Fantastic singing from Allegra! (My youngest son name is Roderick Sebastian…). I 100% agree with your opinion. If Bach today lived, the drove in a car instead of riding in a carriage. The expression of his music is a reflection of his mind and that from the performer together. If you feel the heart from a performer in a piece, than is it a great performance. Even with a few flaws. :-)
Allegra is AWESOME! Fantastic discussion James - In recent years I try to play *mostly* toes - I found myself at a straight pedalboard a few years back and fell all over myself - I figure having some baroque pieces ready for non AGO pedalboards is a good idea ;)
And one more thought. I was trained in pedalling - regardless of period/style or toes/heels - to be over a pedal key ahead of the beat then push down on the beat. In slow motion it’s a two-stage process - definitely not a single-action strike. The aim is control - regardless of what is played. With this approach the release of a key must be fast, to the point where the pedal key makes more noise on release than on attack. Whether using toes only, or toes plus heels, this promotes excellent control of phrasing.
Hi James, I was taught from English organ methods, and these abounded with the use of heels. I remember watching my first organ teacher playing the pedal solo in the Bach F major toccata - he used more heels than toes! He was thoroughly immersed in the English cathedral tradition. However my second organ teacher came along, and he had different ideas altogether. I was learning a baroque work from a score edited by an English organist for an English publication, and it was marked all over with heels and toes. My new teacher wrote across the score the words "Rubbish - use toes!". His own playing was always stylistically accurate and absolutely accurate, regardless of whether is was baroque, romantic, modern or whatever. He was adapt his pedalling according to the style he was playing. Having said all that, I found myself settling upon my own approach - which is to let the music itself tell me what to do. I don't operate on a hard & fast rule of "toes" or "no toes" - I look at the phrasing and take it from there. I will mark the pedalling according to the phrasing, learn it and stick to it. Whether or not I use heels is entirely up to how readily I can play the notes while incorporating and maintaining a consistent approach to phrasing. A major role of the organ in worship is the accompaniment of hymn singing, and here's where phrasing is paramount - including in the pedals - because the organist needs to send cues to the singers to maintain the rhythm, give hints as to when to take a breath, and to breathe according to the phrasing of the words. So often I have heard "inverted" phrasing and articulation - where an organist maintains a steady legato on the manuals regardless of the words, while playing a detached, staccato pedal line. This is especially apparent with organists who are self-taught and whose main instrument is probably a spinet electronic at home where they play left-footed bass lines. This is totally in keeping with theatre organ stylings - but entirely inappropriate for hymn accompaniments. Hymns are meant to be sung, which means that the phrasing needs to reflect the breathing and phrasing of singers. I was always taught that the pedal part must be maintained legato within each line, even to the extent of playing repeated notes as tied notes, but making sure to put a break where the singers need to breathe - usually at the end of a line. In other words, play the bass line as if you are singing it as a bass in a choir. Meanwhile, the manuals parts can and indeed need to involve a fair amount of detaching in order to punctuate not only the phrasing but the rhythm - and to take building acoustics into account. When an organist maintains total legato with the hands but detaches the pedals this is inverting the phrasing and encourages a kind of "breathless", shapeless style of singing which, in a reverberant building, can easily end up sounding muddy and messy. Maintaining pedal legato in hymns requires a great deal of heels, sliding toe to toe on adjacent black notes, changing feet on a key without releasing it and more in order to maintain "singers' phrasing" - but it's worth it. Many years ago I ran some seminars on organ-playing, and I distinctly recall a question put to me at one of these events. A person remarked upon the fact that I used both feet to play the bass line in hymns, declaring that he stuck to the bottom octave only with the left foot. I responded by isolating the bass part and singing it while I played it. I then explained how a left-footed approach creates a grotequely distorted bass line in which the part jumps back and forth from one octave to another - and this became a "light bulb" moment for him. He had never previously regarded the bass line as a singable part in its own right - he'd only seen it as the source of low sounds underneath everything else. Back to repertoire, and my approach - regardless of period - is to start with the music itself and allow it to guide me. Whatever pedalling style works best to allow the music to speak - and which is also comfortable and feasible for me to actually play - is what I use. As a student I worked through scales and exercises in "Ars Organi" by Flor Peeters, and came to the conclusion that he must have had extraordinarily flexible ankles to a degree I could never achieve, not even 40 or so years ago! I found much of what he had asked for in those scales and exercises was physically impossible for me. Likewise with the "beginners" volume "The 79 Chorales" by Dupre - in which every note is marked as to pedalling and fingering. His pedalling, like that of Peeters, required extraordinary flexibility and agility. In the end, though, I keep coming back to the music itself, and I let it tell me what to do.
