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 698 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Rebekah, and she writes:

1) My dream is to be able to sight-read hymns well enough that a last minute change to a hymn in a church service doesn’t worry me.

2) What’s holding me back is time - I just started playing the organ a little less than 3 months ago, and I can only get to the church to practice 3 days a week. I do practice on my piano at home on the other days.

Rebekah”

Vidas:  What do you think, Ausra? Is this reasonable to hope that Rebekah can sight-read hymns well enough without preparation?

Ausra: Well, it’s reasonable, but not with practicing on the organ only three times a week.

Vidas: You mean it requires more practice than three times 

Ausra:  Sure. Of course. And more time, you know, you cannot work out miracles without doing enough.

Vidas:  Mhmm… yes. So hymns are like small organ pieces. They last about one minute, and there are repetitions of each verse, maybe three, four, or five verses per hymn, and you can change manuals, change registrations. That requires extra practice. Right?

Ausra:  Yes, and at home, she practices only on the piano, so the solution would be either to get a cheap electronic organ or at least to print out a paper pedal board and put it on the floor near the piano, and then when she practices hymns on the piano pretend that she is playing pedals, too.

Vidas:  And even without pedals on paper, she could approximately push the feet on the ground approximately where it is on the left or on the right, in the middle, just muscle memory. It requires a little bit of imagination, right? 

Ausra:  Yes. Sometimes if I would be a beginner organist and I would have to play, to sight-read hymns in the service, maybe I wouldn’t use pedals in the church. For example, if she has more than one manual on her organ, maybe she could play the bass line with 16’ on the other manual.

Vidas:  Yeah, yeah! Probably it’s a good idea not to risk making mistakes in public with pedals at first, so I agree. Playing just manuals would be a good solution.

Ausra:  Yes, and in that case what would you omit, tenor voice at all, and play, let’s say, alto and soprano in the right hand and bass with her left hand on the 16’?

Vidas:  Right. I would play a three part harmony and omitting… probably tenor would be a good idea, because playing two voices in the left hand requires extra skill, extra strength, but you know, what helps is actually to work on a hymn like it’s a four-part piece, and actually play the tenor line and play the pedals, the bass line on the pedals, but on your own. Not necessarily in public right away. When you feel ready, you can add one extra layer of difficulty.

Ausra:  Yes, but she doesn’t have access to an organ so often so she could experiment and play the tenor voices you just mentioned. So, but basically in time, I think it will be easier and easier, because the hymns will start to repeat themselves. So probably, the first year of her work at church is the most difficult.

Vidas:  You would actually make a goal the first year. You could play three parts without the pedals, and then…

Ausra:  No, no, no! An entire year without pedals I think that would be inappropriate at all!

Vidas:  Inappropriate?

Ausra:  Because you need to play with the pedal in order to improve, not to postpone it for one year.

Vidas:  No, no, I’m saying in public. If she’s not ready yet, she could do an entire year just with manuals.

Ausra:  No, no! I don’t think that’s a good idea, because if the congregation sings along, they need a strong pedals part. That’s a crucial thing in the hymn accompanying.

Vidas:  Okay, then a month or two?

Ausra:  Yes, maybe a month or two?

Vidas:  And then after that add the tenor voice? But also add pedals! You need pedals.

Ausra: Of course, definitely.

Vidas:  So, when you add pedals, don’t play the bass line in the left hand. Don’t double the bass line in the left line and pedals.

Ausra:  Yes, because what I suggested, playing without pedals, was just in extra cases when you have a change of the hymns unexpectedly and  you haven’t had time to practice it on the organ! Then you can do it manually.

Vidas:  Mhmm

Ausra:  And actually, if you are in a real hurry and in real trouble, what you can do actually is you can accompany the hymn in octaves. That’s also very handy and a useful tool to have and to know. So you can do it, either play both hands on the manual in octaves, or you could play only the right hand playing melody and to double the same melody with the pedals. And usually, if you are not using your left hand, you should be able to work on the pedal part. It’s much easier that way.

Vidas:  Actually, you could do three voices at a time, three parts at a time maybe. Right hand, left hand, and pedals, all of them playing the same melody in octaves.

Ausra:  Yes, that’s true.

Vidas:  That would be very powerful. Of course, you need a powerful registration with a principle chorus and mixtures.

Ausra:  Yeah. 

Vidas:  And reeds in the bass.

Ausra:  So I think this kind of hymn accompanying would work well for opening and closing hymns. Maybe not so much for hymns in the middle of the service.

Vidas:  Or very festive occasions like Christmas and Easter. What about some help from our courses? Would she benefit?

Ausra:  Sure, of course!

