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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!
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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. Do you struggle in keeping the steady tempo and correct rhythms in organ pieces that are more than 2 pages in length? Or perhaps you are frustrated because your teacher says your tempo and rhythms are off but you just can't seem to notice it? In this article, I will give you 6 tips which will help you to keep correct rhythms in longer pieces.
1. Feel the constant pulse. The most important thing which helps me in playing in steady tempo and in correct rhythms in short or long compositions is feeling of the pulse. Regardless of the difficulty level of the piece, your rhythms will be fine if you will keep the track of the pulse. 2. Count the beats in the measure. When the complicated rhythms throw your playing off balance, try counting the parts of the measure. Make sure you do not miss a single measure because if you do, very likely this is going to be a place where your rhythms are incorrect. 3. Subdivide the beats. Count not only the quarter notes but also the eight notes. If the meter is 4/4, count "one-and, two-and, three-and, four-and". If the smallest rhythmical unit is a sixteenth note, count "one-eh-and-ah, two-eh-and-ah, three-eh-and-ah, four-eh-and-ah". 4. Count out loud these subdivisions. Very often we imagine that our rhythms were correct when in reality they were not. To make sure you are counting correctly, practice saying the numbers aloud. 5. Do not use metronome when practicing. Use it only to check the starting tempo. Imagine that metronome is something similar to a crutch. You can't learn to walk by using a crutch. The same rule is valid in music when you want to learn to play in correct rhythms. You have to use your ears, not metronome. 6. Record yourself. This is a very powerful tip which I hope you will take advantage of. By recording yourself and attentively listening to the recording you can discover the mistakes you just made which otherwise would be difficult to spot. Unfortunately, far too few people are recording themselves in practice. Use these tips when practicing to keep correct rhythms in longer pieces today. They will help you to overcome rhythmical problems in your organ playing. 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 FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. Many organists struggle in playing complicated rhythms correctly. One such situation is when you have to play two notes (duplets) against three (triplets) in the same beat. Because it is quite difficult to hear two different rhythms simultaneously, very often organists either speed up the triplets or slow down the duplets which is obviously incorrect. In this article, I will show you how to practice playing two notes against three correctly.
If you want to master correct playing of duplets against triplets (two against three) try this exercise: 1. Imagine that triplets will become a group of 3 eight notes in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8 or similar meter. 2. Then add an extra sixteenth note to the second note of the triplet, e.g. the entire group will look like this: eighth-sixteenth-sixteenth-eighth. 3. Keeping in mind the rhythm from the previous step, try tapping the triplets with the right hand while tapping duplets with the left hand. Notice how the second note of the duplet in the left hand will be inserted exactly in the middle of the last two notes of the triplet. Practice this group repeatedly (100 times). 4. Repeat the previous step by switching hands. Now the left hand will tap triplets and the right hand - duplets. Practice this version repeatedly (100 times). Shift your focus from duplets to triplets and vice versa and try that each group will sound exactly even. 5. Then take an episode from an actual composition with such rhythms and try to recreate the rhythms you just tapped. If you tried to play duplets against triplets before in this piece, you will notice how much easier the whole business of keeping correct rhythms becomes now. Use these steps in mastering complicated duplets and triplets in your organ piece today. At first, you may find the task of 100 repetitions daunting but don't worry - since the group of three notes is very short, it will take less than 5 minutes to master. 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 FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. |
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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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