"How does it sound to the listener." You've got it. That's the bottom line. I was told for years that one should always play on the inside of the foot because the heel and ball of the foot are "strength" anchors -- but the late great John Scott (RIP) played most often on the outsides of his feet. lol. As you said "life's too short" for useless pedantry.
Allegra is a charmer. What an excellent way to grab our attention. She is certainly developing good intonation! In regards to pedalling I think that articulation and phrasing are the key aspects, so adopt pedalling that addresses these issues. If you have not seen and heard it, this wonderful Bach performance by the late John Scott is a lesson in itself. ruclips.net/video/8y8mlNOftv0/видео.html
Lovely to see your sweet poppet, Allegra. I hope you follow religiously all the parenting advice you have been given on how to best perform her up-bringing! There's plenty of expert advice out there on parenting. . . as there is also on the best way to play the organ! Oh, how you like to open cans of worms, James! Individual organists tend to be very opinionated on ALL matters to do with the organ and furthermore, such individuals tend to believe that they espouse what everyone else should take from them as nothing less than fact and the gospel truth. So where do I stand in this particular debate? Would I even want to drink from such a poisoned chalice handed to me by you? Unfortunately . . . I am as opinionated as everyone else! I support the notion that there is no rule in organ playing that is ever absolute. Regarding pedalling, surely, much depends on the type of pedalboard at hand, i.e. whether it's an early flat pedalboard with parallel non-radiating keys or a concave radiating board built to AGO standards? When we are practising the pedal part of a fugue the idea is, above all, to consider clarity and the overall balance of the body; therefore the heels should not be blindly rejected for this because they're necessary - at times - to improve balance, and everything in organ playing should be about good balance. It's a fact that J.S. Bach was not forced by the construction of German pedalboards in his day to completely abandon the use of the heels; the Hoffman restoration of the original console from the historic Wender organ of the Bachkirche in Arnstadt, Germany, permits the heels to be used over the entire compass of its flat pedalboard, proving that Bach COULD have used the heels to play the pedals at a very early point in his career, if he wanted. On the flat pedalboard of the historic Trost organ of the Stadtkirche in Waltershausen, Germany - an instrument which Bach may have played himself - using heels is perfectly feasible. The same goes for the historic Hildebrandt organ of Naumberg, Germany - an instrument designed by Bach himself. As such, it is reasonable to presume that he was able to use his heels; whether he did so or not is pure conjecture . . . but, if it could improve his playing, he was certainly free to do so if he wanted! There is no direct evidence, either way, as to whether he used his heels or not. German organists probably used very little heel on the many flat, often short, parallel pedal keys of Bach's day, and when the pedal lines got to the top or the bottom of the pedalboard they either 1) used heels very sparingly, 2) used alternate toes (although this can get uncomfortable and error-prone at the extreme high or low ends), or 3) hopped around on one foot! So, my 'advice' to any organist is to do whatever works best for balance and clarity, bearing in mind that what works in one application may not work equally well in another - it depends on what the hands are doing at the time and the overall balance of the body; different ways of pedalling should be tried and given a fair attempt before settling on what works best for the interpretation and realisation of the music and the way the performer seeks to communicate this to the audience. I am mindful of how much mess can be made when baking a cake . . . but all that matters in the end is how good it tastes in the mouth.
Interesting thoughts, Graham. I consider myself not a purist at all, but I just focus on what feels and sounds most natural to my ears, especially in early music (Renaissance, Baroque). For me it feels very natural to play baroque with toes only, so not only Bach of course. First reason is that it is perfectly playable with toes only, second reason is that it really helps with the phrasing and accentuation. The pedals in that time were not that easy to play on, maybe on some playing with heels was possible as you mention. But nevertheless it wasn't very easy to play on them, and certainly not when playing a complete solo on it. It must have sounded bumpy and not without flaws at least. But in the end I agree, play it as you like, what feels best. The same counts for playing 'old fingering' or not, or playing on a small compass keyboard or not. Music wins in the end, and the interpretation of it.
@@RalphLooij I agree with your thoughts, Ralph. I just think we should accept we don't know if at all, or how much, heels might have been used in Bach's time. I wonder if he ever played in just socks or barefoot (the very thought!) . . . And what would he have made of a radiating pedal board. But you hit the nail on the head: "Music wins in the end, and the interpretation of it."
Such fantastic singing by Allegra. Such a fantastic video. Thank you James. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you for thos interesting video !
