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Today I'd like to share with you my rendition of Prelude from Symphony No. 1, Op. 13 No. 1 by Charles-Marie Widor. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of Nancy sample set by Piotr Grabowski on my Hauptwerk setup!
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo
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Hope you will enjoy Strong Deliverer by Phil Lehenbauer who is a contemporary American composer. I played it on Nancy sample set by Piotr Grabowski and my Hauptwerk setup.
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/strong-deliverer-cwm-rhondda-organ-work-by-phil-lehenbauer-digital-sheet-music/21813091?aff_id=454957 Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Buy me some coffee: https://www.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! Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas. Ausra: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 656 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Louis, and he writes: “Hello friends: I have read all about your Pedal Virtuoso Master Course. I would like to answer one important question for me. I have seen that there are many scales and arpeggios. I think that this is very good but I need to practice how to find any pedal without looking at the pedalboard. Have you got any special technique for this? Teachers in Spain use to say the same as some of your teachers: there isn't any technique, you only have to repeat many times while looking at the pedalboard and your brain will memorize the movements. I think that is the problem. I want to find any pedal, any interval... without looking at the pedalboard and with a technique. Please, tell me if you explain this in your course. Thank you very much. I hope to find what I need in your courses. Regards, Luis” Vidas: So, Ausra, what do you think? Can Louis learn to memorize the places on the pedalboard without looking? Ausra: Yes, but for doing that, I don’t think he needs to look at the pedalboard; I think that might be a problem if he plays pedals always looking at the pedalboard. I think that might be a problem why he cannot play without looking at it. Vidas: Oh, you mean the problem might be apparent in the question—the way he asks, right? Ausra: No, I mean that while he learns pedal technique, yes, he says that he’s looking at the pedal board and repeats things many times. I never suggested to anybody to do anything like that. Vidas: Teachers in Spain, he says, but he says some of our teachers used to say… I don’t know what he means. My teachers don’t recommend looking at the pedalboard. Ausra: Mine too… Vidas: Where he got this idea… Ausra: Mine recommended like pedal preparations, but not looking at the pedalboard. Vidas: So, obviously, if you’re just starting and you’re thinking theoretically about this, let’s say you are thinking about this Pedal Virtuoso Master Course without doing your practice, then it’s one thing. It seems theoretical, and you sort of try to solve those problems in your head without practice. But when you sit down, usually people start to feel progress after a couple of weeks, and if they stick to this course until the end, then obviously, more improvement will come, and finding the keys in the pedalboard will not be a problem. Do you agree? Ausra: Yes, that’s what I am thinking! I think that this problem comes because of not practicing enough—not spending enough time with the pedalboard. Vidas: Right. Ausra: But I think that watching at, the pedalboard, really will not help. It may only harm your progress and slow your progress. Vidas: Yes. Ausra: Maybe sometimes in like a few spots over the difficult piece you might want to watch at the pedals, but not like be constantly looking at them. Vidas: And it will come with experience, I think, too. The more he practices, as you say, the easier it will become to adjust. Ausra: Yes, because we don’t practice on one instrument. We don’t play one organ all the time. Usually we have to play on at least a few organs or even more. If you are a concert organist, then you have to adjust to a new pedalboard quite often, so not all the measurements are exactly the same at each instrument, so you need to adjust every time. But it comes with time and practice, and with more experience. Vidas: Yes. I don’t think Louis has taken the jump and started studying from this Pedal Virtuoso Master Course yet. I think he asked the question,… and that’s not his first question, actually, he asked a few more, but hasn’t subscribed to this course yet. Ausra: I have never heard about any kind of pedal course that would teach you the one thing which is to press the right key without looking. Have you heard about anything like this? Vidas: We can create something, but that wouldn’t be fair! Ausra: I know, because it’s just so fun! Vidas: The course could be titled something like, “Memorize all the Pedals.” Why, right? Why would they need to memorize? Ausra: And you know, actually, there is only one situation when I have to look at the pedalboard, actually, while playing organ duets, and if I have to play it with the pedal part. Why is that? Because usually if I play solo I sit in the center of the organ bench, but if I playing duets, I have to share the bench with you, so I’m sort of sitting up-right or up-left, and it’s really different. Vidas: Exactly. You’re not centered. Ausra: That’s right. So sometimes I get in trouble after shifting to a different position and then I have to look at the pedal board. Vidas: The same is for me, except I don’t use the entire pedalboard; I just use half of it when playing duets. Right? The other half is for you! Ausra: Sure! Vidas: Or, if you’re not playing pedals, I’m playing just the lower part and that’s quite enough. You know? Because it’s almost impossible to reach extreme right notes when you’re sitting in the extreme left. Ausra: Yes, that’s true. Vidas: My feet would kick you many times. So advice for Louis, I don’t’ know. Why did he wait? Why does he wait if he wants to achieve pedal virtuosity. Without practicing, there will be no pedal virtuosity, and certainly no improvement in terms of finding pedals without looking at the pedalboard. Ausra: Yes, because there are no magic trick, and no magic word, no magic exercise that would entirely solve all your problems. Vidas: If he’s not sure if this course is for you or not, remember always, you have a 30 day window where you can cancel and get a full refund. Yes, for four weeks you can practice anything from our courses and try it out, and then if you don’t like it, you can ask for a refund. Very few people do, actually. Ausra: Because people are polite, and if they already used your material, they just don’t want to be jerks, I think, Vidas: So you think they don’t like our courses? They just are afraid to ask? That’s what you mean? Ausra: No! Vidas: What do you mean then? Ausra: Okay, don’t provoke me! Vidas: Why not? Okay. What do we have here? Ausra: We have Yoshke, my brother’s dog, and she’s helping us to record podcasts today. 
Vidas: And usually she was very quiet, but now she’s started to lick and sniff all around us. Maybe she wants to play.
Ausra: Maybe she wants to add something about “Pedal Virtuoso Master Course.” Vidas: She likes to work on the keyboard! On the computer keyboard. I’m afraid that she will press some kind of wrong button and my audio recording will stop. Ausra: Could be! Vidas: Okay guys, so we hope this was useful to you. 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 SOPP654: Last week I was struggling to record Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 by J.S. Bach7/14/2021
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! Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas. Ausra: And Ausra. Vidas: Let’s start episode 654 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by me, Vidas! I posted my answer in the Total Organist community Basecamp channel, where I’ve been asked the question, “What have you been struggling with the most in organ playing this week. So, I wrote: “Last week I was struggling to record Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 by J.S. Bach. Somehow I find it easier to play live recitals than to record pieces one by one.” For reference, here are the 3 videos of this trio sonata: Part I Part II Part III Vidas: I should add probably, “not only easier but more enjoyable.” Right Ausra? Ausra: Yes. Vidas: You, too? Ausra: Sure! Vidas: You like more playing recitals than recording pieces? Ausra: Definitely. It’s much easier! Vidas: I wonder, why is this the case with us? Why do we gladly play a live performance of an extended program, and struggling to record a three or five minute piece? Ausra: Well, it’s easier to play a recital because you have to do it only once. But if you start recording a single piece, then if you aren’t happy about something in it, you have to play it over, and over again, until you get a recording that you like. Vidas: And since we both appreciate perfection, we can’t be happy if a recording is not perfect. Right? Ausra: Yes, and because you have to start from the beginning each time when you are recording the same piece, after a while it seems you know the beginning really well, but you don’t know how the ending sounds, because you never get to the ending. Vidas: I know what you mean. In the five minute piece of, let’s say, one movement from Trio Sonata, it’s so easy to play the first page. Your concentration is there, you can focus for that long and not make mistakes. But then you get to the second page, and mistakes might happen. Then you come back and try again, and maybe the first page, now, goes wrong with some mistakes and the second page is better. It’s quite unpredictable. Because you’re right; we don’t cut and paste recordings. We try to play from the beginning until the end without stopping, not paste two parts of different recordings. Let’s say the first part was perfect in one session, and the second part was perfect in the second session. So if I wanted, I could glue them together with the means of editing software, but I usually don’t, because I tend to appreciate life performance. Ausra: Yes. I think those are more exciting but also more difficult at the same time. Don’t you find it frustrating sometimes? Vidas: It is frustrating! I remember that’s why I wrote my question. I was really struggling to record actually all of the movements, all three of the movements, maybe less so the third one, which is surprisingly strange, because the third movement is really fast and more difficult than the first two. Right? Usually. But for me, the third one is better than the first two. And even the middle movement, which is a slow movement, Adagio, I had to repeat them so many times and was not even able to record it in one day! I had to record it the next day, because the first day was not perfect. Ausra: Not all of the Trio movements, slow movements, are easy. For example, I struggled a lot with the C Major, the second movement, because those repeated notes just drove me crazy. Vidas: Yes, and especially for Eb Major Trio Sonata No. 1 (here is the score with fingering and pedaling), the second movement has repeats. And for recording purposes, I do repeat. So the piece is twice as long! Not 5 minutes long, but almost 10 minutes long, in this case—9.5 minutes long, to be precise. And that requires even more focusing! Ausra: And sometimes it’s really hard to pick up a right tempo for a slow movement, because if you will play it too slow, it will sound boring and everybody will fall asleep, and if you play it too fast, it will might sound unmusical, so it’s really a big issue. Vidas: So what’s the solution then? How to approach this problem; to play more live recitals and less recorded pieces one by one or to approach recording pieces in some different light? Ausra: I would rather play more recitals. Vidas: And then you can cut individual pieces from those recitals. Right? Ausra: Yes. If you would play them well enough. Vidas: That’s right. You could effectively actually make less recordings one by one like this, but have more time to prepare for your recitals, because let’s face it, if I spent an hour or 30 minutes just recording one movement from Trio Sonata, that hour was not spent preparing for my next recital. Ausra: That’s right. Vidas: Unless I will play that movement in the recital, which I probably will. But my other repertoire is probably needing also my attention. Correct? Ausra: Yes, that’s right. Vidas: Would you suggest me to stop recording and play more recitals or what? Ausra: Well, I don’t think I’m a really good advisor in this case. I think you need to choose for yourself. Vidas: You are the best advisor, because you are the only one in the room besides me. Ausra: But would you listen to my advice? Vidas: It depends on what advice would you give me. Ausra: I think you are determined enough to do it your way, so I will not interfere. Vidas: No, in this case, I was really thinking about this question, whether to record more or play more recitals. And that’s not only this week’s question, I was thinking about an entire semester or more. Starting, actually, from last year when I started playing recitals and recordings with our new Hauptwerk setup, I found this problem exactly valuable and worthy of my attention, because it was actually more difficult at the beginning, because I wasn’t used to rigorous recording sessions last year. Now, it’s actually easier, but still frustrating at times. Ausra: Well, you know, if you will set yourself a goal, for example to record one piece each day—doesn’t matter what happens—then I think you would become sort of a like a real Internet organist who would play short, easy pieces in order to record them every day. And then, if you will have to play an entire recital, I doubt that you can put the program together out of those short easy pieces. So I don’t think that recording new pieces every day is a good solution. Maybe you could find some sort of balance between playing recitals and recording? Vidas: I’m not an average organist, because I also record the tutorials. Sometimes tutorials of learning new pieces like this Trio Sonata, last week it was recording not only each movement individually, but also my step-by-step method of mastering these pieces. Or harmony analysis of hymns, as well. I could actually start learning a wider repertoire, a larger repertoire for my upcoming recital, but during that time, I could also record some tutorials, like educational videos from time to time—maybe not necessarily every day, but whenever time permits—and at the end of that period, I could play a recital. Would that be a balance? Ausra: Yes. I think so. Vidas: And, as you say, we can cut out some pieces from the recital that way to enhance our channels later, if you like the quality of the live performance well enough. Ausra: Yes, that would be a solution. Vidas: Okay guys! Things are getting clearer to me! Ausra: And you really need to send us more questions, because if you will not, Vidas will answer his own questions in our upcoming sessions and podcasts, and that wouldn’t be nice! Vidas: Because those questions will not necessarily apply to everybody. Ausra: That’s right. Vidas: For example; I could answer Ausra’s questions, too, right? Which we will do next, in the next conversation. Ausra: Oh dear! Vidas: So, we’d better go and form some questions. Thank you guys, this was Vidas, Ausra: And Ausra! Vidas: 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 Last Sunday I created this Processional on the hymn tune SURSUM CORDA, Op. 79. It is suited for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost which is coming up soon. To make my listeners better imagine the sound of this piece today I have practiced and recorded it.
Hope you will enjoy Hauptwerk Nancy sample set by Piotr Grabowski! Score: https://secrets-of-organ-playing.mysh... Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo Hope you will enjoy this hymn improvisation on the Lithuanian hymn tune Dar viena diena štai baigias (One More Day Is Ending Now). I'm using Hauptwerk Martinikerk Groningen sample set by Sonus Paradisi.
Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Get early access: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo Today in the morning I was practicing entire program for my upcoming recital and felt I would be ready to record Passacaglia in D Minor, BuxWV 161 by Dieterich Buxtehude. In the afternoon I practiced this piece a little bit more and asked Ausra to turn the pages during the take when I turned on the cameras. I think I'm quite happy with the result. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of the Schnitger organ from Martinikerk Groningen, Hauptwerk sample set by Sonus Paradisi.
Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/... Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Get early access: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo Organ Recital | Vidas Pinkevicius | Hauptwerk Martinikerk Groningen and Nancy | 2021-07-107/10/2021 In this recital I'd like to share with you the works of D. Buxtehude, J.S. Bach, Ph. Lehenbauer, F. Mendelssohn, G. Twist and improvisation. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of two different Hauptwerk sample sets - Martinikerk Groningen by Sonus Paradisi and Nancy Cathedral by Piotr Grabowski.
Thank you for your support! Buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo PROGRAM: Hauptwerk Matinikerk Groningen 1. Passacaglia in D Minor, BuxWV 161 by Dieterich Buxtehude Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/new-edition-of-the-complete-organ-works-volume-1-sheet-music/2473787?aff_id=454957 2. Largo from Trio Sonata No. 2, BWV 526 by Johann Sebastian Bach Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/organ-works-volume-7-sheet-music/2450036?aff_id=454957 3. Improvisation on the chorale An Wasserflüssen Babylon Hauptwerk Nancy 4. A Promenade Postlude by Phil Lehenbauer Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/a-promenade-postlude-organ-work-by-phil-lehenbauer-digital-sheet-music/22012850?aff_id=454957 5. Adagio from Organ Sonata No. 1, Op. 65 by Felix Mendelssohn Score: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/organ-sonatas-op-65-sheet-music/3764891?aff_id=454957 6. Jubilate by Graham Twist Score: https://www.timknightmusic.com/product-page/organ-music-for-joyful-moments-6-pieces Recently I started studying improvisation from Sietze de Vries' course on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sietzedevries
In Lesson 5 he taught how to create a chorale prelude with Ritornello and soloing out the melody on another manual. As an example he took the melody of Psalm 93. So in this video, I'd like to share with you my own rendition of Psalm 93 chorale prelude based on Sietze's instructions. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of Schnitger organ from Martinikerk Groningen, Hauptwerk sample set by Sonus Paradisi. Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Get early access: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo Lithuanian National Anthem | Plein Jeu en taille Style Organ Improvisation | Hauptwerk Nancy7/8/2021 A couple of days ago, July 6, Lithuania celebrated Statehood Day. On this day we commemorate the coronation in 1253 of Mindaugas as the only King of Lithuania. At the same time there is the celebration of the Lithuanian National Anthem with singing by all Lithuanians across the globe at 9 PM, Vilnius time. So it seemed really appropriate for me to improvise on the melody of Lithuanian National Anthem on that day. In this video you will hear our National Anthem in the style of De Grigny and Couperin with Plein Jeu registration. My feet are playing the tune while the hands are having fun playing lots of ornaments and harmonies around the tune in the French Classical style. Hope you will enjoy the sounds of Hauptwerk Nancy sample set by Piotr Grabowski!
Thank you for your support! You get early access and I get to keep going. Buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduo |
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Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Don't have an organ at home? Download paper manuals and pedals, print them out, cut the white spaces, tape the sheets together and you'll be ready to practice anywhere where is a desk and floor. Make sure you have a higher chair. |
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