andrei. And he writes, Thank you very much! My organ playing is improving and has improved drastically. I'm especially thankful for your sight reading course. It's great! V: I guess this is Andrei’s answer to my question of how is his organ playing going on these days. A: Yes, I think so too. V: Very glad that sight reading course is working for him. Do you think people can learn, Ausra, from sight reading various voices and voice combinations of a collection of music, like The Art of Fugue of Johann Sebastian Bach, from which my organ sight reading master course is based on? A: Yeah, I think that’s a great course. And I think that in general, sight reading is a very useful skill that any musician must have. V: Mm hm. A: Because it’s very beneficial, especially if you are working a church, you have to produce a new music for every Sunday, then I think it’s necessary that you would be a good sight reader. V: Let me ask you this, Ausra: If you could choose, would you choose superb sight reading skills, or superb improvisational skills? A: Hm. That’s a tricky question. V: I know. A: But let me say this. I think that these two qualities that you named, they don’t contradict each other. V: They support each other A: I think they support each other. Although, I guess that people who in general improvise more probably don’t like to play from the musical score so much. I know that because of you, too, because at one point you almost gave up playing from the musical score. V: That was a few years ago. A: And I had to put quite an effort to lead you back to playing repertoire as well. V: Mm, there is some side effects in not playing from the score and only improvising, is that you will not gain knowledge of the music created before you, right? And you will not apply that knowledge in your improvisation. Basically, you will start, I don’t know, producing music which is increasingly influenced by your own imagination - or limited by your own imagination. A: I would say that it’s limited - it’s more accurate term to name it. V: But there is another side to this. Some people prefer to improvise without copying anyone, without being influenced by anyone. And that’s what I mean. A: Well, you know, simply, what is my opinion, that’s, well, how original can you be? Yes, you can be original to some degree. Because still, you know, you are using ideas that you have heard somewhere. But maybe you heard them in another organ. V: Maybe you heard them in your own key. A: That’s a possibility, but anyway, all music is made out of, what, 12 tones. V: Twelve pitches, you mean. A: Twelve pitches, yes. V: Yeah, sometimes when I improvise, I catch myself playing the same intonations, the same melodic ideas, in a different order maybe, different texture, different form, or registration, the mode. But they’re all mine, you know, part of my language. And I guess that’s normal and natural. But… A: But for example, if you are improvising, let’s say in the Dorian mode, yes? It’s still not a mode created by you. You still borrow some ideas from all around of the musical world, don’t you think so? It’s just how well you arrange them, you know. V: Yeah, yes. There is a saying that it’s best to borrow from the dead. From the people who lived long before you. Then it’s not stealing, and actually being influenced by those masters. That’s why we play early music as well. Not only to just enjoy it, but to see how it could be recreated in a new context, right? A: Yeah. And if you would look at your musical history, you could see that each new style is sort of wants to deny the previous style, but wants to take over the ideas from another style. Let’s say, let’s make this clearer. For example, if we are talking about baroque, you know, after that the classical period came who denied baroque, sort of. But we took ideas more from the Renaissance. But when the romantic period came, we sort of denied the classic. But we took ideas from the baroque time. V: What do you mean, from the baroque time? What kind of ideas? A: Well, I don’t mean that we copied the baroque ideas. V: Uh huh. A: But let’s say J.S. Bach was almost forgotten during the classical period. Nobody cares about his music so much, except maybe for Well Tempered Clavier. But then when Mendelssohn found all his great choral music, all his cantatas and passions by J.S. Bach, and it gave him new license - I believe that Mendelssohn in his choral compositions also used some of Bach’s ideas. V: Absolutely. A: So that’s what I mean. But of course, nowadays, composers take ideas from all those previous periods. V: Mm hm. Even from Middle Ages. A: And it’s all very very eclectic. V: From Middle Ages, from exotic places, from cultures that are not western-oriented. From various historical periods, of those places, you know, study of music, let’s say, of Japan, but not of 20th century, but let’s say 17th century Japan, whatever they can find out about that, of course. But if they can, they could, they would study the music of ancient Hindu rhythms and modes and apply it today. Mix them with different other influences, like bird songs, or Gregorian chant, and you get, what? A: Messiaen. V: Olivier Messiaen. It’s all very personal now. Whatever you meet in your life, it could be your influence, correct? A: Yes. V: For better or worse. A: Yes, you know my students, one of my students just last week, he asked me about academic music - composing academic music, and I asked him what kind of music that is. Do you mean professional music? He said, “Well, maybe…” Then he explained that he wants to become a composer, but he doesn’t want to compose ugly music. And I asked him what he means, ugly music. And he just said “be be be be - that’s it” -- that’s how he described ugly music. And I realized that it’s probably something very atonal and not pretty for him. So I asked, “What do you want to compose music for?” And he said, “Well, I like some music composed for the movies.” And I told him that he needs to find, to get online and to find out about places that sort of prepares you for writing such kind of music. V: Oh, you can get a master class now online, from Hans Zimmer, probably the most famous living composer of cinematic music. Besides John Williams, of course. And he teachers his own techniques online. A: Is it free? V: No, it’s not free. It’s on a platform called MasterClass.com. A: Well, I don’t think he would be able to pay now. He’s just a minor yet, so. V: Yeah. A: But I told him that there are places, let’s say in the United States where you could go and study composition that specializes in making music for the movies. And they help you to understand how different effects are created. V: Mm hm. A: Fear, love, drama. All that kind of stuff. V: Horror. A: Yes. V: Yes. So, we started this conversation in a completely different mindset, talking about a sight reading course, and finished about movie music. I guess the recurring heme is to get better and better every day, start practicing. Like your student, if he wants to do something with cinematic music, he doesn’t want to wait. Doesn’t need to wait to graduate and go to college. Maybe he can start creating himself - not necessarily for movies, but for videos that he creates, composes, right. For videos that he produces. Or something else that is available to him, not necessarily getting permission from others, but taking initiative, and doing, taking the first step. And Andrei, the same thing for you. For sight reading and playing, and improving your organ playing, I believe this: whatever you do today, you will thank for this a month later. Thank you, guys. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen.
Would you like to learn Vieux Noel in G Minor from L'Organiste by Cesar Franck?
I hope you'll enjoy playing this piece yourself from my PDF score which will save you many hours of work and help you practice efficiently. Thanks to Jan Pennell for her meticulous transcription from the slow motion video. What will you get? PDF score with complete fingering written in. Basic Level. 1 page. Let me know how your practice goes. This score is free for Total Organist students. Check it out here
Would you like to learn Allegretto vivo in G Minor from L'Organiste by Cesar Franck?
I hope you'll enjoy playing this piece yourself from my PDF score which will save you many hours of work and help you practice efficiently. Thanks to Diana Danilova for her meticulous transcription from the slow motion video. What will you get? PDF score with complete fingering written in. Basic Level. 2 pages. Let me know how your practice goes. This score is free for Total Organist students. Check it out here
Vidas: Hi, guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra V: Let’s start episode 560, of Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Maureen. And she writes: Hello Vidas and Ausra, I think now that I have received a few items of fingered music from you, I would love to be back on the organ bench playing confidently and also with feeling for the music; to be accurate and musical. I had dreamed of playing the Widor Toccata. It is not easy to access a church organ in my area. Maureen V: So I think Maureen is writing about her dreams and the obstacles in achieving those dreams. So the first one would concern about the thing of getting back, getting back on the organ bench, basically, and playing confidently. What would be some advice about this, Ausra? A: Just go back and play, practice. V: I think before playing confidently, she has to play without confidence first, for a while. A: I think confidence will come with time. You need to practice on a regular basis. V: And perform in public. A: Yes. V: Without that, your practice is kind of limited, without real life applications basically, only for yourself. When you practice only for yourself you don’t know how well you’re really playing. A: Yes, and she also talks about feeling for the music. I think that some can feel music better, some don’t. And I think to get the feeling for the music you need to listen to other performance, and not necessarily organist. In general, you need to listen to music performed. V: To get an intuition, right? A: Yes. V: To get musical taste. A: Yes. Because for some people that comes more natural. For some it’s harder. I think it’s probably depends on the qualities that you receive during the birth probably. It’s all genetic. V: The good thing about listening to music is that you can do all kinds of activities and simply listen in your ear with earphones while streaming music for example today. Or from CD recordings in your house, and really do something else with your time, which still would count as listening... A: Yes. V: and studying. A: Because I guess there are sort of two ways; either you know you are very good at the music theory and you understand how the music is composed, how it’s put together, the other cadences and all that form thing, and then you do all this with your mind. You sort of build up the piece and you register it and perform it accordingly, your mind, or you are very good, you have very good musical intuition, and you can do the same things even without thinking about them. V: Then of course you would have a very hard time explaining this to other people. A: Yes. I think, if you want to be a good teacher, yes, then you would have not only have a good intuition but to know exactly how the things work and what you can by you think that the things must be played in such a way and not another way. V: Yes, and no. Depending on what kind of student you have. A: Yes. If you will have a student of good musical intuition then you wouldn’t have to work hard on those things. V: For such a student you would only need to be an example, right, like a role model. And they would take it from there themselves. They’re learning by doing and basically by looking up to you. But not necessarily looking from you for the directions, what to do, what steps to take. But other students want you to take them by the hand, hold them all the way up and to take them through the various obstacles and uh, challenges. Then you really need to be a good motivator as well as explain things very clearly. A: I guess that it depends on what age group we are talking and what kind of personalities we are talking. Because I think that for kids, for example, at an early age, it’s easier to imitate what you are doing. You just play how it should be played and they try to repeat what you have just done. Because I think for them, might be too hard to understand all this language thing, explaining about how piece must be played. I think it works better with adults. V: Mmmmm, yeah. And not all of adults also progress to the levels where they are willing or able to practice independently. A: Yeah, that’s true. V: Some people really need a coach, like athletes. A: Yeah, I guess so. V: Without a coach, athletes wouldn’t reach high results. So now Maureen wants to be accurate and musical. So musical, we talked about that. A: Yes. Yes, we talked about it. V: Accuracy comes with experience and really from failing a lot, I think. You have to first make many mistakes before you can play with accuracy. A: Well, I think that accuracy comes with slow practice. That’s what I think—the slow practice, diligent, slow practice, comes the accuracy. Because if you will play fast and sloppy I don’t think you will gain accuracy. Even if you will play that for hundred times. V: I didn’t mean that, of course. You’re right. And she wants to play Widor Toccata, and we have a score with fingering and pedaling provided for her. And I hope this is useful for her, fingering and pedaling. A: Yes, and she cannot easy access a church organ, as she writes. But if she can access piano, for example, then I think that she can practice quite a lot on the piano, when talking Widor’s Toccata. V: Definitely. A: And when talking about any piece of French music. V: Definitely. I think most of the work can be done on the piano with such a music, and even if you play the pedals on the floor, imitating the spots where you have to press them for specific notes, this will greatly improve your progress when you will have access to real organ. A: True. And I believe if you can play this piece on the piano with imitating pedal part and if you can also sing a pedal part, that would be very useful too. Then I think you will have no trouble preforming it on a real organ. V: Yeah. For men it means that they can sing mostly in their range. For women mostly, it means they have to sing octave higher. A: Yeah, I explained that to my students all the time. Because we always have these questions, for example, a girl asked me, ‘how do I sing in this low register?’ I’m telling you don’t have to sing in it. V: Mmm-hmm. A: What do you expect of all the boys after mutation? To sing what, in the second octave, when the music is written like that? V: Right. They have to figure it out. A: Yes. V: Thank you guys. We hope this useful to you. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice… A: Miracles happen!
Ausra and I will spend this weekend in Sweden. If you are in the area, come to our organ duet recital at Olaus Petri church in Örebro on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 6 pm. In the program, works of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, K.Vasiliauskaite, V.Pinkevicius and other composers for four hands and feet. Thanks to Mats Bertilsson for organising it!
By the way, the choir Olaus Petri Cantores that Mats directs at his church will come to sing in May at our church as well. He asked for one Lithuanian song to learn that everyone would know. We couldn't find a better song than "Kur giria žaliuoja" (Where the Forrest is Greening - music by Juozas Gudavičius). At one point it could have become Lithuanian National Anthem. Nowadays it's always sung at our massive song festivals. Everyone is wiping a tear or two when singing it. We hope to livestream our Örebro recital so if everything goes well, you will get to see the recording too.
Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 557 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Monty. And he writes, Vidas, I'm slowly going through the Orgelbuchlein. Because of a very late start, my playing resembles one of your slow-motion videos, but nevertheless I greatly enjoy it. A wonderful thing about music is that there is something great for everyone. One thing I especially appreciate is that you mention things, and dozens of times they've turned out to be very useful. For example, I use the Wayne Leupold Orgelbuchlein edited and fingered by your old teacherQuentin Faulkner. It is a treasure. Had you not mentioned Faulkner I probably never would have been introduced to his books. Another example. A while back you mentioned that you were going to interview Frank Mento. I didn't know anything about him but I went right to Amazon and picked up his two new consolidated volumes. While my Hauptwerk organ has a harpsichord sample set (without of course realistic touch), so far the pieces work for organ. This is a beautiful progressive series, thoughtfully created by someone with an obvious dedication to education. As mentioned near the beginning of the podcast that I just started, it required a huge amount of work to produce. The books contain hundreds of nice period pieces. Advanced organists who already play well and understand early fingering might find the series to be too elementary, but I'm getting a lot out of it. In particular, there is a strong focus on shifting hand positions. Maybe to give one more example, someone was once having trouble with Bach and it might have been Ausra who suggested that maybe they should try Pachelbel because his works were more approachable. So I picked up the Belotti edition from Wayne Leupold and, sure enough, it was full of very nice fugues that can be played by ordinary people. The year is almost at an end and I'll wish you and Ausra a very Happy New Year. ~Monty V: First of all, Ausra, where is the question? A: It seems like it’s more like appreciation, and it’s very nice and very thoughtfully written, and we truly appreciate it. It’s very nice to receive a feedback from our listeners and our readers. V: That’s right. I read it through and was looking for something to click, but I didn’t notice any specific concern that Monty is having, other than his wish to thank us. A: Yes. And it’s very nice that he mentions Quentin Faulkner, who was our professor at UNL, and it’s really nice, it’s a remarkable person - he worked in both directions, as an educator, and also as, I could call him a philosopher even. If you would read his book, “Wiser than Despair,” you would know what I mean. V: Mm hm. A: Because his ideas about how human mentality developed during the centuries, it’s really interesting. V: Yeah, it’s a book about evolution of the ideas around music and the church. Specifically, not about church music itself, but ideas around music and the church. I heard he is almost done with his new publication. What it’s about? Registration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s work maybe? Organ works? A: Yes, and do you know if Wayne Leupold is going to publish it or not? V: Not sure, but it’s possible. A: It’s possibility, because they have collaborated a lot during the lifetime. And in general, Wayne Leupold name was mentioned a few times in this letter, and I think it’s worth mentioning, because he’s really one of the most outstanding editors in the organ field. V: And I was lucky to interview him for the podcast, too. A: Yes. V: I remember holding the laptop on my knees and sitting in our former summer cabin. A: Yes. And he’s remarkably good with all the commercial stuff. I think if more musicians would have his skills, we would all be much more