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Imagine a situation where you find a really nice organ composition that you like. You know how it sounds because you have listened to recordings or watched the videos of other organists performing it so now you want to learn this piece for yourself.
And so you start practicing it, you apply the same technique, the same practice procedures that you're used to in learning other pieces. However, you suddenly discover that technical demands of this piece are much more higher than you can currently achieve. So what do you do in this situation? You can switch to another organ piece which is easier for you or you can follow through and overcome these technical limitations and challenges and perfect the piece to the level when you will be ready for public performance. The best way to follow through in a difficult organ piece is to subdivide it into manageable units. You see, if the piece is long and difficult when you first start playing it from the beginning until the end, you will be making many mistakes in each line. Virtually every measure will have some mistakes in notes, rhythms, articulation and so on. But if you subdivide your difficult piece into fragments of about four measures long, then you can correct your mistakes on a higher degree. This means that whenever you make a mistake, you can go back right away to the beginning of the fragment and fix it. It is best to choose a practice tempo in which you can avoid making mistakes which means playing at about 50% slower the concert tempo. If you want to follow through in a difficult piece then you can also play these fragments in separate voices. You see, even though the fragment is short enough, you still may be making at least several mistakes, if you play all the parts and all the voices together right from the start. Instead, you should work on practicing solo melodic lines and separate voices. Do this very slowly so in each repetition you will be playing without any errors. This technique works wonders, if you play each step and each combination at least three times in a row fluently (more if you want to be really good). So do this in your challenging organ piece - slowly practice in fragments and solo parts and part combinations and you will discover how possible it is to overcome the challenges, follow through and perfect a difficult organ piece. Would you like to learn to play organ chorale fantasy "Komm Heiliger Geist, BWV 651 by Bach? If so, you will need to know the exact steps which will help you master this fantastic composition. In this article, I will share with you my recommendations on how to learn to play this piece and be ready for public performance.
Step 1 - Analyze the piece. In this step you will have to analyze the key, the texture, compositional techniques used and tonal plan of the piece. This will help you to understand how the piece is put together. Step 2 - Write in fingering. Writing in fingering will help you to know exactly which fingers to use. This will definitely prevent many mistakes which would occur, if you play with accidental fingerings. Step 3 - Write in pedaling. In this step, you will need to know the rules of Baroque pedaling techniques. Early pedaling for Baroque pieces is different from the Romantic and modern pedaling techniques. Step 4 - Ornaments. This step is very crucial if you want to play this piece in the Baroque style. Step 5 - Articulation. Even more than the previous step, correct articulation will make your playing sound stylistically appropriate. Note that Baroque music generally is not played legato. Step 6 - Tempo. With this step you have to understand the correct ideal tempo for performance of this piece and for practicing this composition. You have to also take into consideration the acoustics of the room which will determine the exact tempo for performance. Step 7 - Registration. In this step, you will need to know which stops to use both for practicing this piece and which kind of stop combinations to use for concert performance or church service. The registration will be different on various types of organ - large or small. Step 8 - Practice the piece. In this step, you will actually start practicing this composition. You will have to figure out the way to practice efficiently and effectively. This will allow you to learn this piece and be ready for public performance in the shortest amount of time possible. Step 9 - Memorization. Memorizing this piece is optional and you don't need to perform this piece in public from memory. However, I strongly recommend for you to memorize it because this will help you truly perfect this fantastic composition and advance to a whole new level of mastery even if you choose to play it from the score. Apply my tips in your practice and this will help you to master organ chorale fantasy "Komm Heiliger Geist", BWV 651 by Bach. I am sure you will have much fun perfecting the piece. This will definitely help you to advance in organ playing. By the way, do you want to learn to play organ music of Bach? If so, check out my Bach Organ Mastery (Level 1) course. Are you in a situation, where you have to prepare for organ recital but the date is approaching really fast? You probably are feeling very stressed out about that. If so, here is what I recommend you do.
