SOPP602: Your organ duet recital was wonderful… so inspiring. You and Ausra are a great team.6/30/2020
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Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast! Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Let’s start episode 602 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Wendy, and she writes: “Hello Vidas, Your organ duet recital was wonderful… so inspiring. You and Ausra are a great team. Many thanks for sharing your huge talents. I am one of 3 organists who play for services at a Catholic church in Ipswich Queensland Australia...St Mary's. My training is as a pianist. I don't have an organ at home and my organ pedal skills are very limited. Enjoy your coffee!! Best wishes, Wendy” V: So, Ausra, Wendy sent us a donation for our recital! Remember? A: Yes! Thank you very much Wendy! We enjoyed our coffee that you gave us. V: Coffee is important, right? We have to keep up our strength before and after the recital. A: True! V: Do you enjoy decaf coffee or regular, Ausra? A: Well, I enjoy decaf more. V: Me, too. So, we tend to drink all kinds of decaf coffee, usually in the morning, but also in the middle of the day sometimes, after a good day’s work, too. A: Yes, but not so much now, when the CoViD-19 is all around us. V: You know, while thinking about this recital, our 12th recital, which was so inspiring to Wendy and I hope to other people as well, it’s so wonderful that people are appreciating our organ playing as a duet, right? A: Yes! We are very excited to play together. It’s so much fun. Although it’s probably harder to play a duet rather than solo work, but it’s more satisfying, at least for me. V: Would you prefer playing solo or as a duet? A: Well, I like to share responsibility during a recital, so I think it’s nice to play a duet. V: But I mean if we play together in one recital, would you rather play solo or as a duet? A: I could go either way. V: So, yeah! Usually people who watch our videos enjoy looking at our solo performances as well as four-hand and four-feet performances as well. This is really very exciting to watch a couple of organists make music together and do all kinds of Secrets of Organ Playing tricks. A: True! So do you enjoy playing duets? V: Of course, playing duets with you is one of the highlights of my day. A: Then we should play more often together! V: What are we playing? Can you share the secrets behind the scenes with our subscribers right now? A: You mean our solo work or our duets? V: Yes, as a duet. A: Well, we will have to play two recitals in August if the COVID-19 won’t prevent those from happening, you know… so we will play the huge program, which will include Mozart—two pieces by Mozart—one by Beethoven, then one piece written by Vidas, four pieces written on the theme of Lithuanian folk songs. And what else, Vidas, do you remember? V: I think we need to specify what kind of Mozart pieces we are playing. A: Well, “D Major Sonata” for four hands, and we are learning the “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” V: This is a very famous piece. Sometimes people play it as a solo work arrangement, sometimes as a duet, too. A: So basically, this is the one piece on our program, so… V: Originally it is written either for string quartet or string orchestra, so we can play it easily as a duet—two parts each. A: Yes, but we need to do it and start learning actually, not to talk about it, but to play more. V: You mean the third movement is very hard, right? A: Yes, it’s very fast. V: Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of a little bit, too. On our Hauptwerk setup, the touch on these keyboards is very light. So there is no resistance like you would find in mechanical action organs. A: Well, we just need to turn on our tracker and practice on our tracker organ! V: And we do that sometimes. A: Yes. V: You know what? Maybe we could also share with our subscribers the fact that we might get a new organ frame, wooden frame! Remember, our friend yesterday, a carpenter, came over and he promised to build a wooden frame for our Hauptwerk setup. A: I think that will be great, because I was afraid that you are going to build one by yourself, and that might end up as a big disaster! V: Plus it would take me many weeks, and to do it with a regular saw, and our friend, the carpenter, has special equipment and gadgets and especially experience! A: True! V: And this way our Hauptwerk keyboards won’t be sliding backwards and forwards when you play Franck. A: Yes, true, because now the more difficult the piece, you play them more careful you need to be. V: Yeah, but it’s fun watching you play romantic music with these keyboards. A: Do I look like an elephant in a china shop? V: More like a hippopotamus on ice! A: Thanks for that! Good to know! V: Yes! So you guys will see it soon enough. Obviously, we’ll play an online recital as well, even though we are scheduled to play this piece August 1 in the festival in Anykščiai, Lithuania, and then later, August 23 in Rokiškis, Lithuania. But we obviously will play it online, first. A: Yes, we have to do that in order to practice. V: So, talking about Wendy’s concerns and challenges, I think she doesn’t have an organ at home, and this is a hindrance to her, and her pedal skills are very limited. What would you say to her, keeping in mind that she’s working as a Catholic church organists in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia? A: Well, one of the solutions would be to get a MIDI pedal board, and at least one keyboard. V: MIDI keyboard, like the ones we use for our Hauptwerk setup. A: Yes. V: And then you could connect those two things to your computer, usually MIDI keyboards connect via a USB cable, very simple, nothing else is required, but if you need to connect a MIDI pedal board, like we have at home, for example, you need a MIDI-to-USB converter. That is a special cable, another cable, that one side goes into the MIDI instrument, and another side goes into the USB of the computer. We use a