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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: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 632 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Diana, and she wants to know: “Is there a reason for avoiding parallel 5ths?” Vidas: Probably, she means parallel 5ths in tonal music, right Ausra? Ausra: Yes, I guess that’s what she means. Vidas: What do you say to your students, Ausra, when they ask this question? Ausra: Well, I have no words, actually. I have heard this question so many times before, you know, I am simply too tired to argue and to convince people. But you know, if you will not hear the difference when let’s say the hymn is harmonized with parallel 5ths and when it’s not, then I don’t think that I could say anything more. Maybe you could try! Vidas: Yes, good idea for Diana and others who are wondering. Maybe play any type of music, maybe a hymn—your well known hymn, for example, that you’re singing in a church today. Maybe harmonize it in major triads, root position chords like C-E-G if it’s C Major, or D-F#-A if it’s D Major, or G-B-D if it’s G Major. Just major chords, and you will get all parallel 5ths this way, with parallel bass and soprano—between bass and soprano, and then see if you enjoy this kind of sound. Ausra: And if you will, it means that you still need to have a lot of musical training! Vidas: And I don’t think people won’t hear the difference. I think the difference will be noticeable if you play the same hymn from the hymnal harmonization and with this kind of parallel 5ths harmonization. This will be very obvious! As a special exercise, I think this type of writing could be done even in your improvisation, right? But it’s a special style. It’s not for everyday use. Ausra: If you would analyze pieces by early Bach, young Bach, teenager Bach, then you could encounter parallel 5ths occasionally, not very often, but occasionally, yes. But in mature Bach, you would never find parallel 5ths, so I guess that might be true with other composers as well. Vidas: In Bach’s writing, you would even find spots where in order to avoid parallel 5ths, he makes a very intricate voice leading which is not comfortable for the hand. Ausra: That’s right! It astonishes me every time when I’m working on a new piece by Bach and I’m just shouting to Vidas, “Oh you know Bach was a voice leading freak!” Of course, I’m just kidding, but he really took the voice leading very seriously. This is obvious in his major works for organ, like “Prelude and Fugues.” Vidas: And going back to the question about major chords, at one point I was writing pieces for organ just from major and minor root position chords exclusively. They would sound pretty colorful, but I wouldn’t use parallel 5ths very often; I would use strange interval relationships. I would still use probably contrary motion between soprano and bass in order to avoid those parallel intervals but keep the same chord. So for example, if the soprano goes from C to D and the bass goes from C to D we would get two C Major and D Major parallel chords, so instead of this, I would move the bass somewhat downward in a different direction than the soprano and have from C to Bb, and the C Major and D Major I would get C Major and Bb Major chord. Makes sense? Ausra: Yes, sure! Vidas: So this is better. Ausra: And you know, we are talking about avoiding parallel 5ths in the music of the common period, and of course if we would talk about music from the Middle Ages, early organum course the parallel 5ths were perfectly normal. Vidas: Early polyphony originated from Gregorian Chant in a way that it was like commentary on the chant, and at first it was like a parallel motion in parallel 5ths, and octaves, 4ths, with the chant, and therefore it was not independent, but very gradually the motion because more independent between voices, and composers understood the value of contrary motion and independence of voices. Ausra: I think as soon as the major and minor triads and sixths appeared in the music, composers stopped making parallel 5ths. Vidas: What’s interesting… what came first, instrument tuning with major thirds, or musical compositions with major thirds? Ausra: I think they came together. I think they supplemented each other. Vidas: Mhmm! Because at first keyboard instruments were tuned in perfect 5ths, like the Pythagorean tuning system, and in that time parallel 5ths were predominant, and sounds of 5ths were also predominant. We also have the earliest surviving keyboard manuscripts from the 14th century. It’s called the Robertsbridge Codex,” (Estapie Retrove is one of more famous pieces from this collection) or a little bit later in the century, “Codex Faenza.” There, you will find lots of intervals with parallel 5ths. Ausra: Yes, and it was normal to finish a piece with the interval of perfect 5th. Vidas: Open 5th. Ausra: Open 5th or an octave. Vidas: Yeah, but later tuning changed, and the style changed at the same time. We would hear more and more sounds of major 3rds. At first not in a root position, but maybe in the first inversion. Fauxbourdon, it was called. Ausra: That technique of parallel 6th chords was very common, actually, at one point. Vidas: Mhm! It was transferred to the continent from England, actually. John Dunstaple was using that at the end of the Gothic period—beginning of the Renaissance, basically, and then it moved to France and Burgundy. Ausra: Yes, because the major and minor systems were sort of completed during the Renaissance period, and during that period parallel 5ths started to disappear very fast. Vidas: Except in final cadences. Right? Ausra: Yes. Vidas: Because it was still a perfect interval to finish the piece or a section. So, I hope this answers Diana’s question somewhat. But as Ausra says, people need to get more basic training first in order to understand these concepts. Ausra: Sure because the scientist musicologists from ancient times wrote treatises about all these things that we are talking about, and even just about simple intervals you might find many many volumes of treatises written, and so in order to understand that, you need to dig deeper. Vidas: Alright guys, this was Vidas, Ausra: And Ausra! Vidas: Please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, Ausra: 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 In this video I'm going to harmonize in 28 ways Puer natus in Bethlehem chorale tune. Hope you will enjoy it! I will be playing Velesovo sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Transposition for Organists (Level 1): https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Organ Verset Improvisation Master Course: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Organ Hymn Improvisation (Level 1): https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Hymn Harmonization Workshop: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... 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 Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt  Today I'm going to show you how to harmonize Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland chorale tune in 21 ways using 2, 3 and 4 parts. Hope you will enjoy it! I will be playing Velesovo sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Transposition for Organists (Level 1): https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Organ Verset Improvisation Master Course: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Organ Hymn Improvisation (Level 1): https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Hymn Harmonization Workshop: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... 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 Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt 
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 580 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Maureen, and she asks: “Dear Vidas, Please could you suggest suitable music for this particular week in the Catholic Church? I love the harmonies for ‘O Sacred head sore wounded’. Is there an organ rendition for this one? Your suggestions would be appreciated as always. Thank you, Maureen.” V: I think, Ausra, she refers to “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” Right? A: Yes, I guess. This is a famous chorale. V: Passion Chorale. A: Yes. V: For the Passion Week, or Passion Sunday, or for the week before Easter, probably. And actually, I took the initiative and created a Chorale Prelude based on this hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” and it became my composition, too. Let me check which opus number. I think it's Op. 71. So anyway, I hope Maureen will find it useful, and other people. But of course, it’s not about me, there are other composers that created similar Chorale Preludes based on this tune, right? A: For example, what? Could you suggest any? V: Dieterich Buxtehude, definitely. Johann Sebastian Bach. These two are very famous settings. And, obviously any Baroque composer from Germany has created their own rendition of this Chorale tune. A: Well, because I guess this is a Lutheran Chorale, so all the Lutheran composers have composed compositions based on this hymn tune. Although actually, I have heard this hymn with other words, not the Passion words, because this Chorale melody is very famous. V: It’s of course used many times in “St. Matthew’s Passion!” A: Yes, I think it goes throughout the piece. V: By Bach. A: It’s repeated many times, of course with a different text. V: Nice. So obviously, if Maureen takes the collection which is called “371 Chorales by Bach,” this collection was collected or gathered after his death by his students, and published from Chorale harmonizations of his four-part Chorales for famous Cantatas, and also, of course, Passion. So, I remember seeing this particular Chorale setting many times appearing in this collection, so you could get many different harmonizations and well as different keys! A: That’s a nice suggestion, I guess. V: Yeah, you could play different settings soloing out the melody with your right hand, playing all parts on one manual, and maybe even the soprano line one octave lower as a tenor line, but then the tenor line playing one octave higher, exchanging soprano and tenor, basically, and then this would be a perfect way to add the variety of your setting, and the congregation would love it, probably, because it’s very unusual. You could add your own harmonizations if you know how to do it, but you first have to learn how to harmonize. Right Ausra? A: Yes, true. V: So lots of ideas! Pick and choose a few and practice, and send us more of your questions, we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen!
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 504 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Vitold, and he writes: “Good day! This is Vitold from the organist school. Can you send or recommend literature to better understand organ harmony? Because I write those notes and I can't understand where and how those intervals are calculated. The hardest part I ever studied was the harmony I never understood. I played mostly from hearing and finally I would like to learn. Sincerely Vitold” So Vitold is a student from St. Gregory’s organist school, where I teach, this semester, Harmony. And there are something like 14 students in this course. Two are on the second level, and the rest of them are at the beginner level. So Vitold is at the beginner level, and during the first lesson or class, I gave them five hymns to work on, but I didn’t ask them to supply 4-part harmony, yet. Only to supply the bass line to the soprano melody. But, I asked them to think about the sweet-sounding intervals of sixths, and thirds, and octaves and fifths, but to avoid parallel octaves and fifths, and mostly use sixths and thirds in alternation. And, in order to avoid forbidden intervals, aim for contrary motion between the hands. When the soprano goes up, the other voice has to go down and vice versa. So this the general instruction. A: So basically, you are teaching it, not more like a harmony, what I understand is harmony, but more as about counterpoint. V: That’s right. We are starting from there, because before there was harmony, there was counterpoint. A: But, I think as an advanced musician, you need to understand that counterpoint in general is much more complex and difficult than harmony. V: If you take it into consideration the next species of counterpoint, not only note against note, but two, three, four, five mixed counterpoint, right? This is difficult, but from what I assigned, they only have to supply one note in the bass against one note in the soprano. A: But you know, what I understood from Vitold’s question, I think he is in much bigger trouble than he… V: ...realizes… A: ...realizes, yes, because he cannot calculate intervals. It means he doesn’t know what a certain interval is. And, it means that he really needs, probably, elementary music theory, to learn before taking any courses of harmony. V: That’s why I didn’t start with four voices. You know? And the next lesson when we meet, maybe I have to refresh what intervals are, what kind of intervals you can use… A: But then, you know, other guys in that course that know what intervals are will be bored! V: Yes! Yes, that’s true. A: I guess they need to do some sort of entry examination into this organ school. V: They didn’t. A: I know! I remember, I taught there last year for a half a year, and then I quit it, because I had like 18 students at very different levels, and I had to teach all of them harmony. V: So, to help Vitold and others who don’t know what an interval is, I took my camera yesterday and recorded a video about intervals, basically listing all those intervals from the unison up to a perfect octave from the note C, and I calculated their distance in terms of half steps and whole steps. A: Another thing that I was thinking while reading Vitold’s question was that he seems to have some musical training in the past, but hasn’t learned much out of it. So these are the hardest students, I believe, that have some formal training but haven’t learned anything, because, they seem to like to complain about things, resist things that you are offering them, and it’s just really bad. V: If he were a fresh beginner without any training, like a blank sheet of paper, you could write on a blank sheet of paper. But if you have a paper with something written in, you have to first erase incorrect things on that paper, and then rewrite everything from scratch. A: That’s right. So good luck for you, Vidas. I’m glad I’m not teaching harmony there this year. V: Yes, you can laugh at me, now. A: No, I’m not laughing. I feel really sorry for you. V: Or you can build a monument for me. After this semester. A: You haven’t built a monument for me after last year! V: Let’s build a monument for each other. A: Yes, ok. But anyway, harmony is not such a hard thing. If you can count to ten, you can learn harmony, too. V: Obviously, only the first twenty years are difficult. Afterwards it’s easy. A: But, you know, by having an understanding of harmony and about chords and how they are connected and all those things are a big help for a church organist. I cannot imagine being a good organist without having at least a basic knowledge of harmony. Especially if you are working in a Catholic church. V: In Lithuania. Because in more civilized countries, musically, they have hymnals and supplements, and harmonizations of melodies they have to play, and people sometimes can get away without harmonizing things. But in Lithuania, there are only a few hymnals with harmonizations, and the rest is up to an organist. A: So basically, if you are a church organist in Lithuania, you need to be an organist, a conductor, a composer, and cantor. V: Total organist, right? A: Yes, basically Total Organist. V: Like we teach! Excellent. So guys, please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow, and remember: When you practice, A: Miracles happen. SOPP481: What level of harmony I need to follow the course "Prelude Improvisation Formula"?9/17/2019
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 481 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Massimo, and he writes: “Hi Vidas! I have a question about prelude improvisation formula. 1. What level of harmony I need to follow the course? 2. How many hours a day I need to have a good results? Thanks Massimo” V: Remember, Ausra, how I created this course in our summer cottage? A: Yes, I remember it. V: It was quite a few years ago, I think, when Ausra and I were having a nice time relaxing in our summer cottage. We no longer own that summer cottage, but the video of me talking about this prelude improvisation formula in front of a curtain of flowers that Ausra’s mom was growing at the time still is online. So, this prelude improvisation formula is based on my DMA Dissertation. Right, Ausra? A: Yes. V: About improvising keyboard preludes based on the examples of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s Klavierbüchlein. A: That’s right. V: So, I made a course out of that after my, basically, DMA studies. And for the best results, what do you think, Ausra? Do they need to know any chords, any harmony, or not? I have my own opinion. A: Well, if you intuitively are a good musician, then probably not, but overall, I think you have to have sort of a basic level of harmony, understanding of basic chords. V: I wrote to Massimo privately, that knowledge of three note, four note chords would be great—Tonic, Dominant, Subdominant—those chords, and their inversions, of course. Of course, Baroque harmony is probably a different one from Classical harmony. Right? But this foundation wouldn’t hurt for Massimo and any other interested person who wants to learn to improvise keyboard preludes based on the models that J.S. Bach wrote to his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. And then, he asks about how many hours a day. What do you think, Ausra? A: Well, I think this kind of question is partly unanswerable, because it depends on what level you are, and in general what kind of character you are, and how fast can you improve and make progress. So, it might be very different from person to person. V: Yes, it’s like prescribing medicine. A: But anyway, I think if you are doing something, it would be nice to spend at least an hour a day, probably. V: I wrote to him, “Two hours a day,” just to feel safe, that he will see results. After two hours, I think anybody will see results. So it might be, as you say, one hour might be enough, but for some people, they might need two hours. A: So, if you are spending one hour a day for, let’s say a week, and you see that you are making no progress, then try to spend more time, because maybe one hour is maybe not enough for you. V: Yes, and it’s important to master those exercises, and not go through them too quickly. Spend time with them. Maybe some people won’t be able to master them in one week, you know, but maybe they need two or three or more weeks. And that’s ok. They can choose their own speed. What do you think? A: Yes, that’s, I think, what is right. V: Unless we are in a group setting, I don’t think we have to hurry and strive for very fast learning here. Better to feel enjoyment from your practice than a stress that you are not meeting a deadline. A: That’s right. V: Right. So guys, if you are curious about Prelude Improvisation Formula, check it out in our Secrets of Organ Playing store. And of course, our Total Organist students receive this course for free, like anything else we create, without any additional cost. Alright! Thanks, 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.  Today I taught harmony for a group of 14 church organists at Vilnius Cathedral. This course is a part of St Gregory Organ Academy. We will have 4 more classes this semester and today was the first meeting which was combined with liturgical organ playing class. We started with my colleague Paulius Grigonis giving an overview of his course about playing acclamations.
People usually struggle with playing some forms of Amen, Benediction and Preface. So Paulius prepared some sheets with correct answers in one voice notation. The students will have to learn to supply their harmonizations during the semester. Then they tried playing some answers in octaves and in four parts. I also suggested a two part version. During the intermission between liturgical organ playing and harmony classes Paulius asked everyone to introduce themselves starting with me. I told them the story about my first encounter with pipe organ at the village church in Bagaslaviskis when I was in the 3rd grade and my mom had to pump the bellows for 3 hours by hand. Because of this experience I got noticed by the local priest and he asked me to play at the golden wedding anniversary next Sunday for which I received my first ever pay - 25 rubles (an average monthly salary in those days was less than 100 rubles). I also mentioned my organ study at the art gymnasium and at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater and the US. I shared with them how the organ blower died when I played the largest mechanical organ in the world at St Joseph's church in Liepaja, Latvia. Other students also introduced themselves and their reasons of studying at this academy. One answer that stuck was that a person needs a challenge at this point of life where his organist work is already stable and he is in mid 30s. After all the students finished introducing themselves I asked them to play 4 part harmony a small 4 measure fragment of one hymn. Based on their skills I assigned them into 2 levels - 2 people got into the 2nd level and the rest will study from the beginning. I then showed them my handout with 5 hymn tunes for which they will have to provide the bass line only (playing the instrument and on paper in writing). I do this two voice texture intentionally so that even people without formal music education would prepare themselves for 4 part harmony. Students seem to like this approach and I sat down on the organ bench and played very slowly the 1st hymn in two parts saying out loud the intervals that were sounding. The trick was to avoid dissonant intervals of 2nd, 7th and tritone and use consonant intervals of 3rds, 6ths, octaves and 5ths. But there is a rule to avoid parallel 5ths and octaves. This can easily be done by using contrary motion between the hands - when the melody goes up - the bass moves down and vice versa. I asked them to learn to play and write all those 5 hymn tunes for our next class in two weeks. I have high hopes for their advancement. Then I came back home and we celebrated Ausra's birthday with grilling sausages...  After one organ concert at Vilnius Cathedral a colleague of mine came up to me and asked if I could teach harmony this semester for a group of church organists that signed up for their St Gregory school for organists. She wanted me to substitute another teacher who will be busy this semester.
Yesterday I found out I they split the first-year students from second-year students and I will have twice as much work. This might be good though because students can concentrate on their level of advancement. @laputis had taught them last fall but then couldn't continue because of her work at school. There will be a meeting of all the teachers in this school soon to find some common ground between all the disciplines. Besides harmony they will get classes in liturgical organ practice, liturgy, choral conducting, Gregorian chant and of course organ performance lessons. I will be working in tandem with @pauliaz who will be teaching liturgical organ practice. For his classes people will basically have to learn to play all the answers and acclamations that organist has to play in a Mass plus some hymns (perhaps). In my classes of harmony students will have to learn some foundations of harmony and harmonize some hymns, to provide alternate harmonizations for well-known hymn. I suspect they would need my help in harmonizing those acclamations that @pauliakaz would be talking about. I have a video course in Lithuanian about harmony and improvisation which they could surely use as a supplement. I wouldn't want to teach them year after year but I think it would be a nice experience to do this one semester. I even fantasized of creating Steem accounts for them and requiring the students to post their homework to Steem and would give them upvotes as rewards. And of course if they use #palnet, #neoxian, #marlians, #creativecoin, #sonicgroove and#tunes tags they would be earning multiple coins as well. As my friend @contrabourdon can testify these coins convert into substantial earnings which are even greater than Steem. Do you think this could work? Or this would be too scary for "normal" people?
Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 437 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by May, who is our Total Organist student. And she writes: Hi Vidas, Thank you again for addressing to my concerns in details! I have not had the time to spend on the 3 to 4 rhythms yet. In fact, I had to put the sight reading courses aside in order to focus on the harmony (which has been taking 1.5 hours each day from my practice time). I simply don't have the time for writing out the chords beforehand (it would have taken me at least another 45 minutes each day to do so). In your week 11 video, you said it would be easier if we write down the chords before doing the hands on practice. How could practice in writing makes playing easier (for we are not looking at our chords when we play the harmonization anyways)? And, she has questions on the week 11 of Harmony for Organist Level 1 video and exercises.... 1. When you demonstrate exercise 1, you say aloud each chord (and how it connects to the next chord). For the first 3 chords in the 2nd half of exercise 1, I think I hear you say "subdominant". Should they be tonic? 2. In exercise 8, the 2nd note (A) in measure 3 belongs to tonic chord, and the 3rd note (D) belongs to the subdominant chord (See attached). They are apart by a 4th. In what way should they be connected using our rules? Thanks in advance for your help. May V: So, primarily, May is interested in harmony, right? And I wrote to her my answer: Dear May, Writing in practice makes playing easier, because it helps us think faster. But not writing the chords is also fine, but you are exercising a different skill, basically, improvisation on the spot. Answering questions: 1. Yes, in measure 5 and 6, these 3 chords should be tonic. You have a good ear and eye. 2. In measure 3, yes, A-flat is the tonic and D-flat is the subdominant. Do you know skips of the thirds? It means the 3rd in the soprano or the tenor of one chord can jump to the 3rd of another chord, which is a 4th or 5th apart. Common notes are held constant, the 3 voice goes to the nearest chordal note, and the bass jumps to the root of the next chord. Position changes from closed to open and vice versa. Starting from the bass, these 2 chords are spelled F-A-F-A-flat – one more time, F-C-F-A flat, and B-flat-B flat-F and D-flat. Hope this helps. What do you think, Ausra? A: Well, I’m thinking that, you know, you need to know the theory very well, and have quite a good performance skills in order to be able to understand the benefit of knowing theory. I think for beginners, sometimes it’s very hard to understand why we at all need it. V: Mm hm. A: But really, knowing structure of the piece, knowing chords – it really helps. But you need to reach a certain level to feel the benefit. V: And that’s why your kids at school are revolting sometimes? A: Yes, and that’s why, you know, wanting to quit my job almost every day, after you know, teaching for a few hours. V: But if you taught, let’s say adults, who are motivated, they come to you voluntarily? A: Well, you know, I think each age group has its own problems. Because like, kids sometimes don't have motivation but they are very good material to teach, because they can learn things very fast, not realizing that themselves, sort of they take everything from their surroundings. V: Like a sponge. A: That’s right. And for adults, it’s another strength and another weakness. Because we usually don’t question things, why do we need it, because we are more motivated, you know, of learning things. But let’s face it, I feel it on myself, that with age, you lose ability to learn things as fast as you know, let’s say in your teenage years. V: Mm hm. Well, you have to have a constant habit of learning. And many people who are adults quit learning after school. Therefore, one of the reasons it’s harder, it’s just, they don’t exercise this muscle, don’t you think? A: Well, yes, but… V: And I’m not talking about organ or harmony, but in general. A: But I think if you keep learning all your life, you know, you keep learning new things, I think you will be better than other adults that stopped learning, let’s say after high school or after university. V: Definitely. What stops people from teaching themselves something? A: Well, I think sometimes some of them maybe just, you know, already created comfortable life, and they are satisfied with it. V: Living in their comfort zone, and don’t have the need to step out of it. A: Yes, but some of them actually have you know, desire to learn new things all the time. V: Mm hm. A: And some are put in the situation that we have to change something in life to learn new skills, let’s say to find new jobs. So, there are, I think, different situations for different people. V: And people who are comfortable where they are right now, I think they miss opportunities, right? Because every day, we make choices to do this or to do that, to learn something or not learn something. And if we stay where we are, we never reach a high level of our potential. Never realize our potential. And I think we will never reach our potential anyway, because life is short, and we as humans, are… A: Limited… V: Not…I’m using a different…I’m looking for a different word. We tend to save ourselves much more than we should, probably. I’m talking about myself, Ausra, of course. A: (Laughs) V: And you can talk about you, but I’m not forcing you. But yes, I’m tending, I tend to be gentle with myself too much. And therefore, I am maybe not pushing myself that hard, or harder. A: Well, I’m always too hard on myself. So if we would mix our skills together, we would get, you know, like a perfect person. V: I don’t know. I don’t know. A: Very well balanced. V: Never tried to mix two people together, so, two people’s skills together, so it’s really hard to imagine. Okay. But anyway, May’s on the right path with her harmony studies, I think. Even if she struggles with some weeks more than with others. I think her brain will thank her in the long run. A: Let’s hope for it. V: Because constant learning postpones aging and cheats death, too, by proxy. 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.
