Do you like bananas?

​UPDATE: To help you get unstuck and reach your dreams in any area of organ playing I will be holding a series of 12 live webinars called Become an Organist. You can check them out and register here.

​Don't miss - it's the first time I'm doing my training live and I'm not sure if and when another opportunity will be for you to attend. The first webinar of Become an Organist is going to be this Monday, February 15.

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Why does some advice about stress management work for one type of person and doesn't for another? Why one organist can forget that there are people listening out in the room while another can literally hear one's heart pounding which throws one off balance and causes strange mistakes to happen?

You see, we all are different. And finding a treatment which works for everybody is very rare.

But you can always ask yourself for advice. Sometimes if you look deeply at your practice and performance, you can find a trick or two which work for you personally.

For example, I like eating bananas and drinking mineral water before performances. Keeps me light and but alert.

What about you?
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[Thanks to Christopher who found that playing pieces at concert tempo during practice lets him to be calmer during the performance itself.]

PS Do you like the above drawing? Watch the video of me creating it live.

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Ausra's Harmony Exercise:

Irek asks whether there is a recommendable, in my opinion, a book for self-teaching the difficult but highly rewarding subject of harmony, that is written in a language that is accessible for an amateur?

I found this book by Paul Hindemith extremely valuable. Minimum of text and rules, lots of exercises. Very practical. Especially, if you not only write the exercises but also play them.

Do you have a question about harmony for Ausra? You can reach her by email.

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