To Be A Beginner Again

The last few weeks have been an adventure. I have been filling in as an organist for one of the Anglican churches here in town. In the past when I have filled in for them, I have always played their electronic piano. These days, I have jumped off the deep end and decided to play the beast - an organ with a full footboard!

A long time ago, my mother had gotten a Hammond organ to learn to play the pedals on it, as she played the organ in our home church. I had sat down and managed to learn to handle the pedals for a few of the less complex hymns, but never really mastered them. With the Hammond organ, I only ever used my left foot to play the bass pedals, as there is only an octave of keys on a Hammond organ. Using two feet to play pedals? That is a whole new world for me.

The other thing this organ has that I was not familiar with is organ stops. An organ has all these knobs and buttons. Depending on which ones you pull out and engage, a whole new soundscape can be created. In the past, I always just had it set at what my mother told me to set it to, without actually really understanding the meaning behind the labels. Even on a Hammond organ, the labels are similar to the ones on the knobs on a more traditional organ. 

Organ music will sometimes specify which stops are required to create the sound that the composer intended. Sometimes these stops need to change in the middle of the piece of music. It was time for me to decipher the labels and spend some time understanding how everything on an organ comes together to produce specific sounds.

The organ is a beast of an instrument and I was really excited to be trying this. I still am excited, but now it is tempered a bit as the scope of what I need to learn is starting to sink in. Now, I am getting to the phase of “what am I getting myself into?” There is a lot of work ahead of me.

I know how to read music, so that is not an issue. I get how the stops work, so I am good there. Intellectually, I get how this all works together. It is one thing to know intellectually, but it is completely different to execute it. So much coordination is involved. Right now, I am feeling so uncoordinated.

I have been playing piano for over forty years now. There is so much of it that feels so automatic and second nature to me. I can read most hymns rather easily with just the hands as they are not an issue. But using the feet? Well, that is a different story!

I managed to get my hands on a couple of books with drills to learn how to manage the pedals. I look at the drills and they look so easy, but then when I actually try, I find out otherwise. There is no shortcut to mastery. I have to do the work. And that is frustrating. It is a stark reminder of how much work goes into learning a new skill. There is no shortcut for repetition.

In martial arts, you repeat the drill thousands of times so that kick becomes automatic. You learn how it feels in your body. Playing the piano is the same. Thousands of repetitions to play the scales and imprinting the feel of the keys under the fingers. With the footboard, I am starting at the beginning. I am a long way from the ease that comes from thousands of hours of practice. Simply put, this is hard!!! 

Being able to find the pedal I want without looking down is challenging in and of itself. I am learning to use two feet to play the pedals versus just the left foot. The other challenge that I have added to the mix is learning to play the third stave (piano is normally written on just two staves) that does not double the left hand. When I first learned to play the pedals, I always used to double the left hand with the pedal. It is now time to separate the two. Eeek! I did not think this last piece would be so challenging. This is in a whole other category from walking and chewing gum.

It is still an exciting adventure. It has been a while since I have had such a new musical challenge. I am learning to be patient with myself. I am not practising as much as I should or normally would. I tend to get really intense in my focus. With the recovery of a torn calf muscle, this limits any time with the footboard to short sessions. Additionally, I have other musical commitments that require my attention, so this is just a side project for the moment while I focus on other things. It will get there. There is no rush. In the meantime, I will work on developing patience with myself.

This is a great reminder for me of how it feels to be completely new on an instrument. After decades of playing piano and trumpet, the beginning and how it felt has almost been lost to the mists of time. For now, to help me get through the impatience and frustration, I just need to remind myself of the excitement of the new possibilities this will bring.