 The other day my colleague baritone Modestas Jankunas came to Vilnius University St John's church where we performed this beautiful song by Franz Schubert - An die Musik. Hope you will enjoy it! Thank you for your support! If you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PayPal: https://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-organist Secrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.lt Listen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pXxZgiFPMKiqBRYi9rSLT?si=Xe1nTroTSmOGPtv8bP8MSw
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 The other day I was invited to perform Gaudeamus at the President's Palace with a colleague from Vilnius University Cultural Center, Nerijus Masevicius. In this video, you can see our rehearsal the day before the event. I used my folding Hauptwerk setup and Giubiasco sample set. Hope you will enjoy it! Thank you for your support! Buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo My Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.html
Before we go to the podcast episode for today, we'd like to thank everyone who sent us nice feedback about our organ duet recital at St Paul's Cathedral in London. It means more than you know...
And here is SOPP294: Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas. Ausra: And Ausra. V: Let’s start episode 294 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Andrew and he writes: “Mass for Fathers Day this morning went well. Parts of the Mass were sung to the Glendalough Mass by Liam Lawton. The school's REC (Religious Education Co-Ordinator) is a guitarist. I've rigged up a mixer to feed through the organ's amplifier and speakers. He puts his amplified acoustic guitar through it, plus a couple of microphones for the singers. He leads with rhythmic strumming, and he has a small choir consisting of students from his class who lead the singing quite well. I add judicious, unobtrusive organ support beneath. I create my own organ accompaniment for the mass setting, reading from the choral/keyboard score and blending the parts so that the soprano line of what I'm playing doubles the congregation's melody but I add other bits from the keyboard accompaniment to make it interesting. Playing only the SATB part or only the organ part doesn't work - it has to be an amalgam of the two. Some of the songs come with melody and guitar chords only, but fortunately I learned many, many years ago how to improvise my own accompaniments based only upon this material. In the end it was all OK. I don't choose the songs as that's not my job, but stylistically I can play just about anything that gets thrown at me. One of the songs was handed to me shortly before the Mass - I'd not seen it before, but it was dead easy - mostly based around the chords of C and G, with a D major chord thrown in here and there for good measure. The opening song was a bit of problem - at one point I was playing a G minor chord (as marked on the score) but my colleague was strumming G major!!! Also, he suddenly decided to cut the third verse of the final song and wrap it all up after just 2 verses, but I try to keep my wits about me at all times - I caught this just in time and was able to round it all off smoothly! Just as well I love theatre organ music as those keyboard stylings come in handy for some songs. Now I hope to get back to some of my own work.” V: So Andrew plays organ accompaniments for the choir and also this choir is being led by a guitar as I understand, right? A: Yes. V: This is not an easy job to do for an organist actually, to provide accompaniments sometimes based entirely on the chords, abbreviations of chords. A: Yes, it’s not easy if you don’t know harmony and have no experience but it’s very often the case that church songs come with only one line. V: Umm-hmm. A: And some chords written for a guitar. V: To me I can relate a little bit to this because it’s part of the improvisation tradition. You could play just the chords with or without the pedals and that would be almost fine but not that interesting. But if you for example take a solo stop on the organ and play some melodies over that accompaniment. And remember the choir is singing and guitarist is playing the harmony too then you are sort of creating an additional solo line like a descant with the pedal accompaniment in the bass line too. That would be like a short chorale prelude don’t you think? A: Yes, but I think you could do that if the congregation knew that hymn very well because if you would start doing such a sort of thing with unfamiliar hymn then I think nothing would happen. It would be hard for a congregation to follow you. V: Obviously you are right. The way to do it is to play the bass line with the pedals and with the left hand to take three upper parts in the closed position. So your thumb almost always plays the soprano line in the left hand, maybe one octave lower, I don’t know. And then the right hand plays on the second manual or the solo manual something nice which would suit the harmony and the choir too. But additional, not doubling the voices. You could double the tenor line actually, one octave higher but you could actually improvise additional descant and it sounds nice. A: For myself I am more conservative and when I am accompanying congregation I’d like to do rather do less than more. At least that what works for my character. I