Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.

Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 347, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by David. And he writes:

Thank you for telling me about this "mini-life" concept. It helps me to know that there are other people who do this, and that it's not some crazy idea that only I do.

I am trying to work on "On This Day, Earth Shall Ring" arranged by Gustav Holst (Personent Hodie). I wonder, since this is originally written before the Baroque era but arranged by Holst in the 1800s (modernist? Romantic period?), if you might have suggestions on registration, articulation, etc. I'm looking at doing this for congregational singing, choir accompaniment, or processional, depending upon what happens this season (if the pastor picks it to sing, it will be played as a congregational hymn. If the choir sings it, I will accompany them, and if neither occurs, I will pick it as a prelude or processional).

At this time, I'm trying to play the right hand quite detached, the left hand is mostly mirroring the pedals an octave higher and I am playing it only with toes. But I'm not satisfied completely with the results.

Is it better to register the pedals as 8' and 16?  Should reeds be used in the pedals? Should I double the pedals? Should I use mixtures instead of reeds? Maybe couple the Great to pedal and add a 16' stop? Maybe play with 32' on the electronic instrument and 16' on the pipe organ (because it doesn't have 32')?

What is the best thing to do with registration for the high descending notes starting at the end of the 3rd line? I almost thought about playing octaves in the pedals (2 pedals an octave apart), playing the lower two notes on the Great, and playing those descending notes on chimes on the solo manual on the pipe organ, but on the electronic 3 manual organ, I'm not sure what to do with those notes. I don't like them played on the same manual as the lower two because of clarity.

(Here is a link to the score from which I am playing:
https://hymnary.org/media/fetch/137356
And if that link doesn't work, here is a link to another score 1/2 step higher.
http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/71/Ws-hols-per.pdf
Thanks for your advice on this,
David)
 
V: And, David includes a link to this hymn, which we are looking at right now. And this is arrangement by Gustav Holst. Let me analyze it… And it starts with descending scales starting from E in octaves, in the left hand part. Do you know, Ausra? I don’t know this hymn.
 
A: Neither do I. But I think as David has so many questions about this, and he’s not quite sure who will perform it—if congregation will sing it, or choir will sing it, or he will play it as a processional only, processional.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: I think the final performance on it and registration of this hymn will depend on which of these versions will be done. Because if he will play it alone, he can use entire organ....
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And do whatever he wants. If he will sing it with congregation, accompany it with congregation, he can also probably use many of stops and reeds and other loud stops—if the congregation is bigger. But if only choir will sing it, then he of course will have to not play so loud. What do you think about it?
 
V: I agree, and I also think that this arrangement that he sent the link to us, is for piano, not for the organ.
 
A: True.
 
V: And if you play double octaves with the pedals, it’s just too powerful.
 
A: I wouldn’t do it. Then I would play the lower part, the lowest voice with the pedal, but maybe I even wouldn’t do the octaves on the organ. Because already, since we have, let’s say, in the pedals, 16 and 8’ stops, it’s already doubled. It already sounds in octaves.
 
V: Maybe sometimes it’s 4, 4’.
 
A: Yes, and even four, 4’. So I wouldn’t do that.
 
V: And if it’s a loud registration, maybe you would have, maybe I would say, mixtures too, so it doubles in fifths too. What about playing the lower part as you say with the pedals, but I just think sometimes the range is below key.
 
A: Definitely you have to arrange it. Of course.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. And then the right hand is free to play the chords but maybe divide them between the hands.
 
A: True. And for me, all this kind of arrangement, it looks a little bit dull.
 
V: You need I think, space it out, I think, maybe open position chords. Especially when the melody goes upwards.
 
A: That’s right. Because again, look at the accompaniment, that top voice of accompaniment. It doubles the melody that congregation or choir will sing.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Is this a good thing?
 
A: Well, yes and no. It might be nice for one verse but then it will get boring.
 
V: For congregation, yes, I think, good.
 
A: Yes. It will be easier for them to follow. But if you are only doing it with choir, then choir knows already the melody very well, so, you could do something else maybe.
 
V: Maybe invert the right parts and play in a different melody…
 
A: Sure.
 
V: Position.
 
A: I think that might work. Definitely.
 
V: Tenor in the soprano.
 
A: Yes.
 
V: We see the right hand chord at the beginning is G, B, E, but you could start, for example, as B, E, G, or even E, G, B, like that.
 
A: Sure.
 
V: But splitted between the hands, I think. That’s more work of course.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: And one word about, Ausra, the pedaling and articulation? Do you think it’s a Baroque type of piece or not?
 
A: Well, anyway if I would play it, I would articulate it.
 
V: Would you use heels?
 
A; Well, if I would decide to play those double octaves, then yes, I would probably use the heels too.
 
V: Uh-huh.
 
A: But if I would play only one melody, then maybe not.
 
V: I’m just thinking about the style of the accompaniment—it’s modal. It begins and ends in E, but it has two sharps. What is it, what is this mode? E, with two sharps?
 
A: You don’t know, that you are asking me. I know.
 
V: Can you tell us?
 
A: Yes I can.
 
V: Don’t hesitate.
 
A: If you pay me.
 
V: In which currency?
 
A: In Euros.
 
V: I only have a Steam.
 
A: Okay. I’m just making fun out of you and out of myself. If it’s E and it has two sharps, it means it’s a Dorian mode.
 
V: Dorian! Okay.
 
A: It’s type of minor mode, which has comparing to the minor mode, natural minor mode, it has the sixth scale degree raised. So like in E minor, scales you wouldn’t have C# but here, you have it.
 
V: Uh-huh. Doesn’t it remind you of a little bit of 20th Century writing?
 
A: True. A lot.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: Because there was a time when it was very popular to sort of imitate early music like middle age music, Gregorian Chant.
 
V: So should we play then this type of style in the early way, or the later way? Modern way? Legato or regulated way? I’m not sure sometimes.
 
A: Well, it depends. It depends on the piece and it depends on the place. Well, if you want to imitate Gregorian Chant then you probably wouldn't articulate as in the Baroque type. But again, if you want to play this kind of thing with a large registration as David wrote, then if you wouldn’t articulate at all, it might get really messy.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. You’re right! You always listen to what’s sounding—what the congregation is hearing, not what you are hearing, but down in the pews.
 
A: But, anyway, I guess in this kind of a piece, you will be sort of forced to do some articulation, even if you will intend to play most of it legato, because it has so many repeated notes. And since the top voice of the accompaniment doubles the melody, hymn melodies, so, you will have to articulate too because it has repeated notes.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Okay. I hope this has been helpful to David who is also on the team of podcast conversation transcriptions. He helps us to provide you written text of the MP3 files. This is really helpful. And this is the only way we can produce so much material suitable for both listening and reading and in-depth conversations, right, because that’s a lot of words what we talking today, right, Ausra?
 
A: True.
 
V: A lot of transcribing. So we’re really grateful to David and others on the team. Okay! Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice...
 
A: Miracles happen!

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 346 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast.  This question was sent by Danielle and she writes:
 
“Dear Vidas,
I purchased the Dauqin Noel score through PayPal but have not received a link to a pdf.
Can you please help? I would love to learn part of it for Christmas!
Thank you very much!
-Danielle”
 
V: Of course I have sent the score to her because sometimes those attachments get into the spam folder, sometimes people don’t notice them.  So it’s all solved.

I thought maybe we could talk a little bit about this wonderful piece and I have the score in front of me.  Do you know this?  Grand Jeu, et duo by Louis-Claude Daquin and I have prepared fingering and registration for three manual organ based on my performance in 2016 in our church.  So let’s see how many variations does it have?  A lot, five pages, right?  And it starts, what do you think is happening in the first variation or the theme maybe Ausra?
 
A: I think the theme is provided. It's an exposition.
 
V: In how many voices?
 
A: In two voices.
 
V: Uh-huh.  So the melody is then in soprano and bass is in the left hand but it’s in a high range.  It’s like a duet of two solo treble instruments.
 
A: Yes, that’s right.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  Interesting.
 
A: And I remember as we talked a few days ago that French music if you would omit ornaments it would be probably boring.  So I am looking at this melody and I am thinking that ornaments gives a lot to this melody.
 
