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In this video I'm practicing Adagio by Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni using Velesovo sample set by Sonus Paradisi and Hauptwerk VPO software. Hope you will enjoy it!
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/adagios-for-organ-sheet-music/16572019?aff_id=454957 I'm playing this piece using Caen sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 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/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organis... Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt  I'm playing this piece using Caen sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 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 sample set: https://www.paypal.me/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organis... Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt  I'm playing this piece using Caen sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 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/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organis... Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt  I'm playing these pieces using Rotterdam's Sint Laurenskerk (the main organ) sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 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/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organis... Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt  I have played this piece using Rotterdam Sint Laurenskerk (the main organ) sample set by Sonus Paradisi of Hauptwerk VPO. Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... 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/ausramotuzaite My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organis... Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt   Last week I asked our readers how they are spending quarantine and today I'd like to share what some of them replied: 5 Comments Frank Mento I spend my quarantine by practicing the organ at home since I have one. I’ve been playing through all my repertoire, plus sight-reading what I never learned, and transposing everything I play into all keys. Unlike · Reply · 1 · 6d Vidas Pinkevicius Thanks Frank! This is really productive way to spend this time... Like · Reply · 1 · 6d Anne Kimball I am practicing on my home organ. I am reviewing pieces from the Bach Orgelbuchlein for now. All my outside jobs are on hold for the next 30 days at least so I have lots of time to practice. I will also be planning music for future services. In addition, I will start looking at new organ music and begin learning it for those future services. Unlike · Reply · 2 · 6d Vidas Pinkevicius Yes, please plan and get ready for the future services... Like · Reply · 4d Frankie Springer The little organ book JSBach, 8 short preludes and fugues, unfamiliar scales and broken chords, time subdivision difficulties, unfamiliar hymns: at home 🏠 on pair of keyboards 🎹. Piaggero N12 Yamaha. Other organ literature. Unlike · Reply · 1 · 5d Vidas Pinkevicius That's a lot of music! Good for you! Like · Reply · 4d Gary Harger I have been learning Pastorale in F by Bach and some other Bach pieces for Kleinorgel on the piano. Also using the mefrontmen more. It has been very helpful. Unlike · Reply · 1 · 6d Vidas Pinkevicius I love Pastorale by Bach! Like · Reply · 4d Marie Therese Feldmarschallin I'm practicing at home in my organ. Trio Sonata 1 by Bach!!! Unlike · Reply · 1 · 5d Vidas Pinkevicius Next Trio Sonata No. 2, maybe? It seems to me that practicing on some instrument at home is one of the best things we can do while locked inside our homes right now. This takes our mind away from the negative news cycle which only brings fear, uncertainty and doubt or FUD.
And as we all know, FUD activates an opposite part of the brain from the one required to be creative.
Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas.
Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 576 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Julie. And she writes, I tend to focus too much on what I am playing on Sunday and don’t make as much progress on the “bigger” pieces that take much longer than a week to learn. Sometimes there isn’t much I can do about that if things are particularly busy at work. V: Ausra, this challenge seems to be particularly common among liturgical organists, right? A: Yes, I think so, yes. V: Who have constant duties at church, preparing hymns, preludes, and other liturgical music week after week. But then, what comes after that is really hard to learn, right? After a month or three months from now, a person doesn’t have enough time. A: True. Although I think there are some solutions that could be applied. First of all, if you are a church organist for more than one year, well, each liturgical year has its own festivities and occasions. And after some time, you will see that, you will notice that the hymns will come back, and you will be playing the same hymns as the last year or the year before that. So I guess after knowing your hymnal really well, it doesn’t take so long to prepare hymns for Sunday. And the same with preludes and postludes. You don’t need to play new things every Sunday. Maybe you can repeat some of older pieces after some time. And you can alternate between them, so that will save time, too. V: This situation kind of reminds me of your schoolwork and preparation for it. How much time did you have to spend in your first or second year? A: A lot. Many hours. V: Many hours. Mm hm. Half an hour for each lesson, class? A: Yes, for when I worked the first year, probably yes. V: And you were teaching, like maybe 20 or more classes every week? A: Yes, around that. I started with 18 hours per week, and then I had more. V: Mm hm. But then the second year, did you notice some things got easier? A: Well, some things. But still, it was quite hard. V: Obviously, because the course was more advanced, right? A: Yes. V: Eleventh grade. You started from the tenth grade, then eleventh grade? A: Well, I have taught since the fifth grades. V: Uh huh. A: When I started to work, so… V: And then the third year afterwards it got even more complex, right? A: True. V: With twelfth grade harmony. But when did you start to notice things to be repeating, and your skill level and experience level helping you out? A: Well I guess after five years, I noticed. V: I wonder how long Julie is working in church, and is she having five year’s experience or not? A: But now it takes me one hour for, to prepare for entire week, so, at the very most. V: So I would imagine with your experience, a person who would play at church for a decade or more, they could simply practice those hymns and liturgical music and preludes one hour in advance, maybe on Saturday evening, right? A: Yes. And when we are talking about problems like this, I just think, how blest are the organists who can improvise. How much time they can save. V: Yes, that’s a great idea. So Julie, I think Ausra is suggesting you to improvise. A: Yes. V: Or do some kind of combination of repertoire playing and improvisation. At first, you will be very, you will feel like you are a beginner at this, inadequate skills. It’s like starting to play the organ from the, from scratch. But little by little, after a year or two, you will get more experience. A: And another thing: If you are working on the larger scale repertoire for, let’s say a recital, you could integrate some of that music into a liturgical service as well. Maybe not to play an entire piece, but maybe just an episode out of it. V: And finish with a nice cadence. A: I know. And that way, you will then go both ways. You will add to your larger repertoire, and you will fill in your service. V: Yes, I know what you mean. It’s like a cycle. Prelude and Fugue has two parts, right? You could play the Prelude in the beginning and Fugue at the end. A: That’s still a lot of music. V: Still a lot? A: Yes. V: So what you could do, to play just the prelude, but split it in two parts, and finish it with a nice final cadence, maybe with extension towards subdominant key at the end and then coming back to the tonic. And then this would be your prelude, half of the actual prelude. And then the other half could be repeated after the service. Maybe starting with some kind of gradual introduction so you could drive into this postlude gradually, musically, in an aesthetically pleasing way. A: Yes, that’s a good suggestion. V: This requires obviously harmony skills, maybe music theory skills, and even a little bit more experience. But the general suggestion could be like this. Incorporate your bigger works into liturgy. A: And of course, when you’re picking up larger pieces for recitals, you could think about that too, if they would strategically fit into the service music. Because obviously there are lots of organ repertoire that could be easily included into the service music. Let’s say partitas, Pachelbel’s partitas or Bach’s partitas. They work just well and these segmented pieces, so you wouldn’t need to worry about making up the cadences. V: And in general, I think you have to gather more and more repertoire, so that when the time comes for you to play in public, let’s say a recital, then you don’t have to learn everything from scratch, but as Ausra says, learn just one or two pieces from scratch, and repeat everything else this time. And next time, you can learn two more pieces and repeat everything else, you see. And you gradually will supplant your repertoire, refresh your repertoire this way, but won’t overextend yourself. A: That’s right. V: Yeah. That’s our suggestions for this question, and they should be helpful for people, right, Ausra? A: Yes, I hope so. V: So please, guys, send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen! SOPP575: I like that Total Organist is keeping me focused on my practicing, and how to practice3/27/2020
Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 575 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Jeremy, who is transcribing our scores and adding fingering and pedaling, and is our member of the Total Organist Community. He writes: “I like that Total Organist is keeping me focused on my practicing, and how to practice.” V: Ausra, what does he mean? A: I think that’s what he means, what he says, that it helps him to stay focused on his practice and because it shows how to practice it means that it improves his practice, too! V: What is the opposite of focus in this case for Jeremy? A: Well, the loss of concentration, I guess. V: Distractions? A: Distractions, yes. V: Have you been distracted in your life from your organ practice by any other exciting things, let’s say? A: Of course, but not so much because of exciting things, but probably because of very serious and unpleasant things. V: Can you name one of them? A: No, I can’t. V: Just one? A: Because it’s just very personal. V: Ah. I thought maybe that ha something to do with school, you know? A: Oh! Do you mean overworking all the time? V: Mhm A: Yes, that’s one of them, but… I didn’t mean that when I said it. V: So, if Total Organist is keeping Jeremy focused on his practicing, this is a good thing. Right? But I’m thinking, “How is this program keeping him focused?” By which means? Do you have any idea? A: I think it’s because it consists of so many things that everybody can find something useful and something to work on. V: And this could be a distraction at the same time, right? A: I don’t think you would find any of the Total Organists that would do everything in this program. I guess you just find what your weakness is and what you want to learn the most, and then you work on that. V: But there are hundreds of scores and programs and trainings. You can get lost, right? A: Maybe you need to write a smooth guide through your Total Organist program. V: Step by step! A: Yes! V: But for everybody, as you say, it’s very personal, and the goals are personal. And I know Jeremy is participating in our weekly contest—Secrets of Organ Playing Contest—week after week, and it’s been great to see him work through Bach’s “Orgelbuchlein” Chrorale Preludes regularly. It’s amazing to see him progress and to actually read his reports, what he has been doing over each day, and I think when a person writes about his day, what he has been working on, then it makes him think about his day, about his activities. And sometimes, if you don’t think, you don’t notice things that you do, and you don’t know if you are productive or not—if creative or not. And when you are reporting like this for everyone else to see in this group, I think it really helps him to stay focused, as he says, for tomorrow also—for tomorrow’s goals. Don’t you think? A: Yes, I think so. I think you are absolutely right. V: That’s why I take your activity reports and also publish them on Basecamp so other people could also know what you are doing. A: Do you think they are useful? V: Nobody said that they’re not. A: Well… if you think that they are useful, you may put them there. V: Yeah, I think they are useful, because they help people feel that you are human, you know, not hiding behind a screen, but a real person. A: Okay. I am a real person, “Hi!” Well, anyway, I think if I would have had such a program let’s say 25 years back, I think I would have benefited from it very much. V: You think that 25 years ago you would have benefited from this program a lot? A: Yes! When I had just started to play the organ. V: Hmmm. There was no opportunity for anyone to create this. Right? No Internet, capabilities of streaming, and uploading…. A: I know, and I just think it would have saved me a lot of time and a lot of trouble. V: We started organ playing back in 1994, I think, A: Yes, that’s right! V: And that was before even blogs were created! Blogs were created, I think, just before 2000, the first blogs, but they became mainstream around 2002 picked up by big media, and I also remember that I noticed the word “blog” mentioned also on the Internet and on TV around that time, but I hadn’t done anything with it. I only dreamed about it, and started writing blog posts only in 2007 in Lithuanian, and in English in 2011. A: Yes, and now it’s just so nice to have access to all that information and organ playing technique, because I remember my first lesson with George Ritchie at Lincoln, when he asked by which method book I was taught to play the organ, and I said, “By none!” And I remember how he looked at me. V: You didn’t use any textbooks. A: Yes, I know. And I just felt like I came from the middle of the jungle somewhere, basically learning how to play organ from monkeys! V: Well yes. Nowadays, you cannot say that it’s lack of information that’s stopping people from mastering the organ or practicing the organ. Not anymore, right? A: Yes, but I don’t think that much has changed in Lithuania, because I guess with their kind of music, they still don’t use any kind of method books, so… V: Good thing we have a global audience and are not limited to a Lithuanian audience. A: Yes, that’s right. At least we can share our experience. V: Thank you guys! We hope this was useful to you, so you see how the Total Organist community is being inspired by one another, and keeping on track with their organ practice, and reporting back at the end of the day about their daily practice activities, and about their weekly goals, challenges, and this helps them move forward much much faster than they would be doing on their own. Right Ausra? A: True. V: Okay, 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 573 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. We just recorded the previous episode with the question sent by Rebecca about the articulation of “D Minor Toccata and Fugue” by Bach , and Rebecca’s question sort of continues in this episode. Okay, so she writes she has problems with: “Sticking with a schedule of practicing. Time management.” And also: “Pieces to play for an organ recital? Suggestions as to what would make a good program? I feel somewhat limited in what I can play. (I played piano during my early years, and I am semi retired at this point. However, I LOVE to play and I want to challenge myself to do a recital. I am thinking of the Bach piece, which has not been done in our recital programs in the last year and the ‘Westminster Carillon.’ Thank you for any input.” V: So basically, Ausra, let’s talk a little bit about scheduling—schedule of practice and time management. By the way, these are courses in our Total Organist program, so if she’s interested in joining Total Organist at least for some time, she could really take advantage of our programs. So we talk about practicing, but in general, schedule of practice is… it depends on each person, right Ausra? A: Sure! For me, it seems that in Rebecca’s case, she needs to set up a date for a recital if she really wants to do it, and that way, she will feel the pressure of it coming up and then she will manage her time much better. V: You think so? A: Or in the other case, she will have to cancel it! V: You think so? I have heard people play badly in recital, even though they scheduled the date in advance, and they knew that the due date is coming up, but they don’t understand their true situation wisely enough, and they still don’t take it seriously. You know whom I’m talking about. A: Well, of course there are people like this, but that’s what I would do, because otherwise, look, they cannot work on her schedule and to do it hour by hour, because we don’t know what she does in life, how long she sleeps, and what kind of other responsibilities she has. Does she have to take care of children, grandchildren… you know, we don’t know that. V: So basically, when you schedule a recital, a good solution is to play a run-through of the recital two months before the date. Yes? A: Well, if you are a professional, I think one month is enough, but it depends. V: If you are a professional, I think a run-through could be even sometimes omitted if it’s a solid program and you know it. But it depends. So in Rebecca’s case, I really recommend two months prior to recital a run-through. And, thinking about that, she has to plan her practices so that she would learn the right amount of repertoire on each day so that she would master it on time—two months before the recital. A: Sure, and about the program, she’s working on the “D Minor Toccata” and on “Westminster Carillon,” I would say that the one would be a perfect opening piece for her recital, and “Westminster Carillon” would be perfect for finishing it! V: And we could talk a little bit about general principles of selecting the repertoire, right? What do you think about playing everything either very fast or very loud? A: I think it’s very disrespectful to the audience in general, and to the organ itself. V: You haven’t been to our last recital at church. A: And I’m very glad about it from what I heard about it! V: But one of the guest organists played for an hour and twenty minutes with only, I think, one piece soft and slow, and maybe some variations of another piece a little bit softer, too. But other than that, it was loud and fast all the time. It was French twentieth century music, beautiful pieces by Tournemire, by… A: Duruflé… V: ...Duruflé, by Dupré, by Cochereau. They all are amazing pieces, but not together, you know? They have to have some contrast, and I have heard complaints from listeners downstairs that in general it was a nice recital, but too loud. A: So you need to respect your audience, basically, and think about them. So basically, you need to play various music. V: Various music! A: Loud and soft, fast and slow… V: Sad and… A: ...joyful, and keep a good balance among them. Because again, if you will play everything soft and slow, then the audience probably will either leave or fall asleep! V: Uh-huh. A: But if you will play loud and fast all the time for an hour and twenty minutes, everybody probably would just go mad. V: Exactly. Well, also think about your program like one continuous piece, one continuous musical story, like a movie! You have to have culmination in a movie. You have to have a strong beginning, right? Otherwise your listeners will be bored right away if you’re playing very meditative music at the beginning, unless there is a special reason for that, like in Lent, let’s say. Meditations in Lent or Advent time, some other things… A: You know, like now, the thought came to my mind, let’s say, about the “Third Symphony” by Louis Vierne. It consists of five movements. It has a fast and loud opening and finale, it has the third movement of this symphony is very a playful and joyful scherzo, virtuosic, and the second an the fourth movements are a sort of slow meditative style. V: Normally, those symphonic pieces are written with contrasts in mind, of course, and if that organist would have selected two symphonies, let’s say one symphony by Vierne and another by Dupré, let’s say, that would be fine! That would be fine, because each work has many contrasting sections and episodes so it would be built-in success. But he selected just the “pieces from the cake”--from each symphony or cycle. Just the Sortie, just the toccatas, you know! A: Yes, just the loud and fast stuff! Well, anyway, I think you also need to think about the timeline of composers on your program, because sometimes people start with early music and then they go to the modern stuff. That’s okay, too. You could do some baroque pieces and then some romantic pieces and finish with let’s say twentieth century or twenty-first century. V: And you know why it works? Because the musical language in those pieces will be gradually probably increasing in difficulty and the tolerance of dissonance in listeners’ ears will be also readjusted with each piece. If you start to play with a very dissonant piece right from the start, it might shock the listeners. Right? But on the other hand, if you play your entire program from modern music and each of them has contrasting sections and episodes, this commonality might unite your program, and actually that would not be as tragic. A: But, you know, you need to be careful about playing only modern music. V: When you say modern, it could mean a lot of different things. A: I know, but I mean sort of like a new Viennese style. Atonal. V: Or expressionist. Yeah. Twentieth century saw a lot of different movements, including minimalist music, minimal, which is very easy to listen to. It was like a reaction to Dodecaphonic music. A: I think for a general audience, you might add one of that kind of piece in your concert. If you will include all pieces like this, then again, you will lose your audience, because when we are talking about these specific twentieth century compositional techniques, I think it’s in general wise to introduce people to compositional techniques about what is done in the piece. Otherwise, they might not get the idea of what it was about. V: You’re right. It’s nice to talk between the pieces. A: Yes, or at least write it down in the piece’s program notes. V: Good! This is good enough for starting the discussion and thinking about it. For closing, I would like to point out that if there is an anniversary of the composer, you can play only the pieces of that composer. This is fine, I think. There is a reason to do that. Right? Or one stylistic period or one historical period of organ composition, one country if there is an instrument that fits this country very well. That’s fine. But it has to be explained for the audience as well. A: Yes. V: Why you chose this… exactly. Because variety in your program will be somewhat limited then, if you are unifying your program. Right? And then your listeners might need an explanation. 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! |
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Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. 
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