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

I am learning a lot from your episodes. I am a trained pianist but also play organ. The main problem with being an organist is that you usually can't practice at home because most people don't own organs and even so...probably not a pipe organ! There are many true organists that utilize all the stops and use both feet seamlessly. Because I now play on 4 different organs… I want to give the listeners/participants the best experience. My suggestion is to focus on the easiest registrations… easiest way of just knowing how to prepare for playing the quickest and easiest way. Practice makes perfect so my goal is to gain access to my 4 churches and devote practice time to each organ. Thank you again for your helpful lessons!

V:  What do you understand from Rita's message, Ausra?

A:  Well, actually, she has access to 4 different organs, and that’s very nice.

V:  And she is transitioning from piano to the organ, true?

A:  Yes, that’s very often the case with church musicians especially.

V:  Right.  And probably she wants to know how to use the stops and both feet seamlessly.

A:  Yeah, that’s often the case, and a problem for pianists who start to play the organ.

V:  She didn’t write what is she playing, that’s the problem.

A:  What kind of those four different organs there are.

V:  Yeah, with incomplete information like this, we can only just imagine, you know, make some guesses.  Obviously, probably she’s not playing much organ repertoire.  I would guess that she’s playing more hymns than repertoire.

A:  Could be.  I’m not sure.

V:  Would you think that playing hymns alone she will improve with her feet and registrations?

A:  Well, a little bit, yes.  But not completely.

V:  Mm hm.  So obviously she needs more varied approach to her playing and probably to surprise her congregations with organ preludes and postludes.

A:  Yes.

V:  And even communion pieces.  Communions usually are soft; postludes could be loud.  But preludes could be both, right?

A:  Yes, depends on the occasion and on the time of year.

V:  And offertories, offertories also sometimes possible to play if the choir is not present, there is more time.

A:  And if she is  playing during service and the organ has set-up knobs, she could do the registrations in advance.

V:  You mean like combinations?

A:  Combinations, yes.  And for example, if she plays from four different organs, I don’t know how different they are.  But on those instruments that have combinations, she needs to have it set up, at least a few levels during the service that would help her during the service to be quick and efficient in changing registrations.  That would be good for solo pieces and also for hymn accompanying.

V:  I found in my improvisations on Hauptwerk at home that if I set up in advance six different dynamic levels plus some solo registrations, let’s say four more solo registrations, that will be already a little bit of variety to the pieces that they play.  So those six levels could be pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, and fortissimo.  Fortissimo could mean full organ, correct?

A:  Yes.

V:  And then let’s say four different solo combinations could mean let’s say oboe in one hand, flutes in another hand; depends on some other reeds or solo stops that she has, but let’s say cornet would be nice. Cornet in the right hand part and a principal in the left hand part.  Plus of course soft 16 and 8 foot stops in the pedals.  Number 3 could be trumpet.

A:  Yes, trumpet would be nice.

V:  Trumpet against principal or two.  And Number 4 - what do you think - probably softer.

A:  Yes of course.

V:  Suggest one, please.

A:  Soft registration?

V:  With solo combination.

A:  Well if you have Vox Humana, I would use Vox Humana with tremulant.

V:  Yes.

A:  for a solo voice, and accompany with a soft flute.

V:  That could be Number 4.  If you have a little bit more, you could create mutations like Flute 8 and Nazard 2 ⅔ with tremulant against one little flute.  That’s very beautiful.  And things like that.  You just experiment a little bit.  Make one hand a little bit louder and accompaniment a little bit softer.  Right?  And you set up those combinations in advance, and when the time comes to play your piece or a hymn verse, you just press the button, the piston or toe stud if you have toe studs, and it’s easy then.  But you have to practice those changes also.  Don’t leave it for the performance day, unless you have lots of experience in playing different organs and changing registrations, those things have to be practiced diligently just as much as the pieces themselves.  Okay.  What else can we suggest?

A:  Well, I think it is very happy that she has access to four different instruments, because that means she can learn to play on four different instruments at the same time.  It’s very nice.  Good experience for any organist.  Because usually, some organists just stuck up on one instrument and then sometimes we have a problem adjusting to a new instrument when we have a chance of it.

V:  Do you think four different organs means four different places also?

A:  Yes.  That’s a lot of driving or walking.

V:  That’s a nice variety in acoustics, too.

A:  Yes.  But if it’s America, there might be no acoustics in those places, but I’m not sure.

V:  We don’t where she is living, right?

A:  Yes.  But of course acoustics also adds to performance and how you play, what kind of tempo you select, and all that other stuff.

