Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 759! Today we will discuss the topic of what do we do with toxic comments. Hope you will enjoy the conversation!Here you will find all my scores: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/category/arrangeme/?q=Secrets+of+Organ+Playing&aff_id=454957Secrets of Organ Playing Mug: https://www.zazzle.co.uk/z/ywbhd071?rf=238366920809443329You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/joinIf you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduoPayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkeviciusWe support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/enMy Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.htmlTotal Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organistSecrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.ltListen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-RKg#secretsoforganplaying #vidaspinkevicius #ausramotuzaite

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 758! This question was sent by Patrick and he writes:"Thank you for your podcast, recordings, and tips. They are a great encouragement to me to persevere in my studies. Presently I’m struggling getting to the keyboard, but this has been the best or most productive year I've had so far. I've been bad about sitting down and focusing on just one or two pieces or parts of pieces (instead of spending most of my time sightreading new simple rep). While this improves my sight-reading ability, I do not have a chance to improve/develop better fingering and note accuracy, to make no mention of expression. Thanks again!"Here you will find all my scores: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/category/arrangeme/?q=Secrets+of+Organ+Playing&aff_id=454957Secrets of Organ Playing Mug: https://www.zazzle.co.uk/z/ywbhd071?rf=238366920809443329You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/joinIf you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduoPayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkeviciusWe support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/enMy Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.htmlTotal Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organistSecrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.ltListen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-RKg#relaxingpianomusic #pianomeditation #relaxingpiano#secretsoforganplaying #vidaspinkevicius #ausramotuzaite

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast episode 748! Today's question was sent by our friend Rien Schalkwijk and he writes:How do you choose your keys for your recent piece for instance. And how do you choose the modulations in a piece? Next to that I’m intrigued by the style from Ausra where she uses a different key every few bars but it still sounds so smooth.Here you will find all my scores: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/category/arrangeme/?q=Secrets+of+Organ+Playing&aff_id=454957Secrets of Organ Playing Mug: https://www.zazzle.co.uk/z/abykn9us?rf=238366920809443329You can support this channel by becoming a member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4K3_6QVJI_HlI5PCFQqtg/joinIf you like what I do, you can buy me some coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/organduoPayPal: https://PayPal.Me/VPinkeviciusWe support Ukraine: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/enMy Hauptwerk setup: https://www.organduo.lt/tools.htmlTotal Organist - the most comprehensive organ training program online: https://www.organduo.lt/total-organistSecrets of Organ Playing - When You Practice, Miracles Happen! https://organduo.ltListen to my organ playing on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ckKPIvTWucoN3CZwGodCO?si=YWy7_0HqRvaZwBcovL-RKg#secretsoforganplaying #vidaspinkevicius #ausramotuzaite

This question was sent by Jeremy.  He’s our member of Total Organist Community, and helps us with fingering and pedaling scores.  And he writes,

Today I did a variety of different things on the organ.  The past couple of weeks I have been working through the New Oxford Organ Method just to see what it did (I really am enjoying it).  It acts kind of like an organ teacher for those who have basic piano skills.  It walks you through how to break the piece down into technical and musical bits.  So I recorded the last piece in the "ordinary touch" section of the book today--Rising Passacaglia by Frederick Stocken, and practiced the next piece in the book (which is evading my memory at the moment).  I began week three of the Pedal Virtuoso course and was inspired by Vidas to start the first Trio of J.S. Bach (learned four measures of the notes).  Then I started working on Walther’s Komm Der Heilige Geist and made sure Buxtehude's Lobt Gott ihr Christen Allzugleich was still in my fingers.  Practiced BWV 536 (which is Prelude and Fugue in A Major) for Sunday's service and worked on Hindemith second sonata, first movement.  Here's the Stocken:
https://youtu.be/eJYeQ-BJh_k

This question was sent by Jay, and he writes:

“Vidas:
I think I’ve seen that you use ForScore on an iPad for reading music.  I was wondering what size iPad do you use?  Have you had experience with more than the one size you use regularly?  I’d really like to do that but I’m not sure which size would work best for me.  I think the iPad 12.9” is likely optimal but so expensive.  Perhaps the 11” model would be adequate, being a bit less expensive.
Any thoughts you would care to share here or on your podcasts would be helpful.
Thank you!
Jay”

This question was sent by Eduardo, and he writes,

Greetings,

Recently I found about historical improvisation and I stumbled upon your dissertation "Improvisation of keyboard preludes in the style of JS Bach: A practical method comprising techniques derived from selected keyboard works" And it looks exactly what i'm looking for at the moment, but I can't find a complete version of it, I just found the index. Is there a way I can get the complete one?

Also , In your webpage you mention a Keyboard Prelude Improvisation Mini Course but the link is dead. Can I still join the Course?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Eduardo Villalobos

This question was sent by John, and he writes,

Dear Vidas, wow this is so beautiful! I hear from respected organists that these trio sonatas are some of the most difficult music to play, and you executed it perfectly!  Thank you for such an enjoyable experience, and also for setting such a great example for me, your student!
Take care, John

This question was sent by Joe, and he writes:

“Vidas,

Hope all is well with you. I am making much headway on Widor's Toccata, even though I have had limited time to practice.

The score that I purchased from you certainly has helped expedite the learning process - MUCH THANKS!

Since the score did not include registration suggestions, I was curious if you know of scores that do include registration.

My organ has the following Stops:”

Pedal Organ
Diapason 16'
Bourdon 16'
Quintaten (Sw) 16'
Octave 8'
Gedackt 8'
Choralbass 4'
Mixture iii
Posaune 16'
Trompette (SW) 8'

Swell Organ
Quintaten 16'
Gedackt 8'
Violas II 8'
Spitzprinzipal 4'
Koppelflote 4'
Nasat 2-2/3'
Blockflote 2'
Terz 1-3/5'
Mixture III
Basson 16'
Trompette 8'
Clairon 4'

Great Organ
Quintaten (Sw) 16'
Principal 8'
Rohrflote 8'
Violas II (Sw) 8'
Octave 4'
Spitzflote 4'
super Octave 2'
Waldflote 2'
Mixture IV
Krummhorn 8'

Vidas: He has three divisions: Pedal, Swell, and Great, and each has around 10 stops, maybe more. He writes further:

“I also have a Floating Division that can be applied to Pedal, Swell, and Great. This includes over 100 stops but cannot be mixed (i.e. only one per Pedal, one for Swell, one for Great).

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for registration based on my Stops List.  If you believe something is missing that is critical, I may have it in my Floating Division.

Your expertise would be greatly appreciated.

Much Thanks,
Joe Mark”

Vidas: Here’s what I wrote to him:

“Thanks Joe!

Unfortunately all Widor marks on the score is FFF, FF, F etc. As I haven't made a video of this piece I can't really demonstrate it for you right now. Since you have only 2 manual instrument, try to experiment with adding or omitting the reeds on both divisions one by one. FFF would be Tutti. FF would be without Clairon, F - without Basson, MF - without Trompette, PP - without Krummhorn. Manuals coupled. Pedals need to be reduced accordingly too.

Hope this helps for now (until I prepare a proper video course).

Vidas”

This question was sent by Ausra, and she writes,

"This week I’m struggling with sitting down on the organ bench. At first I didn’t have time and now I don’t have motivation to practice."

This question was sent by Manfred, and he writes:

Hi Vidas,
I was playing the organ in the church for services only. The requirements are low. Therefore I could train the Pedal in ‘wild’ and fairly uncontrolled way.
Because of Corona the congregation must not sing. The organist is asked to prepare a few pieces as a solo. So I started to look for organ pieces that are a little more demanding.
Then I was facing severe difficulties with easy or low-medium pieces for organ. Thanks to Youtube I watched the pedaling of good organ players. My style is way off!
This led me to you. You have a method, you want to teach it in an internet-based style – so, I gave it a try.
Man! The first week told me I was not using certain muscles in the ankle area, I had muscle sore. Now, I see a much higher flexibility in my ankles.
I was playing with a sort of tennis shoes. No way! Yesterday I started with organ shoes (dancing shoes actually). Now I can feel the pedal keys and can slide on them. Wonderful!

After this first week I do not detect better accuracy. But my feet want to adopt the new pedaling style when playing my organ pieces. This is sometimes confusing, but I am sure in 2-3 weeks the new techniques will make my feet more ‘relaxed’ as they become friends of the pedal.
I am eagerly looking forward to the next few weeks!
Best regards,
Manfred