Sight Reading

A hauntingly beautiful passage (calm and hypnotic despite the appearance on the page) from the Passacaglia from Sorabji's 5 hour long Opus Clavicembalisticum. 

Sight Reading

Sight reading is a subject that strikes a chord for me personally, because I am very good at it. I state this as a simple fact, based on experience seeing other people reading and their opinions of my reading. I'm not proud of this skill because it was not hard-won for me. Mark Twain said in his autobiography that he wasn't proud of being an excellent speller because he did not work hard to become so; it just came naturally. I feel the same way, though I know that the skill did not come naturally; it was a product of how I learned to play the piano and is a reflection of my poor practice habits as a student growing up.

Someone asked me once what it was like before I learned to read music. I puzzled over the question for a minute trying to dredge up something from distant memories but couldn't find anything. I assume it's the same as trying to remember what it was like before you learned to read words. I don't remember ever not knowing. 

I do remember that the first piece of music that involved sharps was something involving dragons... from a little book that only exists in memories now. Soon after, I started working through the Bastien books, levels 1 through 4. Then I started reading into easier pieces of the Anna Magdalena Notebook, and tried very hard with some Chopin. Eventually, I found enough facility that I could proceed on my own without the assistance of my mother. I distinctly remember getting over my fear of difficult key signatures when I was reading through Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, that passage in C-sharp major (7 sharps in the signature). For some reason, that passage crystallized my understanding of reading signatures. 

For all my years up to college, I had no teacher after my mother and thus felt no need to practice. All I did was read. I played through all the books I could get a-hold of and played through them again and again. Playing piano was much like watching TV; just planting myself on the bench, seeing what's on, and just watching the music go by. After a few years of this...

I get a kick out of these internet memes because I'm an amazingly mature person.

... I got to college and continued this habit, fostering an interest in the repertoire by reading through it, and neglecting my studies by not concentrating on a single piece for more than 20 minutes. 

That's basically how I got here. It's an addiction that I am still fighting, though it's helped me get acquainted with a good deal of organ literature. 

How is it done?

Sight reading music is much like reading words on the page. One starts by recognizing individual notes and matching where they are on the staff to where they belong on the keyboard. After doing this enough, one doesn't think about the names of the notes anymore, but simply recognizes them as locations on the keyboard. 

The next step is to start seeing larger structures in the music. An easy example are chords, stacks of notes. If you step back from the individual notes, you can see that each chord has its own shape. Some shapes come up very often and once you recognize how to play one of them, it's not a far stretch to play all of the chords of that shape. 

After chords, you start to see lines of notes. Realizing that written musical notation is really a graph of pitch over time, you see where notes line up in time, and how these lines appear on the keyboard. Basically, we start to see larger structures up to a point where we can take in all the notes faster than is needed to play them. Now we can sight read instead of practice. And if the notes get to be too many, we just fake it a little till we get to a more manageable spot!

Obviously this is a very flawed attitude towards music and will actually stunt your growth as a musician. Reading becomes a type-writer process, a process that requires no comprehension of the structure of the music or indeed the very sound of it. Sight-reading with headphones on becomes simple if you can just keep time. 

~ ~ ~

Nowadays I read a bit differently. I try to do it intelligently, listening carefully to what I play. It's a more productive use of time but is still a distraction from real work. So, I'm still trying to cut back. It makes for a good stress-reliever, however.

Sight reading is a part of each AGO Examination and ranges from reading from two staves in the Service Playing Test, to four staves in C clefs in the Fellowship Test. My current regimen consists of 15 minutes of sight reading Bach harmonized chorales each morning. I try to do it rigorously by taking thirty seconds to scan the music and mentally play through sections, looking for possible problem points. Then I carefully play it through a little slower than I would in performance, as correctly as I can. 

Later I will practice reading 4 stave vocal scores in G and F clefs in preparation for the Associate Exam. After that, I will practice reading the Art of Fugue in 4 parts in C clefs (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass clefs) in preparation for the Fellowship Exam.

I've just about finished creating my weekly practice schedule, incorporating all of the subjects found on the exams. As usual, I'm still trying to find the ideal method for practicing the Improvisation subject. Hopefully I can share what I've come up with on my next post. 

The FALLacy of Study

Living in an age where there is an oppressively large amount of junk orbiting around the planet, it's natural for me to think of orbits when I think of musical study. Really, it's an observation of how counter-intuitive some actions can be.

When something is in orbit around the earth, it is actually just falling. As you can see in the above illustration, if a hypothetical cannon fired a ball at a high enough speed, the curve of the earth falls away at the same rate that the ball falls towards the earth's center of gravity and just keeps on falling, getting no closer.

When we experience weightlessness in orbit, it's not because there's no gravity above the earth's atmosphere. There is a little less gravitational pull our there but the weightlessness is experienced because the spacecraft and the astronauts are falling. This is how we can experience weightlessness on airplanes if they perform some special maneuvers.

 Now, say that a spacecraft in orbit is trying to catch up to another spacecraft ahead in the same orbit. One's first impulse would be to fire your rockets so that you go faster, and catch up to it. What happens is quite the opposite. By firing your rockets and propelling yourself forward, you would actually boost yourself into a higher orbit (it's not quite that simple, but we'll just say that it is). Your new higher orbit takes longer to go around the earth, so the pursued spacecraft will escape further and further.

Slow down to catch up?
What you say?!

So, naturally, you do the opposite of what seems natural and intuitive. You blast your rockets in the opposite direction to slow yourself down.

This puts you into a lower orbit which moves around the earth faster, allowing you to catch up to the pursued spacecraft.




What this shows us is that often systems are more complicated than they first appear, and that very often blasting straight towards a solution to a problem is not going to get you any closer to the solution. This is true in the study of music.

Sometimes the sound approach of isolating a problem and practicing it alone won't lead to mastery of that subject. Sometimes they can only be practiced indirectly, in the context of something else. One example is the practice of learning absolute pitch. I knew a conducting professor that worked on it by keeping a tuning fork in his pocket all hours of the day and periodically ringing it to see if his A was still on pitch. After years of this practice he was no-where closer to pitch discrimination; he just knew what his tuning fork would sound like if he rang it, much like you know how I am the Walrus will sound before you play it. He didn't listen to all the pitches in multiple timbres and registers and listen for the underlying feel of each sound and how those were different for each pitch.

So, what can we take from this? Just take it as a warning, that while it is usually sound advice to take things apart and practice the parts individually, sometimes your time is better served by keeping the elements in context and practicing them indirectly. As long as you keep this warning in mind, you will soon acquire the wisdom to know which is which.

A summary of exam subjects

Seeing as the AGO Professional Certification Requirements aren't the clearest thing to read, I decided it might help to see a concise summary of the subjects involved with all of the tests. Some subjects are treated in more than one exam but at a different difficulty level, such as the Improvisation question that ranges from improvising simple phrases in the Collegiate exam, to an improvisation in ternary form on a given theme in the Fellowship exam. The tasks to be completed within each subject are listed roughly in order of difficulty.

All of this information can be gathered easily enough from looking at the Certification Requirements, but it may not be immediately obvious what the overall progression of study looks like.

Without the guidance of a good teacher, it's easy to lose track of what one is working towards in a particular subject, so I have found it useful to try organizing information in different ways to try to discover how they all relate to each other.

The next step will be to understand how these subjects and concepts can be incorporated into one's daily life as a musician. These subjects should be put towards a practical purpose, not simply academic.

Subjects of study for AGO Certification

·       Repertoire

o   Pre-Bach

o   Bach

o   Romantic

o   Modern

·        Hymns

o   Correct playing technique

o   Contrasting presentation of stanzas and sensitivity to the text

o   Creative hymn-playing

o   Introductions

o   Interludes between stanzas (can be modulating interludes)

·       Transposition

o   Hymns

o   Chorales

o   M2, then M3 in either direction

·        Sight-Reading

o   Chorales (four parts, two staves)

o   Choral scores (G and F clefs)

o   Art of Fugue (C clefs open score)

o   Repertoire

·         Harmonization

o   Simple hymn tune

o   Plainsong melody

o   ‘folk-style’ hymn

o   4 parts for part of which the treble melody will be given, and for part of which an unfigured bass will be given

·         Accompaniment

o   Psalm Accompaniment

o   Anthem Accompaniment

o   Vocal solo Accompaniment

o   Arrange at sight for the organ the piano accompaniment of a vocal score (which may be a reduction of an original accompaniment for orchestra)

·         Improvisation

o   Passages

§  Two phrases of four bars each involving a modulation and a clearly defined cadence.

§  Two phrases of eight bars each involving a modulation and a clearly defined cadence.

§  Passage of 30 seconds providing a bridge or modulatory passage between two hymns of a different key.

§  Short preparation time (less than 10 minutes)

o   Brief pieces

§  Ground Bass – five or six variations

§  Hymn Prelude – on a given hymn tune

§  Chant Prelude – on a given chant

o   Ternary Form – about 2 minutes in length, on a given theme. Supply a recognizable contrasting motif for the middle section. Clarity of form and structure will be expected.