remember our last recital together when we played that last motet. V: Umm-hmm, by Hans Leo Hassler "Tibi laus, tibi gloria". A: That’s right and then you were just like a dog, sorry for such a comparison, that got out of his house and then free through the fields. You were adding so many things that it was really hard to follow you. V: What could you. You could also feel like you are off the leash too. A: I felt like that this is the last piece of the recital and that you haven’t started to do it right from the beginning. That somebody still had to hold the rhythm together. V: (laughs) I was so happy that it was the last piece and I got so inspired by my speeches between the pieces that I told the public that we’ll be improvising this interpolation, adding many flourishes and cadences and runs. A: Ha Ha but he forgot to tell this to me before the recital. V: I didn’t forget, I just didn’t think about it. A: No. V: But you were OK about this. A: Yes, I was OK. V: (laughs) But if I told that I was planning to do this like a week ago before the recital it would be distressful for you. A: So when instead of to do from the start, that’s right, during recital. V: To suffer just for three minutes is better than for seven days. A: Well yes, but to make a long story short, I think it’s nice to add things but you need to make it tasteful and to fit the occasion. V: Umm-hmm. Was my improvisation tasteful? A: Well… V: You doubt it. A: I think it suited because it was the last piece of the recital. Then the public sort of forgives anything. V: Thank you. You are very nice. A: You are welcome. V: Should I listen to my recording one more time. A: I don’t know. I would be too scared off to listen to it. V: Interesting. But that’s what happens when you improvise. Sometimes you think you are playing one thing but sometimes your public is hearing another thing. And your partner, in this case Ausra, is listening to the third thing so you have to be aware of your surroundings. A: Yes, that’s right. So basically I would suggest sometimes to make recordings of yourself especially when you create your own accompaniments and to listen to how it sounds from the distance. V: Or after the mass. A: Because maybe everything will be just fine and you will love it but maybe you will get different opinion after listening to yourself from the side. But anyway I think Andrew does a wonderful job. I really respect people who are very creative and very brave actually and wants to try new things and improvise as Vidas or Andrew do. V: What do you mean Vidas? Is that a compliment? A: Yes, it is. V: Wow. Thank you. Guys, today will be my very lucky day. I received my third compliment this morning from Ausra. A: I’m glad you like it. V: How many compliments did I give you today? A: I don’t remember. Maybe none. None yet. V: When we stop this recording we’ll start counting, right? And tomorrow we'll share with you the video of this Florilegium Portense recital that we were talking about earlier. It has this organ intabulation by Hans Leo Hassler and many other fascinating pieces of 17th century. Hope you'll enjoy listening to it. Look forward to it tomorrow. Thank you guys, this was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow and we hope that our answers are either educational for you or inspiring or even entertaining. This was Vidas. A: And Ausra. V: And remember when you practice… A: Miracles happen.
This blog/podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online. 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...
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... Sign up and begin your training today. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime. Join 80+ other Total Organist students here #AskVidasAndAusra 2: Solving problems when accompanying the choir on the organ from the distance6/18/2017
This morning Ausra and I went to the woods for our 10000 step practice and we recorded episode 2 of #AskVidasAnd Ausra.
Today's question was sent by Rory who is our Total Organist student. Here's what he wrote: "Dear Vidas and Ausra, First of all, by the way, thank you for all you do and special congratulations on reaching 100 podcasts! My question: in our parish we are in the early stages of planning a musical event featuring choir and organ and also some organ solos. It is a small church with a low gallery (total seating about 300).The choir, about 25 people, normally sing from just in front of the organ, which stands at the back of the gallery. This is good acoustically. We do not have a conductor - the organ leads the choir directly. It works well, but for this concert type of event we find a problem. Both the choir and the organist would be invisible to the downstairs audience the whole time, so we have been experimenting with locating the choir on the altar steps, but at that distance it is difficult for the choir to hear the organ clearly enough above their own voices, unless the organ plays very loudly - which becomes out of balance for the audience. I wonder if you have any comment from all your experience? Have you ever used a camera to project a view of choir and/or organist, using a screen in front of the audience perhaps? Any thoughts welcome! Many thanks! Rory" Listen to #AskVidasAndAusra 2 IMPORTANT: If you would like us to answer your questions for #AskVidasAndAusra and share on this blog, please post them as