SOPP547: Although my teachers have stressed the importance of articulate legato in playing Baroque music, I was never taught early fingering

Vidas: Hi guys!  This is Vidas.
 
Ausra:  And Ausra.
 
V: Let’s start episode 547 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by J. Flemming.  He writes,
 
Although my teachers have stressed the importance of articulate legato in playing Baroque music, I was never taught early fingering, so it is very easy for me to lapse into familiar patterns (like crossing my thumb underneath my fingers).  I am learning BWV 659 (ornamented chorale Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland) with Vidas’ fingering, and it is taking more repetitions to get used to the fingering.  The results will be worth it, though.  I expect to be able to play this in a service before Advent is over.  It’s been a good exercise in developing the discipline to do it right instead of quickly.
 
So, this question was sent before Advent was over, obviously.
 
A: Sure.
 
V:  And now we’re talking after Christmas.  Okay, it’s very nice that J. Flemming is using my practice score of Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.  In this particular score, I really take advantage of early fingering in the left hand, where you have two voices, alto and tenor voices combined.  And also, in the soprano part, where there is one ornamented, highly ornamented melodic line.  And in the pedals as well, even though they move slowly, I don’t use heels, I don’t use substitutions, in the hands also, no substitutions, and no thumb glissandos, things like that.
 
A:  You don’t need glissandos, because you play everything in detached manner, articulate legato, so…
 
V:  At first, it sounds strange, right, Ausra?
 
A:  What?
 
V:  This type of articulation.  Or not?  When you first started, what was your experience with articulate legato?
 
A:  Actually, it was like discovering America for me.  Because here nothing sounded swell while playing baroque music, and sort of half-articulate way or legato way.  Because instrument itself wouldn’t speak if you would play legato.
 
V:  Mm hm.  For me, I couldn’t discover this articulation for a long time.  Even though my first teacher sort of taught me this.  But, it was very complex explanation.  I couldn’t get the basics right.  And plus, of course I was very young, and you had to understand something differently.
 
A:  I don’t think your first teacher understood the manner of articulation very well, too.  Even in the Academy of Music, there was none that taught articulation really well.  We had some sort of understanding about it, but incomplete and insufficient.  And incorrect in many ways.  Because if you would look at the Academy of Music at all our professors, and you would look how we play the pedals, how we are pedaling Bach, it’s just horrible.  Remember when we went to Eastern Michigan University, and our professor, Pamela Reuter-Feenstra, saw our score that we brought from Lithuania, and it was with the fingering and pedaling, by your professor, Leopoldas Digrys, she just thought to throw that score away right away and never come back to it.
 
V:  Or put it into a museum of incorrect fingering!
 
A:  Yes.  So, basically, so I guess the right understanding of why this articulate legato and fingering and pedaling is needed, came to me when I tried, basically historical instruments, and especially the pedal clavichord.
 
V:  Yeah, instruments themselves can teach you a lot.  Probably more than any teacher can.  Although, I understood the basic articulate legato principle easier, I think when I started studying fromRitchie/Stauffer method book.  Because he gives this exercise to play with one finger, as legato as possible.  But since you are only playing just with one finger, it’s not really legato.  And then repeating the same articulation with all the fingers.  Sort of imitating.  And then it clicked for me.  All the voices have to play this way, even though you are using all the fingers.  But if you are not sure, play with one finger only at first.
 
A:  But developing this technique, it takes time and patience, of course, too.  I think every time when you practice organ, you need to have patience and you really need to listen to what you are doing very carefully.  Because it’s basically an art to be able to play baroque, romantic, and modern music, especially if you have to do that all in one recital. 
 
V:  And if you’re a beginner, those three styles can mix in your head, right?  But it’s very, I think healthy to work simultaneously in three different styles: early music, romantic music, and modern music.  Because the more you do it, the more easily you can switch between them.
 
A:  Sure.
 
V:  Right?
 
A:  That’s right. 
 
V:  And the longer you play with one style, the more difficult it is for you to switch, right?  Especially if you are a beginner.  You get used to one particular style.  Let’s say you’re playing Bach chorales all the time.  Or let’s say short preludes and fugues, from the famous Eight Preludes and Fugues collection. And you don’t play anything else, and if you suddenly start playing a romantic piece or a modern piece, it doesn’t feel natural, right?
 
A:  Sure.
 
V:  You have to switch, like between having three different cars, or five different cars, or twenty cars...the more the better!
 
A:  I would say it’s probably not switching a car, but like switching from a shift stick to the automatic.
 
V:  But cars are also different between themselves, between mechanical and mechanical - different models, right?  So how your foot feels on the pedal is different.  The wheel also is different.  And the gears shift differently a little bit in each car.  But car mechanics don’t have any trouble because they have tried them all.
 
A:  Yeah.
 
V:  Ok 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.