V:  Yeah.  And record yourself.  That’s really important if you want to improve.  Listen to your recordings as a listener, not as a player, but as a CD.  Like, would you like to listen to such a CD when you record yourself.  And if not, what’s wrong, how to improve it.  If you be very specific, you can improve faster then.

A:  Yes, recording is a very good suggestion, Vidas.

V:  Thank you.  So I think that should be helpful for starters.  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.

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If you are sitting at home during this quarantine, you might have a problem of accessing a practice instrument. I was very glad when my friend James Flores shared this video with me in which you will see how to construct your own organ at home. Highly recommended, especially the part about the pedalboard!

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 292, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Ruth. She’s our Total Organist student. And she writes:
 
Ruth: My organ has completely broken down and cannot be repaired. So, I have spent quite a bit of time in looking for another. Through my teacher, I found another which is several hundred miles from here. The owner of it is willing to give it to me, but I need to pay for its transportation here. She had several persons come to examine hers. They have confirmed that it is in excellent condition. So, I feel fortunate. Meanwhile, I have been practicing on the piano. Has this happened to any of you?

V: And Jay, who is helping to do transcriptions of those podcast conversations, wrote:

Jay: Yes, similar problems. I have (had) an older Rodgers analog organ, that had a problem with contact wires under the keys breaking continually, mostly because of it's age, I think. It was becoming rather expensive to maintain it so I disposed of it, just this week. I was seriously considering putting together a Hauptwerk organ, but I was notified of a little-used digital organ, which is likely much less expensive, and, it has built-in MIDI connectors for Hauptwerk possibilities as well. It is scheduled to be delivered this coming week. One gets used to having a practice organ at home, and I miss it.

V: And then Jeremy wrote also, who is on our team too.
 
Jeremy: I don’t have room (or the money) for an organ at home, so I am in contact with three churches and a friend who has an organ in his home. They are all more than welcoming when I ask to come and practice. It would be nice to have an organ at home and not have to plan in my practicing plus travel time.

V: So, and then, you see wonderful discussion we have among those three organists in our Total Organist group.

A: Yes.

V: Sometimes we ask people, at the end of the day, what are they working on, or what are they struggling with, or what their goals are for this week, or some of the inspiring things they have read or noticed that could also inspiring for other students in our group. And they all shared, and we all shared these things and little discussions happen within that group. Don’t you think, Ausra, it also is very motivating for people to see that other people having similar problems or challenges, or dreams, and they’re working together as a group then?
​
A: I think so, yes. I think it’s very important.
 
V: Like a little community.
 
A: Because sometimes when you have a problem, you think that you are the only one who has this problem, but then when you share it, it appears that other people have the same problem as well, or we already find out how to solve it, and they might have the experience, might help solve it for you too.
 
V: Right. Not everybody is involved in this kind of discussion, right? Everybody gets a question like that, ‘What are you working on?’, once in a while, ‘What are you struggling with?’. But some people are maybe more private people, right? They don’t think it’s interesting for them to work together as a group, so, because organists most of the time, they are alone, and some people enjoy being alone, and solving problem on their own. But on the contrary, for others, like maybe Jay, or Ruth, or Jeremy, this case too, they like having those discussions and support themselves too. So that’s how our Total Organist works. We support each other and we grow together. And going back to Ruth’s situation, I guess it’s wonderful that she has found a situation, an organ, even though it’s a few hundred miles from her, but hopefully, she will get that organ shipped to her.
 
A: Yes. Yes, I think it’s possible.
 
V: Do you think it’s worth investing some money into shipping?
 
A: Sure, because if the expert said, it’s a good deal, I think she should do it.
 
V: Uh-huh. And Ruth was curious what kind of digital organ Jay uses. And Jay said it’s a Rodgers 557, so discussion continues about those instruments. So it’s really interesting to see how people solve those problems around the world. And they have similar situations all over. Sometimes people go to church, like Jeremy, and if they’re lucky to get a decent church with decent organ, and organist, local organist would let them in and practice, that’s fantastic too.
 
A: True. And generally its not so common to have organ at home so you don’t have so much trouble and so many problems with receiving organ or moving them around, but I can see sometimes advertisements in the paper or internet that somebody will give, will donate piano. But you have to come and to pick it up for yourself.
 
V: If it’s in the same city, it’s not very far, but it if it’s in another city then it might get a little bit expensive.
 
A: And it’s often the case that people who live in apartment buildings, and lets say if you live, lets say on the tenth floor, and you cannot fit the piano into an elevator, then you have to take it downstairs manually, and it’s heavy job.
 
