How to refresh your organ playing? (It's not what you think)

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

Do you ever feel like you have exhausted all your ideas in your organ practice? Has your playing become emotionally grey and perhaps you even want to quit the organ altogether?

I know how you feel.

When I was practicing the organ a few days ago, I felt like something was missing. Not like I was going to quit playing because I'm a professional and know that these feelings will pass.

​But it was still not a pleasant feeling. A feeling like I had no inspiration to practice or something. Like I was forcing it.

Does this situation ring a bell to you?

​What you need to do is to take a day off. Just one day without organ.

So I did.

I took Vidas for a long walk along the river. We met 3 birds chasing each other (probably a love triangle), a dog who was trying to swim upstream to his master but seemed to be getting nowhere (I hope he at least swam to the shore before he was exhausted). Then we saw a neighbor walking her 3 dogs and having a hard time keeping them in check. We stared at this woodpecker who beat so hard against the stem of a pine tree that I thought his head will crash. 

All it took was this hour in the woods. After that everything was different.

I decided not to play the organ that day but felt determined to make up for it tomorrow.

It worked. The walk gave me a better sleep at night. I woke up actually eager to practice. When I sat down on the organ bench, my mind drifted into a bliss.

I didn't notice how fast the time was going. Instead of those 30 minutes on the bench, I spent more than 2 hours.

Try it when you feel like you're spinning your wheels at the organ.

And remember...

​Organ takes you beyond reality.