Blog Archives - secrets of organ playing - when you practice, miracles happen

It's a battle

8/31/2015

Some people view organ recitals as the battle between the performer and the audience.

If you play for to long, the people who listen to you, will start to get bored.

And if they get bored, your communication and art isn't going to have an impact you seek.

If there is no positive impact, they will not show up to listen to you again next time, they will not tell their friends (except maybe about how bored they were). You don't want that to happen.

We all are walking on the edge of the sharp knife here.

In the end your audience always wins. I've seen this happen more times than I wished. It wasn't pretty.

Get out of there before it's too late.

Mary Murrell and Quentin Faulkners about Bach's organ world

8/30/2015

Welcome to the Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #5!

Listen to the conversation

Today's guests are two experts of Bach organ music - Dr. Mary Murrell Faulkner and Dr. Quentin Faulkner. They have just returned from their 4th trip to Central Germany where they led Bach's Organ World tour. Today they share their insights and wisdom about the instruments that Bach played or visited, about performance of his music, and what it feels to sit on the same bench that our master composer sat on some 300 years ago. I had a privilege to study with Dr. Quentin Faulkner at University of Nebraska Lincoln in 2004-2006 when I was pursuing my DMA degree with Ausra.

Enjoy this inspiring conversation and share your comments below.

If you like these conversations with the experts from the organ world, please help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

Relevant links:
J.S. Bach's Keyboard Technique: A Historical Introduction
J.S. Bach - Basic Organ Works
The Registration of J.S. Bach's Organ Works
Wiser Than Despair: The Evolution of Ideas in the Relationship of Music and the Christian Church
Duetto: Early Music for Keyboard-Four Hands
Concept Tours

Bad habits and creativity

8/29/2015

The funny thing about all habits (good and bad) is that they fill some sort of need in us. A need for belonging, mattering, approval. A need to deal with loneliness and boredom.

So if we have any sort of bad habit (all of us do) which we want to get rid of, we have to think what good habit can we change this into. Because if we just simply try not to do the bad habit and leave the empty need unfilled - it will come back to us eventually.

So how about creativity? Can it replace some of our bad habits?

I believe it can. Whenever you feel the need for (insert the name of the bad habit here), go do something creative (play the organ, write, make, build, paint, draw, invent, compose, improvise, teach, share, you name it) and watch the urge for the bad habit slowly fade away over time.

Just a thought.

Reminders

8/28/2015

Last Saturday in my organ improvisation recital "Egle the Queen of the Grass Snakes" I had quite a few musical adventures - never knew what's lurking around the corner. My feeling was like jumping into the dark pool at night where anything might happen - and anything did happen (here's a video).

I felt very insecure and vulnerable. But I also felt calm and ready. Ready to be vulnerable.

Not everyone like this kind of atmosphere of freedom in their work. Others need precise rules, schedules, and timetable in order to know what's waiting for them in a minute, hour, day, week, or year.

And yet improvisation helps us to appreciate life with all its colors again and to remind us that we're actually human.

It's not over

8/27/2015

Have you had a sinking feeling in your stomach when you play in public and you are unprepared?

Maybe you had not enough practice, maybe the instrument is unfamiliar, maybe the piece is rather new to you.

Do you have a chance here? Can you still perform at a high level? Or is it all over?

The thing is, you have to remember, that you are facing yourself in such situation - your fears and insecurities, your passions and dreams. During the performance it all comes back to you.

But you can learn to control your feelings, you can focus your mind, your can be exclusively concentrated on your breath and on what's happening right here and right now, e.g. the current measure.

Yes, you might be unprepared but you can be ready.

Then you have a chance.

It's all mental.

Learn Bach's Trio Sonata No. 1

8/26/2015

Because a few of my subscribers asked for it, this morning I've finished writing in fingering and pedaling in Bach's Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 for easy practice. If you like this piece and plan to learn it, now is the best time because this score is with 50% discount until September 15.

Check out the score

Play what you love

8/25/2015

You should only pick organ pieces to play which you truly wish to listen to, which you are amazed by, which you can't stop talking about.

Seems obvious, doesn't it? Not nearly as much.

Too often we feel we are forced to play something which we have no respect for, which we wouldn't cross a street for, something which we ourselves wouldn't want to listen to, never mind go to the concert to hear.

But if we switch this around, if we really think about what it is we love in these pieces, then maybe, just maybe our art can make an impact we seek.

Playing what you love isn't sufficient. Loving what you play will make a difference.

The hard truth about organ recitals

8/24/2015

http://vidaspinkevicius.tumblr.com/post/127374585283/nobody-comes-green

You may think that people who came to listen to you play are here because of you but make no mistake they ALL came because they feel you can lead them where THEY want to go.

Slight difference - big change in the perspective of how we approach our work.

They are here not because of you but because of themselves. If you can provide a guidance of some sort or leadership or charisma - they will embrace you and won't let go.

You know why?

Because you help them FEEL better people and because you actually help them BECOME better people.

And you do this not only through your playing of course.

You do this through conversations that happen between you and your listeners outside your recital and more importantly, through conversations between your listeners and their friends who trust them.

They need you to lead them.

That's how you create purpose, mission, and meaning.

Without them we might all just stay home and watch TV.

Jan Karman About Writing Organ Fugues on the Melodies of the Genevan Psalter

8/23/2015

Welcome to the Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #4!

Listen to the conversation

Today's guest is the Dutch composer Jan Karman and he shares with us his insights about his project in writing organ fugues based on the melodies of the Genevan Psalter. Also in this show Jan reveals his compositional process of writing fugues and gives inspiration and advice to students who would also like to compose fugues.

Enjoy this inspiring conversation and share your comments below.

If you like these conversations with the experts from the organ world, please help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends.

You can also subscribe to this podcast on Stitcher and Tunein to listen to your favorite shows whenever and wherever you are, on any device.

Relevant links:
www.ganuenta.com - Jan Karman's website
Fugues on Genevant Psalter
Jan Karman's other compositions

Osarfo Osei BONSO: Messiah No. 4 with Mr Henaku (presbyter), Micheal (chorister) and me at New Town Presbyterian church in Accra (Ghana).

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Getting rid of performance anxiety

8/22/2015

Heart pounding, lost appetite, sweat dripping, a heavy feeling in your stomach, poor sleeping starting a few nights before the recital - that's all the symptoms of performance anxiety.

It comes from perfectionism - how will you look in the eyes of others?

It has nothing to do with how well actually you are prepared or what level you are at or how remarkable your playing is but everything to do with the fear of failure, fear of looking bad in public, fear of getting discovered that you are a fraud.

Now helping others is an emotion you extend away from yourself. You focus making other people happy.

Another factor helps - immersing yourself into situations of controlled risk more often. The more you do it, the stronger you have a feeling that you have what it takes.

I have an improvisation recital tonight which will be based on the Lithuanian dramatic fairy tale Egle Queen of Grass Snakes. My main focus is not on myself, how well I'm prepared, how well I'm going to play, how am I going to look in the eyes of my listeners but on helping people experience and appreciate this fascinating story created live with musical means.

Don't focus on becoming better than others but on helping others become better people. That's all there's to it.