A Choral Conference Reinvents Itself: 16th National Choral Conference, Princeton, New Jersey, September 24–26, 2009

“To embody music allows you to express the ineffable.” These words spoken by Therees Hibbard, featured clinician for this year’s conference, could easily have served as the conference’s motto. Indeed, embodiment of music was a primary theme of the 2012 National Choral Conference, which began amidst the deepening colors of a Princeton autumn. The 33-member Concert Choir, on risers with the rolling expanse of the Albemarle estate behind them visible through large French doors, began the opening rehearsal in its comfortable manner, although conference participants crowded into chairs, some sitting on the great staircase of the main hall of the school, as an American Boychoir rehearsal, typically devoid of artifice, unfolded. To experience the choir in concert is one thing, in recording another. Yet, to experience the nationally recognized choir in authentic rehearsals is altogether an experience unto itself, especially when the expressive quality of singing becomes subject to bodily motion.

Some regulars to this conference insist that the choir is the conference. Others are drawn to the eminent clinicians, interest sessions, and choral reading sessions. Binding the many strands of a National Choral Conference, however, is the thematic focus upon a particular consideration within the choral art. This year, matters kinesthetic—the relation of body, motion, movement through time and space, and its relationship to vocal production, interpretation and expression—were discussed and experienced. A particular manifestation of bodily motion in the service of the vocal art is called BodySinging: Developing Artistry in Choral Performance, and is the development and specialty of
Therees Hibbard.

Therees Tkach Hibbard is Associate Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Choral Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music. Her work as a movement specialist in the training of choral singers and conductors has created unique opportunities for her to work with choirs and collaborate with conductors from around the world. Her research on enhancing choral performance through movement training has most clearly been demonstrated through her work with the Oregon Bach Festival Youth Choral Academy, the St. Olaf Choir, and with the American Boychoir.

Those familiar with the work of Jaques-Dalcroze may both readily comprehend Hibbard’s work, as well as challenge what may make BodySinging particularly new or unique when compared to Jaques-Dalcroze’s own work in the field of Eurhythmics. Certainly, the incorporation of bodily kinesthetics as a vehicle towards greater musical expression is widely known, notable today in the work of Robert Abramson of the Juilliard School, and recognized as a tool for use within the choral rehearsal by Weston Noble, Andre Thomas, and others. 

Similar to the techniques utilized by these practitioners, the American Boychoir and conference participants were themselves challenged by Hibbard to literally step outside of their own comfort zones. Utilizing the space of a large gymnasium, choir and participants were put through a few of BodySinging’s paces. To the accompaniment of preselected recorded music, choir and participants, led by Dr. Hibbard, stepped forward in regular time, arms lifting steadily, coordinated with deep diaphragmatic breathing, followed by relaxation of the same, all movements ordered within the regular pulse of the music, followed by variations and transformations. 

This preliminary groundwork forms the basis for the BodySinging principles in their application to the study and supplementation of one’s own vocal work, individually or collectively. This was evident in Hibbard’s incorporation of BodySinging techniques within an open rehearsal of the choir. When, for example, Hibbard desired greater expressivity within a particular musical phrase, she demonstrated kinesthetically what the phrase could look like through her own highly expressive bodily motion. The choir, prompted by Hibbard, then mirrored this motion, followed by a re-execution of the phrase. 

Some conference participants responded to the resulting transformation with audible “ahhs” of affirmation. Hibbard explains, “I believe by moving to the music and allowing it to move you, you then can move others.” What makes Hibbard’s BodySinging unique is the specialization and extension of the Jaques-Dalcroze principles as they can apply to the mechanism of vocal production, and ultimately to a fuller realization of emotive possibility. For a full video presentation of Hibbard’s work and the BodySinging principles, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU57HMZwP8I.

