I have an upcoming concert on March 21st that I’m spending a lot of my waking hours practicing for, and naturally, the program is all-Bach since March 21st is his 337th birthday. It’s the last concert in a weeklong festival celebrating the pipe organ in Hawaii, and I just sent off the brochure to the printer. You can see that the inside panel just about explains it all.

Now… back to the topic at hand, practicing for our all-Bach concert on Monday, March 21st, with myself and Jieun Kim Newland playing the two Beckerath organs at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. I have been searching YouTube for recordings of the Violin and Oboe concerto in D minor, BWV 1060 and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048, as these are two pieces I’ll be playing with Jieun. When we played our “Dueling Bach” concert two years ago we had the luxury of being able to rehearse together every week for a whole year. However, with her living in El Paso, Texas, and only coming right before the concert, we have to practice on our own. So, having found suitable recordings, I have tried to “play along” with my part. To my great consternation, the tempos of the videos are quite a bit faster than I can manage at this point.

Jieun suggested the mobile app called “Amazing Slow Downer,” and this is what I’m calling the best thing since sliced bread!

If you’re a musician who likes to learn new songs and techniques by listening to the same piece of music over and over but wish that the music could be played a little slower, then you’ll enjoy Amazing Slow Downer. You can repeat any section of the music at full speed, slow it down or even speed it up by changing the speed between 25% (1/4 of original speed) and 200% (double speed) without changing the pitch! Change the tuning or musical key? No problem, Amazing Slow Downer handles that as well. Setup seamless loops by touching the “Set” buttons during playback. Amazing Slow Downer is the ideal tool for any musician, transcriber or dancer wanting to improve their skills.

Here’s a video I found about learning the Oud through this amazing app.

It’s working great for learning organ music too!

In addition to the two concertos listed above, Jieun and I will each play a solo organ piece plus “Organ Plus” — with guest instrumentalists Darel Stark on violin, Alex Hayashi on oboe, Roger Koopman on trumpet, and the University of Hawaii Chamber Singers, Jace Saplan, director, with which we will perform the opening chorus of Cantata 172, “Erschallet ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!

Mark your calendars for an exciting week!