Recently quite a few people were starting to ask questions about our new Hauptwerk setup so I just wrote a long post about it. You can read it here.
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Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 577 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Steven, and he writes: “Hi Vidas, Not long ago Vidas it was my job to serve at the organ to lead a congregation of mostly untrained singers in a meeting outside a worship service with the singing of a closing song with which most of them were unfamiliar. The tune was St. Clement, a traditional hymn not especially easy for a trained voice to sing that's better known to members of the Anglican faith and perhaps a Methodist or two in the audience but completely unfamiliar to everyone else. This number does not appear in any of the newer hymnals -- I have only found it included in a couple of very old editions of hymn books which have been out of print for a very long time. People singing this tune on YouTube videos are doing so at a tempo Moderato about half the time and the other half of the time they sing at something close to an Adagio. Three stanzas of this closing song were to be sung, the words were provided to the audience, and I began with a short introduction and took the first stanza at an Andante (slow walk tempo) thinking that this pace would keep everyone together and the organ would lead. I was wrong. Instead of the organ leading them, the Anglicans in the audience who were used to hearing it sung at a still slower tempo ignored the organ and sang it at the tempo they remember from their worship services -- some of them even lagged behind a few others. The result was that they all trailed behind the organ through the whole first stanza and were late to the finish line at the point where the organ paused between stanzas. They were still trudging through the words of the first stanza at that point, and, as I began the second stanza to avoid the awkward silence a senior officer stopped the whole thing and a member of the audience was then asked to conduct the congregation (and the organ) beginning at the top with the slow tempo, through all three stanzas, with everyone including me brought back to the starting line and subject to the baton. We managed to get through it this way, but not without considerable embarrassment. Up until then I used to believe that "not every day is a good one for the organist" was an observation that tended to fade into oblivion with the onset of crow's feet, gray hair, more pill bottles, and the use of a cane. I was wrong about that, too ! Even though I was well prepared and the instrument gave sufficient support for the singing, I never anticipated that the singers would drag through it with such perfunctory indifference to the tempo set by the organ. This wasn't the typical dragging that an organist can encounter in a singing congregation from time to time -- it was a complete mismatch in tempo from the get-go. When any congregation sings, the organ MUST lead, but this time that didn't seem to matter.. Afterwards, since the same closing song is prescribed for the organization's regular meetings, I was asked to chair a committee to come up with a solution to keep this kind of calamity from happening again, even to the point of recommending a different song be prescribed, if need be. My feeling is, the problem isn't with the song although it isn't particularly easy to sing, and I really don't think it needs to be changed. It's a beautiful song -- the singers just need to get in sync with the organ and stay that way, pay attention to the tempo taken by the organ, and not go their merry way with blinders on their ears. The fact that so many of the singers in the audience preferred such a slow tempo was only learned by this organist, sad to say, after everything crash landed and not before. The organist wasn't fired over it, the situation wasn't that dire, nobody lost their life over it, no blood was drawn, but it occurred to me that the question of how to best move forward from here would benefit other organists as well as myself. Any suggestions you or Ausra may have from your personal experiences or circle of acquaintances that could be shared with your subscribers, including myself, about possible steps to take would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, as always, Steve” V: So, that’s a very colorful question, very extended description. I hope Steven wrote a blog post out of it. A: It’s very entertaining. I kept laughing inside of me while you kept reading it, because actually, we have talked about rehearsing the congregation before the service if you know that hymns are unfamiliar or putting your choir member downstairs, mixing them among the congregation members so that they could lead the congregational singing, but obviously there are sometimes ways when you just have to adjust to your congregation and you have to adapt. Because if a minister has to stop service and to start that hymn over again, that’s not a good sign. It shouldn’t be like this. And, in some cases, I think what you can do is actually just to adapt to them or just to quit the church. It reminded me about that situation that we had many years ago in Lithuania when we were just organ students for the Academy of Music and Vidas and I were sharing one position of organist in a small church in the center of Vilnius, and basically old ladies were so unhappy about how we played organ, and it was a problem of us playing hymns too fast for them. And since I played a little bit slower, they preferred me over Vidas, and I remember one little old lady chasing Vidas for maybe one kilometer behind after a service until she finally caught him and started to teach him how to play, that he needs to take a slow tempo because elderly people are in the congregation, and