Beginning Practice
Techniques for Piano and Organ: Part 2
From Volume and Duration to Dynamics and Rhythm
One of the elements of the organ which sets it apart from the piano is that each note is sustained until the key itself is no longer being played. On a traditional organ, this is because sound is produced by a pipe through which continuous air is being pushed, and the effect is easily replicated on electric organs as well. However, a piano makes use of strings, which means that each new note fades away naturally.
Because of the builds of these instruments, the technique in playing piano and organ is different. For example, the piano’s ability for the notes to fade creates dynamics, and the ability to control the shape of a piece with volume. When an organist wants to control the shape of the piece, he manipulates the duration (length) of the notes instead. Sustaining (holding) a note for longer or emphasizing a rest (pause) brings attention to the music by styling its rhythm, similarly to how dynamics accentuate piano music.
Therefore, the length or duration of notes and the ability to manipulate their volume are directly related, almost inversely. The organ has the power of indefinite sustenance, and the piano has the elegance of dynamic shape. The musician learning to play each instrument will do well to practice each according to its strength.
Theory in Practice
When someone says, “practice makes perfect,” they mean constantly training an ability until that skill is built up and it seems effortless. Practice means the bettering of your own performance little by little.
Practicing an instrument involves honing separate skills in order to bring them all together. An organ player will practice first on the manuals and learn to be able to transition smoothly between each note. Then he will begin to add shape to the music by playing with the duration of the notes, playing some phrases here with a legato smoothness, and resting at some cadences there to give them finality. There is a lot of freedom here, and it is good to experiment; no piece of music has ever been performed exactly the same, and some of the best performances are discovered when we start to take liberties with expression.
For most players, it will take longer to master the pedalboard, since our feet usually do nothing but walk around all day, and we are not used to moving them precisely for any reason. Pedals follow the same rules as the notes up by your hands, but you reach them differently. When you play with your feet, you have heel and toe available to you, one each for the left and for the right. Before you are used to interpreting the music quickly, you will mark ‘toe’ and ‘heel’ in the music and constantly be looking between the pedalboard and the music, but soon it will become muscle memory.
When you practice all these, you will at first do so separately. Play only the Soprano line with your right hand to start, and then the Soprano and the Alto together. Try just the Tenor with your left hand, and then the Bass slowly with your feet. You will focus on a different skill each time; rhythm, fingerings, or reaching the notes properly in the Bass. Practicing with each hand alone is a wonderful practicing method, especially when you start out, because it helps to pin down the muscle memory for each part. Then when you combine all the parts, the piece will run smoothly, as if you had already played it before, since each melody has its place, and every part its own time. This is true for the piano as well. Only without the Bass in the pedals.
Set your tempo for the slowest that you naturally slow down while playing the piece, so that you can keep a regular pace as you go along. Then, you will know you have improved when you can up the base tempo without mistakes in rhythm.
Easy Mistakes to Fix
For the piano, playing with the sustain pedal all the time can be addicting, but it slurs the notes together, ruining articulation—it is the lazy way to a sense of legato. Using the sustain pedal too much takes away your ability to practice connecting the notes well, so it is harmful to your overall performance skills later on. Additionally, for an organ player, this can build bad habits for the feet when you may already have trouble learning to play the pedalboard.
Something I have experienced both with hymns and classical pieces is that being able to drill the manuals makes it a lot easier when you get to the organ itself and start putting pedal notes to it, because it is easier to learn one new skill at a time, rather than pedals and each hand at the same time. It is often a mistake to attempt sight-reading a piece for the first time with all four parts, regardless of the type of instrument. However, an aid to sight-reading is listening to the music first played by someone else, to get a good feel for its rhythm.
Similarly, it is nearly always a bad idea to try playing a piece at full tempo before you have mastered the notes themselves. This will almost always end in patched-up mistakes which teach your hands the wrong kinds of patterns to play, and this will be more difficult to correct than if you merely started slowly. When you practice under tempo, you will be more able to create better patterns for yourself in the long run with fingerings and style.
The habits you adopt while you practice become your strengths as you grow in learning. Your approach to the instrument—for both piano and organ—determines the sound, and this shapes you as a musician.