rich, richer. Wealthier. V: He’s good, you mean, with selling his music. A: Yes, yes. Remember how his demonstrations would go? Talking about his music when he publishes. V: He has a good quality of a salesman, too. A: Sure. V: Which could only be admired. And taken as an example for some of the musicians who are maybe either shy, or for some other reason, don’t bother marketing their music. A: Yes. And actually, it’s sort of a joke, but he reminded me a little bit about that turtle from the Ice Age… V: Oh - who could sell anything! A: Yes, yes! And it’s sort of, really good at what he is doing. But you know, I am talking this because of admiration. Because what he’s selling, he’s selling the good stuff. We have tried it many many times ourselves. So we can really advocate for it. V: Yeah. First of all, you have to be good at what you do, and don’t sell crap. I mean, there are organists online who advertise themselves basically shamelessly. Much more than a real good organist do. But their music is, well, let’s say below average. Right, Ausra? A: Yeah. V: Have you seen them? And I think they spend more time marketing themselves than playing organ. And in their particular situation, I would reverse, reverse the efforts and practice more and market less. A: Sure. V: And for some other organists, maybe do the opposite: market more and practice less. A: (laughs) V: But that’s, of course, very, very personal. What else can we say - Frank Mento, right -you haven’t met him when we visited Paris. No? But I talked with him for three times, I think, on the podcast, about his harpsichord method, and highly recommend it. I’m glad that someone like Frank started doing it for the harpsichord, because there wasn’t anything available online. And his age, I mean, he’s a senior, and already retired, and to do this online work is not easy for seniors. And he of course has good health, collaborates with probably someone with more technical knowledge. And that’s very good advice. If you’re not equipped technically, find someone who is. A: But I guess now, age is not an obstacle. More and more elderly people discover the internet, and even I have heard that teenagers are leaving Facebook because their grandmas actually are sort of taking over Facebook. V: Have you met grandmas who sell harpsichord methods yet? A: No, but… V: That’s what I mean. They usually are users of the platform, but not creators. That’s a little different level. And from time to time, one or two people also reach that level. But it’s rare. A: Yeah, it’s rare, but I think it will become more often the case. V: I mean, it’s not rare if you did this your entire life, and you gradually discovered the internet, and share your work there. Because you’ve been sharing it offline all your life - it’s not that big of a difference. But if you haven’t done this before, to switch the mindset that you can be a creator online at this age, this is truly rare, I think. A: Yes. But I think it will become more and more popular. Don’t you think so? V: Absolutely. There is no other way. Because if there are...it’s just statistics. The more users there are, the more creators, too. A: Because now the new generation will grow up, who were born with smartphones and the internet. And they had it together with mother’s milk, so to say. So they don’t have to learn it in middle of age, as we did, for example. V: Yeah. A: Or as elderly, as there are some people now. So it will be natural to publish your work online, and to share your work online. V: The different thing with us is that we went to the United States, right, early enough. And we picked up new ideas from there. And when we got back, we could talk similar language with the teenagers, because those new ideas were just getting transferred to Lithuania. But not necessarily picked up by the people of our age, but only by the people of earlier generation, right? A: Yeah. V: Okay. And of course, Monty likes Pachelbel, and we highly recommend Pachelbel as well. A: Yes, he’s an excellent composer. I have done many of his pieces in church. V: I haven’t… A: For liturgical purposes. V: I haven’t played Pachelbel for awhile now. Maybe I should prepare some slow motion videos and give our team to transcribe for fingering. A: Yes, I think that’s a good idea. It’s very useful for church musicians. V: Yes, and easier than Johann Sebastian Bach. Like a preparation for Bach. A: True. V: Good. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Monty, for your thoughtful message. We really appreciate it. And please keep sending us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. SOPP556: Could you suggest a piece of music for organ which could be shared with a violin player?2/4/2020
Vidas: Hi, guys, this is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra V: Let’s start episode 556, of Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Maureen. And she writes: Dear Vidas, My brain won’t work!… Could you suggest a piece of music for organ which could be shared with a violin player. Fr. Benedict wants to play his violin at a Gaudy night which is usually on Epiphany Sunday. I’m not sure of his level of playing. I would take a guess and place him around grade 6 of Royal Schools of Music. He could be much higher but a monk who has a lot of responsibilities and little leisure time. Thank you so much; I do appreciate your help. Maureen V: Have you ever played with a violin player before? A: Yes, I did. V: What did you play, Ausra? A: One of the Bach sonatas. V: That’s right. You played the keyboard part. A: Of course! I cannot play violin. V: Oh, right. A: But my violinist I think couldn’t play violin too, so it was really a bad choice of I dread. And after that semester, my teacher told me, maybe you will find yourself another soloist. V: (Laughs). Funny. Do you think this piece might qualify as a grade six piece? A: Well, maybe… V: Slow movement. A: Yes, that’s what I thought. Maybe just pick up a slow movement and then it will be just fine, because fast movements might be too difficult for the third grader. V: Basically it has probably maybe three movements… A: Mmm. V: Fast, slow, fast, and you can pick the middle one. And there are several violin sonatas. A: Sure. At least six that I know, but there might be more. V: And you can pick; the good thing is that this piece doesn’t require pedals of course. It’s a keyboard piece. Could be played on the piano, on the harpsichord, on any keyboard instrument including organ. A: That’s right. V: With the violinist. Um, I have played before with a Swedish violinIst—Magnus Wasenius. But that was many years ago. We shared a concert in Gothenburg. And he had four or five pieces from Swedish composers, Romantic and Twentieth Century composers that they needed to learn before coming there. A: How did you like them? V: I liked it. Swedish music is, kind of, was kind of unfamiliar to me at the time and I liked this Nordic atmosphere. He expressed an interest to play with me again in the future so, not long ago, so maybe we’ll have another chance. Um, yes, so, but I was thinking maybe something closer to home could work also. Not everybody can access Nordic music, you know. A: Yes, I guess so. V: Something more classic. Um, what about some hymn arrangements? A: That could be done, of course. V: Or choral arrangements by Johann Ludwig Krebs. They are written for the organ and oboe, or for the organ and trumpet, could be. But Father Benedict could play the choral tune and the organist could play the three lower parts—it’s like a trio texture then. A: That’s a possibility. Also I guess that most of the footwork also work for violin. V: Right. So Bach’s fugues, sonatas also work in this case. I’ve played them all and they are as beautiful as violin pieces. A: Actually Carl Philip Emanuel Bach also wrote some sonatas for organ and solo instrument. V: Very nice. So that’s, that are some of the ideas which could help Maureen, and others who want to collaborate on the organ with a solo instrument. Doesn’t matter if it’s a wind or string instrument, the repertoire could overlap. A: That’s right. V: But sometimes not. Sometimes they’re very instrument specific directions. For example, for example, Petr Eben modern Czech composer wrote, for example, a piece Landscapes of Patmos, for organ and percussion. It’s for percussion. You cannot play with melodic instrument. Right? A: But I guess even many arias for the soloist, let’s say soprano arias, would work for organ and violin too. V: Oh, that’s right. For example from cantatas, Bach cantatas. We are playing some of the duets in our repertoire too—recently played the Christmas recital, Christmas with Bach, and those are pieces from Christmas oratorio, and now preparing for Easter oratorio arrangement. And what do you think about some of our duets? Would they work for organ and, let’s say, violin? A: Yes I think it would work pretty well. Maybe you, if because you know that you will be playing on Epiphany, maybe you need to find some of the Bach’s music that related to Epiphany. V: Like "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern"? A: Yes. V: Cantata. Right. Okay guys. We hope you can try those ideas yourself. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Please send us more questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice… A: Miracles happen! |
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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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