Teaching Organ Techniques in a Holistic Manner

Presentation for AGO National Convention, Boston

Friday, June 27, 1:00 p.m.
Annie Laver, Eastman School of Music
alaver@esm.rochester.edu

Topics covered in first year of Healthy Keyboard Technique course at Eastman

Healthy habits: the benefits of taking care of your body (sleep, nutrition, exercise,
meditation)
Getting to know the body and how it works (body mapping)
Body warm-up exercises to use before daily practice
Finding a healthy playing position at the organ
Comparison of sound producing mechanisms on piano and organ
Keyboard basics: how to use gravity and natural alignment to produce sound
without harming the body
Piano basics: scales, arpeggios, strengthening exercises
Organ basics: controlling releases
Introduction to other keyboard instruments: pedal piano, French harmonium,
pedal clavichord, harpsichord
Use of the pedal clavichord as a tool to reinforce good technique habits
Making gestures with figures: historical fingering/pedaling
Making gestures with lines: legato playing
Preparation for 10-minute jury on the pedal clavichord
Mentally preparing for performance

Useful resources for teaching technique, an annotated list

www.bodymap.org
Website for Andover Educators, an organization founded by Barbara Conable
with the aim of spreading awareness about body mapping and Alexander
Technique. Excellent website with links to articles, recommended reading,
useful links, licensed teachers, and schedule of events and workshops.

www.pianoandorgantechnique.com
Barbara Lister-Sinks website describing her method for injury-preventive piano
technique. Includes description of method, an annotated resource list,
information on workshops and courses, and video clips.

Cisler, Valerie and Maurice Hinson. Technique for the Advancing Pianist: An
Essential Collection of Progressive Exercises and Etudes. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred
Publishing, 2004.
This practical volume draws from numerous recognized piano methods and
organizes exercises and etudes into skill sections, such as scales, chords, agility,
etc. Includes traditional scale and arpeggio fingerings. All exercises and etudes
are cited, so it is easy to look up the original volume if you are eager for more.

Conable, Barbara and William Conable. How to Learn the Alexander Technique: A
 Manual for Students. Columbus, OH: Andover Press, Third Edition, 1995.
Concise and easy-to-use manual explaining the principles of Alexander
Technique. Includes chapters for teachers (How to help students with their
maps), as well as a chapter on types of exercise, body mapping, and
recommended reading, among others.

Conable, Barbara and Benjamin Conable. What Every Musician Needs to Know
About the Body: The Practical Application of Body Mapping to Making Music.
Revised edition. Andover, 2000.
Based on concept of body mapping and the Alexander Technique, this book
focuses on body awareness in a compelling visual format. Each page includes
multiple helpful pictures and diagrams with text boxes to explain body
construction. Tips for all instruments and voices are included. Great for use
with students who do well with visual learning, or younger students who dont
yet have the attention for Thomas Marks book.

Godandsky, Edna and Dorothy Taubman. The Taubman Technique. 10 volumes.

Edited by Shirly Schnitzer. Produced by the Taubman Institute, 1995.
Videocassette.
Dorothy Taubman was a pioneer in the field of body awareness and its relation
to piano technique. This video set documents a two-week course on the
Taubmen Technique given at Amherst College by one of Taubmans pupils,
Edna Godansky. Format is a video of lectures and masterclasses given at the
course, interspersed with footage of masterclasses with Taubman from the 1980s.
A valuable resource for those who want to explore piano technique in depth.
Best used together with a more recent resource, such as Mark Thomas What
Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body.

Lister-Sink, Barbara. Freeing the Caged Bird: Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-

Preventive Piano Technique. Produced by Don Kirk and Barbara Lister-
Sink. Directed by Barbara Lister-Sink. 160 minutes. Wingsound, 1996.
Videocassette.
Excellent place to start for keyboardists who want to learn more about the body
and how to use it efficiently and naturally when playing. Lister-Sink struggled
with injuries but was able to retrain herself to use her body well. Video
addresses body awareness and how to practice good body coordination with
helpful visuals and examples of exercises based on Alexander Technique. Then,
the video takes you step-by-step through the basic stroke, a way of producing
sound that is based on good alignment and natural gravitational pull. Note:
Lister-Sink recommends the following resources for when working on
developing technique: Progressive Sight Reading Practices for Piano by Hannah
Smith, Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok, Album for the Young by Robert Schumann.

Mark, Thomas. What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body. With
supplementary material for organists by Roberta Gary and Thom Miles.
GIA Publications, 2003. Videocassette also available under the same title.

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 Every keyboardist should own this important reference book! Readers will come
away with an accurate body map after having read through the book. Organized
systematically (bones, joints, muscles) and with numerous guided exercises that
help readers get to know they body better. This book piggy-backs on Barbara
Conables What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body, using many of the
same pictures and figures, but it fleshes out concepts with extensive and
informative explanation. Comment boxes and an additional chapter written by
Roberta Gary and Thom Miles make this book especially useful for organists.

Oortmerssen, Jacques van. Organ Technique. Gothenburg, Sweden: GoART

Publications, 2002.
First half includes essay on connection between technique and expressivity,
including many historical quotes. Second half consists of examples of passages
from the repertoire with suggestions for practice. This and the next item are
available at www.oortmerssen.com

_____. A Guide to Duo and Trio Playing. Sneek, Holland: Edition Boeijenga
Sneek, 2000.
Practical studies in historical fingering, pedaling, coordination, articulation, and
polyphonic playing composed by the author.

Ritchie, George and George Stauffer. Organ Technique: Modern and Early. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
One of the few modern method books that presents a variety of techniques
(modern and early). Designed for beginning to intermediate organ students
who have had previous background at the keyboard. Includes exercises and
practice pieces for both legato technique and early technique (ca. 1700) with
fingerings and pedalings. Additional practical material, such as discussions of
position at the keyboard, hymn-playing guide, and introduction to various organ
building traditions.

Soderlund, Sandra. How Did They Play? How Did They Teach? A History of
Keyboard Technique. Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music, 2006.
A valuable collection of commentary on historical sources dealing with keyboard
technique, organized chronologically from the 15th to the 20th centuries.
Soderlund reprints many exercises, prefaces, and quotes from the sources in
English translation. A great place to start if you want to check on fingering
systems or other technique-related performance practice issues for a specific
repertoire.

Speerstra, Joel. Bach and the Pedal Clavichord: An Organists Guide. Rochester, NY:
University of Rochester Press, 2004.
Includes discussion on how to produce good sound on the clavichord, exercises
to help a student play with more arm and leg weight, articulation, fingering and
pedaling, and playing figures with gesture. The book also includes chapters on
the history of the clavichord, reception history, and discussions of J. S. Bachs trio
sonatas and passacaglia.

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Figure 2
Barbara Conable, What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body, p. 22 & 50.

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Figure 3
Jacques van Oortmerssen, A Guide to Duo and Trio Playing, p. 5.

Figure 4
Joel Speerstra, J. S. Bach and the Pedal Clavichord, p. 121 & 123.

Figure 5
Joel Speerstra, J. S. Bach and the Pedal Clavichord, p. 96.

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Figure 6
Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata in F.

Figure 7
Csar Franck, LOrganiste.