Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast

This question was sent by Brendan. And he donated us £10 and we were so surprised when we received his Paypal donation. And I wrote a thank you message to him, and then asked him about his organ playing, too. So he writes, Hi Vidas, Just thought I'd be able to buy you a coffee! You guys put in so much work! My playing is improving - which is good news - but slowly. While I was working regularly, it was hard to practice as I worked away from home. Now that I'm approaching retirement I've space to practice daily. I'm going back through your sight reading material - which is very useful. I've even been able to cover in church services while our regular organist took a couple of short breaks. Might not seem much - but a huge milestone for me! Enjoy the coffee. Best wishes to you both. ~Brendan

This question was sent by Diana. And she writes: I’ve been struggling with fingering the most this week. I didn't have piano lessons, so I don't know when I can cross fingers, how to change positions.

This question was sent by Andrés, and I asked him how his organ playing is going these days, and he writes: “Well... unfortunately the organ music is almost dead here in Costa Rica, learning organ playing here is almost impossible. Fortunately I have access to a pipe organ and I give the maintenance but I don't have a teacher who can guide me in organ playing."

This question was sent by Maureen. And she writes: Vidas and Ausra, My three dreams are these. I would love to be able to play Widor’s Toccata, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D minor and to be a very good organ player for Mass including the Mass music and hymns. Thank you, Maureen

Vidas: So I'm here with Auke Jongbloed, an organist from the Netherlands, talking over the internet. I'm in my church and Auke is my friend from the Steem platform. We got to know each other from his participation in our weekly Secrets of Organ Playing Contest. And I was so surprised and delighted to hear North German and a little bit of Dutch oriented organ music on Steem, 17th century, even older probably. And he has a business of transcribing old manuscripts into modern notation which is called Partitura Organum. So thank you so much and welcome to the show! To find out more about Auke Jongbloed and his work, please visit: Partitura Organum: http://partitura.org/ Auke's profile on Steem: https://steemit.com/@partitura Auke's channel on Contrebombarde: http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/user/1893 Auke's channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx2iiqZuzri08lwGU4zbaBA

Vidas: So, I'm here at St John's church in Vilnius with Jonathan Embry, organist from the US who recently graduated from McGill University in Canada. He had an interesting adventure in the Baltics. I remember going to his recital at Vilnius Cathedral at the end of August but afterwards he went to other places to play in Lithuania and then he went to Russia, to Kaliningrad and then came back. So today is Monday, September 2, 2019 and we're starting our conversation. This is Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast No. 491 and I'm really delighted that we can meet face to face so I'm going to just congratulate you on this wonderful occasion. Thank you so much and welcome to the show!

A: Wow! We made it—500! Can you believe it? V: Yeah, we can stop now. A: No! Now we have to reach 1000. V: Do you believe we can reach it? A: I don’t know. When we just started it I thought, ‘oh, maybe we will do fifty of them or maybe one-hundred. But we reached 500 so… V: Our horizon is always moving further away. A: True. And because of all your wonderful questions. V: Yes. In this episode today, we wanted to give a little bit of overview of what we’ve been talking about over those few years. Obviously, in our website, you will find all of them and also on our Soundcloud channel as well.

This question was sent by Ruth, who is our Total Organist student. She wrote: “I wonder what are the best ways for teaching new hymns. I am also the pastor. So, I have had some choice in the hymns. I wonder, though, how others teach new hymns. And, which ones have been loved by your congregations? Have some choices been a surprise?”

Vidas: I'm here with Andreas Spahn from Germany whom I met last Thursday at Vilnius Cathedral during the recital of Lithuanian organist Balys Vaitkus, but before that Andreas contacted be via email asking about the opportunity to hear me play because his son is going to start studying at Vilnius University Medicine Department. So I mentioned him that recital at Vilnius Cathedral and he came - it was a big surprise to me last Thursday. I'm really glad that we're meeting here at Vilnius University St John's church. This is Monday, September 2 and today we have a big celebration at the opening of the academic year at the university and we're going to talk now in depth about what Andreas is doing, what is he practicing, what is he working on at church and things like that. So thank you so much Andreas and welcome to the show! Andreas: Thank you Vidas! It's a really big pleasure for me to be on your podcast. V: Andreas before we started this conversation tried out this instrument for a while playing some of popu

This question was sent by Delphine. And she wrote an answer to my question when I asked her ‘what are some things you are struggling with’. She writes: My touch My fingering Pedals Motivation

This question was sent by Ariane. And she’s our Total Organist student. And on Basecamp communication channel, she writes a few thoughts about her situation. So I’m going just to read some of her thoughts to you: Dear Vidas, Thank you so much for your kind words. Maybe it’s just a sign to play on the level I have reached and not to aim for something that is beyond my ability. I am just playing around now and try not to shed any tears about what might have been. I am glad to be part of Total Organist, though. And she is mentioning probably behind the lines that, between the lines, that she doesn’t have enough time to practice now because of the time constraints that her current job demands of her. So I wrote to her: Thanks, Ariane. You will still need short term and long term goals in organ playing. Otherwise, your motivation to practice may diminish if you just play around. One thing that I cannot recommend highly enough is to participate in our weekly Secrets of Organ Playing contests. James Flore

This question was sent by Ariane, and she wrote on BaseCamp: “I was on a one week boat trip and could not practice at all. Instead I fell from the ship and almost broke my back!!! Thank God I just got badly bruised.”

This question was sent by Massimo, and he writes: “Hi Vidas! I have a question about prelude improvisation formula. 1. What level of harmony I need to follow the course? 2. How many hours a day I need to have a good results? Thanks Massimo”

Vidas: Hi guys! This is Vidas and we're starting episode 489 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. Today I'm going to talk with an excellent organist from Australia whose name is Pastor de Lasala. He is an organist at Sacred Heart church in Mosman and it's very exciting to share with you this story how I came to know him because of this platform Steem where Pastor is participating in our weekly Secrets of Organ Playing Contest submitting his videos and because of recommendation of our friend James Flores, also Australian organist, he's now a Steemian, part of Steem family and regularly submits his videos. So this is how I came to know Pastor and decided to get to know him even better through today's conversation. Thank you so much Pastor, I know you are busy travelling from Australia to Singapore and also to Europe now so I'm going ask you all kinds of questions. Thank you so much and welcome to the show! Pastor: Thank you Vidas! V: So Pastor, let's start first of all with your nice story about how you fell

This question was sent by Sally. And she’s our Total Organist student. And she wrote: I made it to the piano after work today. Spent 1.5 hours working on choir music for the fall, both accompaniment and choir parts. Open score for choir parts is always a challenge. I hope to make it to the organ tomorrow for prelude and postlude work.

This question was sent by Sally. And she writes: Choir rehearsals for the fall start Thursday, September 5, so time to get serious and spend time going through the music. I have a meeting with our music director this week to review the music for the fall and go over expectations. I also need to continue working on pieces for preludes and postludes this year, as well as meditative music to use at the end of communion. My goal is to spend time at the organ /piano everyday. It is challenging because I work full time and often am mentally drained by the time I get home. But once I make it to the piano or organ, I can easily spend an hour. So that's my goal.

Vidas: So, Jeremy, I'm so delighted that we're finally meeting face to face and being able to talk with you and it's really a pleasure to get to know you better after all those long months that you've been on the team that transcribes fingering and pedaling for us. I'm so grateful to you and welcome to the show! Jeremy: Thank you for having me! V: Let's start our conversation, Jeremy about your background - how did you get into organ world and most specifically, how did you first fell in love with the organ? Do you remember the story? J: Yeah! Well, my dad is a Lutheran minister. The church that he was working at was looking at trying to get me to start taking organ lessons. So they paid for the original organ lessons. That was when I was 14 or 15 - it's a long time ago. Wasn't really into it at the time but when my father moved to another church, it had a really great organ there. And I remember actually what made me fall in love with it. At one postlude, the organist was playing Guilmant's March on a The

This question was sent by Andrei. He wrote: I am working on the Sight Reading Master Course and I am struggling with the 32nd notes, how do I count them?

This question was sent by Jeremy. And he wrote on Basecamp, when he received a question, What was he working on today? He wrote: Went to an organ recital tonight. First time I had heard Tournemire played. Will be looking into his work.

This question was sent by MaryLu, and she writes: “I’ve been with you for only a few days, but what you say is right-on. I'm 78 years old, and hold a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education, and advanced degrees in piano performance, organ performance and church music. At the moment I work full time at a large church where I direct 4 choirs and play all English and Latin Masses. I also play several organ recitals a year. Over the last few years I have found that I'm in a rut, replaying organ repertoire that I've been playing for years, so this year I'm breaking out of that rut and preparing new repertoire which I plan to use for the first time this November. And I would VERY MUCH like a bit of guidance. Rheinberger Organ Sonata #17 in B Major (registration especially, though it seems straight-forward, I can't seem to get it just right. Bach "Little" Fugue in g minor (Can't believe I'd never played that one!!) which you have already reviewed -- that's how I found you! Alain Litanies I know this doesn't answer