·         Continuo / Figured Bass

o   Play the continuo of a chorale or short instrumental movement from a figured bass. Only the bass and figures will be given.

·         Analysis

o   Respond to questions regarding a composition. Venture opinions as to composer, approximate date, harmonic and contrapuntal texture, and/or form.

·         Counterpoint

o   Analyze examples, respond to questions, and write brief examples of counterpoint in 16^th-century style. Original note values will be used.

·         Fugue

o   Analyze examples, respond to questions, correct intentional errors, and write brief examples of 18^th-century fugal composition.

·         Ear Training

o   Associate – Write down from dictation:

§  A single melodic line

§  Two parts (treble and bass clefs)

o   Fellow – Write down from dictation:

§  A short passage in four parts. Key and time signature will be announced.

§  A short passage of two-part counterpoint. The key will be stated, but not the time signature.

·         Orchestration

o   Demonstrate knowledge of the capabilities of orchestral instruments, the craft of orchestration, and the historic stylistic use of the orchestra through responses to questions, analysis of examples, the transcription of a brief passage for orchestra or ensemble, and/or the reduction of an orchestral score for performance on the organ.

·         Composition

o   Continue and bring to a conclusion a passage for organ whose opening is given. Approximate length will be specified. Imaginative use of the tools of composition will be expected. Continuous writing in a specified number of parts is not required.

o   Write a composition for unaccompanied voices on a given text. The length will be specified. Imaginative use of the tools of composition will be expected.

·         Questions

o   Answer objective questions on music history, including questions on organ repertoire, choral music, organ construction and maintenance, and contemporary trends.

The Legend of Zelda - An unfortunate coincidence

When I was a bit younger, I loved to play certain video games. One of the games I frequently rented but didn't own was The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past.

I wasn't particularly good at it and my sister and myself would play it with the trusty Game Genie to make sure that our adventure wasn't cut short by lack of ability with a controller. Out of all of the Legend of Zelda games, this one still remains my favorite; perhaps because of all the childish wonder associated with it, or maybe just because it was a really good game. In any case, it will always be a treasured part of my childhood. (And, just for the record, I did beat the game as an adult without cheating.)

~   ~   ~

When I was in college my organ professor mentioned a young organist named Paul Jacobs. He memorized the complete organ works of Bach and performed them in several locations, and in one case, all in one day in an 18 hour marathon. He has also memorized the complete organ works of Messiaen and performed them on several occasions. At the age of 27 he was made chair of the organ department at Juilliard. He also was the first organist to ever receive a Grammy award for a solo organ album. Here he is playing some Reger:

Of his many students at Juilliard, there is one who gained some notoriety this last year for a series of concerts featuring the complete Organ Symphonies of the French organist and composer Louis Vierne. There are six symphonies and they make for an imposing program. The finale to the sixth symphony in particular features some famous scales in the pedals that still inspire fear in organ students. Here's an example of his fine playing:

~  ~  ~

There is a certain special glitch in the Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past, a certain special room. It is actually a loading room used when the game's program gets confused and doesn't know where to send the little green character. Apparently there are 5 ways to get there and when you do, it's just a simple square room full of rupees (currency in the game) and a 'telepathy tile' that gives the player a message. There's nothing very special about the room except that it's a somewhat famous 'glitch' in the game that can be found if you do some special things in a particular way. The story behind the room is:

Nintendo held a contest in a 1990 Nintendo Power magazine, where a randomly-selected winner would get to appear in a future NES game. To win, the person had to take a picture of the elusive Warmech boss in the game Final Fantasy, and mail it to Nintendo Power. The grand prize was a cameo appearance in The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past. 

The room is the cameo appearance, and the winner of the grand prize was -- Chris Houlihan.

The organist, a student of Paul Jacobs, making a commanding start into his career is -- Christopher Houlihan.

Let's just be clear; as you guessed, they are not the same person.

If you look up the organist on the YouTubes, which I recommend you do, you will see a few confused and profanity laced comments about the Chris Houlihan room. Here's a sample exchange:

      TurkishHegemony - You the guy who has the secret room in Zelda?

      

      christopherhoulihan - NO-- Sorry, nothing to do with Zelda.

      godsadog - WHY U NO THE ZELDA GUY?

What an unfortunate coincidence. As a consolation, these comments are not very recent. Since his Vierne tour last year, I think his fame has exceeded that of an obscure secret room in an old video game, so I think he will seldom be troubled with this association again. I wish him the best of luck! 

Special Delivery - Service Playing Preparation Packet

Special Delivery

Service Playing Preparation Packet

A few days ago, I finally received in the mail my order for the Prep Packet for the Service Playing exam which I ordered on the AGO website, where they have many a helpful tool for preparing for their exams.



Included in the packet was:

1) “One Hundred Strategies for Successful AGO Certification” (CD)

2) Service Playing Test Study Guide

3) Sight Reading Examples

4) Mini-course in Basic Organ Registration

5) Mini-course in Hymn Playing

6) Mini-course in Creative Hymn Playing

7) Accompaniment Adaptation Practicum

8) Professional Certification Requirements

9) Bibliography.

The Professional Requirements are available for free in online PDF form. The Bibliography is free but not available on the website, though I think it ought to be.

I've had a few days to give the booklets and recordings a cursory examination and I think it's full of good information.

The 100 Strategies for Successful AGO Certification has a lot of good sense strategies both in general, and for specific questions on the exams. It is a good overview of what is required and some basic ways to prepare. Also, the horror stories of problems that occur during exams as told by Joyce Shupe Kull, DMA, FAGO, ChM from her own experience make for a sober warning. Still, one of the goals of these exams is actually to make a musician who is ready for anything, so it's proper for an organist to be able to roll with the punches when even the testing process has problems.

The Service Playing Test Study Guide provides excellent information on preparing for the test and fleshes out the requirements that are somewhat vague as found in the Professional Requirements document, particularly when speaking of playing of hymns:

He or she will play two stanzas as though leading a large, enthusiastic congregation. Use of pedals for at least one stanza is mandatory. Some contrast in the presentation of the two stanzas is expected, as is sensitivity to the text.

I will try to include a summary of the fundamental techniques necessary for hymn playing in a later post.

I've read through one sight-reading example and it is no problem for me. I'll talk about sight-reading in a later post as well...

The four Mini-courses are also great for forming a good sound foundation on which to build. Most of the material I either knew or figured out, but I found a few things I had missed and further aspects to study.

• The Mini-Course in Basic Organ Registration introduced the families of stops in an orderly way and presented many different names for them that I had learned through context, and some incorrectly. It does strike me as strange that they said that stopped flutes such as the Rohrflute and the Bourdon make better accompaniment sounds than open flutes such as the Hohlflute. This may be true, but my ears have shown the opposite to be true on my organ. I did have one face-palming moment when I realized I could construct an 8', 2' combination by pulling a 4' stop and then the sub-coupler, super-coupler, and unison off. I have been constructing that sound on the Great up to this point using the 16' Rohrflute from the Swell and the 4' Hohlflute from the Great and the super-coupler plus the unison off. The former creates the better sound. I'm still surprised I missed that somewhat obvious solution.
• The Mini-Course in Hymn Playing is valuable for showing the correct way to play hymns to support congregational singing. There is no guess-work here; there is a right way to do it. There is some lee-way that allows individual choice in how to play them, but there are certain fundamentals that are true for anything played to support a congregation. I see after looking at this that I've never really learned to play hymns correctly. I don't think I play them badly by any means, but I think they could be better. I see now that I've been playing them as I do pieces of repertoire and I register them the same way. Overall, I think I'm over-complicating them. So, there's room for improvement there.
• The Mini-Course in Creative Hymn Playing follows up where the previous course left off and introduces several common-sense techniques for doing more than just playing from the page. It's actually a gentle introduction into aspects of improvisation. It opens up reasonable avenues for sprucing up those hymns and making both enhance the liturgical experience, and make them more musical.
• The Accompaniment Adaptation Practicum then rounds the process off by giving many examples of how to effectively translate something that wasn't written for the organ into something that works, whether from a piano accompaniment or from an orchestral score. This is particularly valuable for my position since we have quite the eclectic mix of songs at worship here. So many accompaniments were written for piano, and often not particularly well in my opinion. It just makes for an awkward problem sometimes and this course poses many solutions.

All in all, it's a very friendly set of booklets full of helpful information that does a fair job and promoting higher standards in church music. I think the skills and techniques detailed in these courses show the proper standard of the average church organist and serves as a good foundation of further studies. For myself personally, these documents and recordings show me that I'm on the right track and more importantly, they fill in the gaps I still had in my foundation as an organist and church musician.

I think it was a very worthwhile purchase; now I have no more doubts and see clearly the path of study. Something I particularly like from the Service Playing Test Study Guide is:

The good organist is characterized by meticulous rhythm, note-accuracy, and good manual and pedal technique. Musicianship and professionalism involve not only talent, but also the willingness to work out details with great accuracy.

Meticulous, accurate, precision. That is where it begins.