What's your first step?

By Vidas Pinkevicius (get free updates of new posts here)​​​​​

A student of mine asked me how to know if Handel's Hallelujah Chorus is too difficult for him to learn?

This got me thinking even deeper:

Have you ever been in a situation when you started practicing a new piece, perhaps worked on it for a while only to discover it's too advanced? And you would quit and go on to the next piece. And the same thing would happen to you with the next composition, right?

So as you're jumping from piece to piece you're realizing you're not getting anywhere.

So how to know that a piece of organ music isn't too difficult to you to master at the moment?

I came up with a simple idea which will help you determine that.

When you are about to choose the piece to practice do this:

Write down what is the first step for you. In other words, how would you start learning it? What would you do first?

If you can't answer this question with absolute certainty it would work, then the piece is too advanced.

Experienced organists don't even think about this consciously. They know. They just do it.

But if you're struggling with learning new pieces, this might help.

And remember...

When you practice, miracles happen.