V: Exactly.  And this Christmas feeling like birds, like chirping sound.
 
A: Yes.
V: OK the theme is clear, then after the theme comes Cornet de Recit and the theme was played by cromorne or clarinet and in the Cornet de Recit we have to play either with trompette or cornet, right Ausra?
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: And how many voices do you see here?
 
A: Also two.
 
V: Also two, right and what’s happening?  Is it different from the theme or not necessarily?
 
A: Well, it’s a little bit different but…
 
V: Adding maybe more eighth notes.
 
A: True.
 
V: And those eighth notes are inegales.  What is Notes Inegales?
 
A: Well it’s a French tradition when it’s written even notes that are written are played uneven.
 
V: A little bit…
 
A: Dotted.  You need to dot them a little bit.
 
V: Maybe like triplets.  Maybe like instead of two equal eighth notes sometimes you play as you say dotted notes but sometimes you make gentle swing like make the first note longer and the second note shorter.
 
A: Yes but of course you need to do it differently because in French tradition if they would want you to play those eighth notes equally they would note it.
 
V: Notate.
 
A: Notate it, yes.
 
V: It’s like in jazz, sometimes you have to swing in order to provide stylistically appropriate performance even though it’s written equally you play unequally.
 
A: True.  And if you would think about that famous Charpentier’s Te Deum that is used for Eurovision’s radio for example as a calling signal they play it so nicely with dotted rhythms but if you would take Lithuanian version of Charpentier interpretation they play it so equally it just sounds so boring.

V: Right.
 
A: I cannot listen to it.
 
V: And I also sometimes play with one famous saxophone player who likes to play this piece with the organ and he always plays equally and you cannot teach these things.
 
A: I just think you need to learn things to find how other cultures treats similar things and if you are playing French music then you need to play it accordingly.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  So after that, after this Cornet de Recit comes Grand Jeu.  Oh, what’s Grand Jeu Ausra?
 
A: The big sound of the organ because it would be played with the reeds.
 
V: Reeds, cornets, and flutes probably.
 
A: So it would be quite a big sound.
 
V: You could even add optional pedal sometimes.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: But I didn’t.  I didn’t use the pedal at all.
 
A: Well I think that most of these were not intended to be played on the pedalboard so you don’t have to add it if you don’t want.
 
V: So these are big chords, three notes in the right hand and one note in the left hand, it’s just like keyboard harmony exercise.  Nice.  What comes next Ausra in Cornet de Recit second double?
 
A: Oh this is what often happens in variation set, if we have like doublettes before, not we have triplets.
 
V: Uh-huh.
 
A: So this sort of variation adds more validity to set of variations because things seems faster now because you have three notes instead of two notes.
 
V: More energetic.  And those two voices that we see are played on separate manuals.  Cornet is in right hand and cromorne is in the left hand.
 
A: That is what is so fascinating about French music that you always have those dialogs between hands.
V: Does it seem difficult for you this variation?
 
A: Not so much yet.
 
V: But then…
 
A: But then yes, look at that long trill and then in the next variation the sixteenth notes comes.  So we have now duplets, we went to  triplets, and now we have sixteenth notes so the energy is building up.
 
V: So you have to choose a tempo wisely at the beginning.
 
A: Sure, this is the thing about that piece which is so made out of so many segments.  You have to look at the most difficult spot where the smallest note values are and then you pick up the opening tempo according to the hardest variation.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  And I’m looking at this disposition of voices and figuration and it’s just like Johann Pachelbel would write.
 
A: Yes, it’s similar.
 
V: He also would start his chorale variations with chords, then with eighth notes, then with triplets, then with sixteenth notes.
 
A: And I think it’s common not only for him only in this setting I think it’s in general how the things are made, even in Sweelinck’s music.
 
V: Right.  You start slow and speed up.  And what’s at the end, Grand Jeu, we already had Grand Jeu, right?
 
A: But here we have more voices than in that Grand Jeu I believe.
 
V: And what’s happening in the last page of the third line here?
 
A: The echoes?
 
V: Yes, and even towards the end even more echoes.  Between Grand Jeu, Recit, and Echo.  Three manuals I believe are involved or two manuals.
 
A: I think echoes is one of the nicest things in organ in general especially if it’s in a big church with large acoustics then it works extremely nice.
 
V: Maybe I was wrong, actually it’s three manuals.  Grand Jeu, then Cornet, and Cornet de Echo.  You have to close the box or play cornet on a distant manual.  Grand Jeu, Cornet, Echo you see.
A: So if you have a three manual organ use all three of them in such a spot.  If you have only two manuals but one has a swell box then for the softest manual you can play on the same swell manual with the box closed.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  So this is a very nice piece.
 
A: Especially now when the season is getting close.
 
V: And there is still time to practice and learn it.  At least some parts of it.  You don’t have to play entire setting if you are not advanced with your technique.
 
A: And if you are willing to learn the whole set then start learning from the end probably because those three last variations are the hardest ones.
 
V: And obviously check out our score with fingering and registration provided because this will save you many, many hours I think.
 
A: True.
 
V: Thank you guys, 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.

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 344, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Glenn. And he writes:

Hi Vidas and Ausra!
I love your podcast, especially that I can read the transcript when I am in a place where I can't listen.
I have a question about articulation.
When you have a sustained note, like in the first partial measure of BWV 603 right hand, and an adjacent voice that sounds the same note, how do you articulate it?
Do you just hold the sustained note—then it seems like the adjacent voice just goes away! Or do you break the sustained note, to sort of make room for the converging voice? Then it seems you don't hear the sustained note like you should. Similar problem in the fourth measure.
Am I missing something? Thank you.
-Glenn
 
V: This is really common, I think, situation when two voices are very close together and then they form a unison at some point. And what you do, Ausra?
 
A: True. Actually it’s a very complex issue. It should be a simple one but I don’t think I found a right answer to it. And sometimes it depends on situation. Sometimes I just leave that note for a short while, while another voice hits the same key again, and then I keep holding it, and sometimes not.
 
V: Marcel Dupré once wrote, that in this situation, it’s better to repeat, right, to lift up the sustained note, and to make a rest with exact break of a unit value. I mean the shortest most common rhythmical value in the piece. Let’s say it’s eight note, right?
 
A: I think it’s a very good advice. But sometimes when the texture is very thick…
 
V: Mmm-mmm.
 
A: I don’t follow it, because it takes too much pain to do it.
 
V: And also sometimes, you don’t necessarily have the same situation or equal situation. Because sometimes this second voice is important and sometimes really not important.
 
A: But the thing is that interests me the most was why, especially, it’s very often the case in Bach’s music, why he does that.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: Why he composes like that. And I understood it thoroughly when I started to teach harmony.
 
V: Understood.
 
A: Yes. Because he is very particular about voice leading. And usually in places like this, if he would do something else then the voice leading would sort of suffer.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. So if you are really particular about that, and want to be very precise, then probably lifting up and making a break in the sustained note is a good idea. Especially if you are playing in a[n] acoustical environment when the echo is great.
 
A: Yes.
 
V: Right?
 
A: Yes.
 
V: But then you need to be very meticulous about that. Are you very meticulous, Ausra? Are you perfectionist?
 
A: Well, I would say yes.
 
V: More than me?
 
A: Especially now when I am teaching harmony for so many years.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: Voice leading is very important for me.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: That they always analyze how each voice goes and why it goes like that, and it’s important for me what I have to sustain and what I have to release and then to do it.
 
V: Mmm-mmm. And in practice, this is one of the things that separates amateurs from professionals too. This professional attitude—attention to details.
 
A: And I think when learning, especially Bach’s music, because it’s so complex, it’s very wise to start with the very slow tempo and you need to listen to what is happening.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: Because if you will learn it in a wrong way, with the wrong voice leading, then you will have a real hard time to fixing it. Sometimes it’s much easier to learn a new piece than to fix something that you have learned incorrectly.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And sometimes it’s quite easy to miss things with thick polyphonic texture.
 
V: Exactly. You know, when I’m playing modern pieces sometimes, I get carried away and forget to look at the middle voices and lift them at that precise time. Maybe not because of sloppiness but maybe lack of time. Remember last time I played this recital with organ works by Teisutis Makačinas, and there was a reason I didn’t play extremely precisely. You know what? Because composer didn’t write extremely precisely. Because every time something repeats, he writes something differently. And he likes that, so I thought to myself, maybe I should also play some, in a different way every time.
 
A: Don’t remind me about it. When I remember that second part of that second sonata, I just feel really bad.
 
V: You were my assistant.
 
A: True. And everything just sounds the same, and the same, and the same. And then you have to add stops or to turn page, and if you just miss a few measures by accident, then you cannot find this spot you are on because everything looks and sounds the same. Or almost the same.
 
V: What would you rather do, teach harmony or assist a piece like that?
 
A: Well I better teach harmony.
 
V: It’s so, I presume that, compensation, financial reward for you, has to be bigger, right, when you assist in registering this piece, than teaching harmony.
 
A: Well, I never thought about it. But maybe you really have to pay me for all that work that I did for you.
 
V: Okay. Let’s make a deal. I will pay you when they pay me, okay?
 
A: (Laughs). Deal.
 
V: Because it was actually surprise—I was going to play it for free, just because composer asked me and he was our former harmony professor and polyphonic professor at Academy of Music in Vilnius. But, when he came to the rehearsal, he said that Lithuanian Composers Union is going to pay me for this performance. So, is it fair to say, Ausra, that I should give you half of what I receive?
 
A: Well, no I don’t think half would be a fair. I think you need to give me maybe like…
 
V: More.
 
A: Ten percent.
 
V: Ten percent?
 
A: Yes.
 
V: Oh, you are being modest. Let me give you sixty percent.
 
A: Okay. We will see. I think you will forget about it.
 
V: No, no, no. Let me give you sixty percent, but then you will buy me coffee.
 
A: Okay. I make for you coffee every morning, so…
 
V: And take me to the movies as well.
 
A: You asking too much.
 
V: (Laughs). Thank you guys for listening. We hope this was entertaining to you, and remember that you have to actually think in details, right? It’s very good. Unless you are really, really short of time and then you choose what is better to play with less perfection but complete musical texture and rhythmical drive, or with great precision but stuck every ten measures or so.
 
A: Well, don’t take me wrong—if you want playing with precision, it doesn’t mean that you play slowly…
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And sloppy, and boringly. It’s not why I’m studying that voice leading in each piece that I am playing. Because now you put like fast and exciting and precise, slow and boring is not the right way I think to say things. You can do everything precisely but in a fast tempo too.
 
V: I’m saying from my perspective, because I had to choose.
 
A: But I’m not talking about your last recital. I’m talking more in general.
 
V: In general. I was talking about me. I always talk about me. I’m very egoistic.
 
A: Well I don’t think, or maybe if you would play, have played that recital very precisely, maybe it would be easier for me then to assist you. I don’t know.
 
V: But it would last maybe half as long. (Laughs)
 
A: Because honestly, at that recital, I thought maybe I just simply don’t have a pitch, and can’t hear and can’t see anything.
 
V: Could not follow the score.
 
A: Yes, in that particular one spot. Few pages in a row, yes. I felt lost and I’m almost certain that you didn’t play as it was written.
 
V: Was it almost as good as written?
 
A: I don’t know. Maybe it was even better. Who knows. You never know with contemporary music.
 
V: Uh-huh. And composer asked me to improvise at the end, too.
 
A: And I think that was the nicest part of your recital.
 
V: Mmm.
 
A: I’m always surprised how slow you can be at doing the domestic things that I’m asking you to do, let’s say to help me in the kitchen, or do something else, like cleaning, and how incredible you can be on your organ.
 
V: We all have our own challenges and handicaps, I think.
 
A: I know, because when I see you on the organ bench and hear your playing, oh, I’m thinking, this man can be be really fast, in doing things.
 
V: But see, you are much better at both things—in the kitchen and playing organ, than me.
 
A: Well, no. I couldn’t improvise like you.
 
V: Maybe, maybe, you don’t know, Because you didn’t play that recital, you see, I did. So maybe next year, composer asks you to play, and then you say ‘okay, professor, I will improvise’.
 
A: Thank you, thank you. No I have already my recitals planned for the next year, so...
 
V: Mmm-hmm. You will go to Paris, right? Notre Dame?
 
A: This will be in 2020, so…
 
V: Oh.
 
A: Not be next year.
 
V: 2020, exactly.
 
A: Alright. Thank you guys again. And please keep sending us your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice...
 
A: Miracles happen!

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 343 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast.  And in this episode we’re going to discuss top 10 of Ausra’s organ videos.  Would you like that Ausra?
 
A: Not very much and you know it.
 
V: That’s why I asked it.  So how do you feel about your YouTube experiences so far?
 
A: Well since I put those videos in I never watch them back.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  And you don’t know how many people watched it right?
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: But you sometimes have received comments.
 
A: But I very rarely reply to the people.
 
V: Mostly in your channel there are keyboard harmony exercises and a few of your organ videos like Tunder, Krebs, what else?  I think mostly harmony, right?
 
A: Well E flat major I think is also somewhere. 
 
V: E flat major Prelude and Fugue, BWV 552 by Bach, Oh, nice.
 
A: That recording you made without informing me.
 
V: In secret?
 
A: Yes.
 
V: But then it turned out OK.
 
A: But I am still mad about it.
 
V: You don’t seem mad right now.
 
A: You shouldn’t do that to people, especially to your wife.
​
V: I’m very sorry but let’s stick to the top 10 of your videos.  E flat major is not on the list.
 
A: It amazes me that someone can what cadence more than you know to listen to Bach.
 
V: Exactly.
 
A: But as Raymond Haggh said “The human mind is an endless abyss.”
 
V: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.  On the top 10 place is modulation from G minor to C minor.  It is only 56 seconds long and it has 594 views and 6 likes, right?  And one comment, you know.  So interesting when you played it in your class I was holding probably a camera, right?  From G to C minor what do you have to think about when you modulate like that?  Tonic becomes dominant, right?  Because G is the dominant key of the C minor key.
 
A: Not exactly.  G is not a dominant, it is a minor dominant.
 
V: Minor dominant, right.
 
A: So you still have to add one other chord in order to modulate.
 
V: OK.
 
A: And you could do it in various ways, I think.  I know how minor dominant when major dominant is in the chord and so forth.
 
V: That’s interesting.  What do people say?  The only reply was “Thanks.  Excellent.”
 
A: I see that people like modulation.
 
V: On the place number 9 is descending upper tetrachord in B minor which has 605 views.  What does it mean descending upper tetrachord?
 
A: You don’t know what a tetrachord is?
 
V: Maybe I do, maybe I don’t so remind me or remind us.
 
A: Let’s see if we are in C major so descending upper tetrachord would by C, B, A, and G.
 
V: When descending, C, B, A and G.
 
A: If it would be ascending it would be G, A, B, C.
V: This is in B minor so that would be what B, A, G…
 
A: In B minor?  Yes, it would be B, A, G, and F#.
 
V: And F#.  So you play those four top notes in the soprano and then you harmonize them, right?  So 605 times people watched that.  Nice. 
 
A: Amazing.
 
V: Then on the place number 8 is modulation from G minor to D minor.   What’s interesting is that now the tonic becomes the sub-dominant, right?
 
A: That’s easier way than another one.
 
V: That has 693 views.  Excellent.  And then in the place number 7 is modulation from B flat major to F major.  I like major keys better.
 
A: Yes, actually it’s almost the same as the previous one only in the major keys.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  Also tonic becomes …
 
A: Sub-dominant.
 
V: Exactly.  And it has 792 views.
 
A: I would never be able to compete with you.
 
V: Or Lady Gaga.  But…
 
A: Shame on me.
 
V: But if somebody who was listening to this conversation would loop and play indefinitely any of these videos you might become a star.
 
A: (laughs.)  Oh yeah.
 
V: Would you love that?
 
A: Why not?
 
V: And you would get an angry call from Lady Gaga “What’s happening?  Why not my video is on the top…”
 
A: Stop joking about her.  Actually I really liked her in that movie.
 
V: “A Star is Born.”

A: Yes.
 
V: Place number 6 I believe is called Progression in F major.  1, 6, 4, 2 first inversion of the second scale degree chord, 1, 6, 4, 5 dominant seventh and tonic.  It has 899 views.
 
A: Wow, seems like people like modulations.
 
V: It has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  F Major right?  Let’s add 1 more view and it will have 900 views.
 
A: You are silly, you know that?
 
V: And then in place number 5 is modulation from D Major to G Major with 915 views and what’s interesting about this?  Do you remember?  Tonic becomes the dominant.
 
A: True.  But this time a real dominant because a major chord is the common chord. 
 
V: Why do you like major keys more?
 
A: I don’t like major keys more.
 
V: Why do I like major keys more?
 
A: I don’t know.  You tell us.
 
V: Because you don’t have to think about seventh scale degree.
 
A: But I think minor keys are more interesting.  They have more colors.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  And now we have the first video which has 1000 views.  Harmony Exercise in D Minor:  Deceptive Cadence.
 
A: That’s probably because of the title.
 
V: Deceptive.  What is deceptive.
 
A: That it deceives you.
 
V: Meaning that after the dominant seventh chord you don’t go to the tonic.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: And where do you go?
A: To the sixth scale degree chord.
 
V: Mmm.  How does it sound in your mind?
 
A: Actually very nice.
 
V: Do you like it?
 
A: Yes.
 
V: This progression, tonic, dominant, seventh chord, and the sixth scale degree.  Is it common in music?
 
A: Yes it’s very common but not necessarily tonic and then dominant seventh chord and sixth scale degree chord but dominant and sixth scale degree chord, yes, it’s very common.
 
V: What organ piece comes to mind when you think about tonic, dominant, and sixth scale degree?
 
A: Probably Schmücke Dich.
 
V: By Bach?
 
A: True.
 
V: This is very nice piece, do you like it?
 
A: Yes, I like it.
 
V: We have home study course prepared with fingering and pedaling and analysis of this piece and audio I think.  People who study from this course somehow save time because it’s like having teacher next to you.
 
A: Yes, that’s right.  Do you think many people who perform it think about chords?
 
V: I do.  I’m not in the majority though.
 
A: True.
 
V: Do you think about?
 
A: Yes.
 
V: So we have something in common then.

A: Good.
 
V: Good.  Would you like to hear top 3 of your videos?  Interesting.
 
A: Oh yes, I’m very excited.
 
V: Bronze medal.  Number 3 Preludium No. 2 in G (Dorian) by Franz Tunder.  It has 1180 views.
 
A: Wow.
 
V: Imagine that.
 
A: I’m a star.
 
V: What do you like about Tunder?
 
A: I like the Dorian mode in this particular prelude.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  And look we have two comments on that video.  Leon who’s actually our subscriber says “What power, so sad most of his music was lost.”
 
A: Well still we have I think we a little bit more of pieces by Tunder than let’s say of Reincken.
 
V: Right.  And Arion wrote “Wonderful! Thank you for sharing this.”  Wonderful.
 
A: This particular prelude has a very strong opening line that sort of grabs your attention.
 
V: That was probably common technique with Italian Passaggio, right?
 
A: That’s where German’s took it I think from Italians.
 
V: OK. Silver Medal second place.  Keyboard Harmony Exercise in G Major.  Tonic, Dominant sixth, Tonic Sub-dominant sixth, Tonic 6-4 Chord, Dominant and Tonic.  It has 1355 views.
 
A: It just amazes me that this video can be higher that Tunder.
 
V: Uh-huh.
 
A: Because these are so simple chords.
 
V: And look what is Gold Medalist.  Gold Winner.  Chord Progression in F# Minor.  Tonic, Tonic Seventh chord, Sub-dominant, Second scale degree 6-5 chord, Tonic 6-4 chord, Dominant seventh chord and tonic.  It has 2083 views.
 
A: Wow.
 
V: You know you mention that you kind of envy me because my videos have tens of thousands of views, right?  Sixty thousand of views has this pedal scale in C Major, but from what I read online the majority of YouTube videos don’t get more than guess how many views?
 
A: One hundred?
 
V: Yes, you are right, 100 views.  So if you pass 100 you are in the minority.
 
A: Excellent.  But to tell the truth I actually don’t care how many people watch my videos.
 
V: That’s true and can you tell us why.
 
A: As your father once said remember about how the dogs bark but the caravan goes on.  So I think what he meant by this saying that no matter what, you just have to do what you are doing.
 
V: Maybe he meant about critics more.
 
A: That’s true too.
 
V: You don’t pay attention to the critics then.  Excellent.  So I hope people can watch these videos again from our Podcast conversation we will link the videos directly from our blog and maybe you will have more views now.
 
A: Yes, and my cadence in F Minor become a number one on YouTube.
 
V: You know what is more important is that people are using this you see, and getting value out of this and I believe they do because they see your hands and they can replicate that and understand and you’re talking about that on top of your playing, you’re actually teaching them.  This is helpful.
 
A: Yes, and I hope that those who watch them they try to play them too.
 
V: That’s what I mean.  It’s helpful to improve their harmony skills, practical skills on the keyboard and that’s especially nice for organists.
 
A: True
 
V: And Ausra, was it hard for you to record these videos?
 
A: Well it wasn’t hard to play of course, but it was hard to talk at the same time not in my native language.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  Did it cost you a lot of energy?
 
A: Yes, it cost some energy definitely.
 
V: More than we are talking right now?
 
A: Yes, more.
 
V: Because you are alone there and somebody is filming you.
 
A: That’s right.  It’s easier to do just an audio recording.
 
V: Out of 100 percent how many chances do you give that you could record one more video in the next year?
 
A: I don’t know, I never thought about it.
 
V: I mean if people asked about that, would you continue that?
 
A: Well the trouble is that then I would have to go back to all my videos and see what I have recorded already because I never documented it.
 
V: But I think the variety of courses is so great…
 
A: I know, it is.
 
V: Even if you repeat something still it’s not the same.
 
A: I know it probably will be in a different key, something will be different, different position…
 
V: Or disposition of voices, right?
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: I don’t think you have to worry about that, repeating yourself.  So thank you guys for listening, for watching these videos.  Ausra what’s your final advice from this conversation?
 
A: Try practicing some keyboard harmony.
 
V: Exactly.  Let us know how it goes.  And let Ausra know if you want more of her harmony videos. This was Vidas.
 
A: And Ausra.
 
V: And remember when you practice…
 
A: Miracles happen.

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 342 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. And today, we’re going to discuss the top 10 list of my YouTube videos, because in the previous podcast, we looked at some of the videos, and it was interesting to see how many views some of them have.

​So let’s start with #10 on the list, Ausra, which is my podcast conversation with Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin from Paris. Remember the time when the last Čiurlionis organ competition was in Vilnius?
 
A: Well, yes. I remember that.
 
V: So, a group of organists and organ experts were on the jury, and I interviewed two of them. One was Michael Bauer, from the University of Kansas, and another was Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin from Paris. We met at her hotel and talked about French improvisation practice. It was a wonderful experience, and this video, although it’s a podcast conversation, but I also released a video version, it’s 28 minutes long, and it has 7,578 views as of today.
 
A: Yes, you already can compete with Lady Gaga! Ha ha!
 
V: Alright, going upward on the list is #9, my video, “How to Master any Organ Composition.” And it’s 39 minutes long, and it has 8,009 views. And, the interesting thing is that it is not listed, actually! It’s not a public video! It’s just for our subscribers, you see! The first video that they receive is this video, “How to Master any Organ Composition,” and it’s based on the piece that you know well, “Ich Ruf zu Dir Herr Jesu Christ.”
 
A: Oh yes, from Bach’s “Orgel Buchlein” collection.
 
V: Right. So, it’s actually fascinating to me that our subscribers have watched a total of 8000 times!
 
A: Good, that’s very nice.
 
V: Not YouTube subscribers, just email subscribers.
 
A: Sure.
 
V: Okay, #8 on the list is, J. S. Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in C Major” BWV 547, 9/8 meter. This is just the prelude. It’s 5m:44s long, and it has 8889 views. It’s interesting for me to point out that this is one of my first organ videos on YouTube, too,
 
A: Excellent!
 
V: because remember when came back from America, I played a concert in St. John’s Church, and it was recorded, not by me, and part of the concert, I played this Prelude and Fugue.
 
A: Oh yes, I remember all sorts of comments after that performance.
 
V: For example?
 
A: For example: “You know I think earlier Vidas played more interesting. Now he plays like an American!” I just wonder that people can speak nonsense like this.
 
V: And this video, this Prelude and Fugue was the first time I played in Lithuania the Organo Pleno sound—Organo Pleno with Principle Chorus with a Tierce sound in it in the Great manual. It sounded pretty sharp on my ears, like a spice, you know? And afterwards, I felt kind of ashamed, and I thought, “Oh, I should have omitted it. I don’t like it.” But now, I do it all the time with Bach.
 
A: Well, you see how things have changed.
 
V: So that was #8. #7 on the list is, “Prelude in C Major” BWV 846 by Bach. That’s C Major Prelude from Well Tempered Clavier, Part 1—the same one that Gounod arranged…
 
A: Ave Maria.
 
V: Exactly. And it has 10641 views on it.
 
A: Interesting, because I think this piece is recorded so many times; you can find it on the YouTube.
 
V: Yes.
 
A: And you still have so many views! Nice!
 
V: And it’s only 2 minutes long. Just over 2 minutes. Alright! What else? #6 on the list is my video in Lithuanian, actually, my tutorial how to learn to read or sight read music. How to learn to sight read music. It is 4m:9s long, and it has 11403 views as of today!
 
A: It surprises me, because I thought that Lithuanians are not interested in any tutorials.
 
V: Exactly!
 
A: About music, especially.
 
V: Right.
 
A: But, I guess that many choir members from the University probably watched this video.
 
V: Could be.
 
A: And that’s why this number increased.
 
V: Right.
 
A: Because in those choirs, Vilnius University has a few choirs, and not all of them know how to read music, so, some of them might have used your video.
 
V: Exactly. I’ve done a few tutorials about various aspects of music theory in Lithuanian, too, from the years that I’ve been teaching at Čiurlionis school of art, too. #5 on the list is “Aria in D Major” by Bach—the famous BWV 1068 from Orchestral Suite number 3. It’s just 4m:47s long, and it has 11389 views.
 
A: Well, it’s very pretty. That’s why people are listening to it.
 
V: And there are so many recordings, too.
 
A: True.
 
V: Lots of competition. Okay, another interesting piece, #4 on the list, very surprising, relatively new, from January 11, 2017, is “Gaudeamus Igitur, (Student’s Anthem),” Academic Anthem, actually, which is sung in all graduation ceremonies in Lithuania, at least, but also I think in parts of Europe, and other countries, too.
 
A: True.
 
V: It has 13843 views as of today, and it’s just 1 minute long.
 
A: Excellent.
 
V: I played it, not on the big organ, but in the Aula Parva hall at the university during one graduation ceremony, in the Winter semester of 2017. Alright, what’s next? #3 on the list is Demonstration of the Double Harmonic Scale. Do you know what it is, Ausra?
 
A: Of course I know!
 
V: What is it? Can you tell us?
 
A: Well, you could have it major and you can have it in minor. If it’s major you have the 2nd scale degree and 6th scale degree lowered, and in a minor, you have the 4th and 7th scale degree raised!
 
V: Okay, and if you wanted to get more detail about this scale, just watch this video: 4m:19s long, and it has 18379 views.
 
A: That’s amazing! Who would watch it?
 
V: Maybe Hungarians,
 
A: I don’t know
 
V: or people from Egypt, Turkey, some parts of India, where else….this double harmonic scale is popular in those parts of the world.
 
A: But not in our country; it’s not needed for our folk music.
 
V: Exactly. Alright, and then #2, silver medal, on the list is a 4m:12s long video, “Tips for Organists: Common Mistakes in Organ Pedal Playing.” Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody wants to avoid them, right? It was published in 2012, actually it’s an old video, but it has 40133 views as of today.
 
A: Yes.
 
V: I just talked into my camera at our music room, and behind me is our practice organ visible. In one hand, I took an HD camera, and held it with my left hand, I remember even today, and talked for 4 minutes. And now it has over 40000 views.
 
A: I think it proves that playing pedals is still a challenge for many.
 
V: Yes! Guess what’s on the top, first place, or gets gold medal!
 
A: I don’t know,  but I guess it will be something very funny.
 
V: “How to play the C major scale with the pedals on the organ.”
 
A: That’s funny! That’s truly funny!
 
V: It’s 12m:35s long, and as of today, it has 67793 views, and it was published on October 7, 2012! Again, it was done on our practice organ, and on the screen, you can see my feet playing the C major scale in normal tempo and slow tempo with tips and advice for pedaling, too.
 
A: Excellent! I wonder if you would record the, let’s say, scale in D major, how many views you would get.
 
V: Oh, that’s easy! I think I did. D Major scale… pedal….Yes! October 12, 2015, I recorded this video on how to play D Major scale over one octave on the organ pedals…
 
A: And how many views?
 
V: And it has 4133 views.
 
A: Well, it cannot compare to the C major scale.
 
V: Every new sharp…
 
A: I know…

V: Is a challenge. Okay, so….
 
A: I just wonder if these big countries, you know….
 
V: Yes, it’s actually part of the training materials for pedal virtuoso master course.
 
A: Okay.
 
V: Thank you guys for listening. We hope this was fun for you to observe the popularity of some of my organ videos.
 
A: And watch that scale in C major! It will increase the number of Vidas’ watchers!
 
V: Yes! Loop it continuously, day and night! It will become more popular than Lady Gaga!
 
A: Yes.
 
V: And then, Ausra, I have a suggestion! Would you like to do a next podcast conversation about your harmony videos?
 
A: Maybe not!
 
V: Let’s find out how many million views you have.
 
A: Yes, a lot, probably.
 
V: Excellent. So, stay tuned guys, this was fun. And remember, when you practice,
 
A: Miracles happen.

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 341, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Bruce. And he writes:

Hi Vidas,
I just came across your youtube of Estampie Retrove from the Robertsbridge Codex. Do you have sheet music to this? Preferably not in tablature; actually, regular manuscript and tablature would be fun.
Cheers,
-Bruce
 
V: Have you seen my prepared score of Estampie Retrove?
 
A: I have played from it, performed from it in the recital. Yes, I have seen it.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Let’s open our Secrets Of Organ Playing store, and search for Estampie and we have two Estampies—one is Estampie Retrove, and second is Estampie, but a different version. So, Estampie Retrove is the oldest surviving organ piece. It’s from Robertsbridge Codex, which was compiled in the 14th Century, approximately in 1360, from the time of Boccacio and Decameron. This music is of Italian origin but preserved in the British library. It’s a piece only for manuals, because at that time, of course, organs mostly didn’t have any pedals.
 
A: True. It was just the beginning of development of that instrument. And in general of instrumental music.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: Because vocal music always came first.
 
V: I’ve heard this piece performed by an early music ensemble—medieval ensemble in Vilnius during an early music festival  Banchetto Musicale and they played it not on the organ, but on two instruments—organetto and some kind of string viol, the lower instrument, was a viol, and it played the lower part, and the other instrument was oganetto, like a Portative organ, very small, maybe two octaves wide of range, and it could be only played with one hand.
 
A: How did it sound? Do you liked it?
 
V: Yes. And I observed the keyboard. The keys were so small and tiny. You could not easily play it without experience, I think. I was fascinated. It was just before I had the score prepared. I knew this piece for a long time, but didn’t have fingering prepared. So the reason I prepared fingering was because, remember we needed some pieces from 14th Century in our organ demonstrations—‘Meet the King of Instruments’.
 
A: I remember it, yes.
 
V: And it seemed like a very good example. So then I notated the fingering and the part of our subscribers and students already were playing from it. So, if Bruce is interested, of course we can put a link in the written description, or if you are listening to the podcast, you could go to our Secrets of OrganPlaying store, on Shopify. The way to find it, it’s just to go to organduo.lt and click on Store. And then you will be taken to our Secrets of Organ Playing Store and you could search in the search bar for this, for the sheet music.
 
A: I remember it was fun to play this Estampie Retrove because usually I teach harmony on a daily basis, and I always preach that you shouldn’t be using that parallel fifths while harmonizing melody. And here I am harmony teacher playing all the solo piece, which is written entirely with parallel fifths. It was fun.
 