Vidas:  So, I think Rebekah could use our “Hymn Playing Workshop” or “10-Day Hymn Playing Challenge.” They are very helpful in their way. The “Hymn Playing Challenge is a PDF based course, and “Hymn Playing Workshop” is a video course. Right, Ausra?

Ausra:  Yes, I think it will be very helpful. Also, you know, if, let’s say now the Advent will begin soon, you can start practicing Advent hymns, you know, the most popular Advent hymns in advance, and then when Advent will come, you may start working on the Christmas hymns.

Very good idea. So, guys, thanks so much for listening, for sending us 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 Buy Me a Coffee platform and get early access:

​A: Find out more at https://buymeacoffee.com/organduo

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!

Vidas: Hi guys!  This is Vidas.

Ausra:  And Ausra.

V: Let’s start episode 649 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Doug, and he answered my question, What is your goal in organ playing, and what are some challenges that he faces when he tries to reach this goal.  So the goal is to become a church organist, and basically advanced in hymn playing.  And the challenges are three:

1. Pedal techniques.
2. Taking a hymnal with one line and converting it to swell, great and pedals on the fly.
3. Grand Orgue or Hauptwerk conversion for home organ to practice on.

It’s interesting, right?  Shall we talk about the goal, or about challenges first?

A:  Well, it’s up to you.

V:  All right, let’s talk a little bit about the goal:  To become a church organist and excel in hymn playing.  Obviously it’s a good goal if people want to apply their skills in a church setting.

A:  Sure, it’s actually a very common goal.

V:  And obviously hymn playing would be the bulk of what you do in church.

A:  Sure, especially if you are like in the Protestant congregation.

V:  Yes.  Some other denominations require psalm playing, anthems, accompaniments.  If you have a choir then even you have to direct the choir, lead the choir, accompaniments like that are also sometimes important.  And it wouldn’t hurt to play some organ pieces, liturgical organ pieces for prelude and postlude at least.

A:  Sure.

V:  If not for communion or offertory.  But I guess hymn playing can substitute those things, too.  But congregation would thank you I think  if you played a short piece at the beginning of the service and at the end of the service as well.

A:  But definitely leading the congregational singing and hymn accompanying is probably the most important tool for church organist.

V:  Yes.  Once you can play hymns, you can advance a little bit further in real organ playing, solo organ playing too.  Talk about pedal techniques, I don’t know what he means.  What do you think he means with challenge in pedal techniques?

A:  Well, since most of us come to organ bench after having some piano background, usually the pedal is the most scary part of playing the organ.

V:  So maybe it’s safe to say that he, in general, struggles to play pedals, right?

A:  Yes.

V:  So what can we recommend?  Probably recommending Pedal Virtuoso Master Course could be a little bit too advanced for him.  If you only want to be church organist, maybe you don’t need pedal scales and arpeggios for that.  But we have another smaller course, Pedal Playing, I think Workshop it’s called or Mini Course - 10 days I think Workshop basically, where you play for 10 days basic pedal exercises, and can afterwards, I think, play bass lines of any hymn without much difficulty.

A:  That might be very useful.

V:  So that’s one recommendation.  Another challenge he faces is that he wants to take a hymnal, and his hymnal only has soprano line if I understand correctly, and then he needs to convert or harmonize it in four parts, swell, great, and pedals.  First of all, you don’t need to play on two manuals, hymns.

A:  Definitely not.  You could do that with accompaniment sometimes but really not always.

V:  Yes.  Just one manual is fairly sufficient.

A:  Because most often you play on one manual you do like soprano and alto voice with your right hand, and then tenor voice with your left hand, and bass line with the pedal.

V:  Exactly.  So for this, obviously we are talking about the skill in harmonization.  Well, if, you are obviously an advanced harmony teacher, what would you recommend?

A:  Well, I don’t know how well he knows music theory in general, but definitely that’s a challenge.  If you are uneducated in music, haven’t had any music theory lessons, then I wouldn’t recommend for you to harmonize hymns for yourself.  Because there are so many hymnals.  Maybe you could use the harmonization for a particular hymn from the other hymnal that has all the four parts written in.

V:  Well exactly.  Let’s say you need to play four or five hymns that week.  Your pastor or priest selected hymns for you, and you need to figure out the accompaniment.  If you are proficient in harmonization, you could supply alto, tenor and bass parts yourself, but if not you could look up that kind of the same hymn setting, let’s say online.  Just Google. Cyber Hymnal I think is one of those sources you could find a lot of useful hymns and different harmonizations too.  So you just print it out and play what’s written over there.

A:  Sure, because if you look at any given hymnal, you could find hymns written in, composed in various styles.  And being able to harmonize them yourself, you really need to understand the difference between the styles.  Because if it’s four-part hymn let’s say from 17th century Germany, it would be harmonized in one style, but if the melody is based on Gregorian chant, then completely different rules of harmonization would apply.  So basically, it’s always a challenge, and if let’s say the melody of the hymn is composed at the end of the 19th century, then definitely your harmonization will have more advanced and more chromatic.  So it’s a challenge really, even for professionals.

