Videos to study technique, Richard Elliott preludes, etc.
Janene
(1) I am looking for videos of organ performances that can help me study techniques. I really liked watching Richard Elliott's Christmas solo of "Go, Tell It On the Mountain," where I could watch his feet to see effective toe-heel technique, as well as playing chords with one foot, his use of the expression pedals, hand and arm positioning, use of presets, and other things I'm not thinking of right now. Are there other videos or youtube channels you would recommend? I found some good videos on the "Organ Solos" playlist for the Tabernacle Choir, but a number of those videos spend half the time showing the organ pipes or video of nature rather than the organist, and I'm wondering if there are other resources I should consider.
(2) I am looking for simple preludes in a similar style to Richard Elliott's "Duo on Lasst uns erfreuen" (All Creatures of Our God and King) and "Prelude on Deliverance" (Jesus, Once of Humble Birth). Those preludes were both included in the packet for the Organ Workshop put on by BYU's School of Music, and were excerpts from OrganTutor 101. Do you know where I could find other preludes along those lines? Are there more included in the OrganTutor 101 Workbook?
(3) One of the common topics in this groups is suggested registration. I realize that each organ is different, but is there a resource that gives general registration suggestions for hymns? [For example, in "Nearer, My God, to Thee," it would suggest a quieter registration for the first two phrases of the 2nd verse, and then return to the original registration after "My rest a stone," and then it would suggest a fuller registration for the final verse.] I would find that really helpful.
As some background, I am self-taught at piano (I learned my music theory by studying violin), and I would say I'm a little beyond "Easy Piano" level, and I can play a handful of hymns on the piano from the Hymn book. I started learning the organ after attending the Organ Workshop in San Diego put on by BYU last June. I'm working on the simplified hymns from the New LDS Organist packet, some pieces from "Organ Preludes on Children's Hymns" by Douglas Bush, and a few of the preludes from Bach 8 Preludes and Fugues (as well as some etudes I found to focus in on pedal technique, finger dexterity, etc.). I'm not in a music calling in my ward.
Janene
AH Kimball
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Sheri Peterson
Hi Janene!
You might be interested in the simple preludes that are available at wardorganist.com. I suggest looking at the preludes found under the "Beginning Organists" tab. For a small fee, you can download the music and print it out.
Best wishes,
Sheri Peterson
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Jeffrey S
MusicalMom
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Jeffrey Slezak
I checked it out – a little outdated, considering it’s an Allen Digital organ from the 1970s. If you are basically playing hymns or concert pieces, you rarely use the swell pedal except for occasionally making a verse a little softer. If you really want to learn organ, I would encourage you to stay away from playing chords and read all three staves of music.
Whether it’s a hymn or a Bach major work, I always use the following study technique:
- Learn 10 – 15 measures at a time
- Start with the right hand. When you are confident with few to no mistakes,
- Do the same section with the left hand alone
- Then, learn the same section with the pedals
- Next, practice with right hand and left hand.
- Right hand and pedals, then left hand with pedals
- When confident with all three, practice putting them altogether
- Rinse and repeat with the remainder of the piece
Pick up a copy of “Variations on Hymns” by T. Tertius Noble (you can get a used copy on eBay or Amazon). It has variations on the most common hymns that can be used to make hymn playing AND singing more interesting
Between verses of a hymn, try adding a bridge (a couple of measures that extend the song) and use the bridge to step up the next verse by a ½ step. Try playing a simple hymn in several different keys (don’t cheat and use the transposer on the organ <g>)
The reason I say to stay away from using chords is that it will make you lazy as a musician – chords are used more in pop music where you basically have a melody line and chords to fill in the accompaniment. If you’re serious about classic organ, chords are rarely used.
Finally, mark the heck out of your music. Place notes to yourself in difficult passages, and mark fingerings and pedaling.
These are some tips that I learned from my teacher of 5 years, Carroll Thomas Andrews (composer for GIA Publications and former music director at churches in St. Petersburg, FL – now deceased). Before then, I had studied pop organ and had been a very sloppy musician. He would push me way out of my comfort zone and made many demands. I thank him forever for being so hard on me….bad habits were very hard to break, but I now enjoy playing so much more and am always eager to try more and more challenging pieces.
If you are doing hymns and want to improve your technique, go out to a number of churches and listen to the organist as hymns are played. A good organist will make hymns sound exciting and varied. If you want to start learning classical music, start with JS Bach Eight Little Preludes and Fugues. They are fairly simple, and will challenge you to build good habits.
Hope these tips have helped.
Jeffrey S.
From: learni...@googlegroups.com <learni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of MusicalMom
Sent: Monday, April 9, 2018 8:55 PM
To: LearningOrgan <learni...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [LearningOrgan] Re: Videos to study technique, Richard Elliott preludes, etc.
Have you seen organlessons.blogspot.com? It has a search feature as well.
On Fri, Apr 6, 2018 at 7:47 PM, Jeffrey S <jsle...@gmail.com> wrote:
If you search on YouTube for Dr. Vidas Pinkevicius you will find a host of instructional videos on his channel. He is very thorough and explains techniques well. He also offers a paid course ($69/month or $699/year) if you're interested. The link is http://www.organduo.lt/total-organist.html
I understand the frustration - without a good teacher, it is frustrating to get proper finger and pedal techniques. Hope this is helpful.
Jeff
On Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 7:45:06 PM UTC-4, Janene wrote:I have a few different questions.
(1) I am looking for videos of organ performances that can help me study techniques. I really liked watching Richard Elliott's Christmas solo of "Go, Tell It On the Mountain," where I could watch his feet to see effective toe-heel technique, as well as playing chords with one foot, his use of the expression pedals, hand and arm positioning, use of presets, and other things I'm not thinking of right now. Are there other videos or youtube channels you would recommend? I found some good videos on the "Organ Solos" playlist for the Tabernacle Choir, but a number of those videos spend half the time showing the organ pipes or video of nature rather than the organist, and I'm wondering if there are other resources I should consider.
(2) I am looking for simple preludes in a similar style to Richard Elliott's "Duo on Lasst uns erfreuen" (All Creatures of Our God and King) and "Prelude on Deliverance" (Jesus, Once of Humble Birth). Those preludes were both included in the packet for the Organ Workshop put on by BYU's School of Music, and were excerpts from OrganTutor 101. Do you know where I could find other preludes along those lines? Are there more included in the OrganTutor 101 Workbook?
(3) One of the common topics in this groups is suggested registration. I realize that each organ is different, but is there a resource that gives general registration suggestions for hymns? [For example, in "Nearer, My God, to Thee," it would suggest a quieter registration for the first two phrases of the 2nd verse, and then return to the original registration after "My rest a stone," and then it would suggest a fuller registration for the final verse.] I would find that really helpful.
As some background, I am self-taught at piano (I learned my music theory by studying violin), and I would say I'm a little beyond "Easy Piano" level, and I can play a handful of hymns on the piano from the Hymn book. I started learning the organ after attending the Organ Workshop in San Diego put on by BYU last June. I'm working on the simplified hymns from the New LDS Organist packet, some pieces from "Organ Preludes on Children's Hymns" by Douglas Bush, and a few of the preludes from Bach 8 Preludes and Fugues (as well as some etudes I found to focus in on pedal technique, finger dexterity, etc.). I'm not in a music calling in my ward.
Janene
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"Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
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