Fantastic singing from Allegra! (My youngest son name is Roderick Sebastian…). I 100% agree with your opinion. If Bach today lived, the drove in a car instead of riding in a carriage. The expression of his music is a reflection of his mind and that from the performer together. If you feel the heart from a performer in a piece, than is it a great performance. Even with a few flaws. :-)
Allegra is AWESOME! Fantastic discussion James - In recent years I try to play *mostly* toes - I found myself at a straight pedalboard a few years back and fell all over myself - I figure having some baroque pieces ready for non AGO pedalboards is a good idea ;)
She’s so cute! I just want to play the right notes 😄
And one more thought. I was trained in pedalling - regardless of period/style or toes/heels - to be over a pedal key ahead of the beat then push down on the beat. In slow motion it’s a two-stage process - definitely not a single-action strike. The aim is control - regardless of what is played. With this approach the release of a key must be fast, to the point where the pedal key makes more noise on release than on attack. Whether using toes only, or toes plus heels, this promotes excellent control of phrasing.
Hi James,
I was taught from English organ methods, and these abounded with the use of heels. I remember watching my first organ teacher playing the pedal solo in the Bach F major toccata - he used more heels than toes! He was thoroughly immersed in the English cathedral tradition. However my second organ teacher came along, and he had different ideas altogether. I was learning a baroque work from a score edited by an English organist for an English publication, and it was marked all over with heels and toes. My new teacher wrote across the score the words "Rubbish - use toes!". His own playing was always stylistically accurate and absolutely accurate, regardless of whether is was baroque, romantic, modern or whatever. He was adapt his pedalling according to the style he was playing.
Having said all that, I found myself settling upon my own approach - which is to let the music itself tell me what to do. I don't operate on a hard & fast rule of "toes" or "no toes" - I look at the phrasing and take it from there. I will mark the pedalling according to the phrasing, learn it and stick to it. Whether or not I use heels is entirely up to how readily I can play the notes while incorporating and maintaining a consistent approach to phrasing.
A major role of the organ in worship is the accompaniment of hymn singing, and here's where phrasing is paramount - including in the pedals - because the organist needs to send cues to the singers to maintain the rhythm, give hints as to when to take a breath, and to breathe according to the phrasing of the words. So often I have heard "inverted" phrasing and articulation - where an organist maintains a steady legato on the manuals regardless of the words, while playing a detached, staccato pedal line. This is especially apparent with organists who are self-taught and whose main instrument is probably a spinet electronic at home where they play left-footed bass lines. This is totally in keeping with theatre organ stylings - but entirely inappropriate for hymn accompaniments. Hymns are meant to be sung, which means that the phrasing needs to reflect the breathing and phrasing of singers. I was always taught that the pedal part must be maintained legato within each line, even to the extent of playing repeated notes as tied notes, but making sure to put a break where the singers need to breathe - usually at the end of a line. In other words, play the bass line as if you are singing it as a bass in a choir. Meanwhile, the manuals parts can and indeed need to involve a fair amount of detaching in order to punctuate not only the phrasing but the rhythm - and to take building acoustics into account. When an organist maintains total legato with the hands but detaches the pedals this is inverting the phrasing and encourages a kind of "breathless", shapeless style of singing which, in a reverberant building, can easily end up sounding muddy and messy. Maintaining pedal legato in hymns requires a great deal of heels, sliding toe to toe on adjacent black notes, changing feet on a key without releasing it and more in order to maintain "singers' phrasing" - but it's worth it.
Many years ago I ran some seminars on organ-playing, and I distinctly recall a question put to me at one of these events. A person remarked upon the fact that I used both feet to play the bass line in hymns, declaring that he stuck to the bottom octave only with the left foot. I responded by isolating the bass part and singing it while I played it. I then explained how a left-footed approach creates a grotequely distorted bass line in which the part jumps back and forth from one octave to another - and this became a "light bulb" moment for him. He had never previously regarded the bass line as a singable part in its own right - he'd only seen it as the source of low sounds underneath everything else.
Back to repertoire, and my approach - regardless of period - is to start with the music itself and allow it to guide me. Whatever pedalling style works best to allow the music to speak - and which is also comfortable and feasible for me to actually play - is what I use. As a student I worked through scales and exercises in "Ars Organi" by Flor Peeters, and came to the conclusion that he must have had extraordinarily flexible ankles to a degree I could never achieve, not even 40 or so years ago! I found much of what he had asked for in those scales and exercises was physically impossible for me. Likewise with the "beginners" volume "The 79 Chorales" by Dupre - in which every note is marked as to pedalling and fingering. His pedalling, like that of Peeters, required extraordinary flexibility and agility.
In the end, though, I keep coming back to the music itself, and I let it tell me what to do.
Major thumbs up to Allegra! Can’t wait to hear her sing on your next Vespers! 😊
"How does it sound to the listener." You've got it. That's the bottom line. I was told for years that one should always play on the inside of the foot because the heel and ball of the foot are "strength" anchors -- but the late great John Scott (RIP) played most often on the outsides of his feet. lol. As you said "life's too short" for useless pedantry.
Allegra is a charmer. What an excellent way to grab our attention. She is certainly developing good intonation! In regards to pedalling I think that articulation and phrasing are the key aspects, so adopt pedalling that addresses these issues.
If you have not seen and heard it, this wonderful Bach performance by the late John Scott is a lesson in itself. ruclips.net/video/8y8mlNOftv0/видео.html
Lovely to see your sweet poppet, Allegra. I hope you follow religiously all the parenting advice you have been given on how to best perform her up-bringing! There's plenty of expert advice out there on parenting. . . as there is also on the best way to play the organ!
Oh, how you like to open cans of worms, James! Individual organists tend to be very opinionated on ALL matters to do with the organ and furthermore, such individuals tend to believe that they espouse what everyone else should take from them as nothing less than fact and the gospel truth. So where do I stand in this particular debate? Would I even want to drink from such a poisoned chalice handed to me by you? Unfortunately . . . I am as opinionated as everyone else!
I support the notion that there is no rule in organ playing that is ever absolute. Regarding pedalling, surely, much depends on the type of pedalboard at hand, i.e. whether it's an early flat pedalboard with parallel non-radiating keys or a concave radiating board built to AGO standards? When we are practising the pedal part of a fugue the idea is, above all, to consider clarity and the overall balance of the body; therefore the heels should not be blindly rejected for this because they're necessary - at times - to improve balance, and everything in organ playing should be about good balance.
It's a fact that J.S. Bach was not forced by the construction of German pedalboards in his day to completely abandon the use of the heels; the Hoffman restoration of the original console from the historic Wender organ of the Bachkirche in Arnstadt, Germany, permits the heels to be used over the entire compass of its flat pedalboard, proving that Bach COULD have used the heels to play the pedals at a very early point in his career, if he wanted.
On the flat pedalboard of the historic Trost organ of the Stadtkirche in Waltershausen, Germany - an instrument which Bach may have played himself - using heels is perfectly feasible. The same goes for the historic Hildebrandt organ of Naumberg, Germany - an instrument designed by Bach himself. As such, it is reasonable to presume that he was able to use his heels; whether he did so or not is pure conjecture . . . but, if it could improve his playing, he was certainly free to do so if he wanted!
There is no direct evidence, either way, as to whether he used his heels or not. German organists probably used very little heel on the many flat, often short, parallel pedal keys of Bach's day, and when the pedal lines got to the top or the bottom of the pedalboard they either 1) used heels very sparingly, 2) used alternate toes (although this can get uncomfortable and error-prone at the extreme high or low ends), or 3) hopped around on one foot!
So, my 'advice' to any organist is to do whatever works best for balance and clarity, bearing in mind that what works in one application may not work equally well in another - it depends on what the hands are doing at the time and the overall balance of the body; different ways of pedalling should be tried and given a fair attempt before settling on what works best for the interpretation and realisation of the music and the way the performer seeks to communicate this to the audience. I am mindful of how much mess can be made when baking a cake . . . but all that matters in the end is how good it tastes in the mouth.
Interesting thoughts, Graham. I consider myself not a purist at all, but I just focus on what feels and sounds most natural to my ears, especially in early music (Renaissance, Baroque). For me it feels very natural to play baroque with toes only, so not only Bach of course. First reason is that it is perfectly playable with toes only, second reason is that it really helps with the phrasing and accentuation. The pedals in that time were not that easy to play on, maybe on some playing with heels was possible as you mention. But nevertheless it wasn't very easy to play on them, and certainly not when playing a complete solo on it. It must have sounded bumpy and not without flaws at least.
But in the end I agree, play it as you like, what feels best. The same counts for playing 'old fingering' or not, or playing on a small compass keyboard or not. Music wins in the end, and the interpretation of it.
@@RalphLooij I agree with your thoughts, Ralph. I just think we should accept we don't know if at all, or how much, heels might have been used in Bach's time. I wonder if he ever played in just socks or barefoot (the very thought!) . . . And what would he have made of a radiating pedal board. But you hit the nail on the head: "Music wins in the end, and the interpretation of it."
Your glasses give your more authority... Haha!