Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast

This question was sent by Mike, and he writes: “When and When NOT to play the "Amen" of a Christmas Song/Carol? This has been a discussion. Some Christmas songs have an Amen at the end of them, some don’t. When playing one during a regular Church service, that has it at the end, I believe you play it. However, if you are playing this as a Christmas Carol, say for a choir to sing, then you don’t play it. Is this correct or not? Thank you very much.”

This question was sent by Bruce, and he writes: “Thanks for extending my review period of Total Organist - it will be a help. I will be traveling most of December, taking care of family, and won't be able to get to the organ much. Thanks for asking what I'm currently struggling with. My main initial goals will be those of a pianist who wishes to extend into the organ. I'm thinking some things will be especially new to me: Pedalwork, of course. It's a real mind twister for me, to play pedals while keeping my left hand doing what it is supposed to do. It's weird, how getting my brain to accept that footwork is necessarily independent of bass lines as processed by the left hand. Fascinating, actually - I'm hoping it will be fun to work this out. From your inventory of teaching aids, I expect I'll start with your pedal course, and also look into your course in left hand skills. And l welcome your advice on how to get started with pedals.”

Tis question was sent by Bruce. He has a challenge with finger substitution to improve line. He writes: As a pianist, I'm rather used to the sostenuto pedal, to the extent that I probably overuse it and it can be a bit of a crutch. Nothing like this pedal on the organ, of course, so I expect it's all about finger substitution, learning how to do this in a natural way. I expect there are exercises for me to pursue, and could use recommendations and support on this. On my own, for starters, I have been looking at BWV 639, as you and Ausra suggested in podcast #85. I am looking forward to looking at Ausra's analysis of this piece. I am also working on BWV 578 (g minor fugue) and BWV 659 (Nun komm der Heiden Heiland). And I have fooled around with Contrapunctus 1 from the Art of the Fugue a bit. And sight-reading some of the easier pieces from the Orgelbuchlein, without being too hard on myself over my current pathetic pedal ability. In the short term, it would be nice to see your first week of pedal work (fr

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #127! Today's guests are Dina Ikhina and Denis Makhankov who are a family duo of young organists from Russia. Yesterday the organists have performed for the first time in Vilnius St. Johns’ Church Organ and presented before the New Year's Eve a concert entitled "Farewell to Old Year", in which the audience enjoyed the works of J. S. Bach, P. Tchaikovsky, A. Chekalin, A. Pärt and other composers. Dina was born in 1986 in Saratov, Denis – 1988 in Ivanovo. Both studied organ music in St. Petersburg under a well-known Russian Federation artist prof. D. Zaretski, later harpsichord under prof. I. Rosanov and have acquired postgraduate degrees in Music. Since 2014 these organists perform together. The duo concert program consists invariable of pieces by modern composers. Currently, the organists perform in Russia and throughout Europe, also teach at the St. Petersburg N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire and at city music schools, organize organ music festivals in Russi

This question was sent by David, and he writes: “Thank you so much for producing the sight reading course (and for having a cyber Monday sale on your course---I waited a year to get this discount so that I could afford the total organist course). I feel like this is such a basic question.... but on week 1, day 2 of the sight reading course, how does one subdivide, counting out loud, beyond the 8th note in 2:2 time signature? It would be the same as 32nd not in 4:4 time signature, which I have never learned to count aloud.... I have thus far used the 1 e & a 2 e & a method of counting out loud, but that really only works as far as 16th notes in common time or 8th notes in 2:2. How does one vocally subdivide farther than that? If you have already answered this elsewhere, I would be happy to be pointed in that direction. I don't want to ask you to repeat yourself if you have already addressed it.”

And today’s question was sent by Aleksey, and he wants to know how to play the pedals without looking at your feet.

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #126! Today is Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas, Blessed Season Greetings to our every listener and subscriber! I'm so happy that we've been doing for a while these podcasts and we're continuing our Secrets of Organ Playing journey for 6 years now and Ausra and I hope to help you grow as an organist for many years to come. And today a special guest is visiting Vilnius University St John's church. This is an English organist James Spanner. James recently contacted me ahead of time that he and his wife will be visiting our country and enjoying pre-Christmas season and I let him play the largest pipe organ in Lithuania. Our conversation was recorded just minutes after Jame's practice on this organ. He played a few pieces and finished with BWV 566. This is Bach's E major Toccata transposed down to C major and it sounds very sweet on this organ because of Kirnberger III temperament. In this conversation James is sharing his organ playing experiences. At the end he emp

Today’s question was sent by Aleksey, and he wants to know about registration: “What are some of the perfect, or worst, stop combinations?”