USB hub, which actually is a powered hub. It connects to a power outlet, and it has many USB slots. We have two hubs, actually. One is with 10 USB slots, and another is with 7. And we need a lot of them. Right? Because we have many keyboards and other gadgets, too. A: True! Too many, I'm thinking. V: Yeah. And if we would plug only those to the computer, not into the power outlet, then the computer would probably be overheated, and it would consume too much power. But now, this hub is consuming the power outlet’s power, and it works just fine. So, we really recommend this. Right? A: Yes. V: If she doesn’t have an organ at home, yet, Wendy could maybe practice more in the church! A: Yes, that would be a possibility, of course we don’t know how far from the church she lives! V: Obviously not far enough, because she is playing there, at least, for services. A: Yes, but if you, let’s say, play for service once a week, maybe you don’t have to go to church every day. V: Probably not. Yes. As an emergency situation, I would also practice on the table. If nothing else is available, I would probably print out paper keyboards and pedal boards, and glue to them together. They are real size. You will find them in our website https://organduo.lt on the front page on the side bar on the right. Just scroll down, and you will find those paper keyboards and pedal boards. They’re very helpful for people who don’t have any instruments at home, at least temporarily. A: Yes, that might help actually. It’s better than not practicing at all. V: So, guys, please apply our tips in your practice. They really help. And keep sending us your questions; we love helping you grow. And stay tuned for our next online recital as a duet or a solo. We frequently post them on YouTube, so please feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channels. My channel, Secrets of Organ Playing, and Ausra’s channel as well. This was Vidas, A: And Ausra, V: And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online... V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
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 Let me know if you will enjoy my playing on Billerbeck Dom sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. PROGRAM: 0:00 Introduction 1:40 March from Scipio (George Frideric Handel) Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 5:15 Aria in D (Johann Sebastian Bach) Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 13:15 Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht, Op. 2 (Vidas Pinkevicius) Score: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... 25:10 7 Pieces in C Major and 7 Minor (Cesar Franck) Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 45:00 Abide With Me (Organ Improvisation) If you like my music making, you can support me on Patreon and get free organ CD's at https://patreon.com/secretsoforganpla... Buy me coffee: https://www.paypal.me/VPinkevicius My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt
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Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast! Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Let’s start episode 600 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Tim, and he writes: “Dear Vidas Are you able to help me please. I am currently learning the Dubois Toccata in G No 3 and have previously downloaded your fingering and pedaling for the piece. I'm having trouble getting it up to the required speed and wondered if you had any tips to help with this or any other tips or practice ideas that might help. Thank you in anticipation Tim" V: So, Ausra, what do you think about this speed in Dubois Toccata? A: Well, I think you need to practice in a slower tempo, and I think the right tempo will come in time. If you cannot speed it up, maybe it’s not the time for you to do it. Maybe you still have to practice in a slower tempo. V: That’s right. I remember, I haven’t played Dubois Toccata for a while, but I’m now practicing Boëlmann’s Toccata from the “Suite Gothique.” And although the texture is pretty straightforward and easy for fingers, I still have quite a ways to go in order to reach concert speed. A: That’s often the case. V: What are you playing, Ausra, right now, but I mean in a fast tempo as a final result? Tell us! Maybe you’re playing some piece by Bach. A: Well yes, I’m playing the Eb Major Prelude and Fugue, BWV 552 by J.S. Bach. V: Does it have any fast sections? A: Of course! Basically the middle and the last Fugues are really fast, and of course, Prelude has also a fast tempo. V: So how do you manage to get up to speed in this piece? A: Somehow naturally it all comes to me. V: You were born with this skill? A: Actually no, but actually what happens, let’s say with the middle Fugue, is that I need to slow down, because if I would let myself go as fast as I want, I would ruin the piece entirely. V: What do you mean? A: I mean that often what happens with musicians is that they speed up too much, and then things will get muddy. V: I think you’re referring to the middle Fugue as a lot of people play it at the tempo of the final Fugue. But the character of the second Fugue is different from the third Fugue. Isn’t it? A: Well, the thing is, why I think many people like to speed up in this particular Fugue is because the opening Fugue in this Stile Antico is sort of very serious in nature. You cannot speed up very much in it. It really has this slow motion. But then, the first Fugue has pedals! In the middle Fugue there are no pedals. Bach didn’t write it. So I think that’s the effect of it, that people want to speed up. V: The second Fugue has the character of maybe Courante? Would you agree? A: Yes, a sort of Spiel-Fugue. V: But not a Gigue as it is… A: No, not a Gigue. V: Gigue is the third Fugue. A: Yes, Gigue is the last Fugue. V: Okay. Obviously it’s not the same rhythm as in the Gigue Fugue. Remember BWV577 that everybody wants to play as fast as possible. A: So now you have to connect these two pieces to Dubois Toccata. V: All of them are fast, right? A: Yes, they are fast, but you know, when you play a fast Baroque piece, the rhythm helps. The rhythmical structure and articulation helps a lot, because if you will lean on the strong beat, then you shouldn’t be speeding up. But of course, we are talking about how to build up a speed, so it’s a little bit different version. V: To me, the best technique that helps to achieve concert tempo has been and still is practice in short fragments stopping at the more-or-less unit, let’s say, every quarter note, at first. A: But don’t you think that for some people it might not work, because you may not be able to play in the constant tempo and in the right rhythm. V: Maybe not at first. Maybe in a few days you will get this right. A: But I think this method of yours takes patience. V: Everything worth while takes patience, Ausra. A: Well, I guess you are right. V: As usual! A: Yes, but, anyway, I think that some, especially beginners, want to play too fast too soon. V: So I recommend stopping at the quarter note, then at every half note, then at every measure, every two-measures, every four-measures, every line, every two-lines, every four-lines, or maybe that’s a page already, and then every two-pages, every four-pages, and I think you will be done by that time. What do you think? A: Well, I think it’s worth trying. V: Like spend a week with the first step, stopping at every beat. Then see what happens, if you can proceed to the next step, stopping at every half note a week after that. A: Okay! V: Right? A: Yes! V: So, guys, our advice is very practical. This is battle tested and very efficient. So, apply it in your practice and let us know how it goes! A: Yes, true, I think this is sort of that if you will not rush things, you will get to the finish line first. V: Than the person who wants to do it as fast as possible right away. A: True. V: 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. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online... V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast! Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Let’s start episode 598 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Vivien, and she writes: “Thank you so much for your acknowledgment and interest Vidas. Next time I will understand better how to enter the amount of money and make it more in line with the quantity and quality of expert help coming from you and Ausra. Lockdown means no Church Services and so has given me a chance to improve my basic skills instead of being stressed with deadlines. I’m trying to improve my trills and am using a manual piece Jesus, meine Zuversicht, BWV 728. I listen to Wolfgang Stockmeier because I happen to have his CDs, copy him and then record myself. The long trills still sound awkward, but then I found your advice of slow, exact and emphasising every other note which I’ve never read before. Feeling optimistic that this could be a breakthrough. Can’t believe the way that you understand such detailed problems. I hope that you both are coping well in this crisis. Best Regards Vivien” V: So, Ausra, what comes to mind when you read this message? A: I remember my way of dealing with trills, actually. V: And? Was it a long time ago? A: Yes, it was a long time ago, but actually I struggled with playing trills well for quite a long time, and I think what I had was not so much as a physical incapacity to play them right, but something in my head that I was so much afraid of trills that when the trill would come, I would get like a muscle spasm or something and couldn’t execute them right. V: In long trills, you mean? Or short ones? A: Yes, usually in longer. The longer the trill, the bigger the problem was. V: For me, the pedal trills are quite complex, or actually I should say was quite complex. Remember the B-A-C-H by Liszt, “Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H,” and there is this pedal trill toward the end, a long one, and expanding to the next measure and the next measure… A: Yes, I remember this piece, it’s fun! V: ...in the last measure, in the last page, I think… I was struggling with it for a long time. A: That’s funny because, you know, this was one of the easiest pieces that I have played that sounds really hard. I don’t know.. I learned it very fast, and it gave me none of the technical difficulties. V: Even in the pedals? A: Yes, even in the pedals, because you don’t have to play like double trills to play a trill with one foot, you just use both of your feet, and that’s it! V: I don’t remember if it’s a double trill in octaves or not. A: No. V: No. You know what? I always admired your ability to play long trills with 3-4-3-4-3-4 fingers. A: Yes, but I only can do it on a tracker action, because on our Hauptwerk, on the plastic keyboard I cannot do it. I use the 2-3, 3-2. V: What’s your secret then, in playing trills? A: Actually, what helped me to overcome those spasms was breathing. Basically, I just have to breathe. Don’t forget to breathe before the trill and during the trill, especially if it’s a long one, and somehow it relaxes my muscles and I can play it successfully. Of course, another thing is that, well, you need to preserve the rhythmical structure of the piece, because what happens often with the beginners is that when the trill comes, that they simply lose the sense of the rhythmical flow. So what I would do if I were a beginner is that I would learn a piece or at least play it a part of the way through without trills, just omitting them for a while. And then, when I would be really comfortable with the text, then I would add them. That would preserve the rhythmical structure and of course, another thing is, as you said to Vivien earlier, how you accent the trill in order to make it correct, but then another way would be to not play it so strictly rhythmically, because if you will play it in a final version and emphasize each other note, it will sound ridiculously unmusical. V: Yeah, it would sound artificial. A: Yes, so basically what I do with my long trills is that I start slowly, and I speed up, and then towards the end I slow down again. And then, it becomes more natural. V: Good violinists play like that in Baroque music, so it’s good to listen to violin trills and then copy them. Why didn’t you tell me about breathing when I was struggling with the B-A-C-H by Liszt trills? A: Well, it was such a long time ago that I don’t think I had developed my own technique at that time. V: Yeah. I wish I had known this advice earlier. A: It helps for hand trills. I don’t know if that would work for the pedal. V: Probably still! Everything tenses up when you stop breathing. Your ankles, too. Yeah, probably would help. So guys, keep breathing when you’re playing trills, and practice, of course, slowly at first. Vivien doesn’t make a mistake here with practicing slowly at first, when you’re just first getting the hang of the trill, but when it’s more naturally to you, then you can apply Ausra’s advice, too. A: Plus try different fingerings sometimes. I would not suggest you to try the fifth and the fourth finger because it probably wouldn’t work, maybe for you it would, but try the fourth and three; for some people it works, like for me on the tracker organ. If that doesn’t work, then try 3-2. Actually, try 3-1! This works sometimes quite nicely, because it’s sort of a natural hand position. And even for some people 1-2 might work, so it’s according to each of our individual natures. So try all these combinations and see what works best for you. V: I even in some piano exercise, I think it was… it might have been Hanon drills doing it like this: 1-3-2-3-1-3-2-3-1-3-2-3, like this. A: Yes, it makes sense sometimes! V: It’s a romantic technique, not necessarily Baroque. But if you’re playing later music, why not? Of course later music doesn’t have as many trills! A: That’s right! And another suggestion, if absolutely some of the trills don’t work for you and you can’t play them gracefully, then just omit them in your final performance, because really, the trill that is not executed nicely can ruin an entire piece. V: I agree. A: So it’s better to do less ornamentation than to do it in a not graceful manner. V: While we are talking about this, would you recommend people starting include ornamentation right at the beginning of the learning process, or somewhere in the middle? A: Well, it depends on how much you struggle with it, because for people for whom trills ruin the rhythmical structure of the piece, I would suggest to learn to play, to practice the piece from the beginning without any ornaments. If it’s not an issue, then you can add ornaments right away. V: Yeah, in music schools, teachers usually omit the trills for a quite some time so students don’t get used to them, and then they struggle while adding them just in the final month or so. A: That’s in general. Pianists, most of the time they don’t know how to play the ornaments, because they don’t deal so much with the Baroque music, so they are not as good at reading trills as the organists are. V: Yeah, and a good table of ornaments if you’re playing music of J. S. Bach is the beginning of his “Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedmann Bach.” He copied, I think, the Frenchman’s d’Anglebert's table of ornaments there. So that’s why we use the French style of ornamentation. A: But again, you know, if you are playing other composers, such as Buxtehude, for example, then you have to follow with the Italian way of ornamenting. V: Yes, starting from the main note, not from the upper note. But there are exceptions, of course. So many things to talk about. Maybe we will leave it for future conversations. 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. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online... V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast! Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 601 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Jeremy, and he writes, Now that summer is here, I am excited to get into one of the courses on Total Organist again. Maybe the Couperin Mass or improv mini-course. Either actually as I have just signed up for them… V: So, Ausra, Jeremy is transcribing fingering and pedaling for us, and in return, he's getting access to Total Organist community. A: Very nice. V: And his dream is of course to spend the summer creatively and maybe challenge himself a little more, and try to practice some Couperin and maybe improvisation from the mini course. Have you seen some of his Couperin videos already? A: Yes, I have. V: He is recording them sometimes for our secrets of organ playing contest, Or sometimes just for fun. A: Yes, I think these are very handy pieces by Couperin. Because you can play them as a set, but you can play separate pieces. V: This is the Mass for Convents. A: Yes, excellent. V: The Mass for Parishes has pedal parts. A: So it's easier then, to play Mass for Convents. V: Yeah, Mass for Convents is in G Major, and it doesn’t have any pedals, and it doesn’t, it isn’t based on any pre-existent chorale melody. All the themes are kind of original by Couperin. Whereas Mass for the Parishes has plainchant, basically Gregorian Chant melodies, and also pedal part. A: So I guess when makes the Mass for Convents even more special, because very often, French composers based their masses on Gregorian Chant. V: Yes, and it appears that Convents requires smaller organs than Parishes, right? A: Surely, and I guess because most of them probably didn’t have any pedals. That’s why Couperin chose not to add one. V: And the course that teaches to play Couperin Mass for Convents is based on video material. I recorded them on St. John’s organ a few years ago. And I remember also preparing fingering for students as part of the course, so it’s really comprehensive training program. Because not only you will get fingering and pedaling, but also I’m talking about characteristics of each piece of each movement of the mass, and the processes that helps you learn faster. A: Excellent. Because I think you need guidance when you are working on French Baroque music. V: What’s the most challenging thing that comes to mind right away about French Baroque - French Classical, as they say? A: Well, probably the ornamentation. All these trills and mordents and all other embellishments. V: They’re similar to the late Johann Sebastian Bach ornaments, right? A: True. But you know, still, many people cannot grasp them, because just recently, a few days ago, I received a question - one piano teacher from a small town of Lithuania. But she’s already really mature. I taught her daughter once, solfege for a few years, so she knows me fairly well. Sent me a score - excerpt of a score - by Couperin. But it was actually original harpsichord piece, but her student is performing it on the piano, and she does not know how to play the ornaments. So I had to explain her. And it’s so strange that you teach piano for 30 years, and you still don’t know how to play French trills and ornaments. V: In Lithuania, I don’t think pianists have any opportunity to learn early music performance practice. A: That’s true, but still now I think the information is available for everybody. V: Which means you just have to stay curious. A: That’s right. V: It’s hard to stay curious when you have stagnant position, right, as pianists do… A: Yes, that’s true. V: ...in music school. A: And I guess organists in general understand about ornaments much more than pianists, or at least that’s my opinion. V: They should, of course, because generally, they tend to learn early music from early sources, original sources. And that pays off in the end. This experience can be applied to many other things. A: That’s right. So now, Vidas, tell us more about improvisation mini course. V: This mini course was based on my dissertation from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. And serves as an introduction to the prelude improvisation formula. So everyone who is planning to take or taking prelude improvisation formula, has to take keyboard improvisation mini course first. It’s like the first chapter of the bigger course, prelude improvisation formula. So people get acquainted to the basic ideas in this larger course, and they can master one particular figure that comprises one keyboard prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach from the keyboard notebook for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, for his eldest son. A: Well, how advanced do you need to be in order to be able to take and to benefit from this course? V: If you could play those pieces, I think you are good to go. I mean original pieces, keyboard Klavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Like two part inventions, things like that. Not very difficult at all. A: Well, okay. V: The fun begins when you try to decipher the figures and the sequences, and various other harmonic devices that Bach uses, cadences. And then you memorize them, you practice them, and then you transpose to various keys. And then you put them together in a different order - create your own mini-prelude like this, based on my pre-existing tonal plan. In major keys, in minor keys, and then you transpose them. So this is really fun. It’s just an introduction to the Prelude Improvisation Formula, and could be played without any pedals, so basically on any keyboard instrument. A: So basically it’s good also for pianists, and harpsichordists, and organists. V: Absolutely yes. For harpsichordists, they just play this on one or two manuals of their harpsichord. For pianists, it’s very simple - just play on the keyboard. For organists, they could change registration, of course, in various preludes, and get more variety with these techniques. A: But do you mean just to change the registration once for a prelude, and then to change it for another prelude? V: Yes, yes. Play each prelude with a different registration. A: Okay. I get it. V: Remember how I wrote this dissertation? A: Yes, I remember it. V: Who was there? The testing, we say, rabbit - you? A: Yes, I did some of it. V: You were my human, what is this word, when doctors test on humans? A: I don’t know. V: Human guinea pig. A: Yes. V: And was it painful? A: No, it wasn’t. It was a little bit time consuming. V: What do you mean? A: Well, because I did not have much time at that time. I was writing on my, working on my dissertation as well, so… V: Did I serve as your human mini pig - not mini pig but guinea pig for you? A: Well, no, because my dissertation wasn’t so practical as yours. V: What was the topic? A: About Adam Gottlob Casparini and his organs. V: About basically organ construction and organ building? A: Yes, basically, more on that side. V: Mm hm. A: Not so much connected with performance practice. V: Excellent. So guys, if you want to learn to improvise keyboard preludes which are not based on pre-existing chorale melodies, check out my mini course, which later continues into prelude improvisation formula. And of course, Couperin Mass training that Jeremy is taking is very helpful, too, for other purposes. A: That’s right. So I hope you will find them useful. V: So, please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online... V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 596 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Dan, and he writes: “Hi Vidas, I hope you and Ausra are doing well in your part of the world. Things are going well here. I’ve had to stop getting instruction for the time being from the local organist that’s working with me, due to how things are with this world-wide pandemic. I’m still working away here though, on my hauptwerk VPO, and it’s good I’ve got that here to still work on stuff. I’m working on Buxtehude’s prelude, fugue and chaconne in c, BuxWV137, and as well as Carson Cooman’s tuba tune. I think you’ve had Carson on the podcast a couple times. I was going to participate in an organ recital with other organ students from the area I’m in, on the 28th of March, and play the Grand Choeur in B-flat major by Dubois, but that got postponed as well. I notice you’ve gotten into Hauptwerk as well, which is cool. What’s the sample set you’re using? it sounds like a nice one, that I might be interested in getting a hold of. A link to it would be appreciated. Take care, and stay safe.” V: So, Ausra, what sample sets are we using? A: Well, to rephrase Dan’s question, I would say tell me which set you are not using, because now we are using so many of them. V: But there are a few that you like more than others, right? A: Yes, actually I like only two of them so far. V: But you haven’t tried all of them that we have, yet. A: Well, but I tried many out of them, so… V: So, before we expanded our Hauptwerk into three manuals and later four manuals, we used a lot, “Velesovo” sample set by Sonus Paradisi. A: Yeah, it’s actually really well done, I think. V: It could be said about most of the sample sets by Sonus Paradisi. This is the leading sample set maker on the market today, I think. I mean, there are others that are very good as well, but I haven’t been disappointed with any of his stuff that I tried. But Velesovo, yes, we have the surround version of it. “Surround”, meaning in the church where this organ stands, there are more than two microphones. Two microphones are set near the organ, then two microphones are somewhere in the middle of the church, and maybe two more are at the back of the church. Larger organs have six microphones’ or eight microphones’ surround version. It’s called 8-channel surround or 6-channel surround like this. Right Ausra? A: Yes, true. V: Do you like surround more than let’s say “semi-dry” or “dry” or “wet” version where you add artificial reverberation on your Hauptwerk software but don’t use the church environment. A: Well, of course surround sounds much better. V: Of course, surround version takes up more RAM on your computer. A: True, and if you don’t have enough space in your computer, you might get the sound delay, which is very, very annoying. V: And space in your computer is different from RAM. RAM is the memory that you’re using to operate the program right now. On our MacBook Pro, we have 16GB of RAM. And this is enough to run Velesovo and other medium sized sample sets. Of course, if you want to use larger sample sets, at least 32GB of RAM are recommended if you’re getting a new computer specifically for Hauptwerk. And we have actually bought a new Dell computer and expanded it from 8GB of RAM, which was the default version, into an additional 64GB of RAM, which makes it total to 72GB of RAM. A: Well, Vidas is so excited about all this, his Hauptwerk project, but I’m not, because I don’t think this investment will ever pay off. V: It will pay off in 500 years. A: No, because all this stuff like computers and all these midi keyboards, they will get old pretty soon. V: That’s true. A: It’s not like our tracker, two-stop tracker. V: But this software will remain, the Hauptwerk version, you can use it for years! If you need to change the processor, you can, you know, just buy a new part of it, not necessarily the whole thing. You know? A: You know, there’s only one benefit of it, I think—during Quarantine. Otherwise I would never have started to use it. V: For people who don’t record their playing and don’t share it with the world, having 30 stop samples, which is in the surround version Velesovo, very nice two manual organ—medium sized organ—but very colorful stops and could be used for a variety of Baroque music, as well as Romantic music apparently, too, because it has a lot of foundational stops, 8’ stops, too. This is especially nice. But for people who don’t put their work online, then what’s the point? Right, Ausra? A: True. V: Unless they want to hear that organ in their practice room, which is also nice. A: In general, I think if you have a previously well built organ technique, then it’s okay for some times practice on the midi keyboard, especially on ours because it doesn’t have any resistance, so otherwise, if you are just a beginner or you have poor technique, you might ruin it on playing such a keyboard. V: Yeah. Hauptwerk is like an ongoing project, and we’ve been just chatting with James Flores, our friend from Australia. And he also started with just midi keyboards custom assembled, not necessarily the thing that he has today from Johannus—three manual organ setup. I don’t think he has tracker-action manuals on his Johannus, but some organs have. You can imitate this resistance, which is much more expensive, I think, than what we have. Right, Ausra? A: True. In general, I think that this Hauptwerk thing is sort of like a contagious disease. V: It’s the future, I think. It’s a natural technological development. And since I’ve been involved with technologies, since I’ve got back from the United States, or I should say we got back from the United States, in 2007 I started writing a blog in Lithuanian, in 2010 I started my YouTube channel, in 2011 I started the organduo.lt website, then later Ausra joined… you know, I was very interested as to how organ art can be incorporated with technology. So, it’s just a natural extension of my activities, I think, Hauptwerk. It’s basically… eventually I would have traveled this road, I think, sooner or later. I think it’s joined Hauptwerk movement sooner than rather later, this way, right? A: Well, you can hear that Vidas is addicted already. What else can I say. V: You know, what can I say? There are good addictions and there are bad addictions. I think it’s better to become addicted to good addictions than to bad, right? A: Well, yes, but you consider that, that yesterday, when I realised, we added a fourth keyboard, I might have gotten a heart attack. V: No, it was just a nice surprise for you. A: For me, yes? Anyway, with my height, I cannot reach that fourth manual, so... V: That’s why I ordered a new music stand on the table, and not on the floor, which will be very convenient. I promise. A: Somehow I doubt it, but anyway (UPDATE: by the time we have published this podcast episode, our new music stand arrived and it's quite nice). V: It was supposed to be a surprise for you. I invited Ausra to play a duet, and she was very busy with other stuff, and when she sat down on the organ bench, she didn’t notice a difference from three manuals to four, because three is a lot already. Right? And I agree. It’s really not that big of a difference. When you have two, and then suddenly three, the difference is very obvious. But from three to four, or from four to five, it’s not that big of a difference. Don’t worry, I won’t get the fifth. A: Yes. I hope so. V: No, no.. it’s… A: I want to be able to sleep at night. Not worrying about wasting our money. V: You can play any type of repertoire on four keyboards comfortably. The fifth manual is only for echo, for fanfares, for those things. And none of our sample sets have five keyboards... so far. A: Anyway guys, I don’t think you need to have four keyboards, or even three keyboards. V: Ooooooh? A: Unless you are extremely well known concert—international concert organist. V: What if you wanted to, let’s say, play Franck, or Widor, or let’s say German Romantic. A: You can mange on a two manual instrument. V: You can… A: Well enough… V: Yes. But think about the future. If a person gets hooked on Hauptwerk, and he or she invests in a two manual organ setup, wouldn’t it be wise to get a three manual right away? A: Well, I don’t think this quarantine will last forever, and I think people can go back to practice on a real organ. V: In churches, right? A: In churches, yes. V: True. I will definitely go to St. John’s Church to play our three manual church organ… A: I already doubt it. V: Why? A: Because you’re so much used to playing Hauptwerk. V: I will play Hauptwerk, too. I will play both organs! They don’t… that actually… they work very well with each other. A: Will you find time for anything else, then? V: Like what? A: Anything. If you will practice on Hauptwerk, you will practice at St. John’s… V: I will have to go practice on the tracker organ, because my job is university organist! I will have to go to church and play and perform there and maintain that instrument. It’s just not today. Not right now. So there is no problem with that. Just like you will go to school to teach physically, right? I will go to church, maybe at the same time as you. A: I’m not so sure if I will go back to teach at the school. V: Yes, you are very… you like teaching on line? A: Well, I like not teaching at all. V: You don’t miss teaching? A: No, not at all. V: If you had to choose to teach at school or to play Hauptwerk, what would be your choice? A: Well, I would play Hauptwerk. V: Listen guys, we have a convert now to Hauptwerk! You just have to feel the pressure point, the pain point. Ausra is really having a hard time teaching at school sometimes, and she also doesn’t like playing Hauptwerk plastic keyboards, like we have today. But what does she not like more, teaching or plastic keyboards? It’s a good question. So, but for Dan, I think, to have an organ at home doesn’t hurt. Right? And Velesovo sample set is very nice. Depending on if you have a larger computer with larger RAM, we also recommend very much other larger sample sets by Sonus Paradisi, such as Rotterdam Laurenskerk church, the Main organ. There are two sample sets. The Transept Organ and the Main Organ. The Transept organ is a Baroque organ, a little bit smaller—not very small but I think a three manual organ. But the main organ in the gallery that we use is a one-of-a-kind Marcussen organ from 1973, four manuals, and that’s why we got the fourth manual, too. A: Yeah. V: There are some other sample sets we could recommend, but not right now, because we haven’t tried them just yet. I should say that I like, kind of, the German one, Billerbeck Dom, it’s called, also by Sonus Paradisi. Billerbeck Dom is a town in Germany, and it has this wonderful cathedral, St. Ludger’s Cathedral, which also has a four-manual organ, and I like it very much for the French Romantic Symphonic music. A: Yes, it’s not bad. V: Remember how I played Franck’s Prelude Fugue and Variation. A: That’s right. V: Very convincing. So 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. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online... V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying
Total Organist and Secrets of Organ Playing Midsummer 50% Discount (until July 1).
Ausra and I hope everyone will have a great Midsummer's Eve with plenty of food, music and celebration.
This day is wonderful it can become your new start in organ playing. That's why we are offering Total Organist Midsummer Discount until July 1. Monthly or yearly membership is 50 % off. Check it out here Here's what some of our Total Organist students are saying: Jeremy: I have been a member for about a year now, and have used several of the courses to my sight reading, transposition, Bach articulate legato, hymn playing, and improvisation. Also, I have really enjoyed learning historically informed fingerings. Ruth: I like it very much. It is inspiring, informative, and encouraging, I believe, not only to me but also to organists of all levels. I have been learning about composers and periods of music in a variety of countries. Merci pour tout! Thank you for everything. Anne: I love Total Organist. The work that Vidas and Ausra have put into it is amazing. I like having access to all the classical music that they have edited and videos they post. The fingerings and pedal markings are very helpful when I start a new organ piece. I especially like being able to read how other organists from all over the world are solving problems in playing the organ. It's very helpful to me in my journey to learn to play this magnificent instrument! If you have been thinking about starting your Total Organist journey, until June 30 is the best time because besides 50 % discount you will also get the 1st month free. Check it out here Oh and by the way, any score, training or program in our Secrets of Organ Playing Store has 50% discount too.
Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!
Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist. V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius... A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene. V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011. V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today. A: We hope you’ll enjoy it! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 594 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Ruth, who is our Total Organist student, and she writes: “I am learning a lot about new ways of playing organ, etc. from taking this course. This must be one of the finest courses of its kind on the Internet. Please recall though that some of us are still learning like "wee kids" about the new ways you and others have of using electronic methodology and media. Please hold on to your patience and call forth your skills for teaching us. Thanks. Blessings. Ruth” V: That’s a very nice message. Right? A: Yes, it is a very nice message. Thank you, Ruth! V: I’m very grateful to Ruth, that she is learning a lot from this program, the Total Organist program, and she is involved, now, in the Total Organist community, answering questions, giving advice to other members and supporting each other. This is extremely helpful to everyone in the group. A: Yes, to the entire community. V: What do you think would be the next step for Ruth to learn and progress maybe faster than she was on her own or maybe go to the next level of organ playing? A: Well, usually, you could either increase your practice time… V: ...or you could increase the efficiency of your practice. A: True. V: To me, sometimes it’s not so much about time but about a goal. Right? The question of why we are practicing the organ. Why are we practicing the organ, Ausra? A: Well… V: Nowadays. A: That’s a hard question during the quarantine. Usually you have due dates. Your recital is coming up, and you have to push forward to be able to get ready for it. V: Do you have a new recital, too, during the quarantine? A: Well yes, I had it… there is the one that we have done on-line. V: Are you preparing for the next? A: Well yes, I am. V: So, where I am going with this… this goal, this external motivation, does it give you some push when it come to sitting down on the organ bench? A: Yes, of course. Otherwise I would just spend the entire day in my bed doing nothing. V: Me, too. So yeah, the best advice I could give to Ruth and anyone who is already doing great work on the organ but wants to do even better, I think, to play it in public—at least for your family. If you’re not comfortable playing for strangers, just play it for your family, and don’t make the mistake that you’re not good enough to play for your family. A: Do you think your family will appreciate it? V: You are my family! Yes, you would appreciate it. You could play a short recital for your own spouse, or your parents or your friends, if they... A: Or for your pets. I think that’s the best way. V: Pets? A: Yes. At least they won’t complain. V: Hmm… I haven’t thought about that, but yes! They would be grateful. They would jump on the keyboards, probably, to help you out! A: Well, if you have a cat that might be the case, but with a dog, I don’t think you should worry about it. V: Yeah. A: But I think the nicest listeners would be pet fish! V: Oh, they never complain. A: True. V: Yeah, just imagine that it’s a real concert, and record yourself. That’s also very important, because you never know. Maybe you will play well, and you can use this recording later on! I actually played a lot of… we both played probably hundreds of recitals during the years. Right? Have you ever counted? A: No, I have never counted. V: Sometimes I wish I had counted, and I don’t remember my programs now. I wish I could remember, have written down someplace, and now I would take this notebook and check all that I’ve played 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe I could repeat some things. What I played at the academy of music, I don’t remember most of them, that’s very helpful. But what I’m talking about is that when you record yourself, even if you don’t publish it, maybe the time will come in the future, 5 or 10 years from not, when you think, “Oh, it’s good enough,” your self worth will be good enough to publish those recitals, let’s say on YouTube, on your own YouTube channel. And I wish I had recorded my average recital, at least in audio, now. I didn’t always have the camera. Now we have several cameras, right? We can do high quality recordings. And good microphones, I didn’t have those early on. But it was still an evidence, but I didn’t record those. Do you regret those things, Ausra? A: Not so much, because, anyway, I wouldn’t have time to listen to them all and to analyse them. V: But what if you had all those archives and you could upload them to YouTube today? A: Well, yes, that would be nice, actually, yes. V: You see? That’s what I’m talking about. At the time, it wasn’t important. A: At that time, we had no access to any kind of recording devices. We were poor… very poor. V: And we didn’t even have the mindset to look for those devices. Maybe there was some kind of portable device that was affordable, but I was not thinking about that, let’s say, 20 years ago, when I was a student. Imagine that. When we were a student, we would have thousands of recordings now on YouTube, but mentality changes not that fast, I think. So my advice for Ruth and others is to do it now! To record yourself and have this archive, even if you’re not publishing today for others, to listen and to watch, but maybe there will come a time in the future where you will upload those recordings for others to see. What do you think, Ausra? A: Yes, I think this would be a great idea. V: Thank you guys for listening and for sending us your questions; we love helping you grow. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra, V: And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online... V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more… A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying Today I was able to create a successful live-stream using native Hauptwerk sound. I haven't connected the mic yet so there is no talking. Also after some time pedal camera froze for some reason. Other than that, the Zoom Q2N 4k camera works really great. Hope you will enjoy this improvisation on Billerbeck Dom sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. If you like my music making, you can support me on Patreon and get free organ CD's at https://patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying  |
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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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