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 422 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by May, and she writes: Thank you Vidas for sending me this video. I didn't have a chance to watch it yet. The harmony course is challenging enough for me. It's like a brain exercise. With the S-D transposing sequences, I have to first figure out what key it lands on at a major 3rd interval. Then which key is its subdominant and which key is its dominant. I took a long time before I could run through each of the 6 sequences from C major, a minor, Bb major and g minor three times without making mistakes. Today, I just finished watching the week 7 video. I think I have to postpone the sight reading course until after I finished with the harmony course (hopefully in 6 weeks). Otherwise I would not have time to prepare or the music in lent. Actually, how much time we should be spending each day to work on these exercises in order to accomplish the improvement you expect? I guess I can use the pedals with the week 7 exercises. Perhaps I should say I have to use pedals for the bass because it's impossible to reach all 4 notes by hands only in many cases. Thanks again for your advice. May V: So Ausra, how much time should people spend with harmony? A: I don’t know how much time they have and what their final goal is. V: It depends. A: Yes, it depends. V: Well, if you look at your students at school, for example, how much time do they spend, and how much time would you like them to spend? A: Well, it depends on the person. For some, for example, who have good working tempo, they don’t need to do any extra work at home. They can manage to do everything in class. So, we have classes twice every week, so about two hours per week. V: Right, two hours per week, that’s about 20 minutes per day. 15-20 minutes per day. A: Something like that… but of course, people are different. For some, it takes a lot of time. V: I would say the minimum time would be 15 minutes. That would make sense, right? A: Yes. And don’t feel that you have to polish each exercise. It’s not a piece of music that you are going to perform for a recital or a Mass or in a church service, so basically, it develops your musical thinking, and builds up an understanding of how the music is constructed. V: And each exercise that you master will lead to new horizons; it helps to discover something new in later exercises. A: That’s right. So don’t try to perfect them. V: It’s like in sightreading, I don’t think people should spend too much time on one particular piece if their goal is to sightread, or with pedal exercises, too. Playing arpeggios or scales with pedals... it’s enough to do this 15 minutes per day and just move on with the next thing you need to do, because time is limited for everyone. It’s better to perfect something that is useful, practical, than apedal scale, for example, because you can come back to it tomorrow, to the same scale. A: That’s right. V: So, it’s the same with harmony exercises, I would say, too. Ausra says it right. What about improvisation, if people are spending time with improvisation? Do you think they should repeatedly polish the same thing over and over? A: Well, then it probably won’t be improvisation if you would polish the same thing over and over again, it will be more like memorization. And it’s good in some sense, because then you internalize it and can use it easily on the spot. But again, I don’t think you need to play it like a hundred times over and over again. What do you think about it, because you are a master of improvisation? V: Probably not a master, but I do improvise—try to improvise every day. Even before we sat down record this conversation, we played with Ausra our organ duets, which we are preparing for our upcoming trip to the French Alps, but afterwards, I improvised on a Genevan Psalm, Psalm 42, which in German chorale setting would be “Schmücke Dich”--the same melody. I like this collection, Genevan Psalms, they’re very suitable for improvising, and in my case, when I do this at home, I can use it as a basic exercise, like note against note counterpoint, and I played it twice. One was for the right hand when a tune was placed in the soprano, and another time was in the left hand, when the tune was placed in the bass. And then the other voice had to supply the counterpoint. And that’s it. I didn’t work on improving, polishing and otherwise perfecting this setting, so it took me maybe 4 minutes, the entire exercise, because maybe I could later do another exercise—another tune. So, the same is with May, for example, or other people who are doing harmony, and even improvisation. It’s better to move on to the next exercise, once you have the basic foundation of understanding of it rather than memorizing it, I would say. A: True, I think you are very right. V: There is so much to learn in music. You will discover something new everyday, and simply, we will not have enough time to do everything. So just enjoy whatever time you have on the organ, and try to spend no less than 15 minutes a day to see some kind of results. The results might vary, right? “Your mileage might very,” as the car dealers would say to you. It depends how you drive, where you drive, things like that. So the same is with organ playing. It depends on what your starting point was. Right? Did you have anything prior to organ study? Did you play keyboard before or not? Is it your first instrument or not? How early or late in life or not? Whatever musical challenges you have overcome, maybe talent also plays a role here too, right? A: Yes, I think everything is…. V: Connected… A: ...connected, that’s right. V: But probably we should tell people that they shouldn’t get discouraged. That if something goes really slowly for them, and if they, for example, see me doing the same exercise without mistakes in one try, they shouldn’t be discouraged and say, “Oh, I will never play like Vidas.” Right? It’s not the goal to play like Vidas. It’s the goal to play like… A: ...like you! V: ...like you. A: A better version of you. V: Yeah. Today better than yesterday. A: That’s right. V: And sometimes, this progress doesn’t feel with everyday. Right? We need to take a step back every few weeks, maybe to see the bigger picture. Only then, we can see how much we are improving, probably. Right Ausra? A: Yes. V: Thank you guys for listening, this was Vidas, A: And Ausra, V: And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen. |
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Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. 
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