This question was sent by Helene, and she writes that her challenge is not keeping up with her daily practicing. She writes: “I have talents in other ways in that I write fiction and non-fiction; I play other instruments, too. However, there is a great and profound joy in practicing and performing on the organ which is unparalleled.”

This question was sent by Helene. She is an ordained minister, but also plays the organ; and one of her challenges is that she doesn’t let churches know of her ability--basically, as I understand, she keeps her organ playing talents a secret.

Irineo asks how can he upload his pieces to Musicoin platform.

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #125! Today's guest is an Australian organist James Flores. He began his musical career with piano lessons at the age of 4 under the guidance of his aunt, Aurora Flores. Since then, he has been a regular participant at the Albury-Wodonga Eisteddfod and has won the age championships several times throughout his school years. He has also been Junior Champion of the Bernstein Piano Competition held at Shepparton and a finalist at the Bernstein Piano Competition held in Ringwood. James also studied the violin, with the late Margaret Moore, and participated in numerous Border Music Camps and as a member of the Murray Conservatorium Orchestra. James successfully completed the piano AMEB grades and attained the AMusA in 2009. In 2011, James became interested in sacred music and the organ. He first began lessons on the organ under the instruction of Benedict Wilson and subsequently became sub-organist for the Schola Cantorum at St Patrick’s Church, Albury. James was activ

Today’s question was sent by Lilla, and she writes: “Thank you for all your advice about organ playing - especially the pedal virtuoso course that I am taking now. Regarding the arpeggios, is it OK to NOT to follow with both legs, when one foot is playing the highest/lowest notes on the pedal board? I keep my other foot on the note that I need to play when switching legs. For example, in case of B minor arpeggios, I keep my left foot on D while keep playing with the right foot upward and backward. (I followed your suggestion to use the F# minor pedal signs for B minor and it seems to work better).”

This question was sent by Dineke, and she wants to know when you really need to stop learning a piece--when enough is enough, when you have made enough progress so that you could pick up a new piece.

This question was sent by Peter. He writes: “My challenges are lack of time, and spending/wasting time on other things(!) i.e. lack of willpower. And I think I need to improve my sight-reading if I am going to improve my overall organ-playing. Also, I hate most 'modern' organ-music. On this subject,it might be interesting if you could explain, in one of your blogs, what anybody 'sees' in sour-sounding, discordant 'modern' music. You know the kind I mean - where you are not sure if the player is making lots of wrong notes, or is this what it is supposed to sound like? Many highly competent professionals like this kind of music, but why? One such person said to me, "It's probably more satisfying to play than to listen to." In that case, why play it to an audience? Another said, "Well, I like it, and I'm going to play what I like." (He meant in a recital.) Is it any wonder that the organ is right at the bottom of the pile, in popularity, with the general public? Where I live, if we get an audience of 40 to

In this episode we discuss the question of playing a B minor arpeggio with pedals.

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #124! Today's guest is an American organist Tabitha Moldenhauer who is the Program Director of Chicago International Organ Academy. Having created, taught, and managed church and school music programs for all ages, she enthusiastically believes music education should be accessible to everyone. ​ Tabitha is also Music Director and Organist at Church of the Holy Family in Park Forest, IL. She also has a private studio of piano and organ students and is a sought after workshop organizer and speaker on the topic of training part time organists. To support and encourage music performance and participation in the greater Chicago area, she serves on the board of the Chicago Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and is the parent/board liaison of the Suburban Youth Symphony Orchestra. In this conversation Tabitha shares her insights about her educational outreach activities. I think you will enjoy discovering what she is doing to introduce organ to children in partic

Today's question was sent Robert, and he writes: “My dream is to be able to play any hymn from our hymnal in church meetings when needed even with very short notice.”

This question was sent by Robert. He writes: “I’m not taking enough time every day to practice.”

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #123! Today's guest is an Italian concert organist Luca Massaglia. Luca received Organ and Organ Composition degree with top marks at Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Turin. He attended many international masterclasses held by Ludger Lohmann (from 2004 to 2009), Louis Robilliard (from 2005 to 2009), Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (2008) and Bernard Winsemius, with this last one at the prestigious Internationale Zomeracademie voor Organisten(International Summer Academy for Organists) of Haarlem (The Netherlands). He was given private lessons by Prof. Louis Robilliard (at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of Saint-François-de-Sales church of Lyon) and by Prof. Arturo Sacchetti. Luca has been the organist at Madonna degli Angeli Sanctuary of Torino since 2001. He was Artistic Director of Note per la Sindone (Notes for the Holy Shroud) Organ Festival (promoted by Unione Musicale of Turin and financed by Regione Piemonte - Culture Committee) held at Turin in May 2010 on the occas