By Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (get free updates of new posts here)
Yesterday I went to practice to the church Bach's Eb major Prelude and Fugue, BWV 552. The biggest challenge for me was to adapt to the huge acoustics. It was the first time I played it in a space with such a long reverberation. In the past, I performed BWV 552 only in dry and relatively dry buildings: the Cornerstone chapel and Grace Lutheran church in Lincoln, Nebraska. Playing it for the first time at St. John's church in Vilnius for me was a surprise because I had to adapt my articulation and tempo. It seems everything must be played slower and more detached in such a space. Despite all these challenges, though, this piece is one of the biggest dreams for any organist.
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By Vidas Pinkevicius
How to make your playing sound more solemn? One way is overdotting. Overdotting is a practice in French Classical music to notate dotted rhythms regularly but perform them much sharper, something like with two dots. It's especially evident in French Overtures. So instead of a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note you would hear an eighth note with a double dot and a thirty-second note. Composers who were inspired by the French style also used overdotting in their music (Bach, Handel, Bohm and others). Plenty of overdotting is evident in Couperin's Mass for Convents. See if you can spot similar instances of dotted rhythms in the Baroque music that you play. I'm sitting on the organ bench. About 3 lines into my piece when I accidentally hit the wrong note, panic set in and I feel great sorrow for myself. I start to remember that although I seemed to be able to perform this piece at home from the beginning until the end without stopping, I have actually never attempted to play it without looking at my fingers and I have no reason to believe it will be any different this time. Just moments ago as I started messing up this Duo by Antonio de Cabezon, I realized that it was just me, the music, the instrument, my colleagues all around me, and my listeners gathered at Vilnius University St John's church. No one could save the situation but me. To get the matter back into my hands I'm desperately trying to find the right note in the left hand written in the bass clef which I started reading just 8 months before. Unsuccessful attempt to find my place on the keyboard produced more frantic movements of my hands. Suddenly I remember what my teacher emphasized before this concert, "Know how each episode starts and ends." Luckily I manage to move to the beginning of the next episode somehow without breaking the flow of music too much. Nevertheless, more mistakes, this time in the right hand, and then... silence of about 10 long seconds which seemed to pass longer than 10 minutes, followed by my deep sigh. Ausra's Harmony Exercise: Transposing Sequence in G Minor: IV-vii6-i I've been invited to a joint student recital where each student played one or more pieces. What struck me the most is the lack of pulse in one particular performance. In some compositions, the students played fast moving notes very evenly, like automatons while in others - quite chaotically. In both cases, one couldn't feel the pulse of the composition. The musical pulse is best represented as a regular succession of strong and weak beats in a piece. Just like a person who doesn't have a pulse is not really alive, in music, too, we need to feel the pulse for the music to breath. If you ever forget to feel the pulse when you practice, try to count out loud the strong beats of the measure and even subdivide them. This is not very easy but it will allow your playing be perceived as flowing, as having some direction. Alteration of strong and weak beats helps music come alive. Ausra's Harmony Exercise: Transposing Sequence in A minor: vii7-i Yesterday one of my organ students at National M.K. Čiurlionis school of art, Eglė participated in the Festival of Ciurlionis piano and organ music where she played the Fugue in C# minor. This was a good overall performance but I want to point out a particularly peculiar episode that happened during her performance. I'm sure many of my readers will know what I'm talking about because this experience concerns us all (myself included).
This is a piece which starts with a subject performed with a soft Flute 8' registration in a slow tempo (here is a video of it I played at Vilnius University Saint John's church). As the fugue unfolds, the two hands start to play with Flutes 8' and 4' on a different manual. Gradually the tempo, tension, and dynamic level begins to increase but at Flute 8' and 4' episode the music is still gentle and slow enough. So even though it was technically quite an easy spot, Eglė's fingers slipped in a couple of places. This probably wasn't noticeable to the listeners out in the room but since I assisted her with page turns and stop changes, I knew something was going on with her mentally. Something that happens to us when we know that it's easy, when we know that the finish line is near, when we know that the battle is almost over. And then we slip. And then we play the wrong notes. And then we lose focus. And then we panic. And then we blame ourselves. Luckily Eglė is an experienced enough to know better. Those couple of slips didn't throw her off balance not a bit. She finished strong as if nothing happened. In the words of the legendary American organist Marilyn Mason, "your recital is not over, until you are in the parking lot". The trick is to keep focusing on the current measure you are playing no matter what. In certain Romantic organ music (especially of German tradition) composers write the signs to speed up the tempo (accelerando) in addition to increase the loudness (crescendo). This happens in many of the pieces by such composers as Reger, Karg-Elert, Schumann, Brahms, or Liszt among others.
Even when the accelerando is not written in, it might be implied - the organist can speed up the tempo in places which carry developmental character and increase of tension. This comes from a German Romantic tradition to think in waves, such as in tides - the alternate rising and falling of the sea, hence crescendo and diminuendo or accelerando and ritardando. But here's the thing - where is this boundary when the accelerando might begin to sound too hasty? In other words, when does your playing might show the signs of rashness? I think you begin to feel the signs of hastiness when you stop listening, when you stop noticing what's happening in your piece and only are concerned with speeding up the tempo. Such playing might appear deceivingly virtuoso to the untrained eye but deep down we all know that the performer is simply making a mess out of the composition. There is no attention to detail here, only speed is the ultimate goal. Make no mistake - when you fail to notice harmonic nuances, dissonances, modulations, and structural points in your piece (also when improvising), you will also fail to communicate the musical story to the listener that the composer encoded with these musical ideas. Hence you will be remembered as an organist who plays fast and loud. We all have our examples of such players, don't we? And you don't want that to happen to you. What you really want is to be remembered as someone who talks to the heart and soul of the listener through music. Karl asks about the way to perform ornaments in Bach's music. He likes to hold a note longer than it is marked in the score and he is wondering if this is appropriate?
If I understand Karl's situation correctly, he is holding the first note longer than the rest of them in a group. I think this way is especially nice - in a trill and in certain other ornaments it sounds very natural to hold the first note a little longer and then speed up. Otherwise, if you play all notes evenly, it sounds a bit too automatic. And don't forget to start a trill from the upper note on the beat (not before the beat). This tradition of starting the trills from the upper note comes from the French music and since Bach was heavily influenced by the French tradition in various ways, he himself advocated ornaments to be performed in the French way (however, certain pieces which were written after Italian fashion might have trills which could be started on the main note). When Bach wrote the Klavierbuchlein for his nine-year-old son Wilhelm Friedemann, he included this table of ornaments (fashioned after the table by Jean-Henri d'Anglebert) which you might find useful to consult with. Note that the trill is shown to be executed rhythmically in 32 notes but in reality they would make the first note a little longer (like we do when we want to emphasize the downbeat of the measure in early music).. What about you? How do you play trills and other ornaments in Bach's music? Karen asks about the concert tempo in Wir glauben all' an einen Gott, BWV 680 from the Clavierubung III by J.S. Bach. She has listened to various recordings and studied the information she has about this piece, but the question about the concert tempo remains unclear to her. She writes that Hermann Keller recommends eighth note at 138, but recordings she has listened to seem to have anything from eighth note at 100 to quarter note at 120.
This is a great and very important question because in many compositions of the Baroque period composers didn't leave any precise tempo indications. When you don't have a tempo suggestion written in (like Adagio, Moderato, Allegro etc.) nor metronome markings, how are you supposed to figure out the concert tempo at which to perform in public? In order to answer this question about many pieces from the Baroque period (like this chorale prelude), we have to take into consideration these 7 things: meter, acoustics, mechanics of the organ, your technique, hearing, singing style, and breathing. 1. Meter of the piece. Generally speaking (but not always), the smaller the beat value in the composition, the faster the tempo should be. For example, 3/8 is faster than 3/4. Count the beats and pay attention to the alternation of the strong and weak beats. This will be helpful in slow pieces. 2. Acoustics of the room. The space that you are playing in will be one of the major factors in determining the speed of this piece. If you play in your practice room or at home, you can perform much faster than in a cathedral or church with huge reverberation. 3. Mechanics of the organ. The type of organ action also determines the tempo of this piece. In general, if you are performing on the tracker or mechanical action instrument, try to play a bit slower because of the action. On the other hand, if you are playing on the electro-pneumatic or electronic organ you can play much faster. 4. Your technique. If your technique is not developed enough, naturally you will not be able to play very fast. In this case, choose a tempo on the slower side of the spectrum which you would be comfortable with. 5. Your hearing. Try to listen attentively to each harmonic turn and dissonance. This is particularly challenging to organists who have great technique and want to show off their virtuosity. Remember that in the Baroque music, we are showing off the music and the musical story and not ourselves. 6. Singing style. Try to retain the cantabile style in the performance of the piece. Even the fast pieces should have this character. 7. Your breathing. Try to sing with full voice the phrases with one breath. This will help you choose the tempo which would not be too slow for the musical flow. Keep in mind the above 7 tips when you try to decide what kind of concert tempo is best suitable for you and your piece. Since we all are different and play in different spaces with different organs, the tempo may fluctuate quite a bit. Remember your feeling when you tried out a new and large organ? Some people mix the swell with the crescendo pedal, the direction of the swell pedal movement, the order of manuals, the placement of the stop knobs etc.
All of this can happen because of attachment to our past experiences and projecting them to the new reality. We remember the old feeling at the old organ that we spend the most time with and we feel attached to it regardless of what the new situation is. You can change this by noticing things as they really are. It sounds simple but actually is very hard. Our minds constantly wander from the past to the future making it exceedingly difficult to stay in the present. The key here is breath. If you deliberately notice your breath, things will appear a little bit like in a slow motion. Breath focuses your attention to the present moment. Notice your breath and you will adjust to the new organ easier. What can we think about during our organ performance in public?
Don't think, "Everybody is looking at me and this performance is so important that I can't mess it up." Don't think, "I'm doing great, I feel rested, well prepared, and I'm going to play without mistakes." Don't think, "I just played this wrong note which made a bad impression in the listener's minds. My performance is ruined." Don't think, "Only one page is left in this piece. So far so good. I will finish strong." Don't think, "My family is listening to me. I wonder what are they thinking now?" Don't think, "My priest didn't show up today to listen to me play. He probably doesn't even care." Don't think, "I can see this more educated and more experienced colleague in the audience who usually is very critical of my playing. Too bad that I announced this performance publicly. Otherwise he couldn't have found out about it." Don't think, "I'm afraid. There are a few difficult spots in my program which I haven't completely mastered. I'm going to be punished for that by making mistakes in these places." Don't think, "Next time I will learn from my mistakes and thoroughly master my pieces so as to be completely secure during my next performance." Don't think, "Am I making progress? Is this performance will be better than the last?" Don't think, "Is this will be better than Olivier Latry's playing?" Don't think, "How am I going to improvise this chorale prelude?" Don't think, "How am I going to improvise non-stop for 60 minutes?" Here are two things to think about during your performance: 1. Elements. 2. Timing. For the elements, notice rhythm, melody, and harmony. For the timing, do this for the current measure you are playing right now. In other words, keep counting the parts of the current measure, sing each line, and notice any syncopations, dissonances, cadences, and modulations. This will also ensure that your breathing is controlled, too. Think about the things you can control (elements and timing). Everything else - your insecurities, results, mistakes, and other people's reactions are not in your power to control. That's what the best musicians, actors, athletes, public speakers and other performers do (in their own way). This is called professional attitude. |
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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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