V: Four, maybe four muscle up and fit men.
 
A: I know. And it’s often the case if you sell your apartment and you have a piano in it, so one of the things is that you discuss with the new owners is that you will sell the apartment but we have to stick with that piano because you are not able to move it.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Some people treasure their pianos so they travel with pianos everywhere. They go next too.
 
A: I know. And my when my parents sold the summer cottage, they sold the piano together.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. But we have in our current home, piano in addition to organ. Can you tell our friends where this piano comes from?
 
A: Well, it’s called Riga. And Riga is Latvian capital, and actually in the Soviet time we had quite a famous piano factory in Riga. And this, our pride piano, it was all over the Soviet Union, I think.
 
V: Exactly. So basically, we have two instruments at home and we’re quite privileged to use them. And the piano is tuned about one half step lower.
 
A: Yes. Because it was a while since it was properly tuned.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: I think that was all the instruments, all the pianos, that if you don’t tune them for a while.
 
V: Right. So hopefully by now, Ruth has found some solutions to ship that instrument to her. But at any rate, I think it’s well worth putting in the money, or investing into shipping that instrument, if somebody is kind enough to donating, especially if its in a good condition, right? It’s a privilege to have an organ at home.
 
A: True.
 
V: Even though sometimes people like to go outside to the studio or the church to practice. Ausra, would you prefer playing in, let’s say, your separate studio if you had one, or here at home?
 
A: Well I enjoy playing at home because it saves me time. Because if I would have to walk somewhere to church or studio, of course I walk to church for recitals, and I really have to practice on a real instrument which I will be performing on. But I wouldn’t do that every day. And since I have organ at home I can practice every day, and it’s very nice.
 
V: And I like to go to church often. It helps me keep my fingers in a condition to be ready to play heavy mechanical organs, which is what we have at church. And it’s nice to be in an old town of Vilnius too, to be in that part of the city while you work at school.
 
A: Yes, but if you would be teaching like 35 hours or 26 hours per week as I do, I don’t think you would have enough energy to walk to church to play every day.
 
V: We can switch you know. I could teach for you, and you could play for me.
 
A: Oh yes; I would love to switch.
 
V: (Laughs) but your students wouldn’t love me.
 
A: Probably not.
 
V: We would talk about internet and blogging and preparing them for the future of their profession.
 
A: We might like that instead of discussing problems related to the parallel fifths and octaves.
 
V: (Laughs). I know. Thank you guys for sending those wonderful questions, for having discussions in our Total Organist Basecamp group. And keep sending your challenges and dreams. We love helping you grow. 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.

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Vidas: Let’s start Episode 62 of #AskVidasAndAusra podcast. And today’s question was sent by Adeniyi, and he writes that he has no organ to use. And that’s his challenge, right Ausra? Can you practice organ without an organ?

Ausra: Well, you can do a lot of work not on the organ. But later you still have to apply it on the organ. Because you can do mental preparation, to work with a score without any musical instrument; then you can practice on the piano and do a lot of things, too; but finally, you still have to get access to an organ. What do you think about it?

Vidas: You’re right, mental practice, keyboard practice, all are very useful things, especially when you have to save time, if you travel, if you are in a room without an organ. But then let’s talk, Ausra, about getting access to a church organ someplace in your area. You don’t have to have an organ in your house or in your home?

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: So obviously, there are churches nearby--maybe five miles around you, or ten miles around you, in your neighborhood, in your city, maybe in your region. If you live in a remote area, you can practice, let’s say, just once a week--

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: And do all your work on the keyboard, and get better this way; but then, get access to a real organ with pedals, let’s say just once a week. So Ausra, how would you imagine the situation: You have no organ at home; you have a piano, for example; you want to practice organ playing; and you have a church in mind in our neighborhood. And pretend you are not a university organist! So you have to go someplace and ask. What’s your first step?

Ausra: Maybe I would just go to the nearest church, and just ask them if I could use the organ, time after time; and I would suggest something in exchange, maybe a volunteer program. And not necessarily to play during the service, at the beginning; if I would be just a beginner organist, maybe I would suggest to be an usher or to do some other kind of work.

Vidas: Yeah, especially if you have no organ playing skills at the beginning, it would be too strenuous for you--too stressful--to volunteer liturgical organ playing once a week, or do some other, professional work, right? But then of course later on, maybe in a few months, or even half a year, or the next year, you can definitely volunteer to play for them in the church service, in exchange of letting you practice in their room.

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: Do you think the church administration would be willing to do this kind of exchange?

Ausra: I hope so. Maybe not each church would agree on that; but I think most of them, yes.

Vidas: Because most of the churches need volunteers, right? They are not too packed with volunteers; there may be some work they could offer you to do in exchange of your services. Or maybe they would need some kind of other help. Maybe you know how to do computer work or maybe you can do some manual work, too.

Ausra: Yes. There are all kinds of possibilities.

Vidas: So, the church is one possibility. Do you know of any other possibilities to get access to the instrument in your area?

Ausra: Well, there might be some neighbor who has an instrument…

Vidas: For example, if you have a group of friends who are interested in organ playing, and one of them has an organ at home, so let’s say three of them or five of them could get together and play recitals for one another, and also get regular exchange practice on that instrument. Maybe make a donation for the maintenance of the instrument, and the use of their time. That’s possible, if you live around organists. So usually that happens in a city situation, not in a remote area.

Ausra: Not so much.

Vidas: Okay, but what if you have this access once in a while to the church organ, but you want to practice regularly on a keyboard without pedals organ music which has a pedal part. Can you do that, Ausra?

Ausra: Well, you can do that. You can just draw yourself a pedalboard, and imagine that you’re playing it.

Vidas: Or print out a pedalboard from the internet.

Ausra: Sure.

Vidas: Glue the parts together to make the paper sheets larger, and a real-size pedalboard can be assembled in six or twelve sheets of paper; and you can put them on the floor, right?

Ausra: And if you will be able to play on such a pedalboard, then definitely you will be able to play a real one. Because this way is much harder!

Vidas: Do you remember, Ausra, in our Unda Maris organ studio, we have a number of keyboards and pedalboards printed out.

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: And some people do use them. And sometimes we even do coordinated, simultaneous practice, when one person plays on the real organ, and the rest of them play on the silent keyboards or paper sheets. Right?

Ausra: Yes, it works very well.

Vidas: They hear in their head what is sounding, but they all practice together at the same time, the same piece. Very very slowly, of course. Maybe not all of them are at the same level; maybe one is beginner level, another is intermediate level, so intermediate level organist would play all parts together, and beginner would play just one part alone, right?

Ausra: Yes. So there are various solutions, actually, for a situation like this. You just have to explore your area and to check all the possibilities. And I hope that you will find a right solution for you.

Vidas: And we hope to help you grow as an organist further; so please send us more of your questions, and simply reply to our messages that you are getting from this blog at www.organduo.lt as a subscriber.

And remember, when you practice…

Ausra: Miracles happen.

If you encounter an organ which is difficult to play, you need to learn to adjust to it. Otherwise, you will feel a lot of stress and your performance will be full of mistakes. Here are 11 things to keep in mind if you want to adjust to uncomfortable organ:

1. If the bench is too low, put wooden blocks or thick hymnals under each side of the bench.
2. If the bench is too high, sit on the edge of the bench (slide to the front a little).
3. If the music rack is too far from the player, you can put additional music holder on top of it.
4. If the music rack is too close, lean back, position the bench further from the keyboards, or play from memory.
5. If the key action is too light, play pianissimo and keep your fingers in contact with the keys at all times.
6. If the key action is too heavy, use a little more force, choose a slower tempo, and build up your technique over time.
7. If the pedals are too narrow, take your time in practicing the pedal part alone with pedal preparation repeatedly and very slowly.
8. If the pedals are too wide, look at No. 7.
9. If the reverberation is too dry, aim for more connected articulation.
10. If the reverberation is too wet, aim for more detached articulation, take your time in manual changes, and play slower in general.
11. If the stop action is too heavy, simplify the registration changes and choose the appropriate music.

FINAL TIP: don't fight the instrument - let it play for you, listen to the echo, breath, and choose the appropriate repertoire according to the historical period and national style of the organ.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Have you ever played on a historical organ? If you have, you may have noticed some of the things which make playing such an instrument seemingly uncomfortable - height of the bench, heaviness of key and stop action, position of the pedals and manuals etc. - everything put together is quite a burden to adjust for an aspiring organist. Although not all historical organs are like that to be sure but the majority of them are different from modern concert instruments. Besides, there are many modern organs built in the Romantic, Baroque, or Renaissance style.

So what to do in a situation like that when you are invited to play a recital or church service on a historical organ, or maybe you are just visiting the church which houses such an instrument and are given an opportunity to try it out?

Here you must remember this rule - organ playing is like driving a car. At first, when you have just taken the driving exam and got your driving license, you are used to driving just one car only (most of the time).

Can you remember the feeling when you tried to drive the second car? It took a while to adjust to it - breaks work differently, gear shift and clutch (if your car has them) work differently as well. In other words, every little detail about the new car might be different. Perhaps not totally different but just a little. And sometimes the adjustment process takes up to a week or more.

But later in your driving experience you begin to get exposed to different cars and little by little your driving experience increases. Consequently, the time required to adjust to a new car decreases. Most of the people, though don't drive many cars all the time, only the professionals do. So the true professionals can adjust to a new car in no time.

Likewise, playing different organs is also similar to driving a car. The more organs you have visited and played, the faster and easier will be to adjust to uncomfortable instruments.

I remember back in 2000 when I participated in Gothenburg International Organ Academy (Sweden) they had a few very significant instruments built in the 17th century North German style. One was in the famous Orgryte New church - a 4 manual organ in the Schnitger style. The second - a 2 manual organ by built by John Brombough in Haga church. They also had pedal clavichords available for practice.

These organs had split keys - the so-called subsemitones. In other word, E flat and D sharp was not the same (as there were several others on each keyboard). As you can imagine playing such an organ is no easy thing for an organist with little experience on historical organs.

So let me tell you this - I felt miserable, not only I had trouble figuring out which split key belonged to which note (the more common ones are in the front, but I didn't understand that at first), I also felt quite incapable of playing them without mistakes - especially the Haga church organ because the action was so light and the size of the keys was smaller, especially on the 2nd manual. Evidently you need to know early fingering in order to play such instruments.

By the way, I played Buxtehude's Praeludium in E major on this organ. For a person with no experience with split keys it was a very foolish idea because of number of sharps.

But later in life, when I got much wider exposure to historical organs through my studies, I returned to Haga church in 2011 to play a recital of Renaissance motet intabulations. Now the feeling was quite different - I felt at home with this beautiful organ. I prepared all the registrations in advance at home so when I was given 2 hours to practice, I felt I was ready after just 30 minutes. So the rest of the rehearsal I just improvised and enjoyed the instrument and its marvelous sounds. There was no feeling of stress or anxiety when one has to face an uncomfortable organ.

What can you learn from this story? The main point is this: as with driving a car - the more organs you have played, the easier it will be for you to adjust to them.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

Sometimes I get a question from people who are looking for advice on finding the right organ for home practice.

If you are looking for a pipe organ, find a used or a new small pipe organ with only 1-2 stops. They usually fit into a standard room.

If you are looking for an electronic organ (without pipes), then consider Allen, Johannus, and Rodgers among many others. They take even less space than the pipe organ.

I had this dilemma after my studies in the US whether to buy an electronic organ with lots of stops or a pipe organ with 2 stops.

I chose a real pipe organ with 2 stops on two manuals and pedals (from a local Lithuanian organ builder). But that's my personal choice. Other people might feel different about it.

But there is something about the mechanical organ touch and the real sound (like the ones Gene Bedient builds for home practice practice) which digital organs can't reproduce yet.

Perhaps the new ones are getting better but they are more expensive. But if you have a tight budget, electronic organs might be less expensive.

Then there are virtual organs (Hauptwerk) which are doing interesting things, too. You can play with the sound sets of real organs from around the world (famous cathedrals, historical organs) and pretend you are playing a famous Silbermann or Cavaille-Coll organ, among many other options they have available.

If we take money out of the question, then I guess the deciding factor for many people will be the idea itself: pipe organ vs electronic organ vs virtual organ.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.

I have met some people who regularly practice organ using paper keyboards (on the table) and pedalboards (on the floor). You might wonder if such practice is effective or not?

Paper keyboards (and pedalboards) can be really helpful. The most important aspect of such practice is of course mental. We have to imagine the sounds in our heads. Also this is a powerful device for increasing one's focus.

It's a great way to stay on top of your organ practice when you are traveling. I personally use it when I prepare for recitals and have to stay in the hotel room without a real instrument available.

Another possibility is to have a recording of your piece in a slow practice tempo which could be used while playing paper keyboards and pedalboards.

I have also a warning here: since the touch of the paper keyboards is completely different from either mechanical or electronic organ, once in a while it is necessary to have an access to the real organ for practice.

But even when practicing on the table and on the floor, always be aware that your hand and feet position, depressions and the releases of the imaginary keys and pedals are the same as on the real instrument.

If you would like to learn more about organ practice, check out my new Organ Practice Training. It's intended for organists who struggle with various issues of their daily organ practice.

By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide.