Are you frustrated at the enormous amount of time you have to put in while learning organ pieces? Or perhaps you want to learn your favorite works in a shorter period of time? In this article, I will show you some tips which will help you learn and master any organ piece faster.
One of the most important things if you want to learn pieces faster is to practice them in a slow tempo. Generally, you have to use the tempo that is about 50% slower than the concert tempo. This will give you accuracy and help avoid making mistakes. Before learning the piece, try to write in fingering and pedaling. Remember that it is not required to indicate every finger and pedal in the entire piece right away. Instead, you can write in your pedaling and fingering only in the episode that you are working and practicing. Another thing to remember is to practice in fragments. This will help you to correct any mistakes easily. When you practice your piece, play separate voices repeatedly so that you can master them individually. Only after that work on voice combinations such as two parts and three parts together. After this becomes easy, try to play all parts together over and over. One more thing to remember when you practice these episodes is to aim for correct rhythms, notes, ornaments, articulation and hand and feet position with every repetition. Do not proceed to the next step unless you can play it fluently at least three times in a row. Above all, try to practice every day. Not necessarilly for several hours, but at least for 20-30 minutes. Even if you have that little time, you can still make progress - you can repeat previously mastered material instead of learning something new (which you can do on days when you have more time to practice). Organ practice can be compared to boiling water - the minute we take the pot off the fire - the water begins to cool down. So if you want your organ practice to be in a good shape - do it every day. Also don't neglect the importance of having an exact measurable goal and a plan of action to achieve this goal. This will definitely speed up your learning process. Otherwise, your playing might be just wandering around in circles. If you really want to learn organ pieces faster, then you should perfect your organ sight-reading and harmony skills very systematically in a step-by-step fashion. This is how I'm able to play 12 recitals a year with different repertoire. Consider these recommendations when you take your organ pieces and apply these tips in your practice. Finally, you have to be very persistent in your practice and then you will succeed in learning organ pieces faster.
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In response to the video 3 about playing 4 against 5 correctly, my friend Maik Schumann sent me a few of his additional tips which I thought you will find useful as well. So I'm reprinting Maik's recommendations (with his permission of course). NOTE: See the examples with music notation below. "In an additional practice step, I would recommend that you play the left hand (measures 3-4), and only add the notes 1 and 3 (in one quarter) of the right hand. Notice that the second sixteenth of the right hand is exactly between the notes 3 and 4 of the left hand (as you said). In another step, I recommend to add the note 4 (in one quarter) of the right hand (measures 5-6). This note should be just a little bit before the 5th note of the left hand (as you said). Then, in the last step before putting all together, play the notes 1 to 3 in the right hand (measures 7-8). Notice that the second note is just a little bit behind the second note of the left hand (as you said). Put all together (and all the same with reversed voices). I think these extra steps in practising are helpful when dealing with these complicated rhythms." I tried Maik's recommendations this morning and they really work. The whole thing together is very easy and pleasant after such preparatory steps. Try these tips in your practice and let me know if they have been helpful to you. By the way, after I played Maik's exercises, I thought of a few more things BASED on his idea of taking 4 sixteenths apart. Here they are: Of course, one could think of even more exercises BASED on these, too (in order to excaust all of the possibilities of 1 note, 2 notes, and 3 notes in the right hand part) but I think we can stop here and start practicing. Enjoy!
This is the final video 3 from the series of playing complex rhythmical figures. I hope you have found video 1 and video 2 useful. They dealt with playing 2 against 3 and 3 against 4 respectively so if you missed them, just watch them before going into video 3. So today let's take a closer look into even more advanced figure 5 against 4 and vice versa. Basically, in one hand we will have the sixteenth notes and in another - sixteenth-note quintuplets. It is not so difficult to understand intelectually where exactely all the notes have to go, but in reality playing this figure correctly is really complicated task. I hope this video will make it easier to understand how it's done. This is a second video in a series of 3 videos about how to play complex rhythmical figures. Yesterday I explained common cases about 3 against 2 and vice versa. Today it is time for 3 against 4. These rhythms are far less common but much more difficult to master. You can find a real-life example of it in the 2nd Movement called "Alleluias sereins" of l'Ascension by Olivier Messiaen. I hope this video will make your practice easier for you. Tomorrow we will deal with the curious cases of 5 against 4 so stay tuned if this topic is useful to you. Today I'm starting a series of 3 videos about playing complex rhythms. The first lesson will deal with 3 against 2 and vice versa. Playing complicated rhythmical patterns, such as 2 against 3 or 3 against 2 may be a great burden to a lot of aspiring organists. Quite often I hear even experienced performers doing it not quite correctly. Obviously, the first note of the triplet is always the easy part. Deciding, when to play the second and the third notes of the group, though, gives much trouble to some organists. Understanding it mentally is one thing, but doing it correctly in practice, is often a different story. Luckily, there is a very straightforward way to understand how to play it correctly. I recently made a detailed video with instructions and examples teaching how to master complicated rhythmical figures 3 against 2 and 2 against 3 easily. I hope you will find it helpful as such rhythms appear frequently in Romantic and modern organ music. Also, you can find a real-life example in Bach's Orgelbuchlein ("In dulci Jubilo", BWV 608). Be on the look out for the 2nd video in this series (3 against 4) from me tomorrow. This question is a complicated one. There is no straight answer to this question because there are a number of variables to consider. If you're interested to know my opinion, please read on to find out.
First of all, you have to understand that every organist is different and will have different set of skills and experience which will consequently make their learning process shorter or longer for each individual. However, there are certain variables that must be considered here which will help you understand the complete picture. The first variable is the technical advancement of the organist. This means what kind of things he or she can play perfectly on the organ with the fingers, with the feet, and with the hands and feet combined. Second, you have to also understand that the level of difficulty in every organ piece is not the same. There are easy pieces, difficult pieces, slow pieces and fast pieces so each individual will need different time in mastering different kind of composition. However, you're reading this article not because you want to know what these variables are but in reality you probably want to know how long will it take for you to master any given piece that you choose. In order to understand the answer, you can do the following thing. You can devise a plan with set of actions in mastering this piece with specific steps which would be needed in order for you to achieve the goal of perfecting this composition. Let's say you want to master this piece in 30 days. Then you would need to look at the length of the piece. If the piece is 10 pages long and you have a due date after 30 days, this means that you have to master one page in three days. It's a very simple mathematical calculation. Now as long as you can stay on track with this plan, practice every day, and master one page in three days, you will achieve this goal. However, you have to also understand that mastering each individual page is not enough for overall perfection of the piece. You must have some additional time for combining these pages into larger units and that will take you more weeks. Of course all of this works only if you are still sticking to your plan, following through and learning one page in three days. So in my example your piece of 10 pages long can probably be mastered in about 60 days, giving 30 days for mastering each individual page and another 30 days for mastering the piece in its entirety. So consider these variables and the above example and you can determine exactly how long it will take for you to master any specific piece of organ music. If you have an upcoming public performance such as a church service or an organ recital and would like to play your organ piece from memory, you have to understand the importance of proper preparation. In this article, I will share with you my recommendations how to best prepare to play your piece from memory in public.
The easiest way to memorize a piece is to subdivide it in fragments of four measures long. In each individual fragment you first will master every single measure. This means playing about five times while looking at the score and five times without looking at the score. Once you can do your measures separately, memorize combinations of two measures The next step is the memorisation of three measures in that fragment. Finally, you will be ready to play from memory the entire four measure fragment without stopping. Do this for every fragment in your piece and remember to repeat a few times all previously mastered fragments at the beginning of each practice session. The next step is to combine two fragments into 8 measures, 16 measures, 32 measures, 64 measures and so on. You simply will be making your fragments twice as long. So little by little with every step you will be able to memorize this piece. Now the question remains whether you will be ready for public performance after that or not? You see although you have already memorized your piece, it takes much deeper practice to be able to perform it in public from memory. You will need about 100 repetitions of this piece on your own. Remember, at first you memorized a piece but now you have to aim to perfect your piece and progress with it to a whole new level of fluency and play it 100 times from memory. So unless you can play your piece 100 times from memory without mistakes fluently, you will not be feeling secure during the public performance and performance anxiety will be quite strong in you. Therefore you have to give yourself an extra time to prepare for public performance. This means you have to be ready at least 30 days before the date of the recital or church service. This takes careful planning and preparation and keeping track of your goals in your everyday practice but if you want to succeed in memorizing your piece and be ready for public performance and actually perform it fluently in public, then my tips will help you to achieve that. (Video) Organ Hymn Playing: How to Deal With Emergency Situations When Playing Hymns in Public7/4/2013 In this video, I would like to share with you some tips about how to deal with the stressful situation in the service playing and hymn playing – basically the emergencies, since emergencies happen from time to time in hymn playing and you‘ll have to prepare for them. Let me describe what I mean by emergency in hymn playing. Imagine that you have to prepare four different hymns for the next Sunday. You have seven days to prepare and you‘re starting to practice these hymns in four-part harmony. So you‘re using this usual technique to place the tune in the soprano with the right hand and then you play the bass in the pedals. You perhaps add the alto line in the right hand part and even the tenor in the left hand so basically this is a complete four-part harmony. You‘re playing from the hymnal - you‘re not harmonizing the hymn tune in four parts. Although there are a wide variety of techniques to perform hymns, this is a normal and usual way of playing hymns on the organ. You have seven days to prepare for the church service and, of course, you are very confident that you will be doing well for the next Sunday. Your have a plan of action for every day of the week and you are starting to deal with these hymns in the usual manner as if they would be short real organ compositions. By that I mean you would take these pieces apart and practice line by line, then two lines at a time, four lines at a time, then the entire hymn from the beginning until the end without stopping in a slow tempo. Also you work in separate voices – soprano, alto, tenor, and bass alone. Then you practice all kinds of two-part combinations, later – three-part combinations and so on until you are ready to play the entire four-part texture. Everything goes well according to your plan but during your practice session on Friday or Saturday evening you discover that you are still making quite a few mistakes. You are beginning to realize that you will not be ready to perform these hymns in public fluently and without mistakes tomorrow after all. The anxiety level increases and you might even have trouble sleeping that night. If you want to find out how to deal with such stressful situation and still play fluently on Sunday at your church service, watch this video. If you have an organ composition that you love and would like to be ready for public performance such as a church service, an organ recital or just informal gathering of friends and family, you have to know how to practice it efficiently and effectively. If you're interested to know my recommendations, please read on to find out.
Before practicing your organ piece you have to decide whether you will be playing it from music score or from memory at that public performance. Some people like challenges, like playing from memory in public. Some people are afraid of playing in public from memory and get a high degree of performance anxiety. They are afraid of losing their memory in technically challenging places. So you have to decide for yourself whether you will be playing a piece from memory or from the score. Keeping that in mind, I still recommend you memorize it. It doesn't mean you have to perform it from memory in public but the memorization process will be for your own benefit and fluency of this piece. So how do you memorize an organ piece? Although there are at least several music memorization systems, I like the following one. Subdivide your piece into fragments of four measures and memorize each individual measure in that fragment. This usually takes about 15 minutes of practice. The way you do this is as follows. Play measure one five times from the score and five times without the score. Do the same for measures two, three, and four. After that memorize two measures at a time: one and two, two and three, and three and four. The next step would be to practice three measures at a time: one, two, three and two, three, four. Finally, you can memorize all four measures the same way. Again, play five times from the score and five times without looking at the score. Can you see where I'm going with this method? The next step would be to memorize the next fragment. Do this for each individual fragment of your piece. After you reach the end of the piece, you have to go back and memorize two fragments in the row. That will be eight measures. Later you will be playing four fragments combined and so on. With every step you will make your fragments longer and longer. Remember that at the beginning of each practice session you have to repeat previously mastered material before learning something new. Try to apply these tips for memorization in your practice and you will be ready for public performance of your organ piece. If you have a list of organ pieces that you love and would like to play them in the way that they will be good for public performance such as an organ recital, then your learning should be in a very deep manner.
You see, it is a one thing to play them for your own enjoyment only. It is completely different thing to master these pieces and prepare for public recital. While practicing for your own enjoyment you can be quite satisfied with your results even though you make quite a few mistakes. This way your organ playing still sounds nice to you but it's a different matter when you want to prepare for an organ recital. You see, some organ recitals are not free and people have to buy tickets. So you have to be in a superb shape during an organ recital otherwise people will not be happy with your results and will feel that they were cheated. So if you want to be in your best shape and play without mistakes during your recital, you have to have a plan. This plan should include specific steps of what you need to do and learn each and every week in order to get to your goal on time. Remember to set your goal date one month earlier than the recital because you have to be ready and prepared at least 30 days in advance. This will give you the time to thoroughly master these pieces. This way when you have your plan, I will recommend to master your pieces by memorizing them. You see, although memorization is not required in an organ recital and you most likely will not play your pieces from memory during your public performance but practicing and memorizing these pieces for your own benefit will be of great help in preparation for you. Therefore your plan and steps should include procedures on how to memorize your each and every piece. The next thing to remember is that the recitals usually include at least half an hour of organ music and most likely more. Generally speaking, the average length of an organ recital is about 1 hour. This means about 50 minutes of pure organ music without stops and registration changes. So in order to be prepared for your public recital you should be practicing in a way that in your practice sessions you will be perfecting your entire recital repertoire. Unless you have 3 or 4 hours a day to prepare for the recital, it is not technically possible to practice all 50 minutes of organ music during one practice session every day. What I would like to recommend is to subdivide your program into two halves and practice the 1st half on day 1 and the 2nd half on day 2 and so on. In other words, alternate the two halves of your program every two days. This way you will be able to play the pieces and perfect previously mastered material on a deeper level than just practicing playing one time through for all 50 minutes of organ music. Apply these tips in your practice as you prepare for organ recitals and remember to schedule and set a date at least one month before, stick to your plan and you will succeed in preparing for public performance. |
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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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