The 2016 EROI Festival Breath for Singing: The Organ and the Human Voice October 26–28, 2016

The 2016 EROI (Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative) Festival will explore historical, conceptual, and practical aspects of the interaction between organ and voice from October 26 through 28 at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. Titled “Breath for Singing: The Organ and the Human Voice,” the festival also features the premiere performance of a new hymn commissioned for the conference, with text by Yale theologian and poet Thomas Troeger and music by internationally recognized composer Nico Muhly.

The fall organ conference, held September 13–16, 2015, at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (JSoM), was a mix of the practical, the academic, and the experiential. This year’s conference addressed the necessary changes occurring in both church music and liturgy. These ideas were woven throughout the three-day conference, which featured numerous distinguished presenters and spirited roundtables.

Sunday, September 13 

The attendees were treated to an inspiring concert by JSoM’s Historical Performance Institute, featuring medieval music and poetry—some spiritual, some profane. The performers used texts by Julian of Norwich, from Carmina Burana, and music of the period associated with these texts. The singers/readers semi-staged the concert, with subtle changes in accents to their basic black attire and dramatic movements that enhanced the understanding of the texts.

Monday, September 14 

The Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor, Butman Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College and New York Times best-selling author, gave both an opening convocation address and a keynote presentation, “What, in God’s Name, Are You Doing?” Challenging the widespread understanding of worship music as a mere accompaniment or enhancement of the spoken ritual, she spoke of music’s “mystical language of unsaying” and focused on the “spectacularly non-verbal” power of music to elicit awareness of the unfathomable, the un-nameable essence of God. 

Citing resonating connections between humans, the planets, and the stars, Taylor highlighted the need for musicians to care “for the sound by which creation came into being,” and spoke of our work as “keepers of the keys” [pun intended] in terms of locking and unlocking the mysteries of “placeless places.” She also reminded us of the theological significance of creating and listening with [not to] music in community, “letting the music work its way around and through the different sized holes in each one of us.” She assured us that there is not a contest between word and music, but that “there is a time for saying and a time for unsaying.” Recalling an anthem text, she pointed to the often-greater importance of feeling over knowing: “I don’t know you, but I like you.” 

A spirited panel discussion, “Where Do We Go From Here? The Possibilities Are Ours To Create!” featured Carla Edwards, professor of organ at DePauw University; Rev. Taylor; Tamara Gieselman, university chaplain at the University of Evansville; Marilyn Keiser, Chancellor’s Professor Emerita of Music at JSoM; and Douglas Reed, adjunct professor of organ at JSoM. The discussion picked up the themes presented in the keynote, with an emphasis on the acute need for clergy and musicians to work in concert to create a meaningful worship experience. The afternoon ended with an advance screening of the soon-to-be-released documentary Sacred Sound: A Documentary on the Royal School of Church Music in America, presented by its producer, Robin Arcus.

The evening session, “A Calling to Music and the Arts,” was a festival of both familiar and new hymns and poetry that underscored the text of those hymns. Robert Nicholls (director of music, First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Indiana), a prize-winning improviser and noted choir director, led a choir composed of current organ majors and conference attendees in robust singing of hymns, which were skillfully accompanied by varied improvisations. All church musicians know the excitement of singing hymns with colleagues, and this was such an event, made even more exciting by the beautiful C. B. Fisk organ in Auer Hall.

Tuesday, September 15

The day focused on the practical aspects of our profession. James Mellichamp, president of Piedmont College, gave an inspirational lecture on issues musicians face in the current religious climate, “Your Vocation Lies Elsewhere: Reflections of an Organist Turned College President.” Mellichamp used his personal narrative to show how he was able to pivot his career by realizing that church music was the first step to his current position within academia. 

This was followed by Mary Ann Hart’s (professor of voice at the JSoM) insightful, funny, entertaining, and useful demonstration of easy ways to train volunteer choir members. The audience knew that something special was going to happen when she passed out soda straws and plastic coffee stirrers prior to beginning her demonstration! The morning ended with Marilyn Keiser’s one-hour presentation showcasing a wide array of new organ literature suitable for worship that included preludes, postludes, incidental music, and new harmonizations for hymns. 

Mitchell Rorick (associate director of music, Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana) began the afternoon with his presentation “Enlivening Worship without (Many) Pyrotechnics.” This practical demonstration showed how traditional instruments used non-traditionally, non-traditional instruments used traditionally, and other art forms can enhance worship. One of the more interesting resources was the development of a steel band, which, like all of the creative resources and ideas he presented, can be an intergenerational activity. After a rehearsal with members of Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington Choir, and conference participants, the afternoon ended with a lovely and moving Evensong directed by Marilyn Keiser.

The day ended with a banquet and the presentation of four Oswald Gleason Ragatz Distinguished Alumni Awards, to Carla Edwards (DM, 1997), Yun Kyong Kim (MM, 1996; DM, 2010; faculty, St. Claire Community and organist/choirmaster, Christ Episcopal Church, Dayton, Ohio), Yoon-mi Lim (DM, 2010; associate professor and Albert L. Travis Chair of Organ, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas), and James Mellichamp (DM, 1982). The audience was then treated to a recital on the C. B. Fisk organ, Opus 91, in the Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union by Drs. Kim and Lim. Dr. Kim gave a spirited performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (BWV 548) and works by Frank Bridge, Jean Guillou, and Maurice Duruflé. Dr. Lim introduced the audience to some lesser-known works by Marcel Paponaud, Guy Bovet, Alexandre Boëly, and Iain Farrington that were very sensitive and well suited to the nature
of Opus 91. 

Wednesday, September 16

The conference closed with a panel discussion, led by the Indiana Organists United (IOU) board of directors, to map the future of the Fall Organ Conference. The discussion was led by Patrick Pope (organist and director of music, Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, Charlotte, North Carolina), IOU president, and Edie Johnson Overall (organist and music associate, Church Street United Methodist Church, Knoxville, Tennessee), IOU president-elect. Those who attended the conference made many excellent suggestions, which the IOU board considered and acted upon at its afternoon meeting.

October 4–6, 2015

Marcia Van Oyen earned master’s and DMA degrees at the University of Michigan, studying organ with Robert Glasgow. She is currently minister of music, worship, and fine arts at First United Methodist Church in Plymouth, Michigan.

The 55th annual University of Michigan Organ Conference, with the theme “Organ Music of Central Europe,” took place October 4–6, 2015. Following Michele Johns’ retirement celebration in 2014, and the Marilyn Mason fête the year before, this conference was a quieter affair, attracting mostly local Michigan alumni and current students. 

Renovation and expansion of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Beautiful autumn weather on Monday permitted lunch outdoors, on the terrace of the new William K. and Delores S. Brehm Pavilion, part of a $29.5 million renovation and expansion of the Earl V. Moore Building, designed by Eero Saarinen and originally opened in 1964. Lack of funding when the structure was built led to compromises, and Saarinen’s original vision was not fully realized. The building was never able to accommodate the school’s full spectrum of music courses or faculty. Some of the building’s limitations were addressed in 1985 with the addition of the Margaret Dow Towsley Center, which added the McIntosh Theatre and Blanche Anderson Moore Organ Hall. 

