"Practice Makes Perfect"

Hi All,

I've always thought that the talent and skill that it takes to play a great theatre organ piece is quite comparable to what great classical organists are able to do. Now with the fine sound of the Paramount 310 (and future upgrades) I find myself attempting to get somewhere with the TO style again. We’ll see how that goes.

And, they say "practice makes perfect," don't they. OK, so I wonder how long I’ll be practicing before I can sound like Richard Hills in this YouTube video? Talk about inspiring!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWClq1Pr ... re=related
Richard Hills – Wurlitzer

Leo Chris.

Leo,

I may have discovered the 'secret' to TPO playing while watching the videos on YouTube very closely.
It seems that you must train the four fingers of the right hand to fly over the keyboard, touching a key occasionally, while NEVER allowing the fingers to actually leave your hand!

Pax,

Thomas

Being able to play Durufle and Vierne helps too!! There is a certain discipline that comes from this that can be applied to all forms of music making.

Well Thomas,

I think my playing sometimes sounds a whole lot like fingerless fists on the keyboards, however, in fact, I do seem to still have all the digits. BTW, it looks like Richard Hills, near the start of the Tiger Rag video, in one of those fast runs, plays an octave stretch with his pointer finger and his little finger! WOW!

And Iain,
It looks to me as though there are three levels or plateaus that one would go through with organ playing, classical or theatre.

The first level (where I am at, by the way) is where one has interest, and some talent, and a suitable instrument to play. But, just has never put in all the hard work and practice to get to the next level. . . but always seems to think it will happen someday.

The next level is reached after a whole lot of hard work. Now the musician has the technical ability to play almost any of the most challenging material for organ. This would be the level where it seems to me a lot of advanced organ folks stay.

But, then, the third level---and the most exalted one, IMO---is when one can take all that skill and training and just let what music flows through his/her mind pour out through the instrument. I believe creating one’s own music is when great things happen!

I think I can detect that in Bach’s music and many other classical organ composers. And, I feel the same when watching that YouTube of Richard Hills. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I get the feeling that he is just letting the music flow, rather than playing a well rehearsed bunch of hand and foot work (though I suppose there are certain “riffs” that he would employ through habit).

When I play it’s almost always just for my own self. I just let the music flow. That’s what I enjoy the most. But, since my skill level is near the bottom of the first level, the music I produce is not very significant. It’s hard for me to push myself into learning a piece as played by a famous theatre organist (hard work) when it’s so much easier to just let the simpler music flow. I do hope that I will get better and better, little by little, since just sitting down and playing a lot generally does result in some measurable progress.

Time will tell. Thanks to Hauptwerk, I do at last have the instruments that are more than adequate. And I certainly enjoy even the simpler music I can make.

Leo Chris.

I wonder if HW skilled person with that degree of virtuosity would be able to accomplish these rapid movements of both hands - pushing a button here, flipping a switch there within a fraction of a beat - using a touch screen. Real switches for VTO seem to be compulsory unless the player sticks to pieces distinctly more 'gemuetlich' in tempo.