so on and so forth. But basically, right at that moment I understood that it’s basically a good time to quit. We didn’t at that moment, but actually we were both fired without any explanations maybe a few months later. So I guess sometimes these things are simply hopeless. V: That’s right, Ausra. I guess another solution would be to sing more new hymns that people don’t know, and they don’t have any prejudice. A: Yes, that way, you know, they could listen more to what the organ is doing. V: But this situation shows that this congregation is not willing to adapt. It’s simply the fact of life. Right? And I wonder if they sing loudly enough or actively. I presume that they are sort of lethargically sleeping with their eyes open and moving through the motions, not actively participating in the service. A: Well, I’m not sure about that, but anyway, you could either play the Organo Pleno and try to ignore what is happening downstairs, or you could maybe have your own microphone and sing like solo very loudly above them all. But basically, I think in these cases like this, it’s useless to fight. V: Yes, because one or two or five people will start complaining, and those people, maybe they are in a minority, they will be a loud minority! A: And you know, like in our old story, I think what happened is that old lady and her friends started complaining to the priest day after day after day after day, and he didn’t have another solution, only to get rid of us. V: It was easier for him to get rid of us than to get rid of those ladies! A: But what I found out later, is that actually instead of us, her son started to play the organ in that church! V: The old lady’s son? A: Yes, so that was a corruption, a little bit… so…. V: Ah, maybe she had some plans! A: Yes! V: Evil plans! A: She definitely did, because these sort of pretenders to be very faithful in the Catholic churches that are there day and night, they are not doing really good things to their church, although they think they are the most holy and they know the things right, and… V: Aren’t you glad that we are no longer working in this church? A: Yes, I am. I really am! V: So, you always have to choose sometimes the less obvious way. And do what feels right for your heart. Yes? A: That’s right. V: Thank you guys, we hope this was useful to you. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen! Thank you everyone for participating! You all made us very happy with your entries. We have all selected the following winners. You can congratulate them here.
Would you like to master Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott, BuxWV 199 by D. Buxtehude? I've created this practice score with complete fingering and pedaling so that our students could master this chorale prelude efficiently, saving many hours of frustration and achieving ideal articulation - articulate legato. Thanks to Diana Danilova for her meticulous transcription from slow motion video. Basic level. PDF score. 3 pages. This score is free for Total Organist students. Check it out here I have had my Secrets of Organ Playing channel on YouTube since July 2009 but started monetising it only since April 2015 with ads. Earlier the conditions to be admitted into YouTube Partner program were lower but recently the rules have changed and now one has to reach valid 4000 watch hours in the last 12 months and 1000 subscribers and have a linked AdSense account, among other requirements. YouTube transfers money earned into your bank account when it reaches a certain amount, for me - 70 EUR. I passed the requirements in April 2015 and slowly began growing my channel views and revenue. The general rule is more views = more revenue (but not always): Since for a long time my average revenue from YouTube has been only between $10-15 USD per month, I wouldn't put much thought into it. With this much revenue I would only get transfers every 5-6 months. Now I'm a rather heavy youtuber, daily uploading videos and sharing them with my subscribers. But I wasn't always like that. For years my upload frequency was sporadic - sometimes just a few videos, sometimes - more than a few dozen. Only since January 2020 I began to take it more seriously and upload daily or almost daily. Naturally, with this dedication and effort, since January my YouTube views were starting to grow along with the revenue too. So the revenues for March 2020 were $18.16, up from February's $16.85 and up from January's $15.28. When COVID-19 global pandemic hit, I thought that my YouTube revenues will start to shrink. Luckily, since my views kept growing, my revenue didn't decline as of yet. To be more specific, in March my videos received 12477 views which brought me estimated $18.61 revenue. If you want to compare it to February - it's 9169 views and $16.85. So if we divide 18.61 by 12477 , then one view in March for me was worth $0.00149 and in February - $0.00183 which is 19% drop. I presume this is due to global COVID-19 pandemics because business are starting to reduce the advertising expenses across the globe. It will be interesting to compare metrics to April revenues and see if this trend continues. I presume it will until the virus is contained. The revenue is estimated because the final amount they transfer to my bank account may fluctuate somewhat. As you can see in the chart bellow 98.5% of revenue come from ads and only 1.5% - from YouTube Premium (I don't know what exactly YouTube Premium means for my videos). During the month of March my videos have brought me 53 subscribers. From the chart bellow you can see that my most popular videos in March were all old videos, most of them in Lithuanian, with the exception of two - Gaudeamus igitur (student's anthem), 523 views, $0.40 revenue and How to Play C Major Scale with Pedals, 341 views, $0.65 revenue. All videos together were watched 388.6 hours total.
