SOPP678: I also bought that organ this year but I don't know what registrations you played the music with

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.

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V:  Hi guys!  This is Vidas.

A:  And Ausra.

V:  Let’s start episode 678 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast.  This question was sent by Hubertus, and he writes,

Hello Ausra,
Heard your demo of the Alessandria organ with interest. Thank you for hearing you play on that. However, I am 75 and do not yet have enough experience to distinguish what those sounds for registrations entail, because I only started playing about 13 years ago, the total overview is missing.
I also bought that organ this year, but I don't know what registrations you played the music with.
Is it possible to use the "Simple" screen for a next demonstration instead of the Console, so that it is possible to follow your choice of registrations, in order to be able to try them out by myself, because it sounded very nice, but my knowledge falls short.
Hope you can/will comply with my request.
Thanks for listening to me.
Best regards. Hubertus

V:  So, very nice that Hubertus enjoyed your presentation of Alessandria sample set, and as I understand, he wants to see the stops on the screen.

A:  Yes, that’s what I understood too.

V:  After that I think we changed the layout of the stops, and now…

A:  Yes, and now all the demonstrations that I do have the simple view of organ stops, and definitely you can see them much better.

V:  Visually it’s not that pleasing to the eye, right?  Because the console view was colorful and similar to the original organ.  But now, simple view is just stop names, right?  Very very simple layout so that your eyes would understand and see what happens on the screen.  But maybe it’s for the better.

A:  Yes, sure.  And now I have a question.  Is it possible to go back to my old recording and to do a switch between the consoles, or not?

V:  Oh, let’s see.  Let’s see.  In your old recording, you used, what do they see?  They see your hands, right?

A:  Yes, my hands.

V:  They see your hands from above.

A:  What else?

V:  Keyboard view from above.  They hear the sound, right?  But they don’t necessarily see on the screen what’s in front of them, so…. Right?

A:  We can check that recording and see how it works.

V:  But Hubertus means that he cannot see the stop names, yes? No?

A:  Well I understood that he would like to see the simple view of the stops.

V:  So that has to be a new recording, not the finished one.  Because it’s done already and you cannot manipulate the old one.

A:  Okay.

V:  How can you go to YouTube video…?

A:  I don’t know.

V:  It’s…no, no.

A:  But definitely I cannot redo that old recording, and I don’t remember already what I have played.

V:  That’s exactly right.  Maybe next time, for example, next round when you do a demonstration of Alessandria, will be different material, different music, right?  You might remember to do Alessandria sample set or any other sample set.

A:  But actually I have recorded already more music on Alessandria.  Maybe he can check those registrations.

V:  Yes, and sometimes we write in the description, too.

A:  Yes, what we use.

V:  Mm hm.  And he could look at my recordings as well, although I don’t do demonstrations of these sample sets, but sometimes I show on the screen, switch camera angles basically, what stops I am using.  And even if I’m not using the stop layout on the big screen, right, entire screen, having this sample set at home, you can actually look at the stops that I’m using from the distance and kind of guess what they are in terms of where they are positioned.

A:  Yes, that’s what I do sometimes, too.

V:  Yeah.  If you see that camera layout where the organist is from the side, and our computer screen is visible, and we see the stops.  They are bigger to us because we are closer to the screen, but camera also captures the screen as well.  For regular people who don’t have this, so it’s probably difficult, right, to guess what stops we’re using.  But if he has a sample set to compare…

A:  Sure.  It shouldn’t be so hard.

V:  Visually it’s possible, definitely.  And as Ausra said, of course in the future, we are using simple layout all the time for future demonstrations.

A:  That’s right.

V:  Can you tell us a little bit about, what did you enjoy the most in Alessandria?

A:  Tuba, of course!

V:  Tuba.

A:  Yes.

V:  Did you use tuba in demonstration?

A:  Well, you are asking now - I recorded this demonstration last year.  But I’m sure I did.  Or if I didn’t in the demonstration, I definitely recorded with the tuba.

V:  Someplace else.

A:  Some pieces.  And I even have done of my improvisations, you know…

V:  Yes.

A:  …on tuba of Alessandria.  So you can definitely find that in my playlist on my channel.

V:  Fun fact:  people who join our little community on YouTube, become fans or friends of SOP, like channel members, can have a special emoji in their comments or live chat, whenever I do a live stream or a premiere.  And for example, one of them is tuba.  A special designed sticker called “tuba.”  Whenever I use tuba, I see my members write or place that emoji, tuba.  It’s very beautifully designed and makes a great impact - their comments stand out.

A:  Sure. And in general, it’s nice to have a sample set with a tuba.  It’s a very rare case.

V:  Yeah, it’s an English stop, but the organ is not English, it’s Italian Mascioni Company, but the style is more French of course.  So it’s nice to have English feature in it, too, but with beautiful French sounds.

A:  Yes.  And beautiful tremulants that Vidas loves so much.

V:  Yes, and do you know why?

A:  I don’t know the older you get, the more you get the more tremulants you love.

V:  Maybe because my voice trembles, too.

A:  Could be.

V:  When I sing.

A:  It doesn’t tremble as much as my voice when I talk before my demonstrations.

V:  Maybe you are being too serious.

A:  Maybe.

V:  Okay guys.  What else can we say about Alessandria organ?  Definitely worth having if you’re into Hauptwerk stuff.  Piotr Grabowski releases this, his sample sets with great care, and they are amazing sample sets.  Most of them are very, very realistic, and especially the newest ones.  Maybe he has improved his equipment over the years, or maybe recording strategy of every pipe, but they’re definitely sample sets that we enjoy.  Besides Alessandria, what else?  Nitra?

A:  Yes, and many many others.  But when talking about making registrations on Alessandria, just don’t be afraid to experiment and listen to what works for you and what you like.  Because of the wonderful acoustics of this sample set and beautiful stops, you can hardly make something really really wrong.  So just trust yourself, trust your intuition.

V:  Right.  Registration is actually one of the weaker points for organists, right?  When we discover or get questions from people, they often ask what kind of stops we are using, or what are the principles of using registration, and this is such a broad topic.

A:  It is.  It’s very broad.  Well, my advice would be never use mixtures alone.

V:  Unless…you’re playing a specific piece designed for mixtures.

A:  Yes, but in general you are not using mixtures alone.

V:  Maybe, I think people could check out Piotr Grabowski’s site and get familiar with many many sample sets that they have, that he has on the website.  The newest one, for example, is Nitra, but before that was Święta Lipka, and we recently received a present from Piotr Grabowski, and Ausra is going to do a demonstration on it very soon.

A:  Yes, I’m going to.

V:  I already tried it out during one of the “On the Bench with Vidas” live streams, and it sounds very very nice for German Romantic music, late 19th century music.

A:  Yes, it works well for that.

V:  Okay.  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.

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