The new Brehm Pavilion includes a rehearsal hall for large ensembles, a music technology center, a state-of-the-art lecture hall, percussion practice rooms, and new classrooms. Substantial renovations resulted in additional practice rooms, a public commons, acoustical, aesthetic, and functional improvements to existing rehearsal, performance and studio spaces, and faculty offices. 

 Sunday conference events

Sunday afternoon at Hill Auditorium, Douglas Reed played a superb concert, “A Tribute to William Albright and William Bolcom.” It was an ambitious program, to be sure, and not for the faint of heart performer, but Reed was more than up to the challenge. He began with two works of Albright’s “public” music, Carillon-Bombarde and Hymn, both published works, then provided a contrast with what Albright considered his “private” music—“Whistler (1834–1903): Three Nocturnes,” which remains in manuscript form. The nocturnes need the reference of Whistler’s three paintings in order to be appreciated, and Reed provided these, in color, in the program. Each painting portrays a scene at twilight, offering variations of light and shade, which is reflected in the music. 

Next, Reed included his own transcription of the last two sections of Bolcom’s Song for St. Cecilia’s Day (originally for SATB chorus and organ), which was composed in memory of William Albright and dedicated to his son, John. Bolcom’s miniature on Abide With Me followed, then the gospel prelude on Amazing Grace. Reed’s articulation was both precise and expressive, elucidating the subtleties of the dense scores, and he deftly negotiated their copious technical demands. 

The last section of the program returned to Albright with selections from Organbooks I and III, which are particularly representative of his works as “a new means of idiomatic expression for the organ.” Albright described them as “part of a much larger scheme implying many more pieces each of which explores other sound and style capabilities peculiar to the instrument: some simple, some complex, some even working with popular idioms; all, however, hopefully demonstrating the richness and variety of organ sound.” Again Reed proved to be more than up to the task of presenting these works in all their intricacies with precision and ease, playing “Underground Stream,” “Melisma,” “Basse de Trompette,” “Jig for the Feet (Totentanz),” “Nocturne,” and the unpublished “Chorale Prelude,” intended to be the fifth movement of Organbook I. This entertaining work served as a reminder of Albright’s penchant for injecting humor into his writing (he includes quotes from film music) and the juxtaposition of opposites. 

Fourth annual Michigan 

Improvisation Competition

The fourth annual Michigan Improvisation Competition took place Sunday evening at the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, providing contestants with the ample resources of the church’s Schoenstein organ (III/42). The Ann Arbor AGO chapter provided a dinner beforehand for conference attendees. 

Preliminary round judges Joe Balistreri (a member of The Diapason’s “20 under 30” Class of 2015), Gale Kramer, and Darlene Kuperus evaluated recorded entries. Each contestant created a set of variations on a hymn tune and a free improvisation on an assigned original theme. From a field of thirteen entries, five contestants were invited to the final round, which involved similar improvisational challenges—a set of variations on the hymn tune Salzburg and a free improvisation on a given original theme. Final round judges Huw Lewis, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, and Scott Hyslop evaluated players on thematic development, musical form, stylistic consistency, control of harmonic language, rhythmic interest, and effective use of the instrument. Having heard the final round each of the competition’s four years, I can attest to the fact that the level of playing has improved each year, rendering the judging challenging. 

First prize was awarded to Matthew Koraus of New York, second and audience prizes to Alejandro D. Consolacion, II of New Jersey, and third prize to Brennan Szafron of South Carolina. Additional finalists were Robert Wisniewski of Ohio and Benjamin Cornelius-Bates of Pennsylvania. It is interesting to note that most of the finalists are also composers. The prizes were sponsored by the American Center for Church Music. 

Monday lectures

The opening lecture Monday morning took place in Blanche Anderson Moore Organ Hall. Andrzej Szadejko of the Gdansk Music Academy, Poland, gave a lecture-recital, “The Less Known Pupils of Bach: Why we (don’t) care about our masters or generation changes,” sponsored in part by the Poland U. S. Campus Arts Project at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Szadejko has performed extensively in northern Europe, made nine recordings, published articles in Polish music journals, and was awarded a prize for his thesis on two pupils of Bach—Friedrich Christian Mohrheim and Johann Georg Müthel. Mohrheim, who was the copyist for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, was music director at St. Mary’s Church in Gdansk, and composed chorale preludes and trios for the organ. In contrast to the music of Bach, Mohrheim’s works are characteristic of the style galant and empfindsamer Stil. Müthel’s works are very dramatic, in the Sturm und Drang style. Szadejko played works by Volckmar, Gleimann, and Gronau to demonstrate the style prevalent in northern Europe—a mixture of north German, Italian, and new ideas—then works by Mohrheim and Müthel. Szadejko is a skillful, expressive player, and his performances were the highlight of the session. He is deeply immersed in his research, delving into all the details, and one got the feeling he would have happily shared his findings as long as he had a listener.

Joseph Gascho, assistant professor of harpsichord, gave an engaging session on playing continuo in Watkins Lecture Hall, a room outfitted with a grand piano, harpsichord, and portative organ, as well as the ability to project examples from a computer. Gascho asserted that the shape of the bass line drives a piece, referring to it as a “vertebrate being.” In his teaching, he uses singers and dance to illustrate unequal emphasis on notes, or the sense of strong and weak beats. In this session, he worked through a recitative from Messiah and Purcell’s “Lord, What Is Man” from Harmonie Sacrae with graduate student soprano Ariane Abela, demonstrating how the continuo player’s choices affect the singer’s performance and the expression of the piece. His advice to the audience was “You’ll play better with an unrealized continuo part” and “Take the challenge of finding the joy in making decisions regarding what to play.” He discussed different ways to realize continuo and their effects, soliciting feedback as to whether organ or harpsichord was better suited to the music demonstrated. Gascho’s personable approach made this an enjoyable and valuable session. 

Student recital and masterclass

James Kibbie and Kola Owolabi’s students played a recital Monday morning on the Fisk organ in Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, which featured repertoire celebrating the 350th birthday of Nicolaus Bruhns. The complete extant works of Bruhns (six pieces) were supplemented with works by Böhm, Buxtehude, and Tunder to fill out the program. All the student performers—Dean Robinson, Paul Giessner, Sherri Brown, Jennifer Shin, Andrew Lang, Joe Moss, Mary Zelinski, Stephanie Yu, and Phillip Radtke—played well. At least half of them had been students of Michigan organ alumni. James Kibbie made a point of thanking the alumni in his introduction to the program, crediting them with helping to increase enrollment with student recommendations and scholarship contributions. 

Three students—Joe Moss, Mary Zelinski, and Jennifer Shin—had the privilege of playing for a masterclass with Diane Meredith Belcher later the same day. Belcher encouraged the students to do research about their pieces to provide context, and to practice piston changes, treating them as another note to learn. Working with Joe Moss on David Conte’s Soliloquy, she suggested conducting your own playing, breathing with the music, and attention to details to make the music come alive. With Jennifer Shin, who played Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, she recommended “skeletal” practice—playing only the strong beats to feel comfortable and insert rest into the process. For Mary Zelinski, who played the Grave from Vierne’s Symphonie V, Belcher recommended having your physical motions match the mood of the piece, and for romantic music, pushing through long notes and dwelling on shorter notes. Belcher also spent time talking about making sure you are grounded on the organ bench, using Wilma Jensen’s maxim of being able to bend and touch your nose to the keyboard without falling forward. She also suggested applying techniques from Feldenkrais movement to organ playing.

Monday performances

Late Monday afternoon, we returned to Hill Auditorium to hear Andrew Earhart, a fifth-year student pursuing degrees in organ performance and naval architecture and marine engineering, perform Petr Eben’s monumental The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart, for organ and speaker. Eben’s final and largest organ work, it is a fourteen-movement musical allegory, originally improvised during an organ festival in Melbourne, Australia, in 1991. The work was inspired by a 400-year-old book, written by a Czech bishop named Comenius, which fascinated Eben. The book is a sort of Pilgrim’s Progress, relating the experiences and final redemption of a traveler encountering various people and situations. Eben says, “the whole atmosphere of the text is not an idyllic stroll through the world but a bitter, satirical, bizarre, and sometimes almost apocalyptic view of the world—and such is the character of the music.” 

Despite Eben’s description, the music is basically tonal, though certainly full of chord clusters, spiky melodies, strident reed sounds, and sharp contrasts. The fanfare-filled prologue introduces some of the work’s musical themes, which are taken from chorales from Komensky’s Amsterdam Cantional. Excellent and emotive narration by Malcolm Tulip of the theater department helped bring the story to life. At about 80 minutes in length, the work is certainly taxing for the organist. Earhart ably handled the voluminous score, truly engaged in the music, and played with conviction and passion. 

Prior to James Kibbie’s performance Monday evening, I spoke with several people who had heard him perform the same repertoire in Grand Rapids and Detroit recently, and to a person, could not wait to hear the program again. Kibbie did not disappoint. His exquisite playing, from memory, provided no obstacles to a pure musical experience, and the thrill of hearing a performer completely absorbed in the music was a true delight. Kibbie is absolutely at home with the selections of Alain and Tournemire that comprised the concert. Alain’s sonorities are refreshing and light-infused, and hearing six of his works in succession was enlightening. The program began with the Première and Deuxième Fantasies, succeeded by the Première and Deuxième Preludes Profanes. The serene Postlude pour l’office de complies was followed by a dramatic rendering of Litanies to round out the first half. Kibbie’s tempo for Litanies was torrentially fast and frantic, but clear and crisp. He achieved Marie-Claire Alain’s directive that “this piece must be played with great rush.”

As with the Alain works, it was satisfying to hear Tournemire’s Cinq Improvisations all in one sitting, offering the listener insight into Tournemire’s style and idioms as an improviser. The Petite rapsodie improvisée sparkled and the Cantilène improvisée featured the organ’s sweet flute sounds. The improvisations on the Te Deum, Ave Maris Stella, and Victimae Paschali were declamatory and heroic in contrast, with the perfectly paced Victimae Paschali the most striking of the three. Again, Kibbie proved himself at one with the music, giving an authoritative performance, absolutely assured and stunningly played.

Tuesday lectures

Tuesday morning sessions were held in the lovely Assembly Hall in the Rackham Building, which was built in 1935 in Art Deco style. Departing from his usual organ music appreciation session often peppered with sonic curiosities, Michael Barone began with an overview of the most recent Pipedreams tour—Historic Organs of Poland—which took place in June 2015. His photo travelogue also included recordings of some of the instruments the group visited. Many of the instruments have beautifully ornate organ cases with gold leaf and intricate carvings, some still housing the original instrument and some now fronting new instruments. There is a wealth of information about this tour and the instruments visited on the Pipedreams website (see pipedreams.publicradio.org, “Polish Memories”).

Following Barone’s travelogue, Brooks Grantier gave a wonderful lecture, “Cornflakes and Cornopeans: the Collaborations, Collusions, and Collisions of W. R. Kellogg and E. M. Skinner.” His talk focused on the people, personalities, and relationships involved with buying and building organs, based on correspondence from the Kellogg Foundation Archives. Grantier established the scene by relating the tale of W. K. Kellogg’s older brother, who ran a sanitarium in Battle Creek, which became world famous for promoting healthy living. W. K. was the financial manager, discovering corn flakes by accident when some wheat paste was left out overnight. Kellogg refused to market the new “cornflakes” beyond the sanitarium. Following C. W. Post’s theft of the recipe and subsequent success with Post Toasties and Grape Nuts, W. K. Kellogg started his own business, out-marketing Post selling cereal and becoming tremendously successful with the Kellogg Company. 

Having built a lovely home in Battle Creek, Kellogg—not a musician, but a faithful church attendee—sought a house organ. Professor Edwin Barnes, who lived next door, recommended E. M. Skinner to build the house organ. It was to be the finest player organ in the country, fully automatic, and one of the largest house player organs Skinner built. Kellogg also helped fund instruments for the Presbyterian and Catholic churches in Battle Creek, contingent upon them being built by Skinner. When he purchased a home in Pomona, California, Kellogg had Skinner build another house organ there. He also funded the large Aeolian-Skinner organ (four manuals, 72 ranks) in Kellogg Auditorium in Battle Creek, completed in 1933 and designed by E. M. Skinner. This project helped keep Aeolian-Skinner afloat during the Great Depression. Lively, spirited correspondence between Kellogg, William Zeuch, and E. M. Skinner provided insight into the wrangling and strong opinions that were part and parcel of the interactions among these three men. Brooks Grantier is an engaging and entertaining lecturer, and the fascinating tale of Kellogg and Skinner made for delightful listening. He closed by noting that E. M. Skinner died in financial hardship with his work repudiated, while Kellogg died in comfortable circumstances, known for his unparalleled philanthropy.

After lunch, Elizabeth McClain, graduate student in musicology, shared some of her dissertation research in the session “Messiaen’s Pre-war Organ Works: Organist, Theologian, and Non-Conformist,” illuminated through a study of L’Ascension and Les Corps Glorieux. She gave a detailed analysis of the organ works, but it was her commentary on neo-Thomism, neo-scholasticism, ressourcement, and non-conformism in Catholicism in the early twentieth century in France that provided the most insight into Messiaen’s music and world view. McClain asserted that Messiaen’s choice of style indicated his political leanings and discussed how he expressed the totality of human experience through the lens of spirituality, transcending the bounds of sacred and secular. Her rapid delivery made me long for the opportunity to read and digest her material, but her rigorous research is a great contribution to Messiaen scholarship.

