Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast

This question was sent by André, and he writes, Hello dear Vidas, I received the statement from Patreon about your support. I am extremely honored and grateful for your help, which means a lot to me. First, because I’ve been following your channel for many years, long before you started using Hauptwerk. In fact, many years ago you recorded a video about possible works to study with only a manual, which was a starting point for me in the organ. And finally, I printed the paper pedal board that you made available on your website! Anyway, receiving your support means a lot because you have always been a person who inspired me! Here in Brazil things are scarce in relation to the practice of the organ, but I was never discouraged, I was always positive. And now with Hauptwerk, and with my future equipment, I will be able to study this instrument that I love so much more! Thank you very much, affectionately, André Barbosa

This question was sent by Mario, and he writes: “Hello Vidas, my name is Mario I am a 25 year old musician from Panamá. My dream is to become Panamá's first organist, we have two pipe organs in the country and lucky for me I have access to both. One is Spanish pipe organ with 2 manuals and 30 note straight pedalboard and 51 keys on each manual. Second is a Renaissance pipe organ built in 2019 by a Polish organ company, it has 3 manuals with 51 keys also and a 27 note pedalboard. I am very interested in developing my sight reading abilities to a high level, where I could Just grab any composition and play it at tempo, and I mean piano or organ composition. I am wondering if your sight reading course would be good for me. I am comfortable sight reading hymns, but I don't have knowledge on pipe organ repertoire, only Bach. I practice on a digital Piano a Yamaha p155. I bought an AGO pedalboard and it should arrive in 2 weeks. Let me know if you can help me become a master at sight reading.”

This question was sent by Diana, who transcribes fingering and pedaling from our videos, and she writes that: “Sometimes I read a treble clef like a bass clef...”

This question was sent by Keith, and he writes in response to my letter asking what are his goals and challenges in organ playing.  He writes, Vidas, Thank you for sharing your knowledge and love of organ playing. My dream for organ playing is to facilitate the expression of worship in music, with the language of harmony. What things are holding me back from my dream? 1. My ignorance/lack of skill. - In February I dusted off my marginal four years of grade school piano lessons, after 34 years. 2. Realizing what good technique is - what such technique should feel like when I practice and play. 3. Practice method/discipline - What is a minimum of major/minor scales, vs Hanon finger exercises, vs practicing a piece. - I practice about an hour a day, some days twice that. Wish I could practice more. The mini-course emails have been very helpful to me.  I let them queue up behind each other, until I have a chance to fully consider each one. Regards, Keith

This question was sent by James, and he writes, Thanks Vidas for acknowledging my donation.  With lockdown and retirement I have a bit more time to work at learning the organ.  I am now 73 so things are a bit slower for me. I have an old analog Viscount organ but I have found that my new iPad can produce even better and authentic sound. Favourite at the moment is Pipe Organ and St Just. So I have brought out my old Casio keyboard which has a MIDI possibility and bought the necessary connectors and connected it to my old stereo system, it really can sound amazing and have to keep the volume down. Love the “pedal notes”. Over the winter I shall follow your example and buy new keyboards, I think it will be better than only one. Music wise I continue to work away at hymns and have started flowkey. I bought your Prière à Notre-Dame as it is just about my level though hard work with all the accidentals. So I would appreciate you doing more of the simpler stuff, I am not quite ready for the toccata.&nb

This question was sent by Abe, and he writes, I had a stroke which hit my left hand very hard.  It is slow and lazy.  Any suggestions?

This question was sent by Brigitte, and she writes: “Thanks Vidas for the complete pedaling and instructions. It has created a great opportunity for me to focus on the pedal technique for early music beyond toes only.”

This question was sent by Luis Garcia, and he writes, Dear friends: I live in Spain and here there are few organ teachers.  Pedal Technique is a mystery here.  I need to learn how to play pedals without looking at the pedalboard and with a mind strategy.  Some teachers recommend to slide the foot counting the intervals. I think that it may well be in some times but not all the time.  Others recommend memorizing the gaps in the pedalboard.  And the worst teachers don't recommend anything. Even it is very difficult to see organists with organ shoes.  Spain is a bad country to learn how to play the pipe organ. Remember that I am interested in a romantic technique.  I know that you like Baroque music. Please, try to help me.  Thank you. Luis García

This question was sent by James, and he writes about my piece called “Nassat, from the Organ ABC”: “The speed of this piece and transparency of registration made me appreciate how generous the acoustic is at your church. I’m still stuck on Krummhorn and Larigot”.