V:  And we can’t forget contemporary melodies, right?  Which work well with let’s say, jazz style chords or pop-oriented music chords.  That’s also a different style, right?

A:  So I guess the best suggestion would be really try to obtain those hymns that would be harmonized for you already and you wouldn’t have to worry about it.  Because learning to harmonize them yourself, it’s a long process.

V:  Yes, but if you really want to learn to harmonize, don’t jump into our I think Organists, Harmony for Organists Level 1 Course straight away if you don’t know basic chords yet.  If you don’t know three-, four-note chords and their inversions and how they are resolved into tonic chords and the rules for resolution, then you need to take Basic Chord Workshop first, where I teach those chords in one hand setting, basically all those chords could be played with one hand, not two hands like in four part setting.  In closed position basically.  So that’s the preliminary skill you need to master, foundations of those course, and then you can move on to Harmony for Organists Level 1.

A:  Yes.  It’s very, it’s a long process, but it’s worth trying, because you will get really useful skill for your future.

V:  And the last thing he struggles is to find Grand Orgue or Hauptwerk conversion for home organ to practice on.  Obviously it’s very nice to have virtual organ, either Grand Orgue or Hauptwerk for home use, because you can listen and hear the sounds of real instruments produced virtually.  Each pipe has been recorded, not generated synthetically like a synthesizer, but organ samples have produced and went to the church, recorded each and every pipe in several different ways: short, medium length, long length of each pipe and then created a sample set, which obviously encompasses the acoustics of the church as well.  If it has reverberation, you would get the same feeling as being in the church while playing that sample set.  So that’s what Hauptwerk or Grand Orgue uses today.  Except Grand Orgue is no longer developed.  The basic version of Grand Orgue was developed at first, it was like the first version of Hauptwerk I think, which was made open source, free of charge right now.  And then it stopped being developed because it’s free.  There’s no incentive for developers’ work on the software if you don’t get any reimbursement.

A:  Well, but if you don’t want to play repertoire, perform recitals at home, only to learn hymns, then I think it’s quite sufficient.

V:  Yeah, at least for starters.  You don’t know what you will need five years from now, all right?   So maybe if you start with free software like Grand Orgue, it doesn’t hurt right now.  So you could look up at our tools what we use for Hauptwerk setup on our website we have: organduo.lt/tools and you will see how we have set up Hauptwerk at our home, maybe you will get some ideas for yourself.

A:  Yes, why not?

V:  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.

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

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.

V: Let’s start episode 643 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Whitney, and she writes,

My challenge is with getting enough courage to play hymns with pedals. I can do it fine when practicing, but I get way too nervous when I’m playing at Mass.

V:  Hm. That’s a good question, right Ausra?

A:  Yes, I think all beginners go through this stage when you are scared to add pedals.

V:  It can be compared with any type of new skill that you are trying to build up, and when you want to play it for yourself, it’s one thing, but when you present for others, it’s completely different.  Let’s imagine you want to improvise for yourself, right?  Yes, it’s confusing sometimes, but you can feel much safer than playing for others, correct Ausra?

A:  Sure.  Well, you know what I could suggest for Whitney to do - when she practices for herself, let her imagine that she is playing in public.  You can do that sometimes.  You can trick your mind sometimes.  And you might get as nervous during practice as you get in a real performance.  And that might help to control that stress level that you get.

V:  And one way to do that is obviously to record yourself, even with video.  Put a cell phone, if you don’t have a tripod, just position maybe further away from you so that your hands and feet would be visible, and play that hymn, right?  Several stanzas.  And you will soon discover how different you feel when you know that you are being recorded, correct?

A:  Sure.  And also, never skip practicing with the pedal and playing in public with the pedal while accompanying hymns, because I think the pedal is crucial for hymn singing.

V:  Plus, if you skip playing with pedals, let’s say you’ve been practicing a hymn or a few hymns for a week, and then Sunday comes and you have to present it with the pedals, but you suddenly get stressed out and play only manual parts, then what happens is that you suddenly sacrifice your progress, right?  This one day.

A:  Yes, that’s very true.  Because I think that things will get easier the more experience of public performing you will get.

V:  Another thing that seems strange from Whitney’s question is that I’m not sure she’s practicing hymns correctly.  Because she writes “I can do it fine when practicing,” but then she’s getting way too nervous when playing at mass.  So I assume she would play the manual part, correct, when playing in the hands, she would need to do soprano/alto in the right hand and tenor and bass in the left hand part, correct Ausra?

A:  Sure.

V:  When playing with pedals, the correct way of playing hymns is to omit the bass in the hand and play it instead with the pedals.  Don’t double hand and feet.

A:  But very many beginners actually do that.

V:  So my question is, if you can do it the right way for yourself, how can you suddenly, suddenly play all four parts in a different arrangement - two parts in the left hand instead of just one part in the left hand, right away in public?

A:  I think it’s not such a difficult thing, because most of organists come from the background of being more or less pianists.  So I think it’s easier to manage two voices suddenly with the left hand than one with the pedal.

V:  Another explanation is that she is doubling the bass line in the left hand part, and then she just drops the bass in the pedals and plays the hands.

A:  Yes, that’s also possible.

V:  That’s more than likely to me.  Because I’ve seen it over and over again.  And this is incorrect.  This will slow down your progress.  It actually is counterproductive.

A:  It is, yes.  But you know, some people might add that we have all these various organ stops in the instrument.  I mean, 16, 8, 4, 2 and so on and so forth - and that we have that one single note doubled or tripled, or four-tuplet many, many times.

V:  Quadruplet.

A:  Quadruplet, yes - four tuplet!  (laughs) My English is not so good, but you know what I mean.  And people might ask you, then what is the problem if I’m doubling bass in the pedals with my left hand?  Because organ already doubles everything everywhere.  What could you say for people?

V:  Obviously, you don’t have to take my word as 100% truth.  It’s okay to play with hands only, without the pedals.  It’s okay to play two parts, soprano and bass.  It’s okay to play the trio texture without one of the inner parts.  It’s okay.  And as long as you have variety and still play some four part texture as well, yes Ausra?

A:  Yes.

V:  You can play five parts if you want, or six, with double pedals.  (laughs)  You see?  There is no one right way to do it.  And you can solo out the melody, the chorale line on a different manual, taking the alto and tenor in the left hand part.  Or you could even play soprano part in the left hand, but left hand but one octave lower - that would be in the tenor - and switch tenor and soprano in the right hand part.  That would be interesting, this position.  Various creative ways to play hymns, but more advanced, obviously.  So, least advanced way to play hymns convincingly and still build up your pedal technique and independence of hands and feet is by playing four parts, soprano/alto in the right hand, tenor in the left hand, and bass in the pedals.  So, final thoughts, Ausra?

A:  Yes, I agree with you as always.

V:  Not always you agree with me.

A:  Okay, okay.  But I agree this time.

V:  Yeah.  Do you agree that people should record themselves?

A:  Yes, it’s very helpful.  You know, what would be a correct way to say it?  If you want to live in peace right now, then maybe don’t record yourself.  Because the recording will trouble you a lot.  But if you want to be at peace in the future, then better record yourself today, and your recording will teach you a lot.  It will teach you more than a good teacher can do.  Because when you listen to yourself from the side, you will suddenly realize what you lack, and what you should do in a different way, and what you are doing right.  It will teach you a lot.

V:  Exactly.  It’s like preparing for a competition ahead of time.  Preparing for a stressful situation.  Do it yourself right now, something more difficult, so that later you will be well prepared and feel easier, okay?  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.

​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 BMC and get early access to our videos.

A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying and buymeacoffee.com/organduo

In this video you will hear me play and sing ABIDE WITH ME hymn in Polish ABIDE WITH ME Hymn in Polish (Stój przy mnie bo już wieczór zbliża się) at St Joseph's Church in Vilnius on September 26, 2020. Hope you enjoy it!

Vidas Pinkevicius performs some of the favourite hymns on Rotterdam Sint Laurenskerk (main organ) sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO.

PROGRAM:

0:00 Introduction
0:33 Amazing Grace
7:37 For All the Saints
13:52 Ein feste Burg
20:41 Old Hundredth
26:05 Abide With Me
33:32 I Love to Tell the Story
44:34 Slane
52:15 Nearer My God to Thee
01:00:54 Anima Christi
01:06:00 Finlandia

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

 Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
 
Ausra: And Ausra!
 
V: Let’s start episode 535 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by James, and he writes:
 
“Thank you for your podcast, it has been a great help. I have played the piano for 25 years and the organ at my church for 17, but was only able to take organ lessons for the first 2 years, the rest has been essentially self-taught. Your podcasts have been very informative.
 
1. my dream for organ playing: I know I will never be a concert organist, but I would like to be able to really make my church organ sound great, and select unique registrations throughout the Mass.
2. The 3 most important things holding me back:
a. over the years, I have basically settled for just a handful of different basic registrations for hymns, etc. without much variety
b. my church has a relatively small, 22-rank, 2-manual Zimmer pipe organ, installed in 1999, which is almost completely enclosed inside an alcove, and doesn't "sing" very well. The church is the size of a cathedral, but I'm afraid the organ is too small for the space.
c. I have never had formal instruction in the theory of organ registration, other than what I have learned on my own. I know the basics of building a principal chorus, understanding overtones and harmonics, etc., but my registrations are still very "boring" in my opinion.
 
Again, thank you for your podcast and teaching, and I look forward to any advice you can give me.
 
-James”
 
V: So, Ausra, James has a problem with registration. He wants to make his organ sound great, and his registrations to be unique, so to say.
 
A: Well, don’t we all want to do something beautiful, and to register nicely. But the problem is that I think that when you are asking about registrations and about how to register a certain piece, or in general how to select the best registration, actually, you need to give us the specification list of your organ. Because otherwise, you know, we might be talking about different things, because it’s sort of hard to suggest something without seeing the actual stops. And even when having the list of stops, you still might need to adjust something, because you really need to listen to the organ in the real situation. But, I guess if his church is the size of a cathedral and he has only 22 stops, it might be too small for such a room. Another thing, you know, when you register, you also need to think about reverberation—if the room is reverberate or not. It also means a lot. But I thought about his asking how to increase sound of the organ, so basically what you could do, either to add the manual couplers, or in some cases, you would probably need to play things an octave lower. That also might help sometimes, because, for example, we have so many organs built in Orgelbewegung style, that have these screamy, ugly, sound mixtures… not all of them, of course, but most of them actually have them. So it sounds nice when you play things an octave lower when it has more of a sort of a round and nice sound.
 
V: Yeah, I’m not sure if this applies to him, because we don’t know the specification. We don’t even know the composition of the mixture—if it’s a low mixture or if it’s a high mixture. But in general, what he can do is to thicken the texture a little bit. Play with… I don’t know how his organ technique is—well advanced or not—but he could play in more than four-part texture. More parts per chord. Right? Is that necessary?
 
A: That’s a possibility, but it doesn’t always work. But, you know, he thinks that he sort of registers pieces the same all the time, like hymns. But I think it’s not a bad idea. You know? Because, I think when you are working as a church organist, you develop some sort of routine, and this is good. Maybe you don’t want to experiment every time, and you need to be ready in advance. But of course, what you could do, and we have talked about it, actually in our previous podcasts, that you could project, let’s say, the Cantus firmus, on one manual, and play other voices on another manual. And your Cantus firmus could be either in the Soprano, as most hymns are written, but you could also play it in the tenor voice, and even in the bass sometimes works, too. That would be also a possibility to do something different.
 
V: Yes, not only his registration should change, but maybe the manner of playing!
 
A: True.
 
V: Spice things up. Make it more colorful and interesting. Maybe add some non-chordal notes, like passing tones and neighbor tones, suspensions, re-harmonize.
 
A: Yes!
 
V: I don’t know if he has some skill in that or not, but that could certainly be a possibility, and a 22 rank 2 manual organ might sound like eight stops per manual plus additional stops in the pedals. So, if you have something like 8 stops in the manual, this could be something like 8’ Principal, 8’ Flute, maybe a Gamba, maybe 4’ Principal like Octave, maybe a 4’ Flute, then maybe a 2’ Principal, probably (a Super Octave), Mixture, and a Trumpet, probably. What else… maybe instead of a string stop, he might have a fifth stop (2 2/3’) instead of that on the first manual. I’m just guessing, of course.
 
A: Yes, this is just a hypothetical thought, because we don’t see the specification lists. What else could he do, because he wants to find new registrations? Sometimes you might use only 4’ Flute alone in some soft interludes, for example. It works nicely if you have some sort of canzona-like piece, which is a little bit polyphonic, and it has a joyful character—a joyful, sweet character. You might try the 4’ flute alone.
 
V: Or 4’ Principal.
 
A: Yes. Or sometimes 4’ and 2’ stops, if they are soft enough—if the 2’ is not too screamy.
 
V: If it has a Trumpet, you could play the harmony with the Trumpet, as well, in a festive situation.
 
A: Yes.
 
V: Or, if you have a Cantus firmus in the soprano, you could solo it out, take it on another manual with a reed stop, or a Cornet stop would work on the second manual, for example, in general, taking it on two manuals, not on one, gives more colorful options. Then, of course, your solo stop could be played in the tenor range, with the left hand.
 
A: That’s right. And we don’t know if he has a 16’ stop on the manual, but if he does, he might play some music also on two manuals, and he could accompany with his left hand, with the 16’ and 8’, and then add some higher pitched stops on the other manual for solo voice.
 
V: Or even re-harmonize the four voices or three voices, soprano alto and bass, and play the pedal with the reed, if he has an 8’ Trumpet, and in the tenor range, not in the base range.
 
A: And in general, if he has some assistance, it would be really nice if he could go to listen to his organ from the side.
 
V: Record himself.
 
A: Or yes, if he doesn’t have help, he might record himself, and to listen to those various combinations, and then he might decide what works, and what does not, and in general, if he has a big hall during Mass, for example, then of course, he needs to consider that he needs to use more stops than if playing in church alone, because people will just eat up the sound.
 
V: Right. He doesn’t say that he wants to be a concert organist, but it doesn’t hurt to play pieces that could be supplemental to the liturgy in addition. That could be part of the concert repertoire, but that could be liturgical chorales, or chorale preludes. And with these, you could experiment with even more colorful registrations.
 
A: That’s right. So, I think that a 22 rank instrument is fairly enough for experiments.
 
V: Yes. Hopefully, he can take advantage of this, and share his music with the congregation, and hopefully get feedback—nice feedback.
 
A: I know, but also, you don’t have to do experiments like play with mixture stops alone. That definitely wouldn’t work.
 
V: No. People hearing it will scream.
 
A: So, I guess the organ in general is quite a conservative instrument, so you need to apply certain rules, and not experiment too much.
 
V: Alright 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.

Yesterday I had my 3rd harmony class for church organists where I taught people how to add a middle voice to the hymn tune. Previously the homework for them was to supply only the bass line but now the texture sounds much fuller.

Three-part harmonization is very useful when you have church choir without tenors. This is very often the case in a lot of church choirs in Lithuania. Men voices in general are more rare than women's voices but tenors are twice as rare.

So the way the two-part harmonization works is only to employ intervals which sound sweet or pure - major or minor 3rds, major or minor 6ths and perfect 8ves and perfect 5ths. However, people had to avoid parallel 5ths and 8ves by writing as much contrary motion as possible - if the melody goes up - the bass goes down and vice versa.

Two classes in a row we worked on this arrangements of voices and actually it already sounds nice, if played with a full Principal chorus with mixtures. For some students this is easier than for others, of course. It depends on their talent, skill level and experience.

While adding a middle part, people were free to imagine it as an alto or as a tenor or a combination of both - writing it either in the upper or the lower stave. The rules are basically the same as before - no parallel 5ths and 8ves and no hidden 5ths and 8ths either - when jumping into a 5th or an 8ve from the same direction. Only opposite motion here is OK. No dissonances (2nds and 7ths).

Most importantly, in every chord use either all 3 chordal notes (like C-E-G), or if you must skip something, skip a 5th (G in C-E-G chord), but leave a 3rd of the chord (E in this case).
I plan to have one more class with three-part harmonization before moving into a full SATB texture.

​Try it out if you're curious how it works on any melody you like.

Vidas: Hi guys!  This is Vidas.
 
Ausra:  And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 507.  This question was sent by Dan.  And he writes: 
 
Hi Vidas and Ausra, Hard to believe that you guys are almost up to 500 episodes already.  Seems just like yesterday that you started the podcast.  I’ve been a listener right from day one.  To comment on this episode, another thing that an organist could do during service, if playing a hymn that’s less familiar, is to solo out the melody  on a second manual, with a prominent reed  stop, a couple of principals, or a suitable combination on that second manual, so that the melody could be heard.  I’ve observed over the years that this is a technique that I’ve heard organist use, to assist congregations with new material.  Our organist that we had when I’d first started going to the church I’m going to, back in 2000, if there was an unfamiliar hymn,  before the service, he’d take maybe 10 minutes and go over it.  Then during service, for the first verse, he’d solo out the melody, on the festival trumpet on the choir division of the organ there.  I think in the service, soloing out the melody of a hymn, is a good technique to assist the congregation right from the organ.
 
A:  Well, it is a good technique, and I think it might work in many cases, but in Lithuania, for example, we have many, many churches where an organ has only one manual, one single manual, so that technique simply wouldn’t work.  And in that case, I would suggest if you want to really make a melody very prominent, you need to play it in octaves on that single manual.
 
V:  No other chords?
 
A:  No other chords, yes.  No supporting harmony.  Mainly to play the hymn melody in the pedal, and then to do it in octaves with your hands.
 
V:  So for example, if the starting note of the hymn is, let’s say, treble C, your left hand would play tenor C, and pedal would play bass C, the lowest note.
 
A:  That’s right.
 
V:  In three octaves, basically.
 
A:  Yes.
 
V:  Mm hm.
 
A:  Because, this is like a dream, when Dan talks about Festive Trumpet.  How many organs in Lithuania have a Festive Trumpet that is in shape good enough to be able to play it?
 
V:  Yeah.  First of all, reeds need to be tuned regularly.
 
A:  True, true.  But of course, you know, we are living in a different world.  And each time when Vidas and I go abroad to give recitals, the most amazing thing for me is how well organs abroad are taken care of.  Because, whenever you go to France or to Scandinavian countries, organs are in the best shape, although some of them stand in unheated churches, and still everything is right in tune.
 
V:  Well, it’s very simple actually.  Organist takes care of regular maintenance that you need to work on, for example, tuning the reed or a flute or two if it’s out of tune a little bit.  But less often.  Reeds are more often, right? Most often, organist has to have an assistant helping him or her.  So just one person has to press the keys on the organ console.  The organist has to go into the pipes and tune those reeds.  Sometimes reeds are not far away.  They can reach, he can reach it from the organ bench or from the ground floor, too.  But, if organist takes care of regular reeds maintenance, then he or she has to have a good training in this.  It’s not for everyone, right?
 
A:  True.  And in Lithuania, we lack that sort of training.  Most of organists just have no idea what is inside of the instrument, and have no idea how to maintain it.
 
V:  And no interest in it.
 
A:  True.
 
V:  Basically no interest in finding out even how the organ functions.
 
A:  And this is jsut too bad because we have so many beautiful churches.  Especially in Vilnius, most of them are built in the Baroque style, and we have wonderful acoustics.  But organs aren’t in good shape, many of them.
 
V:  And for example, organists write their registration without any regard of what stops they’re using, right?  They would write down numbers.
 
A:  That’s right.
 
V:  But they don’t know what those numbers mean.  When they go to another organ, they have to start their registration process all over again.  Because number 5 or number 18 doesn’t tell them anything. 
 
A:  That’s right.
 
V:  So that’s one thing.  They’re not interested into technicalities of the instrument.  And another thing is that a church has to have a contract with an organ building firm. 
 
A:  Well, you need to have an organ building firm.  Do you remember when we tried to get hold of some organ firm that would take care of our organ at St. John’s so that we wouldn’t have to do it regularly?
 
V:  Nobody wanted it.
 
A:  Nobody wanted it, nobody took that position.  So we do everything ourselves.
 
V:  Mm hm.
 
A:  Basically, it’s because we don’t have many organ building shops in Lithuania anymore.
 
V:  Only about two, I would say, are left.
 
A: Yes.  It’s not enough.
 
V:  There is some sign that one or two younger people are more interested in this, and in the future might open their practice.
 
A:  Well, but you know, how will you make a living?  It’s very hard.  They would not receive many new contracts, and only take care of old instruments.  Who will pay you for doing that work?  Usually, you know, church doesn’t want to pay for it.
 
V:  If you travel around the country just doing maintenance, let’s say on weekdays, right?  Five days a week, you can travel to five organs.
 
A:  True.  And I think that what makes this all issue, is that so many people don’t understand about organ at all.  And even well-educated people don’t.  Because I remember maybe ten or more years back, we had this question risen in Vilnius, because of St. John’s church organ.  I think the rector asked, “So, we built an instrument, we paid so much money, and now it needs tuning, it needs maintenance?”  He couldn’t believe it.  So, it’s just such a narrow-mindedness, I would call it.
 
V:  Yeah.  Organists have to do more education.  Educating activities, showing for the general audiences how their organ works, how much is needed to maintain it, right?  And even organ builders who are left here still active in the country need to open their shops for the society.  For the general audience, once in a while.  And invite and give tours to show how the pipes are constructed, how they work on new organs or restorations of old instruments.  That would be very interesting.
 
A:  Yes, it would be. 
 
V:  Excellent.  So we started this conversation with a question from Dan, right?
 
A:  And finished it very differently.  But anyway, it’s so nice that Dan has listened to our podcasts since the first episode, and that he now wonders about us doing 500 already. 
 
V:  Yes, this is number 507.  So we already passed number 500.   By the time you will hear this, guys, we might be recording 520 perhaps.
 
A:  Yes, that’s a possibility.  But anyway, I think Dan’s idea about soloing out the melody is very appropriate.  And if you have larger organ and have possibility to do it, then please do it, because it really works.  Of course, the hymn has to be in sort of festival character.  It shouldn’t be, you wouldn’t use solo trumpet for, let’s say hymn that is in a soft character
 
V:  Yes, because…
 
A:   ...or a sorrowful character, because reeds provide festive mood, festive atmosphere.
 
V:  Yeah.  If you need to solo out a melody on a gentle hymn, then maybe use some kind of principal combination.
 
A:  Yes.
 
V:  Or maybe flute combination with flutes 8, 4, maybe Tierce or a 5th, or like a cornet.
 
A:  Yes.  I thought about cornet if you don’t have a trumpet, for example, you can use cornet instead of it.  It will sound probably more gentile than trumpet, but would still work really well.
 
V:  You mean gentle.
 
A:  Yes, gentle.
 
V:  Good.  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 492 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Ruth, who is our Total Organist student. She wrote:

“I wonder what are the best ways for teaching new hymns. I am also the pastor. So, I have had some choice in the hymns. I wonder, though, how others teach new hymns. And, which ones have been loved by your congregations? Have some choices been a surprise?”
 