The worst thing you can do right now is to panic. By panic I mean you might be tempted to play you pieces really fast at the concert speed all the time, thinking that this approach will help you do more repetitions and consequently will let you to prepare for the recital better. This is not a very good strategy. Instead of forcing yourself and playing the pieces too fast too soon, I recommend you take a deep breath and learn to relax. Relax your body but focus your mind. Don't think about the difficult places in your program, don't think about what the audience might think of you etc. Instead focus your mind on doing one little step correctly and you will succeed. It is best to go over your program pieces in a really slow tempo. This will help you relax and understand that you can do it on time. Success in a slow tempo will lead to success in a faster tempo. Increase the tempo very slowly, only when you feel that the slower tempo is too easy. Also you can try to work in separate voices and combinations of two and three voices. This will also let you to experience success. Once you feel that you can perform a single line correctly at least 3 times in a row, add one more voice. This is a little bit more difficult. So take it slowly at the beginning and slowly increase the speed as you get better. So little by little you will start to feel more confident and secure. Instead of stressing out about the due date and many pieces that still need your attention, you are doing the exact opposite - you are enjoying the process and relaxing. Try this approach for yourself, if you feel that the due date is approaching really fast. You will discover how much faster you can progress by slowing down and working in separate voices and voice combinations. I know, it feels counter-intuitive but it works. Lack of focus while playing the organ can lead to many mistakes. If you are distracted and constantly think of a variety of things during the performance, you may be feeling quite insecure. However, there is a simple trick which will force you to focus your mind while practicing or performing your organ music.
One of my favorite techniques which help increase my focus is playing in a noisy environment. This could be other organ music sounding at the same time when you play, a street noise, people talking or some other sort of sounds. Playing without the organ stops on works well, too. The trick is to force yourself not to pay attention to the outside noise. Instead, put all your conscious effort into your current measure. The current measure is a life saver in organ recitals or church services. Whenever you feel like losing focus, you should force yourself to stay in the current measure. Your eyes should be looking straight ahead to the score at the exact spot you are playing. Remember, we focus through our eyes. Therefore it is of utmost importance to truly sink into that measure you are in the current moment. Don't try to think ahead about approaching difficult episodes. They have not happened yet. Also don't think about the past places in your score. They are already gone. What matters now is this measure only. To make your focus stronger, you can also put your headphones on with some music, radio or other form of sounds and noise. This way you can create a noisy environment anywhere you want, virtually anywhere you practice. By the way, you don't have to do this kind of practice at the organ, either. You could practice this way anywhere there is a stool and a table. The stool is needed for you to sit down and the table - to put your music score on. A practice without an instrument at the table is a superb way to force you to focus your inner mind. Without the real organ sounding while you are pretending to depress the keys, it is virtual impossible to do it without a real focus. You can go one step further with this and put your headphones with music, talk, radio, or noise recorded. You will hardly find a better way to force yourself to focus. Apply these tricks in your organ practice, if you want to increase your focus and reduce the number of mistakes while playing. Of course, as with anything worth pursuing this is not easy at first, but if you stick with it long enough, the rewards will be enormous. Are you in a situation, where you have to prepare for organ recital but the date is approaching really fast? You probably are feeling very stressed out about that. If so, here is what I recommend you do.
The worst thing you can do right now is to panic. By panic I mean you might be tempted to play you pieces really fast at the concert speed all the time, thinking that this approach will help you do more repetitions and consequently will let you to prepare for the recital better. This is not a very good strategy. Instead of forcing yourself and playing the pieces too fast too soon, I recommend you take a deep breath and learn to relax. Relax your body but focus your mind. Don't think about the difficult places in your program, don't think about what the audience might think of you etc. Instead focus your mind on doing one little step correctly and you will succeed. It is best to go over your program pieces in a really slow tempo. This will help you relax and understand that you can do it on time. Success in a slow tempo will lead to success in a faster tempo. Increase the tempo very slowly, only when you feel that the slower tempo is too easy. Also you can try to work in separate voices and combinations of two and three voices. This will also let you to experience success. Once you feel that you can perform a single line correctly at least 3 times in a row, add one more voice. This is a little bit more difficult. So take it slowly at the beginning and slowly increase the speed as you get better. So little by little you will start to feel more confident and secure. Instead of stressing out about the due date and many pieces that still need your attention, you are doing the exact opposite - you are enjoying the process and relaxing. Try this approach for yourself, if you feel that the due date is approaching really fast. You will discover how much faster you can progress by slowing down and working in separate voices and voice combinations. I know, it feels counter-intuitive but it works. Would you like to learn to play organ chorale fantasy "Komm Heiliger Geist, BWV 651 by Bach? If so, you will need to know the exact steps which will help you master this fantastic composition. In this article, I will share with you my recommendations on how to learn to play this piece and be ready for public performance.
Step 1 - Analyze the piece. In this step you will have to analyze the key, the texture, compositional techniques used and tonal plan of the piece. This will help you to understand how the piece is put together. Step 2 - Write in fingering. Writing in fingering will help you to know exactly which fingers to use. This will definitely prevent many mistakes which would occur, if you play with accidental fingerings. Step 3 - Write in pedaling. In this step, you will need to know the rules of Baroque pedaling techniques. Early pedaling for Baroque pieces is different from the Romantic and modern pedaling techniques. Step 4 - Ornaments. This step is very crucial if you want to play this piece in the Baroque style. Step 5 - Articulation. Even more than the previous step, correct articulation will make your playing sound stylistically appropriate. Note that Baroque music generally is not played legato. Step 6 - Tempo. With this step you have to understand the correct ideal tempo for performance of this piece and for practicing this composition. You have to also take into consideration the acoustics of the room which will determine the exact tempo for performance. Step 7 - Registration. In this step, you will need to know which stops to use both for practicing this piece and which kind of stop combinations to use for concert performance or church service. The registration will be different on various types of organ - large or small. Step 8 - Practice the piece. In this step, you will actually start practicing this composition. You will have to figure out the way to practice efficiently and effectively. This will allow you to learn this piece and be ready for public performance in the shortest amount of time possible. Step 9 - Memorization. Memorizing this piece is optional and you don't need to perform this piece in public from memory. However, I strongly recommend for you to memorize it because this will help you truly perfect this fantastic composition and advance to a whole new level of mastery even if you choose to play it from the score. Apply my tips in your practice and this will help you to master organ chorale fantasy "Komm Heiliger Geist", BWV 651 by Bach. I am sure you will have much fun perfecting the piece. This will definitely help you to advance in organ playing. By the way, would you like to learn to play organ works of Bach? If so, check out my Bach Organ Mastery Level 1 course. Imagine a situation where you find a really nice organ composition that you like. You know how it sounds because you have listened to recordings or watched the videos of other organists performing it so now you want to learn this piece for yourself.
And so you start practicing it, you apply the same technique, the same practice procedures that you're used to in learning other pieces. However, you suddenly discover that technical demands of this piece are much more higher than you can currently achieve. So what do you do in this situation? You can switch to another organ piece which is easier for you or you can follow through and overcome these technical limitations and challenges and perfect the piece to the level when you will be ready for public performance. The best way to follow through in a difficult organ piece is to subdivide it into manageable units. You see, if the piece is long and difficult when you first start playing it from the beginning until the end, you will be making many mistakes in each line. Virtually every measure will have some mistakes in notes, rhythms, articulation and so on. But if you subdivide your difficult piece into fragments of about four measures long, then you can correct your mistakes on a higher degree. This means that whenever you make a mistake, you can go back right away to the beginning of the fragment and fix it. It is best to choose a practice tempo in which you can avoid making mistakes which means playing at about 50% slower the concert tempo. If you want to follow through in a difficult piece then you can also play these fragments in separate voices. You see, even though the fragment is short enough, you still may be making at least several mistakes, if you play all the parts and all the voices together right from the start. Instead, you should work on practicing solo melodic lines and separate voices. Do this very slowly so in each repetition you will be playing without any errors. This technique works wonders, if you play each step and each combination at least three times in a row fluently (more if you want to be really good). So do this in your challenging organ piece - slowly practice in fragments and solo parts and part combinations and you will discover how possible it is to overcome the challenges, follow through and perfect a difficult organ piece. Imagine a situation where you learned your organ piece and practiced it for a while. What can you do now? Can you perform it during recital or church service or should you perfect it even further at least for now? If you want to know whether you really know your organ piece and are ready to perform it in public, then you can do this experiment.
