This past weekend, I resumed my organ lessons with Maestro York at St. Luke's. The lesson was not particularly remarkable, but there were a few aspects that might be of interest.
The technical exercises at the beginning of the textbook are getting easier, even though I went over a week without more than a few minutes access to anything with a keyboard.
After the technical exercises, we picked up where we left off on Peeters' Now, my tongue . . . . The first 7 1/2 measures are slowly smoothing out, so we began to work on the second 7 1/2 measures. Also, Maestro York, at my request, played the whole thing, so I could have a better idea of what I was shooting for. While we were working on the piece, at least one of the Altar Guild members doing janitorial work in the Sanctuary began to hum along. I'm not sure, but I'll be optimistic, and assume it's a good sign.
To finish out the hour, we fooled around with Cockles and Mussels. My ideas on registration seem to be holding up rather well; some experimentation also brought me to the conclusion that a finger substitution (rather than thumbing or thumb-crossing) would be the best way to handle the G in measures 0 (i.e. the opening incomplete measure) and 8. Somehow, I can see myself, some years from now, in a composition class, asked to write a set of variations on the theme of my choice, and putting Cockles and Mussels through the same sort of paces that Handel put his Harmonious Blacksmith theme through.
After the lesson, I finally picked up my own copy of Flor Peeters' Little Organ Book, which I'd ordered from my music dealer some weeks before. I'll be very glad to finally return Maestro York's copy.
This weekend marks my seventh organ lesson, and the return to Maestro York of his copy of the textbook. I've now put both hands together on the second 7 1/2 measures of Now, my Tongue . . . , with results that might have actually been embarrassing, had anyone else been within earshot: it seems that when I get stuck trying to get the next note out, I always seem to get stuck in a dissonance, madly hunting for the resolution! Either I sit there, holding down an interval that's becoming increasingly irritating, or I admit a minor defeat and let go while I find the next note. Oh, well, it's not like I'm learning a new piece on general tutti, with all couplers on, and my mistakes getting the neighbors out of bed! Still, at the rate I'm going, I may be able to play the entire piece sometime this year.
After I found a few dead notes in my pedal exercises this week, Maestro York explained some technical details about the Austin at St. Luke's. It seems that the only straight rank in the pedal division is a posaune. The prestants are all on one unified rank, and the flutes are all borrowed from other divisions.
This weekend, Maestro York and I didn't do anything with Cockles and Mussels, but then, last weekend, we didn't have time to work on any pedal exercises. One minor note: this morning, I attended services at Geneva Presbyterian Church of Laguna Hills. Their organist, Lynnette Ball McGee, selected the finale from the Widor 2nd as the postlude for this week. Watching her play, I was astounded (the more so, now that I've had a few lessons) at how effortlessly she seemed to fly through changes of manual and registrations, and the dizzyingly complicated pedal part. Maybe, someday, I'll be able to get through pieces like that. (Not likely anytime soon, I'm afraid!)
I may have mentioned that my practice at home is on my portable keyboard (a Roland E-28). Usually for organ, I'll use "Church Organ, Variation 0," and if I want a "fluffier" sound (like I'd added, say, a rohrflute to a prestant-based registration), I'll layer it with (yes, I know this sounds crazy enough to draw a flame from Bob Melhuish) synth calliope (after all, it's fluffy, and has wall-to-wall wind chiff), and my E-28's "church organ" sounds are all a bit mixture-heavy. Hopefully, the practice situation will be improving soon, as I'm in the process of having my music dealer order me a Generalmusic/Ahlborn Archive 201 MIDI box. I've played the Ahlborn H5 "digital positive" in his shop a number of times; it's by far the most impressive sounding (if the least impressive looking) thing in his "organ room." (Click here for the rest of Generalmusic's Ahlborn line) Sure, a sampling machine isn't live pipes, and the best a MIDI box plugged into a portable keyboard could achieve would be to emulate a split-manual positive, but still, it's some improvement, and if I have the space for a full-console practice organ before I have the money for one, I could simply by the most broken-down trade-in my music dealer has, so long as it has a MIDI port, and simply use it as a controller for the box. Then, if and when I get something decent to practice on, well, then, the box would add another 20 stops to it.
It's still up in the air whether a lesson will be possible next week; it seems that I'll be working video crew for yet another figure skating competition, next weekend, and Maestro York said he, too, has some things going on next weekend. Conceiveably, we might end up doing a weeknight, if his commitments and my skating competition leave us no free time during the weekend. Oh, well, Maestro York and I did agree that this would be on an informal, "as schedules permit" basis.
Absolutely amazing. I've actually made it through eight lessons, so
far. And without losing interest!
Last night, we actually managed to keep all the balls in the air: we
actually worked on everything even though I'd had absolutely no
practice since lesson 7.
Just the highlights, so I don't bore anybody: Now, my Tongue... is definitely smoothing out. It seems that we found a point (between the two phrases in the left hand that run under the first phrase in the right) where I was breaking rhythm, and I'm getting a better feel for the second 7 1/2 measures. But I've still got a long way to go with that piece.
I'm finding that thumb-crossing and finger-crossing exercises come fairly easily to me. I also find that the finger-crossing exercises never fail to remind me of Chico Marx's piano sight gags (especially "shooting the keys").
Maestro York thinks I'm ready to start on some manual/pedal material that's a little less trivial in the pedal part than my still-not-quite-right Cockles and Mussels. He also think's it's time to try some of the other pieces from my piano text.
Sean O'Neal was scheduled to rehearse for his upcoming recital last
night, right after my lesson; I had the chance to meet him briefly as I
was leaving and he was arriving. The recital (as announced on PIPORG-L)
is this coming Sunday; I guess I'll be finding out how good he is.
Certainly better than I. ;-)
Today, I spent more money on my lunch break than I've ever spent on a lunch break: I dropped $2k on the MIDI box I'd been wanting for some time. Then, on my way back to the office, I stopped at CompUSA, and dropped another $64 on an "impulse buy" of some additional memory for my Macintosh.
Yesterday afternoon marked my ninth organ lesson. This time, I was a bit better prepared, although not as well as I probably should have been. We worked on everything except Cockles and Mussels.
My sixths (Peeters, Page 2, Exercise 3) are slowly improving, but still, I have to pause overly long to realign my fingers between the first part (C above E alternating with B above D, in both hands), and the second part (C above E and D above F). Maybe a few more weeks (depending on available practice time!)
We also spent time on the "Legato and Staccato" exercise (Peeters, Page 2, Exercise 4); I can almost get a smooth transition between the first part (legato C D E F E D C under staccato G's, in both hands) to the second (legato G F E D E F G over staccato C's) but not without a few wrong notes ;-) Again, I need to find more practice time.
My thumb and finger crossing exercises are all making perfect sense (Maestro York just started me on the third finger crossing exercise, [#3, at the top of Peeters, Page 4, ascending and descending C-Major scales on two fingers, with half-notes for the G and C of the ascending scale, to make it a bit more interesting] and remarked [not for the first time] that he almost never uses finger-crossings himself.
Now, my Tongue . . . (Peeters, Page 8) is getting a bit better; maybe by the next lesson, I'll be able to get through the first fifteen measures without getting lost somewhere between 8 and 13 ;-).
Rather than the pedal exercises, Maestro York decided to have me start on a simple 8-bar prelude for right hand and pedal (Peeters, Page 50, exercise 1), sight-reading the pedal part by itself, to begin with. (I was amazed to find that I could navigate the pedalboard, including a jump of a third in the right foot, followed immediately by drops of a fifth, first in the left, then the right, with almost no mistakes.) Pretty tame stuff, for most of you, I know, but then, last week at Geneva Presbyterian, watching Maestra McGee plow through the Finale from the Widor Second, I had to fight to keep my lower jaw from hitting the floor as she tap-danced through the eighth-note pedal passages. No question, although not all organists are necessarily show-offs, few instruments have a stronger appeal to the show-off in many of us (myself included). After all, what other instrument besides the organ (and pedalier-equipped harpsichords and pianos) allows us to demonstrate the ability to do with our feet what most people would find difficult enough to do with their fingers? ;-)
Instead of working on Cockles and Mussels this week (I suspect that Maestro York is getting tired of it, perhaps?), we looked through my first-semester piano text, to see what else might work well on the organ (suggestions welcome, from anybody familiar with the Alfred Adult All-in-One Course, Level 1, through page 105). We decided that I should try a few things as time permits, since there's very little I'd be able to play completely cold, right now, other than Cockles and Mussels and When the Saints Go Marching In.
Next week, with a bit of luck, my late-Saturday morning lesson will be followed by a quick tour of the windchests (something neither of us have had time for, yet.)
This morning was my tenth organ lesson (and there may be a hiatus of two weeks before No. 11, as it seems I have two figure skating competitions to videotape, the first of which has "dibs" on my time all day Saturday, and the second of which, for the entire weekend!)
We wasted somewhat more time than usual, flapping gums, but as he had the time to spare, Maestro York was kind enough to wait to start the clock until we actually started the lesson (in the process, giving me a moment to warm up while he used the convenience). I'm getting better on the sixths and the legato/staccato exercises, and we also worked on finger substitution and glissando exercises, then we went on to Now, my Tongue . . . , which is slowly getting better. Maybe by my next lesson, I'll be able to get all the way through measure 15 without major errors, and start on the next few measures (I have about 30 left in the piece I haven't yet tried!)
We also worked on the pedal exercises, and both lines of the first right-hand-and-pedal piece. I found once again that I was doing remarkably well, and most of my pedal mistakes were either (A) missing the right pedal by one note, or (B) not having quite enough inside edge, and catching the second. At any rate, I actually managed to put the manual and pedal lines together once (although my rhythm was probably terrible).
We didn't have time to start work on any of the other pieces from my piano text before my lesson time was up, but we did have a few minutes after the lesson for me to get a quick look at the windchests and pipes. The next time we have a few minutes after the lesson, we'll take a look inside some convenient access hatch on a windchest, so I can see the inner workings of an Austin Universal chest for myself. One other detail: the tremulants on this organ are of the sort that has a board hung over the pipes, rotating on its long axis.
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