Scott Hanoian, director of music and organist at Christ Church Grosse Pointe and conductor and music director of the University Musical Society Choral Union, offered a choral reading workshop at First Congregational Church. At Hanoian’s request, Cliff Hill (of Cliff Hill Music, a highly recommended and knowledgeable music supplier) selected a dozen recently published anthems, which he provided in complimentary packets for conference attendees. As Hanoian led the group in reading through the anthems, he offered suggestions on how to rehearse each piece and when it might be useful. 

Tuesday performances

Kola Owolabi played a program of interesting works on Tuesday afternoon at Hill Auditorium. He began with Fantasia on Sine Nomine by Craig Phillips, a very attractive set of continuous variations, featuring Phillips’s characteristic rhythmic gestures and irregular meters, transformation of themes, and piquant harmonies. The sixth and final variation is a fugue on the opening phrase of the tune, which morphs into toccata figuration to close the work. Bairstow’s Sonata in E-flat, the largest of his thirteen organ works, followed. It employs the full dynamic range of the organ and typically English solo sounds. The first movement has a wandering, pastoral melody, while the second, in stark contrast, is energetic with fanfare-like figures played on a solo Tuba. The third movement, a fugue, is in the form of an elevation—starting softly and calmly, increasing in energy and volume, then ebbing away.

Owolabi began the second half of the program with the rousing Concert Piece in the Form of a Polonaise by Lemare, a bombastic crowd-pleasing work. Next up was Capriccio by Polish composer Mieczyslaw Surzynski. This work is the first movement of Surzynski’s Ten Improvisations, published in 1910. It is romantic in style, with some striking harmonies. Calvin Hampton’s Three Pieces rounded out the concert. “Prayers and Alleluias” is reminiscent of Dupré’s Cortège and Litanie, employing a similar form. “In Paradisum” pays homage to Alain’s Le Jardin Suspendu, while “Pageant” takes cues from both Alain and Mathias. Owolabi’s playing throughout the program was polished and assured. He performs with nonchalance and ease, which allows the music to speak without the performer getting in the way. This was a polished, enjoyable program of refreshing and not often heard works.  

Before the evening concert, Tiffany Ng played a carillon concert consisting of works composed in the last eight years, including two world premieres. Ng has joined the Michigan faculty as assistant professor of carillon and university carillonist. Young and enthusiastic, Ng brings a strong interest in contemporary music and innovative approaches to carillon concerts. She has pioneered models for interactive “crowd-sourced” performances. While in California, she arranged for the collection of data from the Hayward seismic fault, ocean levels, and climate change, which involved hundreds of people sending in information. The data was translated into a musical score, which she sight-read for a concert. She says, “Now that we no longer need the unilateral time-keeping function of the carillon, I like to have a conversation with the audience.” She hopes to initiate collaboration with the engineering school just across north campus and adjacent to the Lurie carillon. A new outdoor gathering area surrounding the area currently under construction has the potential to provide a built-in audience for collaboration. Additional carillon music was heard the previous evening, played by Dennis Curry, carilloneur of Oakland University and Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills.

Diane Meredith Belcher’s concert attracted the largest audience of the conference events, attesting to her stature as an internationally renowned performer. She began her program with Passacaglia on a Theme by Dunstable, composed by one of her teachers, John Weaver. A powerful and well-written work on the Agincourt Hymn, Belcher played it with rhythmic tautness, seamless transitions, and passion. Belcher dedicated Franck’s Prière to victims of gun violence in the United States, particularly children and families. Her music slid to the floor as she got on the bench, and in unflappable style she quipped, “I’ll be a minute.” Though her tempo was a bit deliberate, from the outset she established a long flowing line, sometimes conducting with her arms. The Hill Auditorium organ provided the requisite beautiful sounds, and though she played with much conviction, the piece remained earthbound, lacking in ecstatic fervor at its climax. She was very much in her element in the Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor, however, playing with subtle yet crystal clear articulation, absolutely at ease.

The second half of the program included three movements from Messiaen’s Les Corps Glorieux—“Force et agilité des Corps Glorieux,” “Joie et clarté des Corps Glorieux,” and “Le Mystère de la Sainte-Trinité.” Belcher performed them with precision and clarity. She closed the program with Organ, Timbrel, and Dance by German composer Johannes Matthias Michel. “Swing Five,” based on the chorale Erhalt uns Herr, borrows rhythm from Dave Brubeck’s jazz classic Take Five, while the “Bossa Nova” (based on Wünderbarer König) is typical of that genre, although its harmonies are quite conventional. The “Afro Cuban,” using the tune In Dir Ist Freude, is largely a toccata based on rhythms borrowed from Bernstein’s “America” from West Side Story. The rhythmic gestures in these pieces, which Belcher handled well, bring them into the realm of jazz, but the tonal palette, though sprinkled with bluesy chords, is too vanilla to fully enter the style. The set of three energetic pieces made for a fun and unexpected end to an excellent concert, though, and a rousing close to the conference.

Kudos to conference administrator Colin Knapp (also a member of the “20 under 30” Class of 2015), who does an excellent job keeping on top of all the conference details, making sure things run smoothly, and thanks to the Michigan Organ Department faculty for collaborating to continue offering the conference.

Baylor University, Waco, Texas, January 24–26, 2016

Jeffrey Schleff is a retired school administrator and career church musician who currently enjoys playing the 1991 3-manual, 28-rank Möller pipe organ, Opus 11812, at the First Presbyterian Church in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Jeff and his wife, Rita, made the transition from Illinois to southern Oklahoma in 2015.

The Twenty-Second Robert and Joyce Jones Midwinter Organ Conference in Waco, Texas, brought together a stellar line-up of performers and presenters to commemorate the centennial of Max Reger’s death (1873–1916). Featured speakers and performers included Christopher Anderson, associate professor of sacred music, Southern Methodist University; Michael Barone, senior executive producer and host of Pipedreams; Isabelle Demers, organ professor and head of the organ department, Baylor University; Joyce Jones, professor emerita of organ, Baylor University; Jens Korndörfer, director of worship and the arts, and organist at First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia; Raúl Prieto Ramírez, organist-in-residence at Sursa Concert Hall and faculty member, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana; and the Baylor organ department.

Sunday, June 24

The conference began on Sunday afternoon on the Baylor University campus. After an organ recital by Sam Eatherton, Mitchell Won, and Jillian Gardner, students of Isabelle Demers, a special PipeDreams Live! concert was hosted by Michael Barone.

A number of Baylor student musicians including members of the Baylor University Chamber Singers were joined by Korndörfer, Ramírez, Demers, Jones, and Barone himself, playing the Melodia in B-flat Major from Nine Pieces for Organ, op. 129. Larger Reger works heard on the program were the Introduction and Passacaglia in D Minor, played by Baylor graduate student Jillian Gardner; Phantasie über ‘Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn,’ rendered by Ramírez; and Isabelle Demers’ impressive offering of the Fuge in E-Dur from Zwölf Stücke für die Orgel, op. 65. The 92-rank, four-manual Petty-Madden organ sang forth in the massive, albeit not overly reverberant Jones Concert Hall.

