The Evolution of the Bach By Immersion Project By James Pressler Director, Bach By Immersion Project Frog Music Press 5:57PM, July 4, 2003 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. 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. I was aware of MIDI and its ability to "play " the organ, much as the player piano and its rolls. Prior to the stroke, I had 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. At that time but for serious performance, MIDI seemed too complex when all I had to do was sit down and play the music. My real reawakening happened in February of 2000 when I discovered a MIDI organ SoundFont that could render virtual organ performances from my computer 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 is Director of the Bach By Immersion Project at Frog Music Press, publishers of music for organ and MIDI, blending the old with new at www.frogmusic.com. sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss