Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast

James Flores is our guest today and he is a man of many things now, not only an organist in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. But he is also an IT magician as I can testify myself and also very interested in all kinds of technological developments, new technologies which can revolutionize the world potentially and make many changes for musicians, for example, for organists. So since that last time we've been chatting with James over social media platform called Steem and I have this opportunity to do these Secrets of Organ Playing Contests every week. And James has been a constant, diligent and faithful participant every week, week after week and has been recording even more than it is required. He publishes a lot of his other posts and creative ideas online and also shares his other videos not related to the contest itself. So I've seen his work over this year and a half so much on Steem that he's become like a team member to me, really. We've been chatting every day about all kinds of things, about organ-

Today, we would like to talk about our recent trip to Denmark to Svendborg and Copenhagen. In Svendborg, we played our organ duet recital, in the Svendborg International Organ Festival, so I thought it could be a nice opportunity to talk about it in greater detail.

This question was sent by Susan. she writes: Hello Dr. V. I have subscribed to the pedal virtuoso master course. I am 76 years old, started playing organ after retiring from a non-musical career at age 70. I have taken organ lessons for 5 winter seasons in Florida (I am a snow-bird). I have fibromyalgia and found after week 1 of pedal exercises that my legs were very sore and tired; can deal with the soreness, but fatigue make them want to give out. Week 2 I could only practice every other day. Week 3 I did not start, because I had to continue to practice and be able to play for weekly church service, plus this past week was practicing for a funeral service. So now I am a week behind. Do you think I should continue this course? Also, regarding the lessons—are the arpeggios supposed to be all legato? I wear size 10 1/2 shoe but still find it difficult to reach g to c. Thank you for your consideration of my problems. Susan

This question was sent by Tamara. And she writes: Starting out “with a bang” on the 10 Day Pedal Challenge and Pedal Virtuoso course. It’s already Day 4 for me! My biggest issue will be making time every day to practice, say, for ½ hr or so, instead of trying to cram everything in on 1 or 2 days per week. So far I’m on a regular schedule. Could use support from the gang here in staying on track! Thanks to Vidas, Ausra, and all organists here!

This question was sent by Ruth. And she writes: "Today I will be going over hymns not familiar to my congregation. The reason is that I would like to select several for them to learn, but only one at a time."

This question was sent by Ruth. And maybe this is not a question per se, but an observation. I asked Ruth, who is our TotalOrganist student, to write what she has been working on and she wrote: Our church organist has been in the hospital with a very serious illness. I am an ordained minister, with some experience in music. In this geographical area, it is difficult to find substitutes for organists. So, for several Sundays now, I have played the piano for the hymn singing and have also led the worship service. For special music, I played the flute, on which I have done a lot of solo work. So far, it is working out fine, but I do not know when the organist will be able to return. For now, I practice music and also prepare the worship service. Preaching is a major part of the service. For me, it takes a huge part of the week to prepare the sermon, with an effort to study the Biblical texts in great detail, since those texts form the foundation for the sermon. So, my days consist of practicing music and s

This question was sent by James. And he writes: Dear Vidas, Forgive me emailing you again so soon, but I have recently been to two recitals by world—famous organists that were very disappointing. Reason? Playing in churches with very resonant acoustics which turned the music into a mere muddle of sound. I played one of those organs today (see attached) similar acoustics and layout to St John's Vilnius (a loud final chord took 6 seconds to be inaudible), with an attached console in the west gallery. Playing for my own enjoyment, I played at my normal speed and it sounded fine—the resonance wasn't so apparent in the gallery. But I know in the body of the church it would have sounded a mess. Are there any simple rules for judging speed, legato etc in these circumstances? Maybe this will be of interest to others. Best wishes, James PS am still working on "Memento" - a challenge, but the miracle WILL happen!

This question was sent by Suzy. And she writes: Dear Vidas, ​One of my dreams for organ playing is reaching higher and lower for pedals with confidence that I hit the right pedal. What is holding me back is: 1. Performance Anxiety which fluctuates. I have rituals for getting into a good mindset. I have a breath deeply, and center the mind so it is not fighting itself eg right and left centring. I imagine a dial in the middle of my forward that I have to press the word ‘Center’ switch. I must not be too analytical but go with the flow, and have muscle memory. 2. Sometimes the way I practice. I need to not just play through; I need to focus exclusively on the bars that need attention. Timing this even for ten minutes a time rather than playing through without corrective practice. I have to consciously prevent myself just playing through which is not practice. 3. Having confidence in my ability. Also setting targets. Realistic ones. Don’t keep starting new pieces without finishing perfecting them. E

This question was sent by Ariane, who’s our Total Organist student. And I asked her on Basecamp, what is she struggling with, in organ playing. And she writes: I am trying not to worry about struggling, I just want to make music as good as I can.

In this question, William writes: “I worked on Meditation of Vierne. Not used to playing double flats. It was fun.”

This question was sent by William, and he writes: “I worked on Meditation by Vierne. And the first page of Vierne Carillon. Very discouraging. Just can’t seem to bring tempos up after practicing. When you practice over and over slowly it is difficult to get pulse of to sound musical. Any thing I can do. Do I just keep going slow? At what point do you move tempo?”

This question was sent by Tim. And he writes: Well, I work as a musician playing organ in churches for weddings, services and funerals, mostly funerals. So the challenge for me is always staying on top of the work. Sometimes also arranging music choices so that they can be played on the organ.

this question was sent by Jeremy. He wrote on our Basecamp communication channel for Total Organist Community: Going to be a busy week, so I hope to get to the organ a little more than I think I will. We are having new floors put into our upstairs, so I will be hanging around the house. Piano practice will probably not happen, and my dogs will be going a little nuts with the construction happening. If possible, I will practice on the G minor Little Prelude and Fugue for Postlude on Sunday, and Demessieux's Attende Domine for Prelude. After that, I will be working on my normal repertoire. And I wrote to him: I have a feeling your congregation will enjoy hearing Demessieux. Do you write some program notes in the church bulletin? And Jeremy answered: No. Only a portion of the congregation listens to the preludes and postlude, so that lets me plan things like the Demessieux or even Messaien. And then, Dianne jumped into the conversation as well: A portion is something! When I subbed for my daughte

This question was sent by James. And he writes: Playing an Eminent digital organ in a local church last night, I discovered that by pressing a couple of buttons I could bring up Netherlands tonality and Kirnberger III tuning! Almost Heaven! Best wishes James

This question was sent by Ariane, and she writes: “I don’t know, I am a bit lost. I could not stay with my new organ teacher after all because I am just so busy at work. Ever since I moved to my current city I have found it almost impossible to practice regularly. Maybe I should just have a break or only play what I feel like playing and watch the world move around me. I also wonder whether it is worth working towards a music exam I will never need anyway.”

This question was sent by Anne, and she writes: “I am finishing up learning the notes to the Bach Prelude in D, BWV 532. This has been a long road to learn this piece – I started working on it again in January but put it aside in March for the Easter season before getting back to it in late April after Easter was over. I am currently practicing the spots that I have trouble with slowly each day and then I play the entire Prelude up to speed as many times as it takes to get through it with the least amount of errors. Staying focused is my biggest problem at this point. My mind tends to drift when I’m doing all the repetitions. However, each day it feels as if it is becoming more and more familiar and I hope this eventually will allow me to play through the piece with few errors. I will continue doing this for the next month before I begin to think about performing it. I have a lesson this coming week so I’ll be interested to hear what my teacher has to say. I have not had a lesson for a while due to the

This question was sent by Jeremy, who is on the team of transcribing our videos into scores with fingering and pedaling. And he writes: It seems I forgot the Rep I was going to work on at the church yesterday. So, read through some of Guilmant's Practical Organist and started work on Franck's First Chorale. ​ Question: At the opening where it is written in the manuals, do you take some of the large stretches by putting the bass note in the pedals? Or do you play all of the bass notes in the pedals coupled only to the Great? Or just simply wince at the pain of the stretched 11th interval....? I was able to redistribute some of it between the left and right hand, but there is at least one stretch on the first two pages that seems to be physically impossible (I believe it is a E, B, G-sharp in the left hand with a wide stretch in the right. I don't have the music here in front of me.)

This question was sent by Taiwo, and Taiwo writes: I want to become a world-class organist, and I have difficulties in playing advanced musical pieces.

This question was sent by James, in response to my email where I ask him ‘what is his dream in organ playing, and what are some obstacles that are challenging for him’, and he wrote: 1* to play hymns with a very clean and clear technique, and with spiritually inspiring embellishment and improvisation. To come out of “Ordinary organist”. 2a * accurate counting. (Naturally and effortlessly) 2b * natural and easy interpretation of embellishments 2c * self concept. (“I am just an ordinary organist, and won’t reach the top”). ........................................................................ I play digital electronic 2 manual organ with full AGO pedalboard. Rodgers C505. In the past I neglected to develop a firm technique for counting, metre and beat sub division. Theory is good. Organ understanding, pretty fair to good: Roger Davis Manual. Practice habits, fair to good. I had a 15 year gap not playing, restarted in 2017. ...... Thanks VP and A. Blessings!

This question was sent by Mike, and he is answering my question to him when I asked what is his dream in organ playing and the obstacles that are holding him back. So he writes: “It's just the learning process. Your pedal videos helped a lot and getting pretty comfortable with the first octave and working on the second octave now. Your advice to practice slow and take a couple of measures at a time has made a lot of difference in the outcome. I had a couple of years of piano so this experience is really helping. I am 72 years old and it takes longer to learn things that it did when I was 17. Appreciate you, Mike”