Monday, June 25

Monday and Tuesday featured six concerts and an array of workshops and presentations. Monday’s activities opened with a lecture/recital by Isabelle Demers on the two-manual, 17-rank mechanical action Travis Johnson Memorial Organ, built by Fratelli Ruffatti in 1972. Demers showcased selections from the 30 Small Chorale
Preludes, op. 135a and the 52 Easy Chorale Preludes, op. 67. The chromatic charm and unexpected surprises identified by Demers and found in larger Reger works are also available to us as church musicians through these relatively short and accessible settings.

Joyce Jones, professor emerita, established Baylor as an important center for organ study for a 43-year period beginning in 1969, as it continues to be today. For this conference, she provided a stimulating program featuring works by Karg-Elert, Rheinberger, and Reger, concluding with the Sonata on Psalm 94 by Julius Reubke. Before the program began, Jones spoke with pride about the Higginbotham Memorial Organ in Roxy Grove Hall, having been inaugurated on February 13, 1972, the same day as her birthday! At that time and for some time thereafter, this instrument was the largest organ between Fort Worth and Houston and the recital venue for noteworthy organists.

Jones’s command of the three-manual, 62-rank Ruffatti was indeed noteworthy, bringing a broad sweep and grandeur to the Reubke. Jones was joined by Kristin Mortenson, violin, and Doris DeLoach, oboe, on three charming miniatures by Rheinberger, Reger, and Karg-Elert respectively. The Rheinberger Elegie was simply enchanting; Mortenson’s deeply resonant tone and expressive, lyrical solo lines made this piece a delight, while Jones proved the always-sensitive accompanist throughout.

An afternoon concert by the award- winning German-born organist Jens Korndörfer took place in the Paul Powell Chapel at Truett Theological Seminary, situated on the Baylor campus. The Létourneau organ (III/50 rank, electro-pneumatic action) was an impressive instrument in a less-than-desirable room; carpeting and padded pews were just two features that diminished reverberation. Nevertheless, Korndörfer brought musicality and scholarship to his program. After Korndörfer’s own arrangement of the slow movement from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a pair of transcriptions by Lemare followed, including On the Beautiful Blue Danube, op. 314, unusually placed as the concert’s finale.

It was exciting to hear Reger’s Introduction and Passacaglia in D Minor, Reger’s arrangement of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Minor, BWV 867, and the Muffat Passacaglia, the only piece that was restricted in both registration and manual changes. A highlight in this program was Maurice Duruflé’s reconstruction (from repetitive and tedious auditions of a 78 rpm recording) of Charles Tournemire’s Chorale-Improvisation sur le ‘Victimae paschali.’

Christopher Anderson’s research has centered on early musical modernism, modern German history and philosophy, the organ’s position in Western culture, and Max Reger. His first lecture centered on Reger: the man, the musician, the composer, and his challenges. He spoke of Reger as the epitome of the industrial revolution in Germany in the late 19th century: as the economy, production, and expectations of Germans grew, so did the excesses in chromaticism and scope in Reger’s music. He informed his audience that Reger was criticized by two different “camps” during his lifetime, being accused by some music critics as being too much of a conservative, while accused of being too much of a modernist by others.

Anderson suggested the best way to receive Reger’s music is to recognize that his musical materials were familiar to his contemporaries but his manipulation of the materials is far from what one would expect. A recommendation was made to listen to what the composer offers in his own unique way, while not focusing or comparing his output to other noteworthy composers. Anderson stressed the unfortunate neglect of Reger in our country, especially his non-organ music; he praised the beauty and craftsmanship of Reger’s chamber music. 

Michael Barone offered a provocative session, “Max Reger on Record: A Listener’s Guide to the Ups and Downs of Reger Recordings and Performance Practice over the Past Century.” His presentation was a series of observations and reflections about recorded Reger. Among the observations was that not many British organists played Reger, even though their organs were well suited to Reger’s repertoire. Barone offered high praise for the recent recordings of Chorale Fantasies by Isabelle Demers on the Acis label.¹ The session concluded with Weinachten, op. 145, no. 3, composed near the end of Reger’s life. 

The final event on Monday was a program given in Jones Concert Hall by Raúl Prieto Ramírez. After an interesting rendition of the second Sonata by August Ritter, he diverted from the printed program by offering up Pièce Héroïque by César Franck instead of Clérambault’s Suite du Premier Ton. Ramírez rendered the piece with both the weight and passion reflected in the printed score. 

Ramírez spoke to the audience throughout the program. For example, he explained and demonstrated how fugal subjects need not always be assuming and spectacular—for example, the inauspicious opening of Bach’s fugue that follows his Prelude in D Major, BWV 532. It is clear from Ramírez’s comments to the audience, as well as those to students who performed for him the next day in a masterclass, that he is an exciting musician, an engaging communicator, and one who has exuberance for the King of Instruments. For his playing of the Fantasy on the Choral ‘Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn’ he reminded everyone to “settle back into one’s seat to best take all of the notes in!” His concert concluded with an arrangement of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514 (“Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke”). 

Tuesday, June 26

Tuesday morning began with an outstanding performance by Isabelle Demers. The marriage of her most impressive technique, attention to detail, and high musicality to the Létourneau organ (1993, III/39, mechanical action) in the Markham Organ Studio resulted in a blessed union, indeed. The instrument was highly responsive to the exacting touch and articulation offered by Demers. This all-Reger program featured the playful and attractive Six Trios, op. 47, the Improvisation from Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, op. 60, and the jubilant Fantasy on the choral ‘Hallelujah! Gott zu loben, bleibe meine Seelenfreude,’ op. 52, no. 3. 

The spiritual if not always musical kinship between J. S. Bach and Herr Reger was featured by two very satisfying and interesting arrangements by Reger: the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903, and Five Inventions from the Two-Part Inventions by Bach. As with the Six Trios by Reger, the featured inventions (No. 1 in C Major, No. 4 in D minor, No. 5 in E-flat Major, No. 6 in E Major, and No. 8 in F Major) offered a transparent side of Reger not always encountered. I think those in attendance could have listened to Isabelle Demers for the rest of the day!

Jens Korndörfer presented an engaging session about transcriptions and arrangements, based in part on his dissertation research. Discussion considered more literal transpositions (“academic”), transpositions/arrangements with a “personal touch” added by the arranger (akin to Reger’s settings of Bach), and those for pure showmanship. Korndörfer’s presentation was very carefully planned with PowerPoint slides and other preparations.

Christopher Anderson’s second session of the conference focused much more squarely on Reger’s organ works. Nevertheless, Anderson does a remarkable job in revealing information about compositions “in context,” allowing for greater insights by those in attendance. He shed light on the relationship between Reger and his music critics. Anderson also spoke of the co-dependent relationship between Reger and famed organist Karl Straube. It is clear that Anderson has been and continues to be captivated by Reger, both as a scholar as well as an organist.

After the Ramírez masterclass, some time was planned for conference attendees to play any of the campus instruments—very thoughtful. And after that, Joyce Jones hosted a reception at her home for performers, presenters, and attendees—very hospitable!

Congratulations are extended to Dr. Demers, Dr. Jones, the Baylor music students (oh, how well they played and sang) and Baylor students in general (who were, without exception, polite and well mannered) on a conference very well done! And a special “thank you” is in order for the administration and leadership of Baylor University for establishing the Midwinter Organ Conference 22 years ago and for providing the resources for the fine organ program at Baylor.

In a conversation with a veteran organist in attendance, I was informed that he has been coming to this conference year after year after year. He said the conferences are always different in focus, and always “top-notch.” This year’s informative and enjoyable conference was no exception!

Notes

1. The Chorale Fantasias of Max Reger, Acis APL01901 2 CDs, including Reimann: Chorale fantasia Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (1895); Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 1024, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Amarillo, Texas; also The new and the old—l’ancien et le nouveau, Acis APL 42386; works by Bach, Prokofiev (arr. Demers), and Reger; 67-stop Marcussen & Son organ, Chapel of St. Augustine, Tunbridge School, Kent, U.K.

Church Music in the United States, 1760–1901: Essays by David W. Music and Paul Westermeyer. St. Louis: MorningStar Music Publishers in partnership with the Center for Church Music, Concordia University, Chicago, 2014. ISBN 978-0-944529-63-8. 311 + xv pp. Bibliography and index; musical specimens. Softbound, $24.95;
www.morningstarmusic.com.

This is an important book. It started out in 1996 as an ambitious project designed to involve multiple writers contributing to a comprehensive history of church music on the North American continent. Noted Bach scholar Robin Leaver was to be editor. As sometimes happens in such schemes, a series of minor catastrophes seemed to undermine its progress: the scope of the project expanded into a multi-volume work requiring more contributors, more writing, and more rewriting and editing, just as funding was discontinued and some of the original writers slipped away. A decision was reached to abort the grand scheme and publish without delay the excellent essays already in hand. The two remaining author/editors clarify: “What you have before you does not purport to be in any sense a comprehensive history of church music . . . It is a set of essays, brief glimpses into some music and its background on a portion of the history
. . . ” They express the hope that the book “will add detail to the historical account, shed additional light on the subject, and stimulate others to pursue further study.” What we actually have before us is a stupendous achievement, a masterly treatment of an unwieldy subject, efficiently and attractively handled by two recognized scholars who are reliable experts. This book will prove indispensable to anyone involved with making music in an American church. 

Organization

The book falls into two divisions of six essays each. Part I: 1760–1861, is the work of David W. Music of Baylor University in Texas. Part II: 1861–1901 (Civil War and aftermath) is by Paul Westermeyer, professor emeritus of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. The essays are models of clarity and are easy to read, uncluttered with non-essentials. Coming from quite different denominational backgrounds, the authors provide some new and interesting data. 

Part I

The titles display the unfolding narrative. Essay 1, “American Psalmody in the Northeastern States and Canada,” shows how British Elaborate Psalmody came into the Colonies and was adapted and developed. The essay describes the original work of William Billings (1746–1800) and discusses church music practices in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Two famous 18th-century Moravian organ builders are saluted: Johann G. Klemm and David Tannenberg built excellent instruments for many churches that otherwise would have had to import organs from abroad. The music of the Moravians is hailed for its unique quality and high standard, both instrumental and vocal. However, its insularity (Bethlehem, Lititz, and Nazareth in Pennsylvania, and Salem in North Carolina) limited its influence. Few other churches followed their lead. 

Essay 2 moves the story south. “American Psalmody in the Southeastern States” introduces shape-note hymnody (“buckwheat” notes) with William Walker’s 1835 Southern Harmony and folk traditions in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. Wealthy Charleston is singled out for the active presence of organist Theodore Pachelbel, son of German composer Johann Pachelbel, at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church between 1740 and 1750. The first organ in the South was installed there in 1728. In 1768, neighboring St. Michael’s Church imported an organ by famous English builder Johann Snetzler. The instrument remained in service until the 20th century. 

Essay 3 takes up camp meeting hymnody, a response to early 19th-century revivalism during the Great Awakening, which had reached rural areas with few established churches (Kentucky, Tennessee, parts of Ohio, and places further west and south). Examples of the rich hymnody are provided: Promised Land, Shouting Song, and Sweet Canaan. Music of the Shakers (“Shaking Quakers”), Mormons, and Adventists is described before moving on to Urban Revivalism. The Second Great Awakening seems to have begun at Yale College in 1802 with the preaching of Timothy Dwight, Nathaniel Taylor, Lyman Beecher, and Asahel Nettleton. Influenced by the Age of Reason, these divines countered strict Calvinism’s rigid separation of “saved” (elect) from “damned” by allowing for a measure of human free will in response to divine will. This theological distinction is ably explained. Characterized by “protracted meetings” and restrained revival preaching (as exemplified by Charles Finney), usually held in town churches, it contrasted with rural evangelistic efforts. The proliferation of printed songbooks is described with actual proper titles, compilers’ names, and pertinent dates (normally frustratingly elusive). The Sunday School movement generated its own hymnody for children, an analysis of which concludes the chapter. 

Essay 4 deals with the important struggle for reform in the quality of music performed in American churches. Dr. Music lays out in clear detail the need for reform: the music of ill-trained American composers was “rough and uncouth” by European standards, essentially secular in nature, utilizing “vigorous dance-like rhythms that were entertaining but hardly promoted a devotional frame of mind” (pp. 90–91). Two great names emerge: Thomas Hastings of New York and Lowell Mason of Boston. In Boston the Handel and Haydn Society was formed in 1815 to put in practice high ideals of church music. These ideals are succinctly stated in six cardinal points by Mason in an 1826 public lecture:

(1) Church music must be simple, chaste, correct, and free of ostentation; (2) The text must be handled with as much care as the music, each must enhance the other; (3) Congregational singing must be promoted; (4) Capable choirs and judiciously used instruments, particularly the organ, are indispensable aids to services; (5) A solid music education for all children is the only means of genuine reform in church music; and (6) Musicianship per se is subordinate to facilitating worship. (p. 98) 

Do these 200-year-old principles seem now irrelevant, worn-out, and false? Who would dare to mention them at our denominational church music conferences and commercially driven workshops of the last half-century? 

Essay 5, “Antebellum Catholic Sacred Music,” reveals that at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Roman Catholics were concentrated in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The French Revolution (1789) had diverted many French clergy to America, giving a decidedly Anglo-French, upper-class cast to American Catholicism. But by mid-century that changed with successive waves of Irish Catholic immigrants escaping famine. In sum, “the relatively small numbers of Roman Catholics in the early years, the variety of nationalities and languages represented, the indigence of many immigrants, and ignorance of the Catholic heritage of church music combined to inhibit the development of comprehensive Catholic church music programs before the Civil War” (p. 110). English native William C. Peters (1805–66) is identified as a significant composer and publisher of Catholic church music at the time in Cincinnati.

