Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast

This question was sent by Abraham, and he writes: “Thank you Mr Vidas Pinkevicius for this wonderful opportunity... First and foremost, my dream for organ playing is to be able to play classical pieces like the professionals do, and also to be able to play church hymns with varied hymn harmonies or alternate harmonisations... I'll also be glad if you could share me PDF files of hymns with alternat...

This question was sent by Kiel, and he writes: Hi Vidas, I found a Facebook video of an organ student of yours playing the Dupont Meditation. I have two rhythm issues I’m wondering if you can help me with. One being the 5 against 4 sixteenth notes. This is when the melody is on the moves down to the great and are on off beats. The way I’m currently playing it is the f’s are together, g flat is two...

This question was sent by Gavin, and he writes: G’day Vidas, Thank you for your work. My dream for my organ playing is to really enjoy playing well. What’s holding me back from this I think is good practicing…and not just in the amount of time, but also in how practice is done. I know that there can never be one solution that fits everyone, but guidelines are difficult to come by! Cheers, Gavin

This question was sent by David, and I asked him how his organ practice is going, and he wrote: “Very well! And I played a full service - as substitute organist - last Sunday. And they applauded after the postlude. Miracles really do happen (when you practice)! Played ‘Lobet den Herren mit Pauken und Zimbeln - Alla Händel’ by Karg- Elert (also listed as ‘Festliche Musik Alla Händel’). For the prel...

This question was sent by Abraham, and he writes: Good to hear from you Mr Vidas. Is it possible to follow these steps and master any organ composition a week before performance?

This question was sent by Christianna, and Christianna writes: “My dream for organ playing is to be able to play, at very least hymns and sightread intermediate organ music. The three inhibitors at the moment I think, would be: 1. Lack of a teacher, 2. Having to drive fifteen minutes to play on an organ and, having to deal with the fact that it's not available on weekends, 3. None of the music sto...

This question was sent by May, and she writes: Hi Vidas, What are the prerequisites to Organ Hymn Improvisation Master Course Level 1? For example, what kind of chords do I need to know in order to study this course well? What level of music theory should I have before starting this course? Also, what are the expected outcome of this course? Thanks, May

This question was sent by Patricia, and she writes: Dear Vidas and Ausra, Thank you for contacting me regarding your program of Organ tuition and assistance. I studied organ at Trinity College in London and also at the same time I studied the French music from Jean Dattas at Notre Dame in Leicester Square. I was working in London at the time teaching English to students at Morden Girls Secondary i...

This question was sent by Mark, and he writes: Vidas and Ausra, 1. What is my dream for my organ playing? Answer: to be able to play all the hymns of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and Sunday organ solos as needed using the foot pedals. I'm a "recovering pianist" who started playing the organ at age 62. I haven't yet been able to master the skill of playing the foot pe...

This question was sent by David, And he writes: "Hi Vidas, I bought shoes from Organmaster but I didn’t quite like it. Do you have any recommendation? Regards, David"

This is a continuation of SOPP446 about learning Noel X by Daquin.

This question was sent by John. He writes: “Hi Vidas and Ausra, How are you today? Soon I would like to start learning Noel X by Daquin as we discussed a few months ago. Could you please give some guidance and teaching on these points? How to play the French trills in this piece? Please spell out exactly what notes to play. When to play pedals, and do you double the left hand in this case? How to...

This question was sent by Carlos, and he writes: Thanks a lot Dr. Vidas and Dr. Ausra. Well, the primordial matter that I would like to reach in organ playing it's a fine performing level in public. One thing that I think it holds me, and also a matter of my capital focus it's the control of the nervousness in performance. I think that there is a lot of technique to control the panic in scene, I h...

This question was sent by Micky, And he writes: My dream is to be a good sight reader and solving the note quickly. My problem is when I practice I am good but when I go to play it in the church I don't play it good with accuracy.

This question was sent by Dan, And he writes: "Hi Vidas, I noticed that you’d uploaded to YouTube, a version of Carillon of Westminster by Louis Vierne, where you’re playing it slowly. I know you normally do this, so people can transcribe what you’re doing, and eventually produce a print score with fingering and pedaling. This as well, may help me, as I learn things by ear here, due to being total...

This question was sent by Dan. He writes: “Hi Vidas, the whole incident at Notre Dame in Paris, France is shocking, and sad at the same time. It’s really, really good, that the main organ wasn’t damaged by the fire. Very cool that you’d visited that instrument back in 2014. Is the other choir organ that they have, a totally separate instrument, with its own console and everything? If so, how many...

This question was sent by Michael, and he writes: Hi Vidas and Ausra, Thank you again very much for liking and reposting music! I cannot thank you enough, and I am extremely honored by your likes and reposts! I have given some thought to blogging—particularly since my studies focus on early music (particularly English composers like Byrd, Gibbons, Tallis, etc.). I've always loved early music, so i...

This question was sent by Alan. And he’s a member of the team who transcribes fingering and pedaling from the videos, and prepares nicely done fingering and pedaling practice scores. So Alan writes: Vidas and Ausra, I enjoyed this episode, thanks. You mention Sauer’s crescendo roller. We saw one of these demonstrated by Andreas Sieling when we toured the Berliner Dom last year. I didn’t quite unde...

This question was sent by Erika, and she writes: “I’m working on the choir piece for Easter. Beautiful piece. Quite a bit trickier than I usually do. It’s become an Easter tradition. A couple of sections are like a fugue and there is one section that I didn’t practice as I should have when I first learned it several years ago. So now I have to drill it every year or my fingers seem to fall into th...

This question was sent by May, who is our Total Organist student. And she writes: Hi Vidas, Thank you again for addressing to my concerns in details! I have not had the time to spend on the 3 to 4 rhythms yet. In fact, I had to put the sight reading courses aside in order to focus on the harmony (which has been taking 1.5 hours each day from my practice time). I simply don't have the time for writ...

This question was sent by Ariane. And actually it’s not a question, but a feedback, because Ariane is one of our Total Organist student, and once a month they get this question where we ask them “How is Total Organist working for you so far?”. And Ariane wrote: Joining Total Organist is the best thing I’ve done since Christmas, and I keep telling everyone I know how amazing this program is.

This question was sent by Ariane, and she writes: “More improvisation and some theory on counterpoint and how canons are constructed - a lot rings a bell now, especially the stuff on consonant intervals and countermovement.”

This question was sent by Ruth, and she writes: I am working hard on the pedal parts of every piece I practice. I do this at a large organ in a local church. I isolate the parts first and listen carefully and repeat. I then attempt to memorize, although that is s long process. All of this is a labor of love.

This question was sent by Ariane. And she writes: When I am doing the hymn improvisation, should I think in 3rds and 6ths or should I think harmonically?

This question was sent by Gena, and she answers my question for Total Organist students on Basecamp, where I ask, “What are they struggling with this week.” So she writes: “Slow practice for accuracy” “Isolating tricky sections to practice them repeatedly”, and, “Faster more accurate manual changes” So basically, those three things were the most challenging for her.