[rodgersorgan] James Pressler and Bach By Immersion
- From: noel jones <gedeckt@xxxxxxxx>
- To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 23:09:49 -0500
Friends,
I asked James Pressler to put together some notes about the Bach By
Immersion Project. I would like to share them with you.
James Pressler writes:
My active career as an performing organist spanned 37 years, from when I
gave my first organ recital in 1957 to when my stroke occurred in March
of 1994. Along the way, I developed a little MIDI system for helping
choir singers learn their parts by reinforcing the individual part and
then playing all voices but their part, sort of a “Music Minus One”
approach which was similar to the Karaoke system in popular music. But
for serious performance, MIDI seemed too complex when all I had to do
was sit down and play the music.
While I was retraining to use only my left hand to do everything (from
learning to type with one hand after being a 110wpm speed typist, on
down to tying my shoes) I held the thought that computers could really
assist my new life. I felt my three month period away from computers was
like Rip Van Winkle’s long sleep--when he woke up some amazing progress
would have occurred. I wasn’t far wrong, but it took several years for
the real progress in music to occur, mainly through more powerful
machines and the Internet.
My real reawakening happened in February of 2000 when I discovered an
organ SoundFont that could render virtual organ performances clearly (if
not quite beautifully), and I sent my first piece, the Buxtehude Prelude
and Fugue in G minor, to MP3. com on February 29, 2000. At first I
avoided Bach. I cared too much about his music, and plenty of people
were active in that area.
On May 24, 2000 Jonathan Orwig, a fellow MP3.com artist, suggested we
collaborate on MIDI pipe organ recording when his new console arrived
that summer. This productive partnership attracted some real attention
(and in those days you could make real money on MP3.com) and before long
we had some 60 tracks up for instant listening and on CDs.
On November 11, 2000 Noel Jones emailed me an idea for an ambitious
project: the entire organ works of J. S. Bach prepared for Rodgers
Digital Organs. I didn’t embrace this enthusiastically at the beginning,
but before long had learned enough about the way Rodgers controls stops
to send Noel a few files. Rather than just prepare performances, we
eventually worked out a learning system based on the one I had used to
learn trio sonatas: Left hand alone; Right hand alone; Pedal alone;
Right hand and Pedal, Left hand and Pedal, Right and Left Hands, and
finally, all three together, with and without a metronome. The
difference with the system we have created called “Bach By Immersion” is
that the other voices now play while you are learning your part, and the
metronome has been built into the MIDI file.
From the beginning I tried to put a little playfulness in the phrasing,
to occasionally begin a trill on the lower note, to try to create an
atmosphere of playful variety and creativity rather than one of dogmatic
rigidity. Clearly, if organists are to stay interested and to play
interestingly, they will have to strongly disagree with others’ ideas on
tempos, registrations, and phrasings. You can use this series as you
would a teacher’s instruction or the playing of other organists--as a
springboard for developing your own unique style.
James Pressler
--
noel jones, aago
athens, tennessee, usa
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