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

Steps for Your Plan to Achieve Your Organ Playing Goal

12/31/2012

In my previous post I wrote about devising a plan which is needed to achieve your goal in 2013. This plan will be your road map for the upcoming year. It won't let you to get lost among many other tasks that you do in your daily life.

However, having a plan alone is not going to help you much. It's too big, too broad, too general for your every day tasks. You need something more manageable, something that you could do every day. In other words, you need to create series of steps for your plan.

So now, when you face the last day in this old year, it's the most crucial time you think about those steps. Because if tomorrow comes and all you have is a plan, you won't know what exactly you have to do that day and in which order.

The best way to go about creating these steps is to take your plan and think what kind of results you should get every month in order to reach your goal on time? If your goal takes 12 months to accomplish, divide your big goal into 12 parts.

Then take each month and think what you would have to achieve each week so that you reach your monthly goals. So you would need to divide each of the 12 monthly goals into groups of 4 smaller weekly goals.

The last step would be to take these weekly goals and divide them into 7 parts, each one for every day of the week. Or if you only want to work for 5 days a week towards your goal, divide them into 5 parts.

Note that it's important to leave yourself some time to relax, to recover and have some flexibility. If anything unexpected comes up that day, you can still make it up during the week.

Take some time to think about these steps today and write them down. This process will give you a strong start for the New Year. Then all you need to do is to implement each of the daily steps and at the end of the year you will reach your goal.

It's like going from town A to town B on the train. Because the train follows a certain predetermined track, you can be sure that you will reach your destination.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Do You Have a Plan to Achieve Your Goal?

12/30/2012

Yesterday I wrote about the need to have a clear goal in mind for the upcoming year. The days at the end of the year are critical, you see, because if you enter the new year without a predetermined goal in mind, you will likely have the same results as you had this year.

So my question is do you like those results? And because you are reading this, my guess is that you want some kind of positive change. So that's where this goal comes in.

Remember, it doesn't have to be a single goal. In fact, it's better to have 3 most important measurable and achievable goals written down.

Hopefully now that you have your goals on paper, think about the exact plan to getting to that goal. Be as specific as possible.

For example, if your goal is to prepare for an organ recital in 6 months, think about what kind of pieces do you want to play. Calculate how many pages are total in your program. Divide the number of pages by the number of days you have left until your planned recital (minus one month). Then you will know exactly how much music you will have to learn each day in order to reach your goal on time.

(And by the way, you don't have to be an experienced professional organist to play an organ recital at your level of competence - you only have to have professional attitude with a sense of responsibility. The wise practice plan will prepare you for it).

Do you see the process here? It's just an example, of course. Write your own plan which suits you and your goal.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Do You Have Your Goal for 2013?

12/29/2012

The New Year of 2013 is almost upon us. As you review what you have accomplished in 2012, it is not too late to think of what will be your goal in 2013.

If you do what you did in 2012, you will have the same results. So the question is do you like what you have achieved in 2012? Or perhaps you are dreaming for something to change?

By the way, I like this definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (Albert Einstein).

So if you practice in the old way in 2013 over and over but expect different results, that wouldn't be very good strategy, would it?

Instead what if you think about what kind of results you want to have in 2013, and then adjust your practice accordingly.

Write your goal down. It will hold you accountable.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Time, Money, Instrument, and Organ Practice

12/28/2012

What to do if you want to practice organ but have to work 40 hours a week to support a family? In such situation it is very difficult to find the necessary finances and/or the time needed to practice organ.

It seems that more than anything a person has to have dedication and yes, it affects the entire family life style.

If no finances are available currently to buy a practice organ/keyboard, such person can apply silent practice, table/floor practice, mental practice without instrument with or without the score. One can even succeed in finding a church organ nearby for practice.

It's all about mentality and attitude. What the mind can envision - the body can produce. Therefore, it's really possible to hear the notes being played on the table or on the floor.

Also, it's possible to practice early in the morning, later in the evening when the family is asleep. You can even practice during TV commercials while watching a movie or a show. Perhaps practicing longer on the weekends will also be a good possibility.

We need not only a better time management but also task management as well to do the things that matter most first and more efficiently.

After a few years, if the motivation to practice continues, one can even save up the money to buy a small practice organ, or electronic or virtual organ with a full range pedalboard.

It's like saving money for the car. At first it seems like a big deal but little by little your money-box begins to fill up. The vision is the most important thing. It lets you believe that in the end your efforts will be successful.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Practice, Motivation, and Commitment

12/27/2012

Imagine a person who hasn't played an organ for 40 years and wants to come back to it since he or she is retired now. Such person wants to commit only to 30 minutes a day of practice.

Would you think he will succeed in reaching his or her goals in organ playing?

We never know the inside of the person so its hard to tell whether this person will have the inner motivation necessary for continued practice and keeping this commitment.

But the fact that he WANTS to come back to organ playing after being away from it for 40 years means that this WAS his dream once. This dream probably never left him only the circumstances were not in his favor for many reasons.

When people retire, some of them have more time to do things which they longed to do for a long time but just couldn't. I wish them success in organ practice because it is their dream.

I think it's better to commit to 30-60 minutes a day at first rather than to force yourself to practice for 4 hours. In the long run, these 30 minutes will do more good than 4 hours a day because after 1 week the person will be burned out and could not keep up the practice at this pace anyway.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Try This in Your Organ Chorale Improvisations

12/26/2012

Today I would like to propose an improvisation exercise based on the Christmas chorale prelude "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her", BWV 606 from the Orgelbuchlein by J.S.Bach. Although this piece lasts less than a minute, you will find a powerful model figure for your chorale and hymn based improvisations.

This piece is constructed in such a way that the soprano part which has the chorale tune together with the alto and the tenor alternate suspirans figure (three sixteenth notes after the rest) most of the time. The pedal part (the bass) has a harmonic foundation and moves in eighth notes using the chordal notes.

Here is how you can implement this figure in your improvisations:

1. Open your hymnal and choose a tune. This can basically be any tune from any period but older chorales work better with this figure.

2. Harmonize a tune in four parts - soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, giving the tune to the soprano part. You can keep the same harmonization as in the hymnal or you can create the chords yourself.

3. Play soprano line (the chorale tune) and the bass line with pedals using the chordal notes.

4. Add the suspirans figure which would alternate between the three upper voices. Be very systematic at first: alto-tenor-soprano. Keep this order until you are fluent with this figure.

BONUS TIP: When there is an interval of the third or the sixth between the voice which has this figure, don't hesitate to add the same figure in another voice - your sixteenth notes would move in sweet sounding parallel intervals.

Remember that it is easier to create your piece on paper first. In fact, you could take 10-20 hymn tunes and compose chorale preludes on paper following this model.

Then you could take the hymn tunes, put them on the music rack in front of you and start improvising your chorale preludes. That's the fastest way to progress in organ improvisation.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Merry Christmas from Vidas Pinkevicius

12/25/2012

This is a short video Christmas greeting I made for you this morning. I hope this Christmas brings much joy and happiness to you and your family.

Organ Music and Emotion

12/24/2012

I receive many questions about playing organ music with emotion.

Should you play with feelings? Should you try to express your feelings through your playing? Should you express composer's feelings as well through your performance?

I think the answer lies in the music.

The more you can understand the music, the composer's intentions, the form, the structure, harmony, cadences, tonal plan, the musical elements that are part of this piece, historical periods and national schools of organ composition, the more informed decisions you can make on the emotional side of such composition as well.

Otherwise, you would be just guessing and the foundation of your guess would be your emotion. Your emotion without proper analysis might be quite misleading sometimes.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Practicing Organ Playing Without a System

12/23/2012

You have probable met some organists whose approach to practice is neither systematic nor methodical. They don't use any textbooks, special exercises, or any particular method.

They start playing organ with repertoire. They play a lot of Bach, Franck, some Buxtehude, maybe Widor, Mendelssohn and other composers. Basically everything which is popular in many countries.

What they do is they play their pieces from the beginning until the end over and over with the hope that SOMEHOW they will perfect them. They don't pay attention to detail, to slow tempo, to fragments, to separate voices, their combinations, and most importantly, to correction of the numerous mistakes. In fact, they don't even notice many of these mistakes.

Sadly, but because they don't have a step-by-step system, their level is not very high. No wonder why many of them get frustrated and eventually, quit organ playing altogether because it's not leading them anywhere.

I hope you are using a methodical system in your organ practice.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Phenomenal Memory of Marcel Dupre

12/22/2012

When people talk about memorization problems their having, I always remember the phenomenal memory Marcel Dupre had. In 1922 he played series of 10 long recitals of complete organ works of Bach at the Conservatoire from memory.

Moreover, what is even more astonishing is that the recitals were spaced out every 2 weeks. Just imagine how much music he must have had under his fingers! He repeated this cycle also in London and in the US later on.

Usually even great musicians have only about 2-3 hours of repertoire under their fingers. But he had 10 long recitals completely memorized and was ready to play any one of them at any given time during his project.

What about you? Maybe his phenomenal skills are out of reach for you now, but you can certainly benefit from his memorization system.

Who knows how far it will lead you?

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.