Ask your friend or a family member to stand behind you while you are sitting on the organ bench. Now you have to try to play this piece and your listener should stand there watching over your shoulder. If you haven't ever tried this experiment, here is what would happen. If your level of fluency and proficiency with this composition is not enough for public performance, you will make at least a few mistakes, most likely a lot more. It may happen that mistakes will occur in virtually every line. This is because your focus will be weak when someone is watching over your shoulder. Therefore, the places that still need the most work from your part will be the ones in which you make your mistakes first. It's very simple - you are as strong as your weakest link. Yes, you can try to attempt to tighten your focus level and then fewer mistakes will occur. However, if you don't know the piece very well or if your sight-reading abilities aren't developed at the superb level, then it is very likely you will end up with at least a few mistakes. If you knew the piece pretty well, at least well enough for public performance, then even though you would get distracted by a person standing behind you, your playing level would allow you to automate at least the most difficult places. This way you would still be in control - your fingers and feet will do the work for you without you actively thinking about this spot when you are distracted. This level of fluency is not easy to achieve. It requires constant repetitive practice. At each practice session, you must ask yourself, "Is this the best I can do?". Most of the time, you will see that there is still some room for improvement. Apply this trick in your organ practice today. If you find yourself making mistakes, push through, persevere with regular, wise, slow, and repetitive practice and the time surely will come when nobody can distract you and cause you to make mistakes. By the way, if you really want to develop unbeatable sight-reading skills, check out my systematic Organ Sight-Reading Master Course. Imagine a situation when you have learned and practiced your difficult piece at a decent level. However, this was some time ago. Right now you are feeling that you have lost the mastery of this work. The question is this - how long will it take for you to practice it until you can play it at a decent level again?
My experience shows that whenever I leave an organ piece to rest for a while (at least a few months), my knowledge of this composition decreases. I'm not saying that I would forget this piece entirely, though. It's not like I would need to learn it from scratch. It's just I feel that I couldn't play this piece in public right away. If I did, I would probably make quite a few mistakes and feel unsecure. The pleasure of making music will not be there. I would have to really struggle to play the correct notes and rhythms with my hands and feet. So whenever I start practicing this piece again after having left it to rest for some months, my first repetition is quite shaky. It's best to do it really slowly at first. This way my muscle memory will begin to come back. The second repetition of this piece will still be very shaky but now in some places I would feel my skills coming back. The improvement wouldn't be easily noticeable for the listener, though. With my third repetition, I would feel a lot better. Although I would still play at a relatively slow tempo, there would be much fewer mistakes. However, this is not enough for public performance. Do this experiment for yourself. It will be interesting to see how long it will take for you to repeat your piece. The subsequent few repetitions will make your playing even more secure. At about 10th run of the piece, you will start to feel your skills renewed. Note that all of this valid only if you really knew this piece in the past. You did all the hard work of perfecting it. Perhaps you even memorized it. Only then my above explanations will work for you. If you learned this piece a very long time ago, like decades ago, then obviously 10 repetitions will not be enough to remember it. We are talking about the period of several months up to a year at the most. Apply my tips in your organ practice today. If you want to refresh the memory of the piece you once knew well, start out slowly, build up your technique by playing scales, arpeggios and other exercises regularly. Remember, you don't have to be ready to perform it in public within a day. Give yourself plenty of time in advance. How do you go about refreshing your memory of the piece you mastered a long time ago? Share your thoughts in the comments. |
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Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. 
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