Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast
Sep 30, 2026 · 18 min · 11 segments
Why do we forget organ pieces we once knew by heart and performed in recitals, while other works stick with us for decades? In this conversation, Vidas and Ausra discuss the psychology of musical…
Vidas PinkeviciusHost
Ausra Motuzaite-PinkevicieneHostAnd of course before that I was maybe a young specialist right after music academy or doctoral program.
I think I would have forgotten pieces faster back then than right now, so it makes sense for me to feel that way.
think one of the problems is that as students, especially as doctoral students, we had to learn so much repertoire, so many pieces, like, you know, recital after recital, you know, learning all these major organ pieces.
So I guess one of the things is that we learned them probably too fast in quite short period of time.
And the thing is that probably we did it in like a degree recital, maybe placed it publicly once or twice and we let them aside.
And simply I think it's natural that over the years we forgot about them.
there are as you said some passages that you know your memory still that your you know hands still remember but that's it so i guess one of the reasons might be that we either had learned the piece well enough Or just played it too few times publicly.
And probably the interval of time when we haven't worked on that piece was too long.
Because let's say if you would play the repertoire that you played last year or two years ago or even three years ago, I think it would come back to you more quickly and more naturally.
But if you are picking up a piece that you haven't played for 20 or 30 years, then it's a real problem.
And of course before that I was maybe a young specialist right after music academy or doctoral program.
I think I would have forgotten pieces faster back then than right now, so it makes sense for me to feel that way.
think one of the problems is that as students, especially as doctoral students, we had to learn so much repertoire, so many pieces, like, you know, recital after recital, you know, learning all these major organ pieces.
So I guess one of the things is that we learned them probably too fast in quite short period of time.
And the thing is that probably we did it in like a degree recital, maybe placed it publicly once or twice and we let them aside.
And simply I think it's natural that over the years we forgot about them.
there are as you said some passages that you know your memory still that your you know hands still remember but that's it so i guess one of the reasons might be that we either had learned the piece well enough Or just played it too few times publicly.
And probably the interval of time when we haven't worked on that piece was too long.
Because let's say if you would play the repertoire that you played last year or two years ago or even three years ago, I think it would come back to you more quickly and more naturally.
But if you are picking up a piece that you haven't played for 20 or 30 years, then it's a real problem.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