This question was sent by Robert, and he writes, Dear Vidas, I completed your Pedal Virtuoso Master Course in late August and upon your request, below you will find my feedback. Without a doubt, I am very happy to have taken your course!  I discovered it online at the beginning of June after searching for ways to improve my pedal technique which was holding my organ playing back.  My goals consisted of learning how to sit comfortably on the organ bench so that I could play the pedals and maintain my balance, discover for myself how to develop more flexibility in my ankles, and learn how to use my feet more efficiently in order to play more advanced passages as well as reduce strains put on my foot muscles and joints (i.e., prevent future injuries). After spending twelve weeks working on the given assignment for the day, to my surprise, each goal saw improvement and not just a slight improvement!  Although I often needed more than fifteen minutes to work on a given assignment, my feet now k

This question was sent by William, and he writes, Vidas, Thank you for putting together this course. My sight reading of notes and rhythms both improved significantly from 9 months ago. It also improved my sight reading of dense passages of music. The areas that gave me a little trouble (that I need to continue working on) are the counting of 32nd notes and irregular rhythms (triplets against 2 eighth notes / 4 sixteenth notes / dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note).  Regards, Bill

This question was sent by Brigitte, and she writes: “Hi Vidas and Ausra, The more complicated rhythms are my favorites for sight-reading. Also I have been listening to recordings from Art of the fugue and did some research as I was wondering about the meaning of the different parts. There must be so much more that can be learned from the Art of the fugue. The variations of the Genevan Psalms are of interest to me too. Can I find them somewhere together to come back to them? Enjoy following you and learning from you. Regards, Brigitte”

This question was sent by Brigitte, and she writes, The variations of the Genevan Psalms are of interest to me. Can I find them somewhere together to come back to them? I enjoy following you and learning from you. Regards, Brigitte

This question was sent by Markus, and he writes: “At the moment I started to play hymns. Some time in the future I want to do church service. And I want to improvise hymns over modern pop and musical music just by hearing the song in the radio. A really high challenging goal for a late-beginner, I know. :) Therefore I really appreciate your melodic dictation course. Thanks, Markus”

This question was sent by David, and he writes, "I didn't see this video when it was posted because I was buried with work at the time. Thank you for posting it and this podcast. This week, I am experiencing the same thing, but with a simple hymn that I should have no trouble with, but one measure is just not coming, and I, too, felt like hitting the (imitation) organ as I was practicing... (but I didn't do it... it already doesn't fully function properly on Sunday mornings). This made me realize that sometimes this is a normal thing to experience."

This question was sent by Graham, and he writes about the video where I introduce my Hauptwerk set-up on YouTube. Hauptwerk set-up and streaming set-up, to be precise. He writes, As others have already commented, Vidas, a really useful and helpful upload explaining how you produce such wonderful recordings - though as amazing as all this technology is, it would mean nothing if it was not for your truly fabulous playing and teaching! As you know, I am a big fan of James. He recently played some Clementi on the organ and I commented with a reference to the contest between Mozart and Clementi in 1781. So I am going to make the same judgement as Emperor Joseph II, who diplomatically declared a draw between those two great composers. I declare a draw between the massive amount of wiring and equipment both you and James have. Just looking at all those 'tripping hazards' gives me palpitations. At least my humble Viscount Chorum just plugs in and plays . . . but of course, does not give me access to some of the gr

This question was sent by Ian, and he writes: “The organ world needs more videos like this - however experienced and skilled you are, practice is sometimes slow, difficult and/or frustrating. It helps everyone if we're open about it. Thanks for sharing!”

This question was sent by Robert, and he is a student of Pedal Virtuoso Master Course. And he has a question which sounds like this, Dear Vidas, I just finished the tenth week of your Pedal Virtuoso Master Class. Unlike previous weeks when I come to the last day, I still have issues maintaining a proper sense of balance while seated on the organ bench. This affects my accuracy (I either hit an extra pedal in one foot, miss a pedal, or slide off the correct pedal and into a non chord tone), playing legato (sometimes a major third in one foot is not possible to connect), and playing the pedals silently (as opposed to making a too much noise). Regarding balance, I found in all the previous weeks that I could sit quietly on the bench and avoid having to pull myself back to my normal seated position by shifting my weight from one hip and buttocks to the other. This week, perhaps due to the fact that an octave arpeggio in octaves covers too much space on the pedals in such a short amount of time as well as t

This question was sent by Diana, and she writes: “I don’t really understand the difference between open and closed position chords.”

Let’s start episode 610 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Joanna, and she writes: “Dear Vidas, can finger substitutions be used in slow baroque music, such as Kyrie by Cabezon? Or is it best to stick to articulated fingering even in relatively slow passages?”