In March I started uploading Hauptwerk videos, at first only with audio but later in April, when my Hauptwerk setup was upgraded with the total of 3 manuals and pedals, I started adding videos too so you won't see them in this report yet. The most viewed video uploaded in March is St Anne's Fantasy, Op. 72 (No. 7) which I improvised on day 1 I started trying out Hauptwerk and later transcribed into a score. It was viewed 229 times and brought $0.41 revenue in March. Another recent video that made into top 10 of March was Gavotte in C Major by J.K. Krebs (No. 10). It was viewed 190 times and earned $0.32. In March Ausra also decided to renew the efforts of developing her YouTube channel and eventually reach 1000 subscribers and be eligible for YouTube Partner program. Currently she has 237 subscribers has been earning them at a rate of about 1 subscriber every 2 days, sometimes more frequently. In March her videos were watched 3019 times, total of 43.4 watch hours which brought her 21 subscribers. You can see in the above chart that she has been publishing a lot of videos lately, this is due to melodic dictations she was playing for her students at school due in distance education conditions. Also in March she started to record Clavierubung I by J.L. Krebs Her most popular videos in March were: 1. Praeludium No. 2 in G (Dorian) by Franz Tunder (126 views) 2. How to Harmonize Hymn Tune "Rhosymedre" ("Glory Be to Jesus") (117 views) 3. Praeambulum supra Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr by Johann Ludwig Krebs (104 views) 5. Fuga a 3 in E Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven (86 views) So to summarise this report in March my YouTube revenue was still growing regardless of COVID-19 global pandemic due to increased number of videos I upload and increased views, even though it took more views to earn the same amount as before. Ausra's channel also continued to grow because of renewed interest in her organ videos. If you like what I do with this channel and what Ausra does with hers and would like us to keep going, we invite you to subscribe, like and share your favourite videos with your friends who might enjoy them too. Oh, and by the way, while you listen or watch our videos, leave us a comment or two. It's always nice to see that people appreciate what we do: If you like our music making, you can support us on Patreon and get free organ CD's at https://patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
The first thing I did today as I sat down on the organ bench was to improvise on the Gregorian chant sequence "Victimae paschali laudes". It was like a good warm-up before my Krebs recording session. This improvisation is quite vigorous and fast moving. I wanted to express the joy of Easter through various modes and colours. The opening motive unifies the piece and helps to keep the unity within variety. Several times I jumped to the second manual to create contrasting section without the pedals. Let me know what you think! When I started to record this piece, I heard Ausra's parents call and ask for us to open the gate. I was a bit worried if I will be able to record it in time, knowing how these things go. Luckily the recording went way better than expected, probably because I had to extra focus under pressure. So anyway, hope you will enjoy this Trompet stop! Only one last movement to go and then I can start recording Kauffmann on Sunday! Today's improvisation is based on the Gregorian chant Introit for Easter Sunday, "Resurrexi". It's written in the 4th church mode which has E as the final tone. In my improvisation the chant played in octaves, alternates with major and minor chords. The registration is full Hauptwerk division with mixtures and Trompet 8'. To reinforce the pedals, I use Posaune 16' and Trompet 8'. Sonus Paradisi Velesovo Hauptwerk sample set sounds very powerful here. In the entire Clavierubung III by Johann Ludwig Krebs I haven't come across a piece that I had to record so many times in order to get it right, like this one, the first movement from Sonatina Sesta by Krebs. In fact, I even lost count of takes. When I looked the sound file from Hauptwerk, I counted 28, yes TWENTY EIGHT takes (including small fragments which I needed to repeat). I left the camera to film for the entire time I was on the organ bench so the whole process took me over 21 minutes. Ausra had made some delicious tea and said quietly that it's ready when I am. And I knew that with every mistake I made I got closer to the goal. And the end result was worth it. What do you think? Yesterday in the morning I finished recording Sonatina Quinta (Allegretto) by Johann Ludwig Krebs: It’s like a minuet but in 6/4 meter. Usually we see minuets in simple 3/4 or 3/2 meter where there is only one strong beat per measure (1). Oh yes, Kirnberger teaches that 3/4 meter can have 2 strong beats per measure - 1 and 3. So anyway, but with 6/4 meter it’s different. It’s a compound meter and there are 2 strong beats - 1 and 3. So it was interesting to see how this piece is constructed and think if anything would change if the meter was 3/4 instead 6/4. I guess, it’s just for composer’s preference.
It wasn’t very easy to record - took me 7 takes to get it up to the level I was satisfied with without editing the recording. The most difficult part wasn’t actually jumps from one manual to the other for echos but it was concentrating long enough and not letting my fingers slip on any sharp (there are 4 next to the clef - it’s written in E major). I didn’t stop the recording going after each unsuccessful attempt and kept playing. With each new take I felt more relaxed and with the final take which I kept for this video, I was able to add a number of improvised diminutions which was nice. In the afternoon I practiced a few times Praeludium and Fugue in C Major, BWV 566a by J.S. Bach on 8’ principals of Velesovo sample set by Sonus Paradisi. I tried to get the page turns right with my Bluetooth iRig device which I use to turn the pages with my foot when I’m playing from an iPad. Those Principals on Hauptwerk and Oberwerk sound so beautiful that I could actually play on them alone for hours and not be bored. Today I will start recording the last sonatina - Sonatina Sesta and hopefully by Monday or Sunday (if you support me on Patreon) you will hear me playing some chorale preludes by Kauffmann from his beautiful collection “Harmonische Seelenlust” (1733). Kauffmann was contemporary of J.S. Bach. In fact, as I’m writing these lines early in the morning, I’m listening through the headphones how my friend Auke Jongbloed plays them on YouTube. If you like early organ music, you can find many unknown gems in his YouTube channel “Partitura Organum” along with the links to the scores: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx2iiqZuzri08lwGU4zbaBA If any of our subscribers are thinking about studying from our Total Organist program, I'd like to share that for one week you can get access to it with 50% discount. Check it out here. Of course, all our practice scores and training programs in Secrets of Organ Playing Store have the same discount too. Yesterday I recorded the middle movement of Sonatina Quinta by Krebs. I have played this piece with Gedackt 8', Vox humana 8' and Tremulant stops using Velesovo sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO: The most difficult part for me was to play it expressively and with emotion while feeling modulations to different keys. This particular registration allowed me to lean on cadences and emphasise feelings of different tonalities.
After I was done I also played through the first of the chorale preludes by Kaufmann from his "Harmonische Seelenlust" collection. I'm so looking forward to the time I can start recording these little gems. I hope this will happen by the end of this week when I'm done with Clavierubung III by Krebs. Yesterday our Australian friend James Flores suggested Aušra and I record manual parts of Eb major trio sonata by Bach and he would record the pedal part and edit the video so that all of us would be visible on the screen. We thought it was an interesting idea and after breakfast practiced and recorded our parts. Aušra started first with the right hand. It would have been easier to start with the left because the right starts after a couple of measures of rests and she had to count them. When I sat down to record, I had a hard time starting on time. Nevertheless, after a few practice runs I succeeded. After this I uploaded both of our videos to the laptop from the camera, synced with the native Hauptwerk sound file and sent them to James. As I’m writing this, he is uploading the final version with all three of us playing to YouTube. I think I will share the video with you here: I then practiced and recorded the opening movement of Sonatina Quinta by Krebs. It’s a curious piece in E major in 3/4 meter. Even though it’s short and not really fast, it took me quite a few tries to make it until the end without mistakes. I hope to finish recording Clavierubung III by Krebs this week and start recording Harmonische Seelenlust by Kauffmann, a fabulous collection of chorale preludes which have original registration indications from Bach’s time.
Then Aušra and I practiced BWV 572 and BWV 566a that we were supposed to perform this Saturday at St Johns’ church. No recitals until the quarantine is over. It was the first time I tried to play some piece with pedals not in a duet. I like Viscount MIDI pedalboard a lot. It’s quite elegant and practical. We made a recording and listened to our practice runs later. I have to admit that listening to Hauptwerk is more fun than playing it on our keyboards. After lunch we went for a walk. The weather was quite chilly and windy but we saw a pair of swans near the shore in the river which was nice. |
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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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