My friend from Australia James Flores yesterday made a video about how to make progress in your practice. It's an excellent instructional video where James talks about 3 levels of pieces we should be learning every day. I highly recommend you watch it here if you haven't already done so:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrXfyY6ilZo

While listening to his video I decided to take it even further and adapt to my needs which would allow me to play a 30 minute recital every week. This video is dedicated to my friend Rien Schalkwijk from the Netherlands who asked a question how do Ausra and I prepare for recitals. This video answers his question from my part and I hope Ausra will record a separate video about her process soon.

I also talked about the importance of improvisation so if you are interested in learning to improvise a chorale partita, please watch this video: youtu.be/Y6vhx_gNWZI

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Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!

Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist.

Vidas: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius...

Ausra: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene.

Vidas: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ

Ausra: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011.

Vidas: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today.

Ausra: We hope you’ll enjoy it!

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas,

Ausra: And Ausra,​

Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!

Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist.

Vidas: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius...

Ausra: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene.

Vidas: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ

Ausra: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011.

Vidas: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today.

Ausra: We hope you’ll enjoy it!

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas,

Ausra: And Ausra,

Vidas: Let’s start episode 683 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Gena, and she is our Total Organist community member. She has sent me her answer to the question what is her dream in organ playing for the next three months and also what are some of her challenges. So she writes:

“Thank you!
1. Full public organ recital on fine instrument here in FL. Program pieces have been gradually prepared over several years.
2. Currently putting all keyboard efforts into the next full piano recital Shall We Dance. Have a professional teacher/coach weekly. Can’t do both goals at once due to poor health, lack of time and organ teacher/coach. Still singing in multiple choirs.

Gena
Florida and Colorado
USA”

Vidas: So, I think Gena has a lot of things on her plate!

Ausra: Oh yes, a lot of them!

Vidas: Do you think she will be able to do an organ recital?

Ausra: Yes, I think so, too, that she will be able to do it...

Vidas: ...in addition to other things that she is preparing.

Ausra: …because if she was preparing pieces over several years, then why not?

Vidas: Right. It’s not like a monthly recital or not even a yearly recital, but she’s been working gradually on those pieces. I wonder what’s on the program for her organ recital?

Ausra: Yes, it would be very interesting to know.

Vidas: And how far along is she with her program?

Ausra: Yeah. Is it easy for you, for example, to play both on the piano and on the organ?

Vidas: No, no, no. I played for some time on piano, too, when we worked at the church. Remember? But that was a long time ago… or were you playing more? I forgot.

Ausra: I was playing too!

Vidas: We both probably were playing accompaniments. 

Ausra: Yes. But we played on the Valentines Day. Remember? Those Brahms’ waltzes. 

Vidas: Right.

Ausra: And it was really, really difficult, at least for me.

Vidas: It wasn’t impossible, of course, but kind of strange for an organist to do piano.

Ausra: Yes, because I simply used piano as one of the working tools for organ repertoire.

Vidas: Right. And not the other way around.

Ausra: Yes. 

Vidas: I wonder what is more important to Gena, organ playing or piano playing? Because she wants…

Ausra: ...and she still sings in multiple choirs.

Vidas: Right.

Ausra: That’s impressive.

Vidas: Right. At some point in my life I had to prioritize my activities into things that I want to do most, or maybe things that yield the most impact, and then gradually remove things that are not as important.

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: Of course, I have many, many wishes and many other dreams, but I understand that they are just dreams. I’ll never be able to speak Swedish fluently, for example.

Ausra: Will you be able to learn to play the Theremini?

Vidas: Theremi! Oh, Theremini… haha, ever since the war started in Ukraine I gradually shifted into another mood. But of course, the war is just an excuse…

Ausra: Yes, you bought the Theremini before the war, so if you had been practicing diligently every day maybe you would already be able to play it, and now it’s just gathering dust and I have to clean it.

Vidas: Do you like cleaning the dust?

Ausra: No, I hate it!

Vidas: Oh… no, I understand what you’re talking about. I was really, really excited to start practicing Theremin. The Theremin is like an electric instrument, but Theremini is a version of it that we have, so I was really excited, got inspired by watching videos on YouTube made by Jerry Martin, our friend, but it takes a lot of effort. It’s not an easy instrument to play. Even the simplest melody! I had the dream to play a melody on a Theremin, and let’s say, Ausra would play an organ part of any simple hymn, for example. But even this is absolutely impossible to do it nicely at the beginning.

Ausra: Yes, yeah.

Vidas: Because that’s the only instrument that you play while not touching it, actually. You are making shapes with your hands in the space, not touching it, and you have to be extremely precise with your fingers and with your hand motions using both hands. And for beginners, it’s just very difficult and it requires a lot of practice, and practice requires commitment, commitment requires time, and we all know where it leads.

Ausra: Yes, so we better stick to the organ.

