Why you should record your every performance

Today my friend Hive account@pauliakaz played a lunchtime mini organ recital at Vilnius Cathedral. On the program was music of Johann Sebastian Bach (Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545), Juozas Naujalis (Prelude on the Lithuanian hymn tune "Jezau, pas mane ateiki" and Leon Boellmann (Suite Gothique, Op. 25).

I brought my tripod to the event to help Hive account@pauliakaz record a video using his phone. He also asked me to record an audio with my phone. I suggested we livestream it to Facebook in a mode where only we could see it but he preferred a raw video recording with a better quality.

If you know me, you probably are aware how often I record my own performances and practices. Therefore it's no surprise why I thought Hive account@pauliakaz did really well by choosing recording his performance today. He said he will use this file to split it into separate videos and upload to YouTube in the future (and hopefully share it on Steem as well). In fact, he played so well today that it could easily have been livestreamed today.

I know that most organists from Lithuania don't usually record their performances (my friend Hive account@contrabourdon says it's the same in Australia). They simply haven't created a habit. They don't want to show their work in public in fear of criticism or lack of technical skills. To them the pain of owning the consequences of sharing your video online is greater than the benefit it provides.

Here's the thing - showing your current work is the best way I know to get opportunities for future work. In other words, having an extensive archive of your performances online increases chances to get invited to play recitals in the future. Personally Hive account@laputis and I have been invited to a number of recitals in Lithuania and abroad by organizers who found our work online in the form of text, pictures, audio, video or any combination of them.

Of course, not every performance is a perfect one and today Hive account@pauliakaz knows things that could be improved. In my opinion, he could work on keeping his fingers in contact with the keys at all times. He could work on his pedal articulation in the early music, although Hive account@laputis who was downstairs in the audience said it wasn't an issue. However, she did mention the value of practicing piano etudes and Hanon exercises to strengthen his finger technique.

A lot of organists feel their shortcomings, real of imagined and think they are not worthy of sharing their work publicly. Here I'm talking about making a recording but take it one step further and you will see organists who don't perform in public at all anymore.

Although constantly striving to become a better organist is a healthy approach, perfectionism isn't. People who say they are unworthy because their performance isn't perfect are simply hiding. If they are waiting for the day when their playing will be spotless and without mistakes should know that this day might never come.

But we aren't in the perfection business. We are in the sharing business.

PS In this rehearsal video Hive account@pauliakaz compares one passage of Introduction-Choral by Leon Boellmann while playing it one octave lower to produce a fuller, darker and more French Romantic-like sound on a German Neo-Baroque organ:

PPS After this recital we went to have some coffee and desert and chatted about today's experience:

PPPS Then we went to a music shop nearby to pick up a copy of Beethoven's piano sonata for Hive account@pauliakaz where we found this lovely owner's corgi. I'm certain her sweet presence increases sales of this music shop: