Week 4: I practiced both hands for 1 hour 9/22/11. I am not learning the hands as quickly as I need to. It is not that difficult but I am nervous about adding my feet. I really need to memorize the hands and that usually takes me a lot of practicing. I need to practice the hands probably 4 hours a week if I am going to get them memorized soon.
9/23/11 I went to the church with my piano student, Melissa, and we practiced together. We practiced for 45 minutes. She played her part on the piano and I tried the organ. It sounded great together but It was the first time for me to play it on the organ and it feels different than the piano. I always need to practice the organ and not rely on the piano practicing to get me through. I should be coming over and practicing on the organ at least every other day. I don't think I can fit that into my schedule but I need to start trying. If I don't learn the hands, I'll never be able to add the foot pedals. I also need to arrange to speak with a great organist I know. I hope she can explain the stops to me and help me to know how to get the best sound out of the instrument.
9/29/11 I practiced on the piano for 35 minutes. I am getting better at the hands but I really do need to memorize them. That is not happening. I must spend more time practicing and I think I need to practice on the organ to be most effective.
I watched the video tutorial on how to use the organ for 1 hour again tonight. there is so much on it, I feel that I need to watch it 3 more times at least.
9/30/11 I had 3 students not come to piano lessons today, so I used that time and went over to the church and practiced the organ for 1 hour. It was good. I know now that the swell (Sw.) and great (Gr.) that were written on the sheet music, are for the respective keyboards. The Swell keyboard is the top one, and the Great keyboard is the lower one. The video helped me to know this. I have to move my hands from keyboard to keyboard as directed with the Sw. and Gr. abreviations. I practiced the hands alot, but I also tried the foot pedals. I will have to lower my expectations that I can play all of the foot pedal notes. I think I can learn about half of the foot pedal measures, I hope. It is ok to lower our goal when we realize that our first goal was unrealistic, I hope. I did get pretty good on the last line. That is the 'big finish' and it sounds great! I have a lot of practicing to do before I can play the pedals with any kind of proficiency. My plan now is to keep practicing, but to see if Joan McClellan, (a great organist in my ward), will help me to understand the stops.