As in past conferences, other clinicians presented offerings at this conference, including Helen Kemp, who made a welcomed return. Kemp’s many years of acumen and wisdom in the choral world, as well as her deep humanity, make her appearance at any conference a must see. Her presence was celebrated by unusually extended applause following her presentation entitled “Shaping the Future—One Generation to the Next.” James Litton, another figure of choral gravitas, and Director Emeritus of the American Boychoir, made an appearance with his talk, “Building a Comprehensive Choral Program: The Role of Children Singing.” Dr. Litton was the organization’s music director from 1985 to 2001. Fred Meads, Director of Vocal Studies of the American Boychoir, presented a talk on techniques of engaging in rehearsal the newer members to the school who sing in the school’s Training Choir. Meads exhibited particular gifts in this area in his abilities in training newer choristers. These techniques were demonstrated with enthusiasm in an open rehearsal of the Training Choir. Anton Armstrong, distinguished alumnus and conductor of the famed St. Olaf Choir, gave a talk on working with the developing singer. Lisa Eckstrom, Head of School, presented a talk on the value of arts in education, sprinkled with interesting and relevant data on the changing role of arts in education today. Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Director of the American Boychoir, utilized individual members of the choir in a presentation to effectively and concretely demonstrate the journey of the changing voice of the boy singer in an effective demonstration of this changing process.

At the conclusion of the last National Choral Conference, Malvar-Ruiz stated, “The next big step in my development as a musician is to embrace the paradigm of a choral ensemble in a 21st-century reality, a 21st-century society, a 21st-century culture” (see “The 16th National Choral Conference,” The Diapason, June 2010). Indeed, the American Boychoir takes a big step towards a new paradigm as choir and school take up residence in their new home at the newly created Princeton Center for Arts and Education (PCAE), formerly St. Joseph’s Seminary in Princeton. Founded in 1912 by the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentian Brothers) to train young men in the priesthood, the all-boys high school closed its doors in 1992. Since then, the Board of Trustees for the American Boychoir negotiated a long-term lease for the former seminary, whose facilities consist of an impressive set of gothic-revival buildings surrounded by over 45 acres of land. 

In the words of Chester Douglass, board chairman of the American Boychoir, the school has “gained a beautiful new campus with expanded facilities such as a gymnasium and a performance hall that were missing at Albemarle. But an equally exciting part of the plan from its beginning was to be the leading resident organization on a shared campus that emphasized the arts within an academic education. Accordingly, we have invited other schools and arts organizations to be part of a greater whole.” Those other two resident organizations include the Wilberforce School and the French American School of Princeton, also joining the campus. 

The buildings are to be occupied by the boys and the school as the American Boychoir continues to be one out of only two remaining choral boarding schools in the country (the other being St. Thomas Choir School, New York City, a mere 50 miles to the northeast). For information, go to www.americanboychoir.org.

In a sense, the conference had one foot set in the old school at the Albemarle campus, and the other foot set in the new. During a tour of the new campus conducted by Kerry Heimann, accompanist for the American Boychoir, participants were shown, in his words, the “crown jewel” of the new buildings: the resplendent chapel of the former seminary. The chapel boasts genuine and soaring gothic lines, collegiate-style choral stalls, and opulent acoustics, and will serve well as the long and much-needed regular venue for American Boychoir concerts when the choir performs at home. School and choir begin a promising new journey.

New facilities aside, what is an element that will secure the future and promise of the American Boychoir? In the words of Christie Starrett, General Manager of the American Boychoir, “What makes it special are the boys, without question, and there is a sense of community you cannot find literally anywhere else.”

September 18-20, 2003, College of New Jersey, Ewing

Domecq Smith is organist and choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church, Plainfield, New Jersey, director of the Plainfield Girlchoir, and teacher of music at Cook School, Plainfield. A Meet the Composer Grant recipient, his works for brass and organ are published by MorningStar. His article on Bach's Fantasy in G was featured in the November, 2001 issue of The Diapason. He is married and the father of three children.

The wind blew. The rains fell. The people sat in darkness. And there was luminous music. Thus were the simultaneous beginnings of two forces: the arrival of hurricane Isabel on the East Coast and the opening of the 15th National Choral Conference at The College of New Jersey. Hosted annually by the American Boychoir and focusing on the choral art of children's voices, this conference attracts participants chiefly for two reasons: one, the American Boychoir, principal resident choir for this conference; and, two, the internationally recognized clinicians who in open rehearsals and workshops are featured each year. Kari Ala-Pöllänen, conductor and artistic director of Finland's famed Tapiola Children's Choir gave the downbeat on Thursday evening, September 18, as featured clinician, while Isabel moved from sea to land. Thoughts of external events faded quickly, however, as the rehearsal beginning with Finnish works gathered momentum. Fading quickly, too, were the stage lights due to a hurricane-induced power outage leaving choir, Pöllänen, and participants in ethereal, overhead emergency lighting midway through the rehearsal. Continuing with Bach's Wir eilen mit schwachen doch emsigen Schritten, music and light transported the choir to conditions closer to Bach's own St. Thomas Church than before. Visual sense yielded to aural and the choir's sound became infused in luminous warmth. It was a moment that seemed to confirm the power that great vocal music has in creating light of its own. This premise was to be severely tested when without warning emergency lighting failed altogether, leaving 82 choristers, conductor, accompanist, and participants in absolute darkness. Pöllänen, totally unimpressed by this turn of events (what is darkness to a Finn anyway?), pressed forward, urging the choir to sing from memory to the end. With the restoration of lighting a few minutes later and concluding remarks having been made by conference manager George Swope, some hurried with diligent steps to the exits while light was still to be had, and disappeared deep into the wind- and rain-streaked night to their respective destinations.  So was the opening evening of the 15th National Choral Conference. There were to be more power outages the following morning, but the worst was over and the architectural feature of a large skylight just behind the risers on stage guaranteed some illumination at least for the following morning.

Held annually since 1988, the National Choral Conference attracts choral directors from across the country. The high caliber of the American Boychoir, featured clinicians, and workshops have made attendance at this conference a yearly event for many of the participants. Some past guest clinicians include Gerre Hancock, George Guest, Doreen Rao, Henry Leck, Anton Armstrong, and Andre Thomas among others.

Upon return to the music building the next day, participants had the opportunity to meet directors of children's choirs during continental breakfast before the first of two major rehearsals showcasing the American Boychoir and clinician. Joining the American Boychoir on stage were members of the Princeton Girlchoir (Janet Westrick, music director), who have become a regular presence at this conference. After opening remarks and introduction by Vincent Metallo, director of the American Boychoir, Pöllänen once again walked onto the stage and took the combined choir through several warm-up exercises. These sessions, despite their informality, perhaps reveal most what clinicians value in choral philosophy, sound, and the processes which they utilize to arrive at their desired objectives. Pöllänen in his manner with the choir seeks less to electrify through his own charisma than to subtly draw out the energy and personality which he recognizes to exist independently in each voice. "We encourage their own personal skills and personal way of singing," says Pöllänen in describing his philosophy as director of the Tapiola Children's Choir. "Their personal way of singing is their strength, but we are trying to develop it so that it is flexible. We give them a great deal of responsibility."

Pöllänen is a contrast to the megawatt incandescence of recent clinicians to this conference. He does possess the requisite gravitas of artistic conviction coupled with the power to motivate, yet his artistic influence upon the choir operates in a manner that may not be readily apparent--like the irresistible progress of a glacier--imperceptible at first, yet ultimately hewing out deeply a musical landscape.

The works Pöllänen selected for this conference, some being signature works of the Tapiola Children's Choir, are likewise full of musical landscapes. The sheer complexity of some gives an accurate picture of what the Tapiola Children's Choir is capable of, and this is where the common understanding of the term "children's chorus" and what is normally associated with them, ends. "Since the founding of the Tapiola Choir in 1963, a great number of Finnish and international composers have since collaborated with the choir," says Erkki Pohjola, founder of the Tapiola Children's Choir. "And so a quite new and artistically high level of repertoire has been born, completely devoid of all the stock 'music for children' mannerism." Two of the works in particular, Aglepta and Jaakobin pojat (see below for listing of conference repertoire), both highly avant-garde and expressive, utilize the full range of capabilities of the voice as an instrument. A more conventional work which deserves mention is the beautiful Water Under Snow Is Weary which uses an old familiar melody from Kalevala (the national epic of Finland), known by every Finn as the Kalevala tune. A work of exquisite colors and shades, one encounters in this music the rare expression of that which is totally unaffected, genuine, and serene.

The second day was built around workshops. Participants had to choose one class from four different topics for a morning session and similarly for an afternoon session. Topics dealt with vocal pedagogy, fundraising, choral repertoire, choral sound development, etc. The culmination of the conference was the final concert featuring both the American Boychoir and the Princeton Girlchoir in combined and separate offerings of conference repertoire. Following this was a tour of the American Boychoir School.

Vincent Metallo, now in his third year as director of the American Boychoir has this to say about the National Choral Conference. "I think this conference will be very helpful to anybody who's a music educator, anybody who's involved in church music, anybody who directs children or even adults because what will be provided for them will be an incredible opportunity to see different clinicians and staff of the American Boychoir work with boys and or possibly girls in rehearsal methods, techniques, and conducting techniques. It will give them new ideas, new ways to reach out to their children, new ways to build their program. There's so much that I think is provided at a conference like this."

As to the future of this conference, organizers plan to take the next year off to rethink what this conference should do. When asked to describe the 15 years of this conference, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, associate director of the American Boychoir and conference organizer called it "A beginning--the beginning of the National Choral Conference, and it's a cycle that has ended." According to Malvar-Ruiz, one can expect to see a different conference when the next one takes place, one that in his words will be focused more on "education and process than on result."

Midway through the conference, hurricane Isabel having subsided and the conference well underway, Pöllänen was kind to grant an interview. He spoke on a variety of topics ranging from the current state of music education in Finland to his early musical experiences. Here are some of his thoughts.

DS: What advice could you give to young choral directors today?

KA-P: How long of a lecture would you like to have?

DS: Could you perhaps say two things?

KA-P: It's very difficult to choose--there are so many things I could say, but first of all, I think they should have confidence in the children. I know many, many young conductors who have confidence mainly in themselves and perhaps, I hope, they have a basic idea of what they are doing. But they have to have confidence also in the children because the children can do much more than adults would otherwise believe. Just give them possibilities. Give them space to develop themselves. I think that is one very important thing which you have to do.

And the other important thing is that every children's choir conductor should analyze themselves. Why they are doing this work? Are they doing this for themselves? Are they using the children to make their own career or are they giving of themselves through their education? Many young conductors who perhaps have had a very good education approach their work in a very technical way. They don't think of it educationally. I think it is very important to realize that basically to conduct childrens' choirs is to educate--to give them a place to grow up. That makes a very big responsibility--very big--much more than in adult choirs, because if you have a good conductor of the children, you have with music the key to their souls. You can make a very big influence on them. And you have to know what you are doing and why, because if you do wrong things, that can influence them for the rest of their lives. Since they are children at that age, when they are in the children's choir, they accept and take many influences, good and bad. And what you can give them you have to give carefully. You have to consider very carefully the value of what you are teaching them. I think the music is not the main thing. I think the music is not the goal. It's a tool. It's a tool for education. And I think many conductors don't realize that. They just do the music and they are happy if it goes well and that's all. But the children receive from them many other things than musical things. And many young conductors, some older ones, too, don't realize that. They move many things through the children which are not very valuable. So, they have to analyze themselves--what they do, why they do this. I think that is very important.        

2003 National Choral Conference Repertoire List

The American Boychoir

Ave Regina Coelorum, Rheinberger

Psalm 150, David Willcocks

Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord, Moore

The Princeton Girlchoir

Tutira Mai, (Maori folksong), arr. Anthony Ritchie

Shine on Me, trad. spiritual, arr. Rollo

Music Down in My Soul, African-American spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan

Combined Choir

Water Under Snow Is Weary, Harri Wessman

The Land of Music, Ikka Kuusisto

Let It Shine, trad. spiritual, arr. Ala-Pöllänen

Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten, J.S. Bach

Aglepta, Arne Mellnas

Jaakobin pojat, Pekka Kostiainen

New faculty members, choral reading sessions, fellowship and more at this year's conference

The 63rd annual Sewanee Church Music Conference, directed by Robert Delcamp, president of the board and university organist at the University of the South, welcomed three ‘first-timers’ as music faculty this year: Richard Webster, Maxine Thévenot, and Edmund Connolly. The Reverend Barbara Cawthorne Crafton returned as chaplain, to the great delight of those privileged to hear her in 2011. Webster is director of music and organist at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. Thévenot and Connelly, in addition to their extensive performing and re-cording careers, serve as organist-choir director and assistant organist-choir director, respectively, at the Cathedral of St. John’s in Albuquerque. Reverend Crafton, author, counselor, and spiritual director, has served several churches. She heads the Geranium Farm, an institute for the promotion of spiritual growth.

The scope of the conference allows for many essentials: learning, worship, fellowship, spiritual enrichment, and the proverbial “re-charging of batteries.” This year’s gathering accomplished all this and more. In the first rehearsal, Webster took the 138 singers through all the music to give them a taste of what was in store, while getting acquainted with the ensemble at his disposal.

On Tuesday evening, the annual Gerre Hancock Concert was presented by Thévenot and Connolly in All Saints Chapel. Thévenot played Marcel Dupré’s Placare Christe Servulis from Le Tombeau de Titelouze, op. 38, Sweelinck’s variations on Ballo del Granduca, and selections by Bruhns, Hampton, Messiaen, McNeil Robinson (Homage to Messiaen), and Phillip Moore. The inclusion of Gerre Hancock’s Air was most fitting, as many of those present personally knew of his long-time relationship with the conference. Thévenot showed sensitive accompanying skills on three songs by Hugo Wolf offered by Connolly; Vaughan Williams’s beloved “The Call” was a perfect match for his expressive baritone voice. Thévenot concluded with Vierne’s Carillon—the pulse of the piece could have set the carillon in the Shapard Tower above tolling.  

Choral reading sessions were spaced throughout the week: Richard Webster, Alvin Blount, and Peggy Lyden shared proven winners from their own church programs, with anthem packets provided by Elizabeth Smith of Lois Fyfe Music. A highlight of the conference is the presence of this store on campus all week for browsing, professional advice, and conviviality of shoppers. Mark Schweizer of St. James Press previewed its latest collection, and Maxine Thévenot presented organ music from her native Canada.

Long-time attendee Richard Moore offered two workshops on the use of computer programs especially geared towards the work of church musicians. To judge from the overflow crowd he drew, this was obviously filling a need for many.

The popular and invaluable “Episcopal Basics” class offered by School of Theology faculty member Susan Rupert now includes “Singing the Altar Book” and “Liturgical Planning”—pertinent topics whether one is serving a small parish or a cathedral.

While the primary focus of the music faculty is the rehearsal and performance of literature at the two main liturgies, each offered sessions on various topics. Thévenot gave a thorough and excellent overview of hymn-playing skills, demonstrating such with attendees Bill Bane, Parks Greene, and Richard Mangiagli. In her organ masterclass, coordinated by Alvin Blount, players Tim Hall, Bill Bane, Jeffrey Ford, and Stanley Workman, Jr. were each allotted 30 minutes; this allowed in-depth observations by the clinician that could be beneficial to all. She shared background tidbits to illustrate reasons for approaching a piece in a certain way. 