V: It would be a good dictation for students.
 
A: I enjoyed it very much.
 
V: Have you ever played for your kids this piece?
 
A: Sometimes, I just play like couple measures of it.
 
V: Mmm-mmm. Me too. And they react very strangely—what is that, right? I think I played a dictation like maybe eight measures or ten or twelve measures out of it. Let’s see—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine measures until the first stop. But it was so uncommon for them. They didn’t know what to write, right? Because this music is so old, older than the oldest trees in Lithuania.
 
A: True.
 
V: What’s the oldest tree in Lithuania?
 
A: I don’t think, maybe that Stelmužės ąžuolas or Stelmužė oak.
 
V: Oak, mmm-hmm. Is it from 15th Century or 16th Century?
 
A: It’s very, very old.
 
V: Older than this?
 
A: True.
 
V: Seven hundred years old?
 
A: I’m not sure. I have to check it.
 
V: Let’s check it right now. Stelmužės ąžuolas. Oh, this is the oldest and the thickest…
 
A: Tree.
 
V: Tree in Lithuania. One of the oldest oak tress in Europe. The oak is around 1500 years old. 1500 years!
 
A: Wow!
 
V: It’s diameter is 3.5 meters, and 13 meters around the, next to the ground. Eight or nine grown up men have to go around this tree to reach, with hands. I wonder how many piglets and hedgehogs would you need.
 
A: Way too many, probably.
 
V: So that’s oak from maybe 6th Century or 5th Century. Nobody can tell for sure, right? But we didn’t have organ music from that time.
 
A: So, 1-0 - trees rule. Trees win against the organ.
 
V: Wonderful. Thank you guys for sending these questions. It’s so fascinating to sometimes dig up all the facts that we have forgotten and share it with you here.
 
A: Yes, it’s very nice.
 
V: And you hope, we hope you will enjoy playing Estampie Retrove. And actually I was surprised, because this is one of my more popular videos. Let’s check on Youtube, how many views does it have. Estampie.
 
A: When I was practicing this piece, getting ready for recital, I though ‘oh, it’s so easy. It’s not worth for practicing much’. But actually it’s not true. You need to put some work onto it. And after playing it for some times—because it keeps repeating itself—it affects you as some sort of meditation.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: So it’s really worthwhile trying it.
 
V: The earliest organ music Estampie Retrove video, it was viewed 7004 times.
 
A: Still, I don’t think it’s a record. I remember us watching that movie, with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. And even like after that movie was shown for like three weeks, that one of the songs from that movie already had what like, millions and millions of views. So…
 
V: Do you know, that maybe I should do another podcast conversation with my top Youtube videos—a list of top ten. Not now, but maybe in the future because I’ve just opened Youtube channel and the list is interesting. Okay, in the future we’ll share it and discuss. Thank you guys. This was Vidas.
 
A: And Ausra.
 
V: And remember, when you practice...
 
A: Miracles happen!

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 340 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast.  Today we have two comments which we would like to discuss.  The first was sent by Irineo and he writes:
 
“Nice post as usual, maestro.
But I recall having seen (or heard) that when you use a very low fifth stop (10 2/3' for instance) along with a 16' you get the effect of a 32'.  Trouble is that there isn't any 16' stop left over there.  So I guess the only solution lays in calling the technician. Could that be caused by the bellows having ruptured or collapsed and not being able any more to deliver the necessary pressure for the heavier stops? What do you think maestro?
Irineo.”
 
V: And the second question was sent by John.  He writes:
 
“I frequently quint bass notes on the Subbass - no other stops drawn, as it sounds unpleasant.  It only works (as far as I can tell) from bottom C to F - after that it doesn't sound good.  This idea of playing the tonic + its fifth on the pedals goes really well with string combinations and 8' - 4' flutes.  This gives a quasi 32' effect.  Of course when you are playing full organ you can use this method as well (but probably only once at a climax or the last chord).”
 
V: So Ausra these two questions are related because they talk about the 32’ effect.
 
A: True.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  And in one post Irineo sometimes uses a low fifth stop plus 16’ to get the effect of 32’ and John uses just the Subbass but playing fifth interval on the lowest notes from bottom C to F.  Do you think that in liturgical organ playing it’s nice to have this effect?
 
A: I think yes, because I think if you want to play pedal in fifths definitely but not play repertoire music.  It would be more suited for hymn playing.
 
V: And not always entire verse but just the last few chords probably.
 
A: Yes, I think it adds a nice effect.
 
V: A cadence.
 
A: Yes, in a cadence.
 
V: Would you use it?
 
A: Well yes if I wouldn’t have enough stops in the pedal or it would sound nice I would probably use it.  And I like how people are creative in a way to get a nice effect on the organ.  It’s very nice.
 
V: I just remember when I played organ works by Teisutis Makacinas in Armenian Notebook he had one episode with C chords in the hands and intervals of the fifths in the pedals in the bass range E flat to B flat, D flat to A flat, and C to G, the last few notes of the cadence and I didn’t use 32’ stops.  It adds gravity.
 
A: Yes, it’s really nice, nice to gravity in the pedals.
 
V: In symphonic orchestra the basses divide and cellos also play divisi and play in fifths too.
 
A: What about that low fifth in the pedal?  Do many organs have it do you think?  10 2/3' as Irineo says...
 
V: Let’s see.  Normally we have the lowest fifth 2 2/3’.  So that is based on the principal of 8’ level.  If it’s based on 16’ level then it is a fifth from the 5 2/3’ I think, right?  Sometimes its written 6’ in baroque organs in the pedal.  If it’s based on 32’ then yes, 10 2/3’.
 
A:  But if you have 32’ stop in the pedal then you don’t have to get the effect of 32’ because you already have it.  But if your organ doesn’t have 32’ stop then you shouldn’t have that low quint.
 
V: It should only have 5 2/3’.
 
A: And I mean not quint of fifth.
 
V: I think this is too low for normal organs.
 
A: That’s what I was thinking too unless it’s some sort of experimental organ.  You can find things like this too around the world.
 
V: Let’s see.  10 2/3’ organ stop.  Where is it organ stop in Wikipedia?  Major Quint it’s called in Encyclopedia of Organ Stops.  It’s a pedal mutation stop.  It has been made in a variety of forms.  Wood or metal.  Open or stopped.  Irwin  reports that it is usually of diapason tone.  Audsley says that open pipes “are to be desired in all cases.”  This stop reinforces the 32’ harmonic series, but it often appears in a pedal division that has no 32’ stops: when drawn with a 16’ stop, it produces a resultant 32’ tone.
 
A: Just as Irineo said in his letter.
 
V: Umm-hmm.  So yes, there are examples in German its Grossquitenbass, right?
 
A: Yes, I have seen it.
 
V: And it has it in Atlantic City the great organ in the convention hall, John Wanamaker’s store in Philadelphia, Liverpool Cathedral, Royal Albert Hall in London.  Monster organs, right?
 
A: Yes so it’s not a stop that you could find every day on each organ.  But I think when talking about organ in general you always need to listen to what sounds well on a particular instrument.  Because I think these suggestions cannot be taken for granted because what works well on one organ may not work at all on another one so you always need to check.
 
V: I can read between the lines what your saying and correct me if I am wrong.  For example if you are playing a relatively small instrument and you are playing fifths in the bass and trying to do this resultant in the bass which would sound an octave lower.  It might sound muddy because there is a reason why this organ is small in such a place, right?
 
A: True.
 
V: There is no enough reverberant acoustic. No place for the echo to spread.
 
A: Because in an ideal world and it’s not always the case in our world when a church is built and an organ is built in it, it needs to be sort of in a nice resonance with the room.  So the organ builder has to know to calculate how the organ will sound and according to that to put a specific stop list for a particular instrument.
 
V: And intonation of the stops also that happens in the room itself.
 
A: Yes but of course I would see that sometimes the money is the main cost of the things and you just calculate how much you can afford to put into the instrument and it might also be designed not maybe as it should be.
 
V: But it’s good that people are thinking about that.
 
A: Yes, it’s very good.
 
V: Thank you guys for sending us these questions and remember when you practice…
 
A: Miracles happen.

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.
 
Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 339 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Irineo, and he wrote:
 
​Splendid/illustrative podcast, maestros. Great guns.
But I think maestro Rob left something missing: One of my teachers many years ago told me "if you possess what's called a 'Melodik Ohr', you have an advantage over those who don't".

My questions are:
1-How can you teach students to develop that "Ohr"?
2-Where does it originate?
3-Are some people just born with it?
4-If not, is it possible at all to teach those who don't possess it how to develop it, you think?
Irineo
 
V: This term, “Melodik Ohr:” What do you think Irineo means by that?

A: I am actually not quite sure. Have we talked about it? Because, I don’t think I know this term.
 
V: No, it’s just in parentheses. Maybe it’s a figure of speech. I’m looking it up. “Melodik Ohr.” And, I think he comments from podcast 322 on accompanying the congregation and improvising, when Rob wrote about his advice in accompanying and on improvisation. So, maybe about improvisation, right? Because, Rob said, “I discovered that there is a part in my brain that always creates music. All I need to do is tune into it and listen to what is playing in my head at that moment. It can be a melody, can be a harmonized piece of music,” and so on. Does it make sense? So then, Melodik Ohr means, maybe in Irineo’s mind, “How do you develop this sense of musical insight, when you keep hearing those melodies in your head—this sense of inspiration. Does it make sense?
 
A: Well…
 
V: I believe that’s what he means.
 
A: So is it like a musical intuition, then?
 
V: Mhm, but it seems that it’s connected with memory…
 
A: Or it’s more like something like perfect pitch.
 
V: Yes…
 
A: I’m not quite sure.
 
V: Yes, and that…
 
A: Because, when I first read Irineo’s question, I thought about perfect pitch right away. But when he went back to Rob’s letter, I thought more about musical intuition.
 
V: Right.
 
A: Because these are very different things.
 
V: Right. I think it’s intuition. Melodic intuition. How you develop it. And, this is musical vocabulary that musicians use and composers use. I think the best way to start is to understand that yes, it can be taught, for some people easier than others because of innate talents and maybe musicality, right? What’s the background of the person. But, imagine a person who is immersed in a musical world day and night, listening to music, playing music, going to concerts, sight reading constantly. Little by little, he or she will have that vocabulary in his fingers, and constantly in his head, too.
 
A: Well, still, I think that the big part of it comes with your birth. You bring it from your birth. Because, let’s say I have some students, not many, but some, who are already graduating, let’s say, this year. And, one of them still cannot sing in tune or hear the difference between, let’s say, a tonic chord or a dominant. And then, I’m just thinking that probably, such kind of man needs to choose another profession, because I don’t think it would be wise to become a professional musician. And, I don’t think that a person like that could develop this Melodik Ohr.
 
V: Uhuh! I agree with you, and I remember from my conversations with improvisers, people like Tom Trennny or Sietze de Vries, and many others who were on the podcast earlier, they said that they liked to play around with things on the keyboard, play tunes and harmonize hymns and develop them a little bit, and transpose them—sort of they found it very curious and interesting task to sit down at the keyboard and do something with the keyboard. And the reason that some of your students don’t appear to have that skill is that that’s not interesting to them. Maybe they are interested in other things, and maybe that’s part of the reason they don’t have this talent.
 
A: Well, but still, I think if you have a very good ability to sing music since your birth, then it is more fun for you, and you are sort of more willing to do what you are doing.
 
V: Yes, you are naturally drawn to it, like children, sometimes some people sing in their youth, in their young age as kids. They sing. Some draw, some tell stories, some like to act, you know? And that’s where their talent lies. That’s where their curiosity develops, also. If a person is born with a gift for visual arts, and you say, “no, no, you play an instrument, it’s a torture, then!
 
A: I know, and I think you just need to find what you are gifted for, then to develop that skill of yours.
 
V: Right, and if Irineo feels sort of a tendency to do something with those melodies in his head, maybe that’s his calling—part of his calling—to try to improvise, try to compose, try to have fun at the keyboard, basically, with his own music, not the music of others.
 
A: I think even with the music that is written by other composers and that you are performing, you need to have that something in yourself, that musical gift, that Melodik Ohr, in order to interpret it. Not in a correct way, but musically.
 
V: That’s musical intuition, right?
 
A: Sure, because I don’t think that if you won’t have it from the beginning, from your birth, that this can be developed to a very high level. You could develop it a little bit, but probably never reach the heights.
 
V: Unless you have the talent.
 
A: True. I think you need to have the talent. And you know, I think J. S. Bach was just too modest, saying that, “Oh, all you have to do is press the right key at the right moment.”
 
V: I know.
 
A: And sort of denying his talent.
 
V: But, you know, this might sound kind of demotivating to our listeners, right? Because, they say, “Oh, I’m not as gifted, so there is no hope for me.”
 
A: Well, let’s be modest, you know, people! We don’t have to all be Mozarts or Bachs. Each of us have our own goal, and our own musical path.
 
V: And if you are still listening to this conversation, it means you are interested, it means you are curious about musical ideas, it means you are somewhat drawn to it. Maybe, you are not as talented or gifted as Mozart or Bach or Beethoven, but maybe you don’t need to be. You know, you are you!
 
A: Sure, and I think that what can really help is to listen to as many other performances as you can, and if you are interested in organ, it’s okay! Listen to other organists as they play, as they interpret music, but also, listen to other music—to other classical music, to other composers, you know, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, all the others. It will broaden your perspectives and your horizons.
 
V: And that’s what students are taught in musical schools and art schools, and later in academies of music and conservatories.
 
A: Yes, and listen to different genres, listen to string quartets, listen to the solo instruments, to symphonic orchestra, listen to the opera!
 
V: Even if you are at the very high level, like pursuing your doctorate degree. Do you remember, Ausra, in Lincoln Nebraska, we had comprehensive exams, and a list of 25 pieces from various musical periods to present or to analyze, right? And those were not organ works at all!
 
A: Sure!
 
V: Those were general musical gems from each area and musical period. So, the more you know, the more you can connect the dots.
 
A: True, and actually, with those 25 pieces, we were not allowed to put any of the organ compositions, because we were majoring in organ performance, so we had to also take our organ literacy exams during these comprehensive exams, but that list of 25 pieces, they were completely different.
 
V: Can you just list a few of the composers on your list?
 
A: Well, yes!
 
V: What you remember now?
 
A: Yes, I remember most of them, but just to name a few, for example, I have Tchaikovsky’s  Sixth Symphony, I had Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, I had Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata for piano, I had Verdi’s Rigoletto, I had Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, I had the Vocal Cycle of Schumann’s Frauenlieben und -leben, and all these other wonderful compositions.
 
V: Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time
 
A: For the End of Time, and then of course, from the Renaissance, different pieces like Motet…
 
V: Gabrieli
 
A: Gabrieli, the Sacred Concerto In Ecclesiis, like I had a medieval sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes.
 
V: What about Palestrina? Did you have Palestrina?
 
A: Yes, I had a mass by Palestrina.
 
V: Missa Papae Marcelli?
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: What about Medieval music? Oh, you said…
 
A: ...said, yes, I had a sequence out of his, yes, and well, of course, like modern music you mentioned, other than Messiaen, and I had also Arvo Pärt, and I had Luciano Berio Sinfonia, a fascinating piece.
 
V: What was… you studied by Arvo Pärt?
 
A: Passio.
 
V: Passio! Oh, that’s a pretty piece.
 
A: And, of course, I had Bach’s Cantata.
 
V: Wachet auf!
 
A: Yes, that was the closest to the organ music as I could get.
 
V: Long list, right?
 
A: Well, yes.
 
V: Do you remember my list?
 
A: Well, you did some similar, but also some very different works, too, because we were not allowed to put the same compositions on our lists, because, you know, people understand at the University that if we would do the same lists, then we could just prepare both for once.
 
V: I remember having Mathis der Mahler by Hindemith.
 
A: I remember you had Verdi’s Aida.
 
V: Aida. Haydn’s, I think, symphony.
 
A: I had Haydn’s Emperor's Quartet.
 
V: I had symphony, which is the Farewell Symphony, right? What else did I have…. Maybe Ockeghem? No? Yes. What was by Ockeghem, Requiem?
 
