When Should You Give Up on an Organ Piece?

Have you ever spent weeks practicing an organ piece only to realize it might not be worth your time? In this conversation, we discuss the difficult decision to set a piece aside and whether those decisions are actually "smart" or just a source of guilt.

We share our personal stories of abandoning works by Mendelssohn, Cesar Franck, Reger, and Widor, discussing everything from physical challenges like hand size and tension to the psychological weight of "unfinished" projects. Plus, we explore the benefits of sight-reading practice and why it’s okay to not learn every single piece to a performance level.

In this video:

Why some pieces (like those with thick chords or wide intervals) can be physically "torturous."
The guilt of abandoning major works like Mendelssohn’s Preludes and Fugues.
Why some popular pieces like Widor’s Toccata can feel "overplayed" or even annoying.
The importance of listening to your body to avoid injuries like tendonitis.
Advice for organists on balancing broad repertoire with in-depth study.

Join the Community: Quadruple your organ playing progress by joining the Total Organist program. Check out the links below for our training and Discord community support.

00:00 - Introduction: Is it worth your time?
00:30 - Abandoning Mendelssohn’s 3rd Prelude and Fugue
01:15 - Avoiding injury: Cesar Franck and Reger’s thick textures
02:26 - Listening to your body vs. "torturing" yourself
03:13 - Dealing with the guilt of walking away
04:57 - Getting distracted: Widor and the struggle with form
06:27 - Why Widor’s Toccata can be "annoying" to some
08:22 - Finding a balance in your repertoire
10:55 - The benefits of sight-reading practice
11:58 - When your body sends a signal: Avoiding tendonitis
13:42 - Approaching complex cycles one piece at a time
15:11 - Legacy: Will we all be forgotten one day?
16:15 - How to support the channel and join Total Organist

#OrganPlaying #OrganistLife #ClassicalMusic #MusicPractice #OrganRepertoire

Our scores (free for members): https://buymeacoffee.com/organduo/membership

Originally published on YouTube by Ausra Motuzaite.