In my organ lesson yesterday, I was trying to play a piece of music with my left hand and my feet. I was messing up a lot. Even though I’m an adult, I was still embarrassed. I felt like I should have practiced more or something. I was getting more and more frustrated.
My teacher stopped me, canceled all the stops on one of the keyboards (which means there would be no sound when I pushed the keys), and had me play the piece again. What happened was incredible. I could hear the pedal part with my ears, because pipes were still playing. The keyboard was silent, but I could hear the tune in my head as my fingers played the notes without error. Ha! I played it right! It was so amazing, I laughed out loud! It was like a scene in Star Wars, and he was telling me to stop thinking about it and use the Force. He’s an organ Jedi.
Fascinating! He is a true master! I like reading the instructions at the top – it’s some good insight to how you organ geniuses get your start.
It’s been so long since I’ve played piano that this would be torture for me – trying to remember the notes in the bass clef. ‘All Cow Eat Grass’ and “Great Big Dogs Fight Animals’. That song would be a canine vs. bovine mess if I played it.
I think I know what you mean. When I play a layered or more complex piece on hand bells, I can’t always hear the melody line when it’s in the lower octaves or such – but once I can pick it out, everything else seems to fall into place. Hmmm. Was this Jedi mind control as well? Never thunk of that…