Essay 6, “Choral, Solo, and Organ Music of the Period,” surveys antebellum categories of choral music, namely psalm and hymn tunes, fuging tunes, and anthems/set-pieces (American composers avoided the larger forms such as cantata and oratorio). The contribution of Moravian anthem composers is stressed as standing apart from Northeastern psalmodists and Southeastern shape-note composers. The Moravian anthem was a three- to five-minute choral work accompanied by strings and organ, consisting of two choral sections separated by an orchestral interlude, with an instrumental introduction and coda. The first such work written in America was by Jeremias Dencke for a Moravian synod meeting in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It seems American churches made little use of vocal solo singing except in anthems, but here again the Moravians were an exception. They developed two types of solo song, the Geistliches Lied (spiritual song) and the sacred aria, popularly used in the home. Johannes Herbst (1735–1812) composed over 225 such solos for the girls’ school at Lititz, of which he was principal. The more complex sacred aria was often performed in the Moravian love-feast. Very little Moravian music for organ has come down to us because organs were scarce and most organists were expected to improvise in the service. “Even the Moravians, who held the organ in high repute,” concludes Dr. Music, “apparently considered it to be primarily an accompanying instrument” (p. 140).

The casual reader can have little awareness of the Herculean effort in research required to produce these informative essays. David Music has seemingly unearthed every pamphlet and book, every scrap of printed music and texts rescued and preserved from the Colonial era and just beyond. He has painstakingly studied these treasures and given us six non-technical essays that brilliantly and genially illuminate the antebellum period in the history of American church music. 

Part II

In Part II, Paul Westermeyer picks up the narrative from the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 to the end of the century in 1901. In the first paragraph of Essay 7, “Revivalism, Sunday School and Gospel Hymns, African-American Song,” he summarizes the stupendous technological progress achieved in America after 1861. Church music reflected optimistic attitudes, and revivalism gathered new steam. To describe its growth as a straight evolution from Civil War songs to ragtime, however, is too simplistic. H. Wiley Hitchcock distinguished two parallel streams of music in the era: “cultivated” (requiring effort and valued for edification) and “vernacular” (less self-conscious and valued for utility or entertainment) (Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction, 1969, 43-44). Westermeyer refines Hitchcock’s two broad streams by isolating seven disparate musical cultures: (1) African-American song; (2) shape-note hymnody; (3) Gospel hymnody; (4) more ecumenical perception of congregational song; (5) performance mentality; (6) congregational and choral participation with chant, polyphony, and the chorale as ideals; (7) Charles Ives as a symbol of the coming changes in 20th-century musical syntax. 

The essay begins with the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening (Dwight, Beecher, Cane Ridge, Kentucky, Nettleton, and Finney) and the reforms of Hastings and Mason, followed by the Sunday School hymnody of Bradbury and Bliss, with Van Horne, Harbaugh, and Philip Schaff representing liturgical and sacramental concerns of the Mercersburg Seminary, declining into the sweet Victorian nostalgia of Alice Nevin. The conflicts of Sunday school hymnody also affected Gospel hymnody, represented by Moody and Sankey and Fanny Crosby, among others. The Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, through its music department, gave institutional and instructional embodiment to Gospel hymnody.

A discussion of African-American congregational song completes the essay, including Harry Burleigh, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Richard Allen and his AME hymnal (“wandering choruses”), and Black Gospel’s affinity with ragtime, blues, and jazz. 

Essay 8 describes the influence of Anglicanism (Oxford Movement) on American church music and the “Men and Boy Choir Movement.” This naturally involved the Episcopal Church in America but actually extended beyond that. Westermeyer uses the phrase “Oxford-Cambridge Movement” in recognition of two famous Cambridge undergraduates, John Mason Neale and Benjamin Webb, who founded a Cambridge Camden Society. They studied architecture and came to the conclusion that organs and choirs, which occupy architectural space, should be relocated. That led to placing choirs in the chancel area. The organ soon followed, often divided into two halves. John Keble began the associated Tractarian movement at Oxford in 1833 with a sermon on “National Apostasy,” followed by John Henry Newman’s published Tract for the Times, which defended apostolic succession. The Tractarian movement ended in 1841 with Newman’s Tract 90, intended to explain the 39 Articles in the manner of the Council of Trent! Controversy followed. The great achievement of the era was Hymns Ancient and Modern, which had focus and breadth and became the model of the modern English hymnal. In the United States, vested male choirs became popular—and controversial—when they began to wear liturgical stoles for adornment, challenging a prerogative of the clergy. Other denominations were caught up in the movement. Opposition in America came swiftly from a group of laymen in New Jersey, who demonstrated at the General Convention of 1868, proposing that clergy not be permitted to wear vestments except “surplice, stole, bands, and gown.” Further, “candlesticks, crucifixes, and super-altars so called, bowing, making the sign of the cross, the elevation of the elements of Communion, and incense” were also to be prohibited. No official action was taken then,
or subsequently. 

Essay 9 describes the use of trained soloists, professional quartets, and orchestras, at first in wealthy churches such as First Presbyterian, Chicago, but later in urban churches nationwide. The Gilded Age, after 1880, encouraged such development, which led to the adoption of a concert mentality in the performance of church music, contributing to the popularity of Handel’s Messiah performances. The early churches in America had volunteer choirs of laymen to assist the congregation’s singing; by 1880 the professional quartet or octet performed for the congregation. By then service lists in some churches sometimes listed the Sermon, “like one more performance.” In such churches the very repertoire used reflected a heavy dose of 19th-century Romanticism: Dubois, Gounod, Guilmant, Merkel, Shelley, and Tours.

An interesting section on pipe and reed organs of the era and their literature sheds light on the increasing sophistication of church music. The large and important Boston Music Hall organ of 1863, built by the Walcker firm of Ludwigsburg. Germany, established a new European model almost unknown here. Aided by the newly formed American Guild of Organists (1896), higher standards of music-making were attainable. Dr. Westermeyer conveniently names and gives concise biographical notes on every significant organist, composer, and organ-builder of the era, essential information sometimes hard to access quickly, even on Wikipedia. The essay closes with the founding of important schools of church music on which our churches greatly depend. 

Essay 10 returns us to “The Roman Catholic Experience,” described geographically and culturally: France and the Solesmes movement, motu proprio (1903) and Pope Pius X, the authoritative Liber Usualis, the German Caecilian Society (John Singenberger) as a competing movement, and Irish Catholics described in 1870 as the “Immense Irish Silence” because of their perceived aversion to musical performance at church (“The Mass does not need music,” was an oft-repeated comment). Music publishing, performance in the parish, monastery, and convent, and widespread congregational reluctance to sing hymns complete the 19th-century picture. 

Essay 11 revisits church music “out of the mainstream.” White spirituals, Moravians, Mormons, the two German Confessional Renewal groups, Mercersburg German Reformed, and the Lutherans are described. A short sketch of the enigmatic contribution of Charles Ives, who challenged 19th-century musical assumptions and anticipated a 20th-century soundscape, brings the chapter to a climax. Recognizing the dilemma caused by his church music and his Danbury congregation’s inability to comprehend it, he quit his church job! Westermeyer comments, “The nineteenth century not only supplied the twentieth century church and its musicians with a rich musical heritage, it also presaged difficult challenges” (p. 247).

Essay 12, “Representative Music of the Period, Time-Line, and Summary” is mostly statistical and useful for reference. Choirmasters and organists will find many familiar titles and composers displayed, from Amy Marcy Cheney Beach to John Zundel. A most valuable timeline is provided, beginning in 1857 and continuing through 1901, providing handy dates for every significant milestone in church music of the era. A one-page summary reiterates the sevenfold streams or cultures previously defined and announces that the era set the terms of debate on church music for both 20th and 21st centuries. The concluding bibliography is comprehensive, up-to-date, and extremely useful.

As the 19th century recedes daily into the mists of the dim past, we church musicians—especially young ones—need a concise but reliable reminder of its greatness. Its enormous influence on our own era cannot be denied, however much it may be in some quarters resented. This book of carefully wrought essays is the finest possible source currently available. Extremely easy to read, it should be found on every organ console and every choirmaster’s desk. ν

John Moore Bullard is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, brought up in Charlotte, where he was inspired by organist/choirmaster Eugene Craft, a student of Marcel Dupré in Paris. At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Bullard studied organ with Jan Philip Schinhan and earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature. At Yale University, he earned M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees (Biblical Studies) while serving as organist/director in local churches. In 1961 Bullard became Albert Outler Professor of Religion and College Organist at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, retiring in 2001 after 40 years.  For 65 years he continuously served mostly United Methodist Churches as organist/choirmaster. An active member of the American Guild of Organists since 1958, Dr. Bullard was elected dean of the Spartanburg chapter in 1965–67.

Noel Morse Beck has spent many years serving as organist and director of children, youth, and adult choirs in Presbyterian, Methodist, and Episcopal churches in the Muscle Shoals area of northwest Alabama. Through this experience, she has learned the inspiration and practical value of continuing education at events such as the Sacred Music Intensive Workshop, in order to develop and maintain excellence in music programs of small-to-medium size congregations. She had the good fortune of spending a year studying privately with Janette Fishell. Currently, Noel Beck is organist and choir director at Trinity Episcopal Church in Florence, Alabama.

Church musicians representing all regions of the United States, the Bahamas, and Canada gathered on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington for this year’s Sacred Music Intensive Workshop, June 5–9. There were more than 40 participants; the number was limited by design, so that each could receive personal attention, and all could develop camaraderie through learning and sharing ideas in both planned and informal settings. Some attendees had participated in prior years’ workshops; others experienced this inspiring and delightful event for the first time. All were attracted by the opportunity to study with the outstanding organ and choral faculty of the Jacobs School of Music.

This annual event was created by Janette Fishell, organ department chair, and Walter Huff, choral arts professor, both seasoned church musicians. Participants were allowed to design their own schedules throughout the week, choosing from lessons and lectures pertaining to organ, choral music, voice, and carillon. 

Experienced organists were given the opportunity to have two or more private lessons with Janette Fishell, Christopher Young, and Marilyn Keiser. Beginning organists studied with doctoral student Yukima Tatsuta. All of these master teachers were most generous with their time, making this feature a very popular part of the week’s activities. Available for practice and lessons were the C. B. Fisk, Inc., organs in Auer Hall and Alumni Hall, as well as numerous organs in the practice rooms of the Music Building. 

There was an outstanding opening concert, presented by the organ faculty. The program included works by Johann Sebastian Bach, William Albright, Dan Locklair, Louis Vierne, Gabriel Pierné, Henri Mulet, Benjamin Britten, Hisaishi/Wasaki, and César Franck. 

For those whose special interest was choral music, there were daily presentations by Walter Huff organized around the central theme: “Are we creating the ideal rehearsal/performance environment for our choristers?” Lecture and discussion sessions covered such topics as getting started rehearsing a new anthem; creating the optimum sound (pitch, tone, vowels); transforming a hymn into an anthem; effective choral warm-ups; implementing the Robert Shaw’s Count-Sing rehearsal technique; preparation of Handel’s Messiah, including the “Hallelujah Chorus.” There were also conducting practicums, a conducting masterclass, and choral reading sessions. Voice classes were offered, taught by IU graduate student Rachel Mikol.

All participants were invited to participate in Huff’s daily two-hour choir rehearsals, culminating in a closing concert on Friday evening. The program included the soaring lines of A Hymn to St. Cecilia, with music by Herbert Howells and text by Ursula Vaughan Williams; Earlene Rentz’s exuberant setting of On Jordan’s Stormy Banks; Stephen Paulus’s intimate The Road Home; a lyrical Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree by K. Lee Scott; Howells’s “Nunc Dimittis” (from the Collegium Regale service); and John Rutter’s Let all mortal flesh keep silence, which begins mysteriously and ends with majestic Alleluias. Participating organists were invited to accompany the anthems and the two congregational hymns. The closing concert also included organ selections performed by several of the week’s attendees, including works by Helmut Walcha, Dan Locklair, Raymond H. Haan, and Jehan Alain. One participant played his own composition. 

The intensive week also included presentations by the organ faculty. Christopher Young offered a lecture/demonstration dealing with styles of registration for the church organist. Janette Fishell, who cleverly titled her presentation “Achilles Heels and All Thumbs? Mastering technical problems and finding musical answers,” invited attendees to bring organ repertoire trouble spots, and demonstrated how to improve technique to solve challenging problems. Marilyn Keiser presented a most useful list of organ repertoire selections appropriate for both service and concert playing. There was also an informative presentation about understanding and maintaining the health of the pipe organ, presented by Patrick Fischer, Jacobs School of Music organ curator. 

Amy Hamburg Mead offered participants the opportunity to learn to play the school carillon. At week’s end, participants gave a charming noonday concert of hymn arrangements and other selections played on the carillon, enjoyed in the open air of the school amphitheater and the surrounding area. 

There were daily sessions on topics such as: Body/Mind/Spirit, focusing on maintaining the musician’s inner physical and spiritual health, including yoga practice, led by Beth Lazarus; and spiritual insights, led by Reverend Andy Cort. 

Lois Fyfe Music, of Nashville, Tennessee, provided an excellent “pop-up shop,” including organ music and resources useful to church musicians. The music shop also conducted a most useful anthem reading session.

The university campus provided great natural and architectural beauty. The city of Bloomington offered delectable eateries—from coffee and sandwich shops only a few steps from the music building, to restaurants and fine dining within a short walking distance, featuring farm-to-table, continental, Mid-Eastern, and Asian menus. Participants had a varied choice of housing: college dormitory, local hotels, and inns.

This was truly an excellent way to spend a week of continuing education. Many of those attending plan to make it an annual event.