zwielight
New member
Greetings!
Backstory:
I am 24 and have been a pianist all my life (peaked with Rach 2 eight years ago). In my last semester of college, I decided to take organ lessons on a whim. I learned quickly and mastered half of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues at the end of the four-month semester.
Then I graduated.
In order to have access to a practice instrument, I applied for and was surprisingly accepted as organist for a small church, playing on a 5-rank organ. A year ago, I was promoted to a better position with a 54-rank Moeller instrument (loud and obnoxious but no complaints!). At that time, I also bought a refurbished Rodgers '86 for a home practice instrument.
The Problem:
My church prefers meditations and arrangements of more contemporary (meaning 150 years old or less) hymns. So I play a good deal of Edward L. Good, Lani Smith, Todd Kendall, and Franklin Ritter, just to rattle off a few names. There's no Vierne, Franck, Langlais, Bach, Mendelssohn... because there isn't time!!
I'm not going to complain about the amount of service music I am responsible for on the organ each week, since I know most of you equal and surpass me (Prelude, Hymns, Liturgy, Offertory, Choir Anthem, Postlude). To find new pieces each Sunday and to keep up with practice takes up all of my allotted 'organ time', so much so that I don't have time to truly practice any organ literature, which I think would be my true love if I ever found a good practice routine to include these pieces.
I find that if I try learning a Bach Pastorale, I can only practice a maximum of 1-2 hours per week, and progress is so slow that I eventually lose interest.
My questions:
What should I do?
Are any of you in the same boat? How do you keep up with your studies and your church duties?
Are there any good collections of accessible French music you can recommend? (I prefer French music to Baroque organ works -- so expressive and dramatic) I won't embarrass myself by listing the very few classical pieces I've actually mastered. I can't practice music that I don't have, and I don't want to waste money on compilations that will be mostly over my head in ability.
Get a Teacher!
I'm aware this would solve many problems
Unfortunately, as a newly-wed working three jobs to support her PhD student husband, it isn't possible financially. In the past I worked with PhD organ students (for free!), but I found that I was wasting my time as I didn't always have the necessary weekly hours to devote to practicing the works assigned to me; I ended up practicing at lessons, and that's frustrating for both parties.
Thank you so much for reading my novella! And I look forward to any comments and suggestions.
Happy Easter!
Backstory:
I am 24 and have been a pianist all my life (peaked with Rach 2 eight years ago). In my last semester of college, I decided to take organ lessons on a whim. I learned quickly and mastered half of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues at the end of the four-month semester.
Then I graduated.
In order to have access to a practice instrument, I applied for and was surprisingly accepted as organist for a small church, playing on a 5-rank organ. A year ago, I was promoted to a better position with a 54-rank Moeller instrument (loud and obnoxious but no complaints!). At that time, I also bought a refurbished Rodgers '86 for a home practice instrument.
The Problem:
My church prefers meditations and arrangements of more contemporary (meaning 150 years old or less) hymns. So I play a good deal of Edward L. Good, Lani Smith, Todd Kendall, and Franklin Ritter, just to rattle off a few names. There's no Vierne, Franck, Langlais, Bach, Mendelssohn... because there isn't time!!
I'm not going to complain about the amount of service music I am responsible for on the organ each week, since I know most of you equal and surpass me (Prelude, Hymns, Liturgy, Offertory, Choir Anthem, Postlude). To find new pieces each Sunday and to keep up with practice takes up all of my allotted 'organ time', so much so that I don't have time to truly practice any organ literature, which I think would be my true love if I ever found a good practice routine to include these pieces.
I find that if I try learning a Bach Pastorale, I can only practice a maximum of 1-2 hours per week, and progress is so slow that I eventually lose interest.
My questions:
What should I do?
Are any of you in the same boat? How do you keep up with your studies and your church duties?
Are there any good collections of accessible French music you can recommend? (I prefer French music to Baroque organ works -- so expressive and dramatic) I won't embarrass myself by listing the very few classical pieces I've actually mastered. I can't practice music that I don't have, and I don't want to waste money on compilations that will be mostly over my head in ability.
Get a Teacher!
I'm aware this would solve many problems
Unfortunately, as a newly-wed working three jobs to support her PhD student husband, it isn't possible financially. In the past I worked with PhD organ students (for free!), but I found that I was wasting my time as I didn't always have the necessary weekly hours to devote to practicing the works assigned to me; I ended up practicing at lessons, and that's frustrating for both parties.
Thank you so much for reading my novella! And I look forward to any comments and suggestions.
Happy Easter!