8 Steps in Mastering Part II from Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 | Hauptwerk Obervellach4/24/2021 In this video I will show you 8 steps in mastering Adagio from Bach's Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525. I'm using Obervellach sample set by Piotr Grabowski. Hope you will enjoy it!
Score with fingering and pedaling: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going.
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9 Steps in Mastering Part I of Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 | Hauptwerk Obervellach4/23/2021 I really enjoyed practicing Part I from Bach's Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 today. Last week I was busy assembling our new Hauptwerk setup and recording process videos but my practice suffered because of that. So today it felt great to sit down on the organ bench again and practice with intent. I hope you will like the sounds of Obervellach sample set by Piotr Grabowski!
Score with fingering and pedaling: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene play Johann Sebastian's Bach's birthday recital on Haarlem sample set by Voxus Virtual Organs.
Program: Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 (Ausra) Score with fingering and pedaling: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWV 529 (Vidas) I. Allegro II. Largo III. Allegro Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 (organ duet) Parte prima 1. Chorus: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben 3. Aria (alto): Schäme dich, o Seele nicht 5. Aria (soprano): Bereite dir, Jesu, noch itzo die Bahn 6. Chorale: Wohl mir, daß ich Jesum habe Parte seconda 7. Aria (tenor): Hilf, Jesu, hilf, daß ich auch dich bekenne 9. Aria (bass): Ich will von Jesu Wundern singen 10. Chorale: Jesus bleibet meine Freude Vocal score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... Chorus: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147/1 | J. S. Bach | Organ Duet | Hauptwerk Haarlem3/14/2021 Ausra and I decided to record the opening chorus from the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 by Johann Sebastian Bach using Hauptwerk Haarlem sample set by Voxus Virtual Organs. Hope you will enjoy it!
10 Steps in Mastering Part I of Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWV 529 | J.S.Bach | Hauptwerk Haarlem3/7/2021 In this video I will teach you my 10 step method of learning Part I of the Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWV 529 by J.S. Bach. i'm using Haarlem sample set by Voxus Virtual Organs.
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... Yesterday I installed the renowned Haarlem sample set from Voxus Virtual Organs. I had a bit of a challenge because I didn't realise I needed to have both front and rear stop packages on the same folder to install the organ properly. Finally I succeeded and tested it while practicing our duets from J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 147. At first I thought the audio level was too low and increased it to 0. Then it seemed the Ruckpositiv and pedals were too soft in relationship to the rest of the organ so I had to add far more stops and couplers to balance the registrations. But finally I noticed the option to balance organ with the room in the settings which made it more even. This meant we needed to reduce the registration for Ruckpositiv and pedals and at the end of the practice we recorded Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Hope you will enjoy it!
Score for organ solo in a trio texture with fingering and pedaling: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh...
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 642 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Rosemary, and she writes,: “Happy New Year greetings to you all. This day dawned breathtakingly beautiful and we will all be glad of the shade in the garden as the heat rises. A new year ahead in which our prayers and hopes are with those frontline workers caring for victims of Covid 19, and discoveries for containment. May you all and your families stay safe. Your comments, goals and plans are incredibly inspirational for me, with renewed energy I have heaped my attention on BWV 529, and various choral preludes, BWV 604 a favourite. Studying your improvisation and trying out some variations. Thanks to you all and the very best of good wishes for a happy and productive year ahead sharing your wonderful talents. Rosemary” Vidas: Obviously, this question was written just at the start of the new year, probably. Right, Ausra? Ausra: Yes, and it’s more not like a question but as a New Years wish, which is very nice and kind. Thank you Rosemary! Vidas: Maybe we could discuss a little bit what she’s talking about right now—Bach’s works 529 and 604. BWV 529 is one of the trio sonatas. I believe this is C Major Sonata. Ausra: Yes, this one was the first trio Sonata that I learned by J. S. Bach. Vidas: And 604 is a chorale from the “Orgel Buchlein,” “Gelobet seist du Jesu Christ.” Okay, so let’s start with the easier one, maybe—with the chorale prelude, “Gelobet seist du Jesu Christ, BWV 604. We have, of course, the score with fingering and pedaling available. Do you think it’s helpful? Ausra: I think it’s very helpful. Vidas: It’s written for two manuals and pedals, obviously. The right hand has the solo melody in soprano ornamented, and the lower three voices move in dialogs and duets with each other creating very nice harmonic and melodic, and polyphonic, and also rhythmic fabric. Ausra: Yes, and although the “Orgel Buchlein” collection is not a really hard one, I think in this chorale, you have some things to do and to learn, because when I’m looking at the pedal part, it’s really quite a vivid part. Don’t you think so? Vidas: It reminds me of some chorale preludes by Buxtehude. Right? Ausra: Yes, yes! It resembles that. Vidas: Except with Buxtehude, we usually have… What’s it called… Vorimitation technique. So before the cantus firmus in the soprano enters the chorale tune, we have three lower voices also presenting the same phrase in fugal imitation, but on a different registration and accompaniment. But with Bach here, he starts right away with the chorale phrase in the soprano. Ausra: Yes. It’s like, “Schmücke dich,” for example, firmus, or “O Mensch, bewein…” Vidas: No, not exactly. Right? Because in, “O Mensch, bewein…” yes, the melody starts right away, but in “Schmücke dich,” we have, I think, an introduction, first, and then a chorale tune… Ausra: But anyway, it’s an ornamented chorale tune in the soprano voice. That’s what I meant ... Vidas: Yeah… Ausra: ...comparing these two. Vidas: Good point. Obviously, if you add the introduction or those interludes, polyphonic interludes, then the chorale becomes quite long. Ausra: Well, that’s true, because “Schmücke dich” is from a different collection which is more sophisticated, and all those chorales are much longer. Vidas: Right, and probably their purpose is different, too. And with each of the chorale preludes from the “Orgel Buchlein” collection, they could easily be played as a hymn introduction, at least in those days. Ausra: Yes, sure. I’m not sure how well the congregation would respond nowadays to such an introduction. I think it depends on probably the congregation and priest. Vidas: They would, probably today, sound more like a prelude before the service. Right? Or a communion piece instead of the hymn singing. Ausra: Why get in trouble as Bach did in Arnstadt when he started to, upon returning from Lübeck hearing Buxtehude’s playing, he started to make all these elaborate interludes between hymn stanzas, and people were not very happy about it. Vidas: Even before, between hymn phrases. Right? Imagine there are four phrases in a short hymn, so he would add interludes before the second, third, and fourth phrase. That would be very confusing, even though it would sound beautiful if done properly, but it would be confusing for people, when to start the next phrase. Right? Because they would sing with these big chords in the accompaniment, and then suddenly have to stop and wait for young Bach to play his flourish and then sing again. Ausra: I wish I would have a time machine and could travel to that time and to listen at least once about what he did. Vidas: We could obviously imagine, some of his chorale preludes have these flourishes. The one I’m thinking of is probably “In Dulci Jubilo,”, BWV 729. I will have to double-check. BWV 729 or even 751 there is one, too. But 729 is with big flourishes, I think. Great. So getting back to “Gelobet seist du Jesu Christ,” I think it’s important for people to start learning it right away, step by step, maybe phrase by phrase and also voice by voice. What do you think about that, Ausra? Ausra: Yes, if you have time I would definitely do that. Vidas: And if you don’t have time? Ausra: Then don’t play Bach. Vidas: Yeah, because you have to make time to play Bach properly. And obviously, in the original edition handwriting, the left hand part plays from the alto clef. This is fun to read. Ausra: Yes, and some editions still preserve it. Some of the oldest ones. Vidas: Yes, 19th century Bach Gesellschaft edition. I think we have the fingering and pedaling written on that edition, so people who like alto clefs can take advantage of that, too. I don’t know which edition Rosemary is practicing from, but nevertheless, it’s really fun. And then, once you do solo parts, you can practice two parts together—soprano-alto, soprano-tenor, soprano-bass. Right? What else? Alto-tenor, alto-bass, tenor-bass, and then three part texture. Soprano-alto-tenor, soprano-alto-bass, soprano-tenor-base, and alto-soprano-bass before playing all four parts together. Ausra: I feel dizzy already only by listening to you. Vidas: So how would you recommend learning it? Ausra: Well, the same way you do. Vidas: So… Ausra: But I couldn’t name all these variations right away. I get confused. Vidas: I know. Alright. And then, obviously she would want to play a very difficult piece! BWV 529, C Major… Ausra: ...Trio Sonata… Vidas: ...exactly. I wonder why she chose those pieces from different, actually, technical levels? Ausra: Well, we don’t know if she is working on the entire trio sonata, or only on one movement, and which one out of those three. Because they are different in their difficulty level. For example, I don’t think the first movement is very hard. It’s quite comfortable when you manage the text, but it’s quite long. Then the second movement is easier because, of course, it’s a slow movement. But still, there are a lot of things to do, and it’s not easy to play it beautifully. But I guess the trickiest one is the third movement, although it’s really short comparing to the first one. But it has some tricky spots. Vidas: Correct. But the technique to learn it would be the same as the Orgelbuchlein Chorales, except here are three voices, and only 7 voice combinations. Right-hand, left-hand and Pedals. Right-hand and left-hand together, right-hand and pedals, left-hand and pedals, and all voices together. You could argue that it’s best to practice in shorter segments, or the entire piece voice by voice. I don’t know. What do you think? Shorter segments or longer? Ausra: I would always learn in longer segments, but that’s my way of learning. And I would always skip these three beginning things that you said, just to play a single line. I never play a single line. Vidas: Because you already can play them well. Right? Ausra: But even when I started to learn my first trio sonata, I would work on right-hand and pedals, and then left-hand and pedals… especially left-hand and pedals. That gave me much trouble. Vidas: Would you learn pedals alone? Ausra: Well, actually I didn’t, but it’s worth doing, probably. Vidas: So yeah, for each their own, probably. By the time you were starting playing the organ, remember you were playing piano for 12 years. Right? Ausra: Yes. Vidas: So obviously on a professional level, so… each line didn’t make much trouble for you—didn’t present any difficulty, or too much, therefore you could concentrate on two lines right away. Ausra: But I guess if you are learning “Trio Sonata,” you should be at least in the intermediate level, because it’s not a piece for beginners. Vidas: Obviously. Not even a basic level piece. It’s obviously an intermediate level piece, or even an advanced level piece if you play the fast movements. And first of all, start with the Largo—with the slow movement—middle movement. Ausra: Yes. I remember those repeated notes in the middle movement were not as easy for me to play well. Vidas: Yes, this movement consists of two episodes alternating with each other, and the first one is okay, but then the second one is very difficult. The second half features the same thing in different keys. Ausra: And in general, sometimes I think that it’s easier to play the fast movements comparing to the slow ones, because the fast movements, if you have a good technique, everything is pretty straight forward and simple. But the slow tempo, you have to take more time and you have to know what to do with that kind of music, because it’s difficult to pick up the right tempo, because if you play it too slow it will be boring, if you take a tempo that is too fast, it might sound unmusical. So, you really have a lot to think about while playing slow movements. Vidas: My final advice would be keep counting. Keep subdividing the beats, but keep counting out loud. This will help you feel the pulse, the correct pulse, and stay in the pulse throughout the piece. When without pulse, there is no liveliness in the music. Ausra: Yes, good advice! Vidas: Okay 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, 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 BMC and get early access to our videos. A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying and 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! V: Hi guys! This is Vidas. A: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 628 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Stephen, and he writes: “At 72 years of age my goal is to play some of Bach's organ music with musicality and appropriate style...i.e. registration ...trills ..phrasing. I have explored the "Little preludes and Fugues" using Soderlund's book on authentic technique for that period. To be able to continue to practice. (I own an Viscount Digital Organ with appropriate AGO standards. I also studied formally with an organist for 2 years) To be able to improve my pedal technique. I have used your Pedal Mastery Course to help in that regard. I purchased it when you first offered it to us. I would like to know other sources of exercises that might help in improving. To be able to memorize even at my age....I find that practicing the organ and piano HELP keep my mind sharp ...Excellent therapy... Stephen” Vidas: So Stephen is 72 years old, and he has several goals. Let’s talk about them in turn, shall we? Ausra: Yes, of course. Vidas: He wants, first of all, to play Bach’s organ music with appropriate sense of style, basically probably historically informed performance practice. That’s what he means, right? Ausra: Yes. That’s what I understood from his letter. Vidas. Hmm. I would suggest, beside Soderlund’s book, which is obviously an excellent manual and resource material, but I also recommend my own video course called, “Bach Organ Mastery, Level 1,” where I teach how to play those little preludes and fugues—Eight Little Preludes and Fugues. It’s, I think, a 16 week course. In each week we learn either one prelude or one fugue. We start, not with the first prelude and fugue, which is not the easiest one, but with the easiest, which is probably G minor, I would say. Ausra: Yes, Prelude is definitely G minor. Vidas: So, that’s my suggestion. I not only teach the techniques, how to master them, but I also teach how those pieces are put together, analyzing them. Ausra: I think this is very important, too, to understand how the music is put together. Vidas: And I’ve got very good feedback from students who watch those videos and say that they appreciate my analysis as much as or even more than my teaching of techniques; how to play them. Analysis is kind of a hidden thing. You can maybe teach yourself how to play the piece, but if you don’t understand how the piece is put together, it’s kind of difficult to analyze it yourself. You have to consult some sources, and one of them is my course. Ausra: Plus, I think a video course is more beneficial because you can see another person playing and how another person sits and touches the keyboard. I think this is very important, too. To see it, not only to read about how it should be done, and to listen to how the final result should be. And another suggestion for Stephen from me would be maybe you are willing to find some kind of tracker—access to a tracker instrument, just to see how it works and to play it, to practice it for a while, because that might give you more idea about how Baroque music should be performed. Because you have that practice organ at home, which is great, because you can do it every day then, but I think getting on the tracker organ would help you to understand the meaning of Baroque articulation and ordinary touch. Vidas: Yeah, speaking about the tracker organ, at home we have a Hauptwerk setup, and also a practice organ with two stops, which is a tracker organ. The keyboards in our Hauptwerk setup have a very light touch. Basically, no resistance at all. So, I made a video a few days ago how to play, I think in 12 steps, the famous Gigout Toccata. It’s not a Baroque piece, but I bring it up here because it’s appropriate, because I started learning it and recording it on the Hauptwerk, on the plastic keyboard. And it went well! I applied my own steps, taught myself… you can watch the video. But then, I think the next day, I sat down on the pipe organ at our house, and it felt almost like sight-reading all over again, and I was scared, because my recital is coming up in a few days, you know, this weekend, of this particular piece I am planning to prepare. Of course, I can postpone it or substitute with another piece (I have plenty to choose from), but I was kind of frustrated because a day before, I was doing well, and now I cannot play it at all! What’s happening? Then the next day, like yesterday, I sat down on the Hauptwerk setup again and tried to play the same Gigout Toccata, and guess what? It wasn’t that bad. It was sort of not perfect, but close to ready. So, my point is that playing on even a small practice organ with two stops which have genuine tracker action is much much more difficult than any type of electronic organ, virtual organ, digital organ, which has very very light touch. Ausra: But you know, yes, it’s more difficult, but at the same time, it’s more fun and it makes more sense, because sometimes when you are trying to do all the Baroque articulation on the light keyboard, it doesn’t make sense, very often. And then you start to think, “Why do I need to do this all? I might just play all things legato and that is comfortable to me.” But when you sit at the tracker organ, you will then understand why all these rules and all this trouble. Then it really makes sense, all those tips. Vidas: Yeah, absolutely, I agree with you on this question. Just understand that even though it’s more difficult to play on the tracker organ, from time to time it’s much more beneficial. If you don’t have access to it every day, going to a church with a pipe organ which has a tracker action from time to time regularly will help you a lot. Right? Ausra: Yes, of course. Vidas: What about improving his pedal technique. Can we talk a little bit about that? He used the “Pedal Mastery Course,” which is of course great to start. He said that he purchased it when I first offered it. He doesn’t say if he completed it. Ausra: Yes, we don’t know about that. Vidas: It’s a long course! It’s… or not. No, it’s not that long. The “Sight-reading Master Course” is 40 weeks long, but pedal mastery course is probably 12 weeks long plus some bonus weeks, bonus material, Ausra: Does that include bonus material right from the beginning of the scores, or did you add them later? Vidas: Right from the beginning, yes, so that people could get extra value. Ausra: Oh, okay. Vidas: So yeah, even those 12 weeks—I’m not sure if Stephen has completed, or how… I offered it a while ago, many years ago I would say. Right? Ausra: Yes, it’s been a while. Vidas: It was one of my first courses, maybe from 2012, 2013, something like that in the early days, and this is 2020. We’re talking about maybe 8, 7, 6 years of not practicing from this course. Maybe let’s recommend that Stephen go back to this course! Ausra: Yes, it might be beneficial to refresh your pedal technique. Vidas: He will be surprised, obviously. It’s not that he would have forgotten everything that he learned if he had completed this course in the early days, but it will be beneficial, nonetheless, to refresh. What about memorization? Can he try to memorize? Ausra: Yes, of course, if he thinks it is beneficial for his brain, then of course, why not? Personally, I don’t memorize music very often, because that way I cannot do as much repertoire as I would want to do, because for me, it’s better to learn more pieces than to memorize one piece during that time. But some day I might change my mind! Vidas: When you have played all of them. Ausra: I don’t think that’s possible. Vidas: Yeah. We have so many scores at home that we will probably never run out of music. Right? Ausra: Yes, that’s right. Vidas: But yes, I agree with you. I also don’t memorize regularly nowadays because my goal is like yours—to master it, and perform in public, to record, to live-stream as much repertoire as I can, and memorizing takes maybe 10 times as much of work with one piece. Right? So I could learn 10 pieces in that period of time. Right? In my case, it’s not worth it. Ausra: Yes, because I think the sight-reading new music, learning new music gives your brain enough of exercise. Don’t you think so? Vidas: Right. Right. Also excellent therapy, like Stephen adds at the end. Vidas: So choose whatever you feel works well for you in your situation at your age, for example. Right? Maybe people who are past 60, let’s say, 65, have different goals than we have right now. Ausra: Yes. Vidas: That’s okay! That’s okay. And maybe our goals will change with time. Ausra: I have no doubt about it. Vidas: So guys, 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 I played this chorale prelude during last Sunday's Advent Mass as Offertory. I think Principal 8' of the Swell works well for this piece. What do you think?
Score with fingering and pedaling: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Recently after I played this piece at the Communion in my church, a former music theory student wrote to me asking what it was. We got into a long discussion and I encouraged her to start a YouTube channel and upload her own music (she is a pianist). I hope she will take the plunge.
Score with fingering and pedaling: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... |
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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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