I guess it would be wonderful for our community to jump in and leave some feedback about hymns; how they teach new hymns, and what the communities/congregations love the most.
 
A: I think this is, in general, a very important question, and I think it touches many church musicians, because it’s a number one issue, about how to choose hymns, how to sing hymns, how to teach new hymns.
 
V: I had an experience in teaching new hymns at our St. John’s Church, but a long time ago, when we were both regular organists. You would play the organ…
 
A. True. And you would conduct the congregation from downstairs.
 
V: It’s a two person work, then, like a teamwork.
 
A: But, if you know you don’t have such a large church building as ours and as St. Johns’, and maybe you have some sort of keyboard downstairs. You could use it. I think that would be an idea. Maybe your organ is upstairs, but maybe your piano is downstairs.
 
V: Yes. And the piano, maybe, is in the visible place where people could see you. Some places you could even move the piano closer to the center during the rehearsal. I just had this podcast conversation with Andreas Spahn, organist from Germany. He is a church musician. But, as I understood, he has these organ or choir rehearsals with the congregation, but they’re not long. They are just three or five minutes long, before the service starts. I thought, “Why is he doing them so short? Why not 15 minutes, like we would do.” It appears that people are gathering at the church at the last moment, and there are not many people 15 minutes before the service.
 
A: Sure, time is money, so… everybody is counting.
 
V: Everybody is making money on Sunday morning.
 
A: Well…
 
V: Yeah… well, hopefully, this approach is really applicable for a lot of situations. Not only for new hymns, but maybe old hymns that have been forgotten and need to be resurrected. How would you, Ausra, conduct this rehearsal, if you had to choose.
 
A: Well, I would just go through each line.
 
V: How many hymns?
 
A: Well, I think for such a rehearsal you may do only one thing. So, basically, if you are leading a service, I wouldn’t choose all new hymns. You can only introduce one new hymn per service.
 
V: Why not two?
 
A: It might be too difficult—too much new information.
 
V: You’re right. Does it matter where this new hymn comes in the service? In the beginning? Middle? End?
 
A: I don’t think it’s so important. But, of course, if you just rehearse before the rehearsal, then it really would be an opening hymn, right from the rehearsal to performance.
 
V: Is it okay if I did a rehearsal when I first sang the first verse, and then asked them to repeat phrase by phrase, line by line?
 
A: Yes, I think it’s nice. It should work. But, I think it’s also important that you would sing all verses that you are intending to sing during the service, because for me, the biggest problem is to do the second, the third and the other verses. Because usually, what you have in some hymnals, at least in Lithuania, is that you have the first verse written underneath the score, and it’s very convenient, because you see the music and the words together. But other verses, they are written below the page after the score is finished. So, it’s not so comfortable to do it, because you have to still look at the music, especially if you are accompanying yourself, and then to be able to follow the words.
 
V: You’re right. I think in Western hymnals, they have three or four verses written under the notes.
 
A: But still, it’s not as comfortable to see them, to follow them as the first verse.
 
V: Yeah. That’s right. So, basically, go through each verse, and then this melody will sing by itself, probably, into their memory.
 
A: True! Plus, I think a lot of success also depends on the meter of the hymn. If it has a regular meter, strong beats in every measure, then it makes life easier. But if you choose something based on Gregorian chant, or sort of modal, also based on modes, that might not be as easy to sing for a congregation, because I think rhythm is crucial for congregational singing. So I would suggest maybe just to avoid such hymns.
 
V: I think this might work, too.
 
A: You also need to include your choir into your rehearsals. That might be a big help for you and for your congregation. And I remember that what else you could do, of course, the choir might show an example of that unfamiliar hymn for a congregation, but later on during the service, you might spread your choir throughout your congregation. Let’s say you have 20 choir members, and you have a hundred rows in the church. You might divide your choir members between those rows, that you might help your congregation to sing better. I think this might work, too.
 
V: This is really a clever idea, and it has been done before, and usually the congregation feels more confident when there are people around them singing with confidence.
 
A: So you might try that, as well.
 
V: Do choir members have to be dressed like civilians or in robes?
 
A: I don’t think it’s important. It’s up to the tradition, so…
 
V: Concealed! They have to conceal themselves.
 
A: Not necessarily, I think.
 
V: If they are members of the congregation, people will recognize them, anyway.
 
A: But anyway, I think it’s a wise solution to listen to the service from downstairs, even for an organist or music director, because that way, you might notice and listen to members of your congregation who sing very well, and that might be a possibility to choose new members of the choir. So, anyway…
 
V: Good idea. Ok guys, we hope this was useful to you. Please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice,
 
A: Miracles happen.