Vidas: Yeah. Maybe, I’m not throwing this idea away, that’s why we are keeping it there, but you know, life has seasons. Sometimes you have projects on one side of artistic activity, sometimes less so, another time, right now, I’m very much into composing music and composing music for Ukraine on Ukrainian melodies, and this actually helps me revive my composition efforts in general. I started creating organ pieces for Lent, now for Easter and other compositions, but that’s this period! Yes, I’m thoroughly absorbed by it. And then, a time might come when I might switch gears and do something else. It’s okay! I believe we live in a project world, and I don’t need to be committed to one thing for 30 years. Maybe I will be committed to organ for 30 years or more, for organ, but in addition to Organ I can switch gears periodically. What do you think about it?

Ausra: Yes, I think so, too.

Vidas: Talking about various side gigs.

Ausra: But the organ is the most important, right?

Vidas: Organ is absolutely the pinnacle of our activities. Yeah.

Ausra: For me, too.

Vidas: Even composition. Yes? It’s organ composition that I’m focusing on right now. The time might come when I could switch gears and do something else, creating music for chamber ensembles or solo instruments. But I started as an organ composer. That’s my primary objective. What is your primary objective right now, Ausra?

Ausra: Preparing for recitals.

Vidas: We have plenty of them. Right?

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: ...coming up this Summer and in Spring, too. Yeah, strange time when so much drama and tragedy in the world… right now we have so many invitations to play recitals.

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: So Gena, very good that she has this double goal preparing for an organ recital and a piano recital. But I think she needs to maybe prioritize, because she says, “cannot do both goals at once due to poor health, lack of time, and organ teacher/coach. Right? Because I believe she has no piano coach. Right? Only organ coach. So the organ teacher requires her attention every week, and therefore probably the organ recital will come along faster than the piano recital. What do you think?

Ausra: Well, I understood that she has a piano instructor but not organ.

Vidas: Wait… oh, right! That’s true. I’m mistaken. Sorry Gena. Okay, so the piano instructor requires her commitment to piano. Right? But probably she wants to do… in her heart she feels the organ calling. Right? To her organ recital preparation, but she cannot do both goals at the same time. Maybe… yeah, maybe do one at a time! Why not?

Ausra: I would do that.

Vidas: One at a time. Whatever comes probably easier first, and then the second thing. Will it give her more time to prepare later?

Ausra: Sure.

Vidas: Either organ first or piano first. Doesn’t matter, probably. Okay…

Ausra: Because after when she will be done with one, then it will be easier for her to do the next one.

Vidas: Definitely. She already did a few of them, I remember, in the past. She has experience,  but since she’s not doing them on a weekly basis or monthly basis, that takes more preparation time, I think. More stamina.

Ausra: Yes.

Vidas: Okay, we hope this was useful to Gena and others who have commitments and dreams in preparing double recitals on two instruments. Please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice,

Ausra: Miracles happen!

​V: This podcast is supported by Total Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online.

A: It has hundreds of courses, coaching and practice materials for every area of organ playing, thousands of instructional videos and PDF's. You will NOT find more value anywhere else online...

V: Total Organist helps you to master any piece, perfect your technique, develop your sight-reading skills, and improvise or compose your own music and much much more…

A: Sign up and begin your training today at organduo.lt and click on Total Organist. And of course, you will get the 1st month free too. You can cancel anytime.

V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Buy Me a Coffee platform and get early access:

​A: Find out more at https://buymeacoffee.com/organduo

Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!

Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist.

V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius...

A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene.

V: We have over 25 years of experience of playing the organ

A: ...and we’ve been teaching thousands of organists online from 89 countries since 2011.

V: So now let’s jump in and get started with the podcast for today.

A: We hope you’ll enjoy it!

V: Hi guys!  This is Vidas.

A:  And Ausra.

V: Let’s start episode 637 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Rosemary, and she writes,

Hello Vidas
Firstly can I thank you for the wonderfully informative emails you have sent during the last week, To date I have found them very helpful and thought provoking.  A good beginning to the information I need to develop my study for the next 12 months.

In reply to your first question. My goal for this coming year is a 30 minute lunchtime recital on 8 October 2021.

My practice situation is a small instrument, one manual with a full pedal board and 5 stops in our local church  (country town). The recital is on an instrument 8 times this size
in a provincial city 45 km away.

Aug 2019 I was included in the programme and played an all Bach programme  (BWV 554, BWV 555,  BWV 604, BWV 536 and BWV 570 )  I lacked confidence and found it a rather tough experience and have resolved to better the experience.

Important aspects to address. Developing a plan for the year's study.  Developing the programme. (Bach again as his music is a passion of mine, or a European tour,
(Boellmann, Faure..Italian school, and Bach )

The learning of a piece, bringing it up to concert standard and maintaining the standard for the recital date.

Work on analysing the piece, Your email of Dec 1st has been a great catalyst. Maybe this is one of the secrets to understanding the piece and gaining confidence in performance.

Additionally, I have shortened the length of the fragments I learn at a time and have resolved to trial your suggestions.

The content of the material you've sent seems like a good foundation. I need all these tips and more. I have had no formal lessons on the instrument, gathering knowledge through reading, listening and suggestions from colleagues in recent years.  More information on ornaments, (BWV 555 do you include the marked trill on the resolution of the prelude.)  The French Noels how do you fit in the mordants and how are they played,

Currently I am learning Priere a Notre-Dame  L Boellmann your copy with fingering and pedaling,
Sicilienne OP.78  G Faure
Sonata 5 BWV 529 Bach third movement

I am particularly interested in your copy of Ich ruf' zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ  BWV 639  where you have written out the interpretation of the ornaments and how they fit in. More on this please.

Time I stopped, I have gained regular access to the organ for the recital determined to be more familiar with the instrument, I have considerable support and assistance from the regular organists especially with choice of registration.  A big learning curve.

Hopefully this finds you and yours well, a strange year with so many new challenges. Every good wish for this festive Christmas season.

kind regards
Rosemary

V:  First of all Ausra, I recommended Total Organist Program to Rosemary, because her goals are very ambitious, and she would really benefit from our ambitious program.  And she just signed up yesterday, I think.

A:  Wonderful!  Congratulations to you both.

V:  Welcome Rosemary to Total Organist.  So Ausra, going back to her experience and feedback, what would you notice at first?

A:  Yes, that she’s very much determined and motivated, and I think she will succeed, because it seems like she has a clear plan and she’s very persistent and hard-working, so I think she will succeed in playing that recital on the 8th of October in 2021.

V:  Uh huh.  It’s interesting the pieces that she mentioned on the program that she already played in August 2019 was BWV 554, it’s D Minor Prelude and Fugue from the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues; 555 is E minor; 604 is something from the Orgelbüchlein, let me check....  604 is Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.  And then 536 is A Major Prelude and Fugue, and 570 is C Major Fantasia without the Fugue.  So, well polyphonically, these pieces are, with the exception of A Major Prelude and Fugue, I would say basic level.  Not even intermediate, right Ausra?

A:  Yes, maybe between beginning, beginner and intermediate.

V:  A Major Fugue is more complex.  It’s a minuet probably, and dancing rhythms 3 part, 3/4 meter, kind of tricky to get, because sometimes they have canons in the middle.  So it’s maybe intermediate piece.  Good that she is determined to learn a new program for October, right?  Hopefully she will adapt to a new instrument eight times the size of her practice organ.  Eight times - so what is this, like 40 stops?

A:  Yes, that’s a good size organ.

V:  Three manuals probably.

A:  Not necessarily.  It might be two as well, with pedal, but it might have the third division.

V:  Mm hm.  Yeah.  Generally with three manuals you can do a lot, but it takes a little bit more coordination.  You don’t have to play all three manuals, though.  You can couple the Swell to the Positiv and play like on two manuals, right?  Pretend you are playing three.

A:  Yes, but Rosemary has one manual at her church, so how would you suggest she practice pieces that requires at least two manuals?

V:  I would either play right hand higher or left hand lower, depending on which sounds better.  But you see what I mean, right?

A:  Yes, on the same keyboard.

V:  On the same keyboard.  It’s like practicing on the piano.  When you have to cross hands, but if you move one hand higher or one hand lower, you can effectively play two manual pieces.

A:  Yes, that’s a good suggestion.  As you said it before, I imagined that you would play in the air with your hand higher or lower.  (laughs)  Do you see what I mean?

V:  Uh higher, like not an octave higher but a little bit higher.   

A:  In the air, in the air I mean.

V:  Oh, virtually higher.

A:  Virtually

V:  Imagining there is a second keyboard.

A:  So better don’t do that.

V:  Actually, I’ve done some practice on our instrument at home, before Hauptwerk, when we only had two manuals, and if I had to make echo passages from second manual to the third at church, I would pretend I have three manuals here at home, and jump from the second manual to the music rack and back and forth.  It’s about the same size, so it fits.  It’s a little bit maybe higher jump, but teaches you the same physical movement.

A:  Yes, true.  But it’s nice that Rosemary does a lot of Bach’s practicing, and actually you can pretty much play entire works by J.S. Bach just on one keyboard.

V:  You mean practicing.

A:  Yes.  Not, of course not all of them.  Like not ornamented chorales, and obviously not Trio Sonatas, but like all preludes and fugues you can easily do on one keyboard.

V:  But again, if you want to play Trio Sonata, like she was mentioning Trio Sonata someplace…

A:  Middle movement, I believe.

V:  The third movement, actually…

A:  Oh, the third!

V:  C Major Trio Sonata 529.  She’s currently actually working on that.  So I would probably drop the left hand one octave lower.  You see, the key with this kind of trick is to check the lower part, the middle part.  If it descends lower than the tenor C, if it descends lower, then when you drop one octave lower, it goes beyond the range of the keyboard.  Then maybe some notes have to be rearranged, not necessarily entire voice, but maybe a measure here and there, a phrase you know, to make it meaningful.  But in general, yeah, Trio Sonatas work on one keyboard if you adjust the left hand one octave lower.

A:  Is it safe to prepare it for a recital when you know you don’t have much time to play before it, actual performance?

V:  No, of course not.  That’s very risky.  Actually, Trio Sonatas in general are very risky, and even if you have a lot of time - myself included.  Whenever I played Trio Sonatas in concert, I didn’t have good experience.

A:  Ha ha ha!

V:  What?

A:  But I have a good experience about this particular movement.  I played it on my exam for my Bachelor’s Degree at the Academy of Music, so I remember it quite well.  It’s not a hard movement, well of course it’s hard, but it’s not long comparing let’s say to the first movement of the same sonata.  But it’s trickier than the first movement.

V:  Mm hm.  So the last thing that we need to mention is the ornaments, right?

A:  Yes, and basically if you know you study well that Vidas’ example of Ich Ruf Zu Dir, I think it’s sort of a key to the rest of Bach’s ornamentation.  And Rosemary asked about French Noels and how to ornament them, so basically, Bach used the French ornament tradition.

V:  It’s actually in the preface to Klavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Bach copied by hand ornament table by d’Anglebert.  And you can find this example online, the same ornament table.  So basically, you need to just play most of the ornaments from the upper note in his mature works, and there are some other exceptions of course, which we could discuss on a deeper level.  Maybe I should do a video or something.

A:  I think this would be very helpful.

V:  Okay.  Stay tuned, guys.  Thank you for listening to our conversation.  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.

V: If you like our organ music, you can also support us on Patreon and get free CD’s.

A: Find out more at patreon.com/secretsoforganplaying

I checked my email and saw a message titled "Oink Oink" from @laputis who sent me a link to some video. In this video a Greek reporter was being chased by a pig. I thought the pig wanted to be friends but video said she tried to have a bite at reporters pants.

https://www.delfi.lt/video/uzsienis/graikijos-zurnalista-tiesioginiame-eteryje-uzpuole-kiaule.d?id=82892123&jwsource=cl

It was now the time for me to go downstairs and practice some organ. In about 3 weeks @laputis and I will play "Christmas with Bach" recital and the two solo pieces I will be playing will be 2 versions of "Nun komm" - BWV 660 and BWV 661. I played it through a couple of times stopping at every beat. I later calculated I will need 10 days to master these chorale preludes, if I will manage to stop at consecutively larger fragments each day. Today should be stops every half measure.

Then I remembered to check if Markek wrote some of his ideas on Facebook about the recent Ciurlionis organ competition. Having not found anything, I wrote a proposal to play organ duet recital to Riga's St John's church and to Ireneusz Wyrwa with the proposal to be on the jury of his organ duet competition in 2020.

In the evening @laputis and I went to practice our Bach cantata organ duet arrangements. The hardest for me still is the opening chorus from "Wachet auf" cantata and the tenor aria from the 2nd cantata from Christmas Oratorio. I still can't remember its title. Maybe it's because tenor clef seems to be very user unfriendly to me.

When @laputis played her solo chorales "Nun komm" and "Wachet auf", I read "American elf, 1999'. I wish I hadn't done this while sitting on the sofa behind our pipe organ because I simply love when @laputis practices. Next time I hear her play, I promise to pay attention and cheer her up.
​
When we were done practicing, @laputis asked me, "How many steps do you have?" I said, "7400 and you?" "12600. Fitbit gave me more when we played. It's obvious whose part is more difficult."

This week my main focus is going to be on preparing publicity materials for the 3 recitals at my church. The posters are already done but I have sent them to the approval of our communication's specialist. Then I also have a press release ready for my organ and dance improvisation recital. It's on the Biblical story of "Exodus". But I'm still waiting for some thoughts from the organists of the other two recitals.

One is especially tricky to publicize. It doesn't have a clearly focused theme. The organist says - it's just a regular concert. Yes, but this title won't get anybody interested to come. And they don't play almost any programmatic music which title could be the theme for the entire event. So she settled for "The Monologues of Organ, Flute and Cello". Monologues, because 3 instruments won't be playing together.

This week I also intend to sight-read through the music collections of Tore Bjorn Larsen, an organist and composer from Svendborg, Denmark. I played one of his pieces today and was quite surprised about the dissonant musical language. I'm actually intrigued if I could sight-read through his music and perhaps pick up some inspiration for my own improvisations.

I also want to sight-read through the works of Paul Ayres, an English organist and composer. I bought his Suite for Eric and played through the Toccata today. It's definitely worth looking more closely into. If the rest of the suite is on a level of the Toccata, I think I might be looking forward to performing it.

Speaking of which, today I checked my calendar and discovered that I have to play a recital on December 21 in my church. It's close to Christmas time so this week I have to figure out what music I'm going to play then. I secretly hope Ausra will want to play some new organ duets with me but we'll see how school work is treating her. We will definitely sight-read through some organ duets of Denis Bedard at home this week though.

This morning I received a phone call from the organizer of the organ festival in Anyksciai, a town in the northern part of Lithuania which has St Matthew's church with a donated 3 manual Romantic English organ in it. This organizer wants me and Ausra to play a duet recital in August 2020. He also wants me to bring Unda Maris organ studio to the festival for masterclasses and a joint concert and to lead some of the masterclasses. They will also have some organ students from Poland. This week I have to give him an answer.

This week I have to calculate the costs and submit organ duet recital programs of our upcoming concert trips to Sweden and Germany for the next year. I will apply for travel reimbursement from the university, application for which has to be done this week.

On Wednesday we will have our Unda Maris organ studio rehearsal and today I received an email from a Latvian student who attended our Saturday's organ duet recital and she liked it very much. 

Now she wants to join the studio. She plays piano but not on the professional level. She has studied at the music school for one year and then continued to play on her own for the hearing but she also says she can read music. She played in the band of synthesizers in the past and her grandma is an organist. Therefore, she has a little organ playing experience as well. I told her to come on Wednesday and be prepared to play something.

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.

Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 364, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. Today we would like to talk a little bit about the recital that we witnessed before Christmas. Our friend Paulius played short, half-an hour recital at Vilnius Cathedral.
 
A: Actually, it lasted 25 minutes.
 
V: 25 minutes.
 
A: Mmm-hmm.
 
V: Okay. And it was a big deal for him because it was Vilnius Cathedral—a big place, and many people came, and it was organized as a Christmas organ series by National Association of Organists in Lithuania, and Paulius played one of the recitals, last Saturday. First of all Ausra, what do you think about this? Did Paulius make a good progress, considering your last experience of him playing the organ?
 
A: Do you want me to be honest or do you want me to tell that he did the progress?
 
V: Do you think that these two things are mutually exclusive?
 
A: I don’t know. Well, anyway, let’s start our talk with what you told me a night before his recital because Vidas was just turning pages for him.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And night before recital, what Vidas told to me, I thought that I will hear a very sloppy performance, but it didn’t happen. So I guess he made overnight progress.
 
V: He played much better during the recital than in the last rehearsal. I only heard him once, right? I didn’t go to the cathedral a few times before when he was playing. I couldn’t come. So yes, I was stressed out and he was stressed out too, rather scared, I guess, for the upcoming performance, which was sort of very natural because we all are scared when something big is approaching and we’re not really feeling secure.
 
A: But you know, he has this wonderful quality that he did such a good job comparing to what he could do, and what he did a night before, and that’s a very good sign. Very few of us I think have this quality. Because usually under the pressure, people do much sloppier job than they could do.
 
V: Are you one of those people?
 
A: Mmm.
 
V: Cause I am, usually.
 
A: Well, I don’t think so, but it’s very hard to judge yourself and to be sort of objective when talking about oneself.
 
V: And actually, there are different instances, different experiences in our own life. Sometimes we play better during the public performance and sometimes a little bit worse.
 
A: You know, I just draw a very useful lesson after this recital, and it was a nice recital, I mean I enjoyed much of it. But also I thought how it could be if things would be different, and I like that you need to prepare in advance and it does matter what because before this recital he could not practice enough. And he know probably about it in advance I believe because he knew that this is the time before Christmas which is very busy for church organists, and gives all kind of additional work.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And therefore you need to prepare in advance. For your sake, for listeners sake, for everybody’s sake.
 
V: I didn’t ask him but it would have been really worth trying to play a dress rehearsal at least two months before.
 
A: And I think that how George Ritchie and Quentin Faulkner advised everybody to play.
 
V: For professionals, I think one month before is acceptable.
 
A: And that’s what we did—we had to play entire program one month before in public.
 
V: But for people who are still learning, I think two months before the public performance, you have to play the run through.
 
A: Because you always have to take in mind that things might happen. You might get sick for a week or two or something might happen, accident, whatever. And expect it work, jobs and all kinds of complication. So in that way if you will be ready in advance, you will not be so much stressed out.
 
V: What to you mean by run-through? Is you have to play your entire program?
 
A: Without stopping, from beginning to the end.
 
V: In concert tempo?
 
A: Yes.
 
V: With as many mistakes as you like—it doesn’t matter.
 
A: Well, but if you will make mistakes in every measure that means that you are not ready to play through.
 
V: But, well, within reason...
 
A: I don’t agree with you...
 
V: Without reason.
 
A: By mistakes.
 
V: But do you even imagine that the person would make mistake in every measure, and still would play in a concert tempo? I couldn’t imagine it.
 
A: Well, you know, miracles happen, as we daily say on our podcast.
 
V: If you could play your program in a concert tempo, then feel free to make mistakes.
 
A: I have seen people who are very self-conscious and that are very sort self-confidence.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And you never know who you are talking to. And sometimes people are very having very good, very high opinion about themselves and sometimes another way, so…
 
V: Oh! You mean that things that we are talking right now, would be perceived differently by other people.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: By different people...
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: Differently.
 
A: Yes.
 
V: When I say, ‘please do as many mistakes as you like’, then that person would really play absolutely horribly but still think ‘oh, Vidas let me play with mistakes.’
 
A: So don’t tell that because you need to do as little mistakes as you can. That’s the purpose.
 
V: For me, the purpose is to play in concert tempo, and within reason to make mistakes. I mean not to focus on the mistakes, but focus on the tempo, and then you will have two months to reduce those mistakes.
 
A: Well, but anyway, what I’m talking about and what I’m keeping in mind and what is very important for me that, if I play a recital and I’m really ready for it, I know that I did what I could…
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And then let’s say something will happen to me during recital—some unexpected mistakes, or I don’t know, the organ would break or something else—then I would just know that I did what I could and know what happens, just happened. And I would be sort, well…
 
V: Pleased.
 
A: Pleased, yes. But if I wouldn’t be ready for recital for some reasons and I would do a sloppy job then I would feel really guilty.
 
V: By this time probably our listeners are wondering, ‘what did Paulius play?’, right? We’re talking about recital and they don’t know what he performed. So, the first piece on the program was Nun komm, BWV 599 from the Orgelbuchlein by Johann Sebastian Bach.
 
A: And I think the next two pieces also were from the same collection.
 
V: Right. Then the second was BWV 600. If the first was BWV 599 then the next one in the program was in order—600, and then BWV 601. All three of them together. And then Paulius played Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland...
 
A: ... From the Leipzig collection.
 
V: Exactly! From eighteen great chorales, BWV 659, I believe, where the choral melody is in the right hand, ornamented, the famous advent choral. And then, what came next?
 
A: Demessieux
 
V: Jeanne Demessieux. Also ornamented choral on Rorate Coeli.
 
A: That’s right. And then he did his own improvisation, which I think was the best on the program.
 
V: Uh-huh. And the themes for this improvisation was also advent hymns.
 
A: Then then he finished with a toccata, French style toccata by...
 
V: Eh, Carter.
 
A: Carter.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: It came from the Oxford Collection of Christmas music.
 
V: Yes. So it took about 25 minutes…
 
A: Yes.
 
V: To perform. It...
 
A: Well actually, he had to take less than 25 minutes because I believe that that last toccata by Carter was performed probably, I would not say maybe double as slow as it should be, but maybe one-third slower than it should be.
 
V: Was it that obvious?
 
A: Well, in some parts, yes.
 
V: Cause he started normally…
 
A: Because tempo wasn’t steady...
 
V: Slowed down.
 
A: That’s what I noticed in that toccata so…
 
V: Uh-huh.
 
A: You just felt that organ is controlling him, not he is controlling things.
 
V: But Orgelbuchlein chorales were performed, I think, well,
 
A: Yes. That’s true.
 
V: All three of them.
 
A: That’s true. Not the last one from the last Liepzig collection.
 
V: Herr Christ, der einge Gottes-Sohn, BWV, 601 Paulius played it many years ago, and it repeated it just for this performance, and was feeling very shaky the night before about it. So I was kind of really surprised that he managed to play it very well.
 
A: It’s not an easy choral.
 
V: Especially if you don’t play it with care and precision.
 
A: It’s the first Orgelbuchlein choral that I have learned in my life.
 
V: Maybe it was one of his firsts, too, when he was studying with me. But that was like at the beginning of our friendship so right when we returned from the United States.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: In 2007.
 
A: But in general I think that he has a great potential and he showed it on this recital.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: I’m just sorry that he doesn’t feel very well himself…
 
V: I think…
 
A: And he knows why, but…
 
V: I think that Nun komm, BWV 659 from Leipzig collection, could have been played even better because he messed up a little bit in ornamented places. He didn’t sometimes know how to perform correctly ornaments. And the easiest way to do this is just to listen to my…
 
A: To listen to recordings.
 
V: To my recording for example. I’m not being very…
 
A: ‘To my recording’... There are wonderful recordings by other organists.
 
V: Wait a second… I’m not being very, what is this word I’m looking for—modest, right, Ausra?
 
A: That’s right?
 
V: But that’s because he’s playing…
 
A: Everybody noticed.
 
V: But that’s because he’s playing from my fingered and pedaled score. He is using my score so he could listen to my performance on Youtube and that would take him five minutes.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: Unless he doesn’t like my recording. Then he would need to listen to your recording.
 
A: Have I recorded this choral? I don’t think so.
 
V: Then he could ask you to record it.
 
A: But in general if we are talking about Leipzig collection, this is probably the easiest choral from the Great Eighteen Chorals to play.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And it’s a very good piece if you want something not too complicated and beautiful to play.
 
V: Do you think that Paulius could benefit from harmony studies a little bit more?
 
A: Of course, I think….
 
V: But was it obvious from listening?
 
A: Well, yes, sometimes yes, because I think he needs, and everybody needs, to play more attention to chord structures, to harmonic structures. Then it will help you to show your audience what is more important and what is less important.
 
V: Well to put it another way, the piece will start to speak to you…
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: In a musical way.
 
A: Because it will help you to internalize it’s structure.
 
V: Maybe it now speaks on emotional level, like it’s beautiful, you feel the flow, you feel mood, but you don’t know what’s happening inside. You don’t know how the composer created it, this piece. I’m not even talking about Bach or Carter—any type of music that you play, if you don’t know what’s going on inside, then you’re missing something, right? So Paulius could really benefit from harmony studies. But in general, to summarize, I was really pleased. I thought that he has great potential, considering the circumstances that he was in. So Paulius, if you listening to this, don’t stop. Continue practice. And remember, when you practice...
 
A: Miracles happen!​

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.

Ausra: And Ausra.

V:     Let’s start episode 162 of Ask Vidas and Ausra podcast.  Today’s question was  sent in by John who is preparing for his upcoming April recital in our church, at Vilnius University St John’s church and he asks the following question:

It would be wonderful to hear you and Ausra to speak about how you prepare for an overseas recital where you haven't played the organ before and you don't know any of the people or their culture.

It’s difficult to say about the future although in July we will be playing in London, St. Paul’s Cathedral.  But let’s talk a little bit about the past experiences right?

A:    Yes.

V:    Last summer we played where?  In Sweden.

A:    In Sweden and then in Poland at the beginning of September.

V:    OK.  So how did we prepare for the Sweden experience?

A:    Well you know how it is when you have internet and you have so many valuable sources and you can find out about instruments you will be playing.  Quite a lot of information.  But of course, the smart thing to do would be just  to contact the local organist and ask him or her about the instrument.

V:    I suspect that when a person is scheduled to play a recital they will contact the organist anyway, right?

A:    Sure.

V:    And ask about the instrument and the style of the instrument or course.  The organist might send the disposition of the stops or specification and pictures of the stop layout.

A:    It’s not that you will have a lot of time to practice the instrument that you will be performing as we had actually in Stockholm.  And it was real nice.  But even if don’t have much time or almost no practice time on that organ you can still do your registration.

V:    In advance.

A:    In advance, yes, if you have the specification for that particular instrument you can write it all down in the score before even practicing on the real instrument.

V:    And, when you go to the local organ there, when you arrive at the church or the instrument, then of course you will need to check and correct some things because you might be wrong or off in a few places but maybe not in the majority of places.

A:    Yes, and the most important thing is to choose your repertoire wisely and what I mean by saying this is you have to know what kind of music will fit and will work on that instrument.  Because you know you might want to play a piece by Messiaen but the organ may not be suited for that.  So you really need to select your repertoire carefully.  Because you know if you will select your repertoire well then things will work out well too.

V:    There are two kinds of organists in the world who tour and play international recitals.  One kind of organist plays on generic instruments and plays the same program over and over for one year.  And then during some off months they would learn a new repertoire for the next year and then they schedule the next tour, global tour, world tour, and they do the same in different places but basically playing the same repertoire over and over.  But we have to remember they normally select only the generic instruments.  Not necessarily romantic ones or not necessarily baroque instruments.  They’re sort of mixed instruments where you could play in a rather satisfactory manner a lot of different music.

A:    Well, like in Sweden there was no instrument that was suited for really baroque music.

V:    Why?

A:    Because you had meantone tuning so basically you could not let’s say play like Bach and do for example like Prelude and Fugue in F Minor.  It wouldn’t work for instrument like this.

V:    Yes, advanced keys don’t sound well.

A:    So, we selected repertoire like composers like Sweelinck and Scheidemann, Praetorius and these worked very well on that instrument.  But for example when we went to Poland where we played on the baroque instrument but from late Baroque times.

V:    1719.

A:    That instrument is sort of a contemporary of Bach.

V:    Hildebrandt organ in Paslek.

A:    Yes.  So we selected baroque music mainly but we selected, you know, late Baroque music like Bach Brandenburg Concerto for example and we also did some contemporary music too.

V:    Because even in early style instrument you could play some contemporary music which is written in a very light style.  It would have to be a very transparent style, not fixed chords, not very dissonant.  But we played our friend, Dutch composer Ad Wammes and his style is…

A:    minimalistic.

V:    He wouldn’t agree actually.  He says his music style is influenced by symphonic rock which has this minimalistic drive.  But is not like Philip Glass.

A:    I just can make a joke you know about any composer.  If he or she thinks that no, he or she composed a piece and everybody has to think about that piece as he or she thinks.  That’s wrong.  You know it’s like a baby since you’ve adopted, just let it go and let it live his or her own life. The same is with a piece of music.  If I’m playing this music and I see minimalistic features, that’s my opinion and nobody can take it away from me.

V:    I didn’t mean to take away your opinion, of course.  I just wanted to say that Ad Wammes was influenced not by let’s say Steve Reich or Philip Glass but from the music by symphonic rock composers.

A:    It just means that that style also has minimalism in it.

V:    It has similar features.

A:    Because they have those repetitions over again so how else would you call it if not minimalism?  It doesn’t matter where picked it up it is still minimalism.

V:    We have to double check where Philip Glass got his influence.

A:    Yes, that’s true.  Because likely  I would see half of Lithuanian composers.  They are very minimalistic.  It’s fairly common in Lithuania to use a minimalistic style. I also don’t think we were influenced by Reich or Glass.  Maybe we were influenced by Goretsky maybe or I don’t know, Taverner, Part maybe.

V:    I bet Philip Glass had some influence taken from rock music, synth rock too.

A:    Could be.  Because everything is all mixed up and all criss-cross.

V:    It’s called crossover music.  Excellent.  So, it’s really a matter of having well rounded taste in music when you select your pieces for unfamiliar instruments.  Right?  The more experience you have with playing different kind of styles, different kinds of  music, and different kinds of instruments, the more you can adjust and see which will work and which won’t work.

A:    That’s true.  I think it’s also very important to keep in mind that first of all, you need to show the best qualities of the organ, of the instrument itself and not your own skill.

V:    You don’t mean you have to play music that you don’t like.

A:    Well, no.  That’s not what I meant.

V:     For example if you didn’t like early music at all would you play in Stockholm, the German church where we played last summer, on the Duben instrument from the 17th century, replica of that 17th century organ.

A:    No. you shouldn’t even play such an instrument if don’t like that music.

V:    You wouldn’t play Reubke Sonata there if you liked Reubke so much.

A:    No, oh no.  That’s a thing of being an organist, you need to show the best qualities of the instrument.

V:    Right.  So, you have to have the right variety of favorite styles, as many as you can.  Don’t try to be a one-sided organist unless you want to have very limited choices of what to play.

A:    I don’t know there are many instruments in the world where you can play anything.  The trouble with those instruments is that for my ear, for my taste, nothing sounds right on them.

V:    On a generic concert instrument.

A:    That’s my personal opinion, I don’t know what you think about it.

V:    It’s easy to play.  It has combination action and pistons and multiple levels of memory.  You can set in advance your combination and with the push of a button, you can do all kinds of loud and soft contrast.  It is much easier for the player.  But, as you say the music loses some color.  Especially early type of music created before 19th century.

A:    I know, it is just like cooking.  And using for example with each dish you are cooking you would use the same spices.  Anything would taste similar.

V:    There are some restaurants like that.

A:    I know, especially those chain restaurants.

V:    Of course some people will not agree with us.  Especially those who like concept instruments.  But that’s OK.  We don’t try to force our opinion on them.  We just share what we think.  What we like.  It is not necessarily the true way.  Right?  In organ there is no true way.  Because every instrument is different and you can try many things and see what works well.

A:    But I think you know if you would listen to historical instruments, if you would have a chance to play one yourself, I think even people who just play generic instruments, even their opinion might change.

V:    Exactly.  Sometimes we receive letters from people who disagree with us that early music should be played without heels.  And then I ask them if they ever played historical instrument or a copy of a historical instrument and the answer was “No.”  So before even probably stating that playing early music with toes only is a nonsense, that it couldn’t be done virtuosically enough.  You have to try for yourself that kind of instrument and see if you can satisfactorily with heels.  And the answer will be…

A:    No.  So you can argue but it’s like you know how can they tell if snails are tasty.  I have never tried them so.  I cannot discuss that question.

V:    Some people will not even try snails.

A:    I know.

V:    They dislike the idea of  eating snails.

A:    I know.  I wouldn’t try them myself.

V:    Because you know how they are prepared.  It’s cruel.

A:    It’s just awful.

V:    So, for John and other people who will be traveling abroad and playing unfamiliar instruments the number one advice from my side probably would be to think over you repertory choices and if it fits the instrument well.  What would your recommendation be Ausra?

A:    Well, you know if you are traveling to an unfamiliar organ, if you know that you will not have much time to practice on it, just choose easy pieces.  Don’t try to put the hardest pieces that you have in your repertoire to play for that particular recital.  Choose easy repertoire.  You will just benefit from it.

V:    Especially if you don’t have a lot of time to rehearse on that instrument so better to choose pieces that you has played a lot of times.

A:    Yes, and that you feel safe and comfortable playing them.  It will give you less stress during performance on that unfamiliar organ.

V:    Memorize your piece.

A:    Yes.

V:    And prepare your registrations in advance.

A:    That’s true.

V:    Then you will save time and then you spend quality time on the actual organ that’s given to you at the moment.  So, thank you guys for listening.  We are going to play some organ music now and we hope you do the same.  Because remember when you practice…

A:    Miracles happen.​

By Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (get free updates of new posts here)

​I'm in between projects now. It's a dangerous time. It's dangerous because one recital is behind me and another is further away.

In fact, besides our regular appearances at our church, this year Vidas and I will be travelling to Sweden (Stockholm German church), Poland (Paslek) and France (La Trinite in Paris) to play recitals. But the closest recital is about 6 weeks from now and I'm already almost prepared for it.

If you are in a similar situation, do what I did today: I chose 5 pieces I want to work on for the future. I don't have a date yet. I think I'm going to play them in the fall.

​The pieces for me are: Fantasia Chromatica by Sweelinck, Dic nobis Maria by Scheidemann, Piece d'Orgue by Bach, Andante in D major by Mendelssohn, and Chorale in B minor by Franck.

Now no matter what schedule I have or how far away is my next recital, I know what I'm going to play today.

Vidas also selected his 5 pieces: Nun freut euch by Buxtehude, F major Toccata and Fugue by Bach, Chorale in E Major by Franck, Ride in a High-Speed Train by Ad Wammes, and some piece of his own that he is currently composing.

Select your own 5 pieces, if you are in between projects. It will give you a peace of mind and a sense of purpose.