comments and not through email. Make sure you add a hashtag #AskVidasAndAusra because otherwise your question might get lost among many other comments people leave. With the hashtag #AskVidasAndAusra we'll know exactly you want us to answer them in the correct place. We are looking forward to helping you reach your dreams. Are you excited as much as we are? You should be. And remember... When you practice, miracles happen. Vidas and Ausra (Get free updates of new posts here) TRANSCRIPT Vidas: Hello guys, this is Vidas. Ausra: And Ausra. Vidas: And we are starting our episode number 2 of #AskVidasAndAusra podcast. We're taking our 10,000 step practice in the woods here, and you can hear the birds singing around us. It's a really wonderful Sunday morning. Mosquitoes are everywhere, but this morning I'm smarter. Now I'm wearing long pants and they have no chance of biting me. Ausra, how are you this morning? Ausra: I'm okay. Vidas: Are you ready to answer people's questions today? Ausra: Sure. Vidas: Did you have fun yesterday? Ausra: Yes, I did. Vidas: Good. We had quite a few comments based on our first episode, and it was really fun and people started to responding, and sending many other questions during the day with the #AskVidasAndAusra. If you are trying to reach us and send more questions, feel free to do that in the comments of this post, or any other post of this blog. Make sure you write a hashtag, #AskVidasAndAusra, because otherwise your question might get lost. Now, the question for today was sent by Rory, and he asks, and he has this situation. He's preparing for the event in his church. Around 300 people will be seated in this church, and usually they sing with a choir and with the organ. Organ is in the balcony, and choir is positioned in front, but they have no conductor there, so they have this issue of keeping the pulse together and singing together, but I think they can do this. His main concern is that people will not see the organist, because it's behind them, and the choir will be hidden, too. So Rory asks if it's a good idea to perhaps broadcast both the organ and the choir on the screen in front of the audience, in front of the congregation. We'll talk about that. First of all, Ausra, what do you think? Is it a good idea to record the organ and broadcast it on the screen? I think, for me, it would be very simple idea and quite doable, right? But you have to have cables for that, equipment. I presume Rory has the technology to do that in the church. For that they need, of course, a video camera. Ausra: I think I misunderstood this question, because the question I think was that, usually during like services, choir stands next to the organ and actually organ leads their singing. In this particular musical event, I believe that the choir will be downstairs, not next to the organ. Vidas: Okay. Ausra: I think. I don't know. Vidas: Let's continue. I think, yeah, the balance also will be the problem if the choir is downstairs. The organist will have a hard time of keeping the rhythm, the pulse together with the choir, which he will be positioned so far away, I think. They will have to rehearse quite a bit during that week leading prior to the event. Do you think, Ausra, that it will be possible for them to sing at such a distance? Ausra: Well, it's very complicated, actually. They definitely have to rehearse a lot. Like media technology would probably be a big help, and maybe the only solution they can do it. If it would be like a professional choir, I would suggest to use Alternatim practice, no while singing - to play like one verse on the organ, and then one verse do with a choir, but if choir is some professional, that's probably a hard thing to do because to sing a cappella is always very hard. Technology might be the only help. Vidas: By technology, what do you mean? Ausra: To project it on the screen and then the organist could see the choir and the choir could see the organist. Vidas: And the people could see everything, right? Ausra: Yes. Vidas: Right away. Yeah, that's what actually Rory also suggests. He has to investigate if they have technical means to do that. I presume they have to have a long cable to extend from the video camera, which would be positioned next to the organist on the balcony. This cable should go down the balcony and to the front of the church or the middle of the church, where the projector will be positioned. That's a long cable they have to calculate, but I think it's doable. Ausra: Yes, it is. In general, this is one of the hardest things how to stay together for organ and for choir when stand up apart in our churches. The larger the church is the harder it is to get the right balance. Vidas: That's why they have choir organs, right? Ausra: Yes. Another solution would be maybe just to rent an electronic organ, which I personally don't like so much and to put it downstairs next to the choir. Vidas: If they can't sing a cappella well without accompaniment. Good solution. Yeah. Rory has to investigate all those options and choose the one that seems least complicated for the present situation, right? Ausra: Yes. Vidas: Okay. Let's move on. Now, we're taking this walk further. Mosquitoes are not biting today. I'm now wearing my long pants and they have no chance of biting me. I'm smarter this morning, but still we have to move faster because they're all around us. Ausra, did you have a good practice yesterday of Piece d’Orgue? Ausra: Yes, I did have a good practice. Actually yesterday I practiced a lot. Probably I will skip my practice today. Vidas: How are you feeling today regarding practice? Your body hurts, or not? Ausra: No, it doesn't hurt, but I feel exhausted. Vidas: Would you rather skip the practice today altogether, or would you say create some of the duets that we are going to prepare for our upcoming- Ausra: We have to do it, because the time is pressing us. Vidas: Yeah, we have a few new duets by, written by Ad Wammes, the Dutch composer and our friend and Carlotta Ferrari from Italy recently dedicated a piece for us for four hands, which we will try to incorporate in our upcoming recital in August. We have to sight read this and see if it's fits the program. Ausra: Sure. Vidas: Wonderful. I didn't practice yesterday because I was at the funeral of the dad of my colleague. We have a number of organist friends there. Afterwards, we went to the recital of Hayo Boerema from the Netherlands, which was part of the Vilnius Festival. We heard so beautiful improvisation and wonderful other pieces. In fact, I interviewed Hayo for Secrets of Organ Playing podcast a few days ago when he just arrived in Vilnius. So guys, stay tuned for this podcast number 101, which will be wonderful interview for you to get to know Hayo and his thoughts about improvisation. Anything else you want to add and to wish, Ausra, today for our listeners and students? Ausra: Just to wish you to have a nice Sunday. Vidas: And should they practice today something or take a day off? Ausra: Many of them will play in church, so I assume so. Vidas: That counts as practice, right? Ausra: Yes, that counts as practice, yes. Vidas: Excellent. So guys, thank you so much for listening to this. Please, send out your questions to us by sending the comments to this post and make sure you include #AskVidasAndAusra. This is very important because otherwise your question might get lost. This will be a wonderful. Rory, of course, is a student of ours at Total Organist. Right now, we have a limited time offer, where you can try Total Organist for free for 30 days and see if you like it and decide to keep it, if you enjoy it. If not, if it's not for you, you will not be charged for the entire month. It's really, extremely great way to get to know the value of this membership program. You will find hundreds of programs and trainings and thousands of videos and exercises, which will relate to any area of organ playing, and actually, help you reach your dreams much faster than you would do this on your own. This was Vidas. Ausra: And Ausra. Vidas: And we wish you a wonderful Sunday. See you online very, very soon. Practice the above organ accompaniment of "Non nobis Domine" by Joseph Haydn this way: 1. Upper stave with the right hand 2. Lower stave with the left hand 3. Both staves together with both hands Take a slow tempo, aim for a detached articulate legato touch and 3 correct repetitions in a row in each step. Post time and the number of repetitions to comments.   Practice the above organ accompaniment of "Veni Domine" (p. 2-5) by Felix Mendelssohn his way:
1. Upper stave with the right hand 2. Lower stave with the left hand 3. Both staves together with both hands Take a slow tempo, aim for a smooth legato touch and 3 correct repetitions in a row in each step. Post time and the number of repetitions to comments and share a photo of yourself practicing this exercise.  Practice the above organ accompaniment of "Reiterlied" (p. 86-87) by Carl Maria von Weber his way:
1. Upper stave with the right hand 2. Lower stave with the left hand 3. Both staves together with both hands Take a slow tempo, aim for a smooth legato touch and 3 correct repetitions in a row in each step. Post time and the number of repetitions to comments and share a photo of yourself practicing this exercise.  Practice the above organ accompaniment of "Here in Cool Grot" by Garrett Colley Wellesley Mornington his way:
1. Upper stave with the right hand 2. Lower stave with the left hand 3. Both staves together with both hands Take a slow tempo, aim for a smooth legato touch and 3 correct repetitions in a row in each step. Remove the lowest bass notes which don't fit the organ compass. Post time and the number of repetitions to comments and share a photo of yourself practicing this exercise.  Practice the above organ accompaniment of "As the Moments Roll" by Samuel Webbe his way:
1. Upper stave with the right hand 2. Lower stave with the left hand 3. Both staves together with both hands Take a slow tempo, aim for a detached articulate legato touch and 3 correct repetitions in a row in each step. Post time and the number of repetitions to comments and share a photo of yourself practicing this exercise.  Practice the above organ accompaniment of "Lord of All Power and Might" by William Mason his way:
1. Upper stave with the right hand 2. Lower stave with the left hand 3. Both staves together with both hands Take a slow tempo, aim for a smooth legato touch and 3 correct repetitions in a row in each step. Post time and the number of repetitions to comments and share a photo of yourself practicing this exercise. |
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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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