A: I had Mozart’s Magic Flute! Yes, and you had Ockeghem’s Requiem.
 
V: What did I have from modern composers besides Hindemith?
 
A: You are asking me? It’s your list!
 
V: I have a smaller brain.
 
A: Ha ha!
 
V: Okay guys, this conversation is going to the funny direction now, so we should stop.
 
A: It just shows that we are getting old and want to talk about our memories.
 
V: Yes. We should make new memories, then. Thanks guys, for helping us to make new memories and preventing us from aging. And maybe we are a part of the same process for you. We hope so, right Ausra?
 
A: Yes, that’s right.
 
V: So keep sending us more questions. We’re all in the same boat, and we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice,
 
A: Miracles happen.

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Thanks to Jan Pennell for her meticulous transcription of fingering from the slow motion video.

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​This score is free for Total Organist students.

Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas.

 Ausra: And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 338, of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Estella. And he writes:

My dear Vidas,
I have subscribed to your organ blog and it has helped answer some questions about improving my organ skills, thank you.
I have a question about the Allen Chapel organ, which is the one that I use at my church.  Last year one of the keys on the Great Manual started clicking or clacking (G). After calling a repairman and 500.00, it was repaired.  Just recently, the B flat key has started making the same sound. I don't think our church will be willing to spend any more money. Do you know a quick or inexpensive way that it can be fixed?  
Hope you can help,
Estella
 
A: Well…
 
V: Ausra, you go first.
 
A: Well, sometimes people think that we are source of...
 
V: Magicians.
 
A: Some sort of yes, magicians, or organ doctors. Yes, we have doctorate degrees but not in organ maintenance.
 
V: And not in organ building.
 
A: Sure.
 
V: And especially not in electronic organ building.
 
A: Sure. For me, I think it’s time since one key had the same problem and now another begins to have the same problem, probably that keyboard is just worn out.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And I guess the smartest thing would be to get a new instrument.
 
V: Right.
 
A: That’s what I could suggest.
 
V: Because, even if your congregation would be willing to spend 500.00 for repairing B flat key, maybe in a few months you will need D key, and then the G sharp, and maybe A and so forth.
 
A: And only repairing one key, and to take 500.00, I don’t know in which…
 
V: Currency.
 
A: Currency...
 
V: Maybe…
 
A: But...
 
V: I presume…
 
A: But then if it’s U.S. dollars, so, I don’t know, Euro’s is, it’s highway robbery I think.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: So you better watch out what are you calling to help you with your organ.
 
V: To really get acquainted with the prices, maybe you could check out representative of Allen Digital Organs in your area, maybe in your state, or in your, where ever you live. For example, in Lithuania, we have a person who is representative not only in Lithuania but also in other Baltic countries, I think, and also in Poland, I believe. So, but he’s official. The prices could be checked and compared. So look at the website of your organ company first of all and see if they have affiliates.
 
A: Yes, true.
 
V: Another thing, is, as Ausra is suggesting, to really get maybe, start thinking about possibility to raise money for a new instrument, and not necessarily an electronic one, right? Because that’s the thing about electronic organs. They, we all know that electronics last only a few years. Home appliances and T.V. sets and computers get out of order pretty soon after the warranty...
 
A: True.
 
V: Period ends.
 
A: Sometimes I think that somehow we just calculate it when things will start broken.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. It’s like maybe after five years, problems will start to be quite prevalent. We know some examples in our city that people are playing electronic instruments and they’re not really happy at all.
 
A: True. And what I would do if I would be in Estella’s shoes, and would still have to play that organ with that B key not working…
 
V: B flat, right?
 
A: B flat, yes, not working, yes, as it should. I would choose my repertoire according. You could do that by choosing wisely the keys which you are performing.
 
V: To omit B flat.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: And then play A sharp.
 
A: No. You, don’t make dopes of me.
 
V: I’m not making fun of you, I’m just making fun of situation.
 
A: I know but I’m trying to help! And of course use another manual as much as possible. Because I assume it has at least two.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: So...
 
V: Yes, you still have one more at least left.
 
A: So, yes, play more on that one, and on the Great, you just need to watch certain keys. And not only like B flat major or B flat minor but also you need to avoid like B minor too, or B major.
 
V: Why?
 
A: Because they would have this B flat or A sharp, a lot.
 
V: Oh, that’s a seventh scale degree.
 
A: True. And of course it’s actually very bad because it’s quite a common key.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. All flat keys have B flat.
 
A: I know, and even F major or d minor.
 
V: Even if you play everything in C major, if you want to modulate…
 
A: Well play in C major and A minor, that would be the best.
 
V: But even if you…
 
A: Oh no, G major, E minor, that would work just well.
 
V: But what I’m saying is that sometimes music modulates, and you can’t avoid that.
 
A: Well, play them on another manual.
 
V: Another manual, yeah, for now. But that’s the thing with these electronic keyboards—nobody can repair them but the official repairman. And they might be really pricey. Maybe that guy was official and maybe that’s his price point—500.00, for...
 
A: That’s horrible.
 
V: And maybe you will not find anyone else to help.
 
A: I think that’s just horrible.
 
V: Right.
 
A: Outrageous.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: I cannot believe it.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Neither can I. But if there is nobody else, you see, what can you do. Like in mechanical action organs, you could sometimes figure out by yourself. If there is some sticky key, you could figure out what’s happening. Maybe you could adjust the spring a little bit to make it a little bit stronger and maybe then it will start to work. What the problem is, I don’t know, maybe the string, maybe the valve. Maybe two adjacent keys are touching each other. Maybe you need to clean it up a little bit. Maybe there is a dead mouse or something stuck. Maybe that’s the same thing in that B flat key, but you can’t do this yourself unless you know electronics.
 
A: True.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And right now I’m thinking about old saying, this is, that ‘the greedy pays twice’.
 
V: Right.
 
A: Do you know such a saying, Vidas?
 
V: You mean that the church, which…
 
A: They wanted to save money basically…
 
V: To save money.
 
A: So we bought electronic organ.
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And that’s very often the case.
 
V: Mmm-mmm. I know some of our readers will be disappointed at our conversation now because they love electronic organs. But what you do in the situation?
 
A: Well, because it’s not too bad electronic keyboard for example, at home, as your practice organ. That’s very appropriate I think. And because only you will use that organ and it doesn’t take much space, so it’s very handy, and actually I think it’s a good choice if you cannot have another kind of instrument, or afford another kind of instrument.
 
V: Yes.
 
A: But think about churches, about institutions...
 
V: Mmm-hmm.
 
A: And, I’m just thinking that to buy an electronic keyboard it’s sort of really chicken vision.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Instead of…
 
A: I’m sorry if I offended anybody, but…
 
V: No. You didn’t offend Estella. I think, she didn’t buy this instrument, you know. I think somebody else in that congregation decided to invest just a little bit of money, not more, and that’s very, not far-sighted. Because properly maintained pipe organ can play for generations.
 
A: Yes. For centuries.
 
V: Yes! As we see around the world, there are organs still working from 16th Century, in Italy for example.
 
A: That’s right.
 
V: In Bologna. And it’s still playing.
 
A: So if you will think in long terms, I think it’s much more adequate to put in a larger amount, but to get a sure thing.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. So a short term solution of course would be to avoid playing the Great manual with the flat keys. And sometimes you can get around with playing with different octaves, I think.
 
A: Yes, you could do it.
 
V: Right?
 
A: Sometimes that’s a case too.
 
V: But mostly use the second manual, the Swell manual if it has two manual. And also check if that repairman is official. Maybe there are other legitimate choices to call and maybe they could do the work on the same quality but much cheaper.
 
A: True.
 
V: I’m not sure about that actually, but, 500 dollar for one key seems a lot.
 
A: It seems, yes...
 
V: Mmm-mmm.
 
A: Way too much.
 
V: Mmm-hmm. Okay. Thank you guys for this question. I don’t know if we’ve been helpful or not but we tried to do our best. But we have some boundaries because we lack electronic engineering background. And plus, Estella didn’t say what the problem was. She didn’t explain. Even to engineer, engineer wouldn’t know how to do. Maybe more details are needed. But anyway, we tried to help. Please send us more of your questions. We love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice...
 
A: Miracles happen!