Edmund Connolly’s well-received classes on vocal techniques were further integrated into the group rehearsals: at Webster’s invitation, Connelly oversaw warm-ups and made suggestions for dealing with specific issues throughout the week. Such displays of teamwork were noted positively by colleagues.

Choristers from St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville assisted Webster in his presentation entitled “The Joy of Doing REAL Music with Children.” The topic of composing and arranging drew about 35 who read through submissions conducted by attendees Mark Janus, Stephen Schalchin, Brennan Szafron, Stephen Casurella, and Kirby Colson. Webster facilitated feedback from the observers, with each composer receiving positive and insightful suggestions on their work. A workshop on choral conducting offered Eric Vinciguerra, Jennifer Stammers, Susan Yoe, and Mark Janus (all expertly accompanied by Dory Light) the chance to show their interpretation of Howells’s Like As the Hart. In addition to Webster’s comments, others made positive and useful observations, further showcasing the collegial aspect of this conference.  

Each year one looks to bring back some pearls of wisdom to share with one’s choir: a vocal warm-up, a conducting gesture for the clean release of a final ‘s,’ a catchy phrase to drive home a point—even a good joke! Webster’s rehearsals contained many such gems, generously and respectfully shared. Later in the week, on a more personal note, he told his story of being present at the Boston Marathon when the bombings occurred, only two months previously (see The Diapason, October 2013, pp. 20–21).

The Reverend Barbara Crafton was back as chaplain—truly by popular demand! Besides deeply spiritual insights, her talents in theater and music, among others, showed forth in her profound messages—choices of words, their delivery, timing, pacing, punctuated with delightful humor. Daily morning homilies were scripture-based, with everyday examples woven throughout. Glimpses of personal stories and musical knowledge obviously resonated with her listeners, including her image of the choir as a model for the world in its blend, ensemble, unity, harmony. In addition to using her voice as a preacher, she very capably served as Precentor at Evensong. Her presence at daily choral rehearsals was further evidence of her appreciation of the conference’s focus on liturgy. It was notable that, unlike some years, attendance at morning Mass did not decrease as the week went on! The titles of her four lectures alone enticed listeners to come and hear: The Music of the Spheres; A Tree Falls in the Forest; Nude Descending Staircase; The Also-Life.

The Missa Dorica by Webster was sung at daily Eucharists, with the Durham Mass by Daniel Gawthrop used once. Organ selections provided by Dr. Thévenot on the Rodgers organ in the small Dubose Chapel ranged from Buxtehude and Bach to Boëllmann, Langlais, and Messiaen. 

This year’s commissioned organ work—Variations on ‘Ubi Caritas’ by French-Canadian composer Denis Bédard—served as the prelude one morning, with the chant later sung at the Offertory. The work consists of three statements of the chant in contrasting styles and lasts six minutes—a useful and accessible setting. Thévenot also played it during Communion at the Sunday Eucharist in All Saints Chapel.

A carillon concert by John Bordley and the Reverend Raymond Gotko beckoned worshipers to Friday’s Evensong. Both retired college professors, each took up the field of campanology as a second career in recent years. 

Canticles by Edwardian composer Charles Wood (Collegium Regale in F) were complemented by Webster’s Anglican chant for Psalm 85 and his Preces and Responses in Mixolydian Mode (nicknamed “Web in Mix” by his own singers). The musical centerpiece of the liturgy was S. S. Wesley’s major work Ascribe Unto the Lord, an amalgamation of Psalm 96 and 115 written in 1851. Webster crafted descants for Bromley and St. Clement. His drilling of the singers on diction, precise rhythms, and tuning was rewarded. Thévenot concluded the service with Victor Togni’s exuberant Alleluia! (Five Liturgical Improvisations).

The use of modal tonality in Webster’s Missa Dorica brings a fresh element to music written with a congregation also in mind. As done in many places this year, Benjamin Britten’s centenary was acknowledged; his Festival Te Deum served as the Offertory anthem. Jennifer Stammers’s soprano soared over the chorus into one of the most beautiful endings in modern choral repertoire. George Herbert’s text “The Call” was heard this time in a sweet and accessible SATB setting by Harold Friedell. This further showed the range of difficulty presented each year in choral choices. Some, like the Britten, provide a venue for clinicians to teach techniques, while letting singers experience repertoire most could not otherwise perform. John Whitmer’s professional recordings of the liturgies not only serve archival purposes, but allow the musical experiences shared by the attendees to be heard by a much wider audience.

Special note is made of the various tasks—many behind the scenes—shared by attendees: John Hobbs and the Reverend Thomas Williams at the altar, Frolic producer Jennifer Stammers, among others. Bill Bane now joins the board of directors who oversee the planning and execution of the conference. Kim Terry Agee, director of the Dubose Center, announced her retirement after 25 years. Her presence will be greatly missed.

Faculty for the 2014 conference (July 14–20) will be Todd Wilson and Peter Conte, with Bishop J. Neil Alexander as chaplain. It was announced that Todd Wilson will become the conference director beginning in 2015, the 65th anniversary of the conference. Information can be found at www.sewaneeconference.org. 

Fiction in film

George Clooney has built quite a reputation for himself. His good looks, coy smile, and impressive acting skills have gained him millions of fans through his portrayal of Dr. Doug Ross in the television series ER, and he has starred in many movies. He has won a slew of awards, and he’s the only person to have been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories. But ask him to do a Boston accent, and he’s just another goofball. In the film The Perfect Storm, Clooney played the tough and ambitious captain of a fishing boat based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The tale was exciting and suspenseful, until the major characters were sitting quietly in a bar talking amongst themselves. When they tried to imitate the distinctive Bostonian “R’s” and “Aaaa’s,” all of us sitting in Boston theaters hooted. 

It was the same in Mystic River, in which Sean Penn and Laura Linney played a vindictive couple in Charlestown, Massachusetts. I once sat next to Laura Linney at a dinner at Brown University (I’ll not forget that blue suede dress), and I can tell you that in person she’s pretty special (and especially pretty), but in the film, her Boston accent was terrible, and Sean Penn’s was worse. Wendy and I lived in Charlestown at that time. It was fun to see our local neighborhoods and the building we lived in on the silver screen, but we never met anyone in town who spoke like that.

§

Dustin Hoffman was terrific in The Graduate playing a young man seduced by the wife of his father’s business partner, and in All the President’s Men, he was the epitome of an aggressive, ambitious investigative journalist. But he’s no choral conductor.

Hoffman stars in the 2014 film Boychoir. His character is Master Carvelle, the imperious musical director of an exclusive boychoir school, patterned closely after the renowned American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey. The fictional National Boychoir Academy is placed in New Jersey, and occupies a bucolic campus with faux-Gothic buildings. All of the boys in the fictional choir (except one, the character Stet) are played by actual members of the American Boychoir, and the daily routines of rehearsals, academics, and recreation in the two schools, both fictional and non-fictional, are very similar. 

But in those scenes when Master Carvelle is rehearsing the choir, the fiction is blatant. Hoffman probably imagines that he’s imitating a conductor’s downbeat. I’m sure he watched lots of conductors on film and had expert coaching, but each time he raised a baton, I smirked like a teenager. It’s worse than Clooney’s Boston accent. And as the choir sings, Carvelle struts about among them, shouting inspirational phrases, while his prig of an assistant, Drake, beats time with his chin high in the air. There can be no conductor alive with chops enough to lead an exclusive choir who would stand for an assistant beating time for even one second. What Hoffman’s Carvelle does get right is the persona of a strict teacher, who understands the responsibility of nurturing and caring for unusual talents. His dedication to the choir is complete.

As the film starts, we meet a boy named Stet, whose mother is an alcoholic prostitute, living near poverty in a tough small town in Texas. The principal of his school, Mrs. Steele (played by Debra Winger), recognizes that while Stet is a serious troublemaker, he has a special musical gift, and she arranges for the National Boychoir to perform at her school. She tells Carvelle of Stet’s gift and he agrees to audition him, but Stet takes one look and bolts. In the same sequence, Stet’s mother is killed in a traffic accident. We meet his father, Gerard, at the funeral—a wealthy venture capitalist whose brief fling made him an unwilling father, but Mrs. Steele convinces him to take Stet to the school in New Jersey. Gerard doesn’t want the story known, and Mrs. Steele has him firmly by his weakness.

Carvelle insists that they don’t accept students who are unprepared, but Gerard’s able checkbook convinces the school’s brassy headmistress (Kathy Bates) to accept Stet over Carvelle’s objections. She even makes a comment about waiting for the check to clear. You can imagine the struggle as the story continues. Stet is an outcast with no family, while the other boys are privileged and wealthy.¹ There is plenty of competition, jealousy, and backstabbing among the boys, but in the end, Stet’s talent carries him to get the big solos, infuriating his chief rival in the choir.

Movie fiction brings about all sorts of impossibilities. Stet is about to sing a solo in a concert at Woolsey Hall at Yale (yup, the very place!), and as he’s stepping on to the stage, he learns that Carvelle isn’t conducting the performance.² You’d think a choir would know in advance who would be conducting. The choir wins a coveted concert in New York at the Riverside Cathedral (humph!). At that climactic concert, Stet sings a descant to Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” including a string of high Ds that surpassed the impossible high Cs in the aria in Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment that earned Luciano Pavarotti the sobriquet “King of the High Cs.” Really, a descant?  Phooey—hokum! At least they got the key correct.

Truth among fiction

Now that I’ve proven I’m a musical snob, there’s lots about Boychoir that’s wonderful. How thrilling for us who work hard in church music to see a feature film devoted to an aspect of our work. There are many moments of lovely singing (goofy conducting notwithstanding), and the story of Stet’s struggle, and his ultimate realization that he really wants to be at the school, and really wants to learn to sing, was touching and inspiring. The inevitable clashes between Carvelle and Stet were poignant and moving. And when Stet happened on Carvelle playing Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# Minor (on the stage in empty Woolsey Hall), we learned that Carvelle had been an aspiring pianist studying at Juilliard, but his goals were crushed by a teacher telling him he had no talent. The scene reminds us that Dustin Hoffman really is a wonderful actor.³

The real McCoy

Herbert Huffman was one of the earliest graduates of the Westminster Choir College, a choral conductor, and minister of music at Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio, when he heard the Vienna Boys Choir and dreamed that the United States might be home to such an ensemble. He founded the Columbus Boychoir School in 1937, to provide exceptional training for talented young boys, building character and providing a first-class education. The school grew quickly, and the choir gained national prominence within a few years. They sang with major symphony orchestras, made recordings, and in 1945, performed in New York City’s Town Hall.

John Finley Williamson founded the Westminster Choir at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio, in 1920, and founded the Westminster Choir School in 1927. Like the Columbus Boychoir, the Westminster Choir quickly gained national prominence, touring Europe and the United States, singing for presidents, and singing with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski in the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast. The school moved to Ithaca College in New York in 1929, expanding the curriculum to become a four-year program offering a degree of Bachelor of Music. The move to Ithaca allowed the choir to travel easily by train to the major northeast cities, where they were in high demand.

Charles Erdman (1866–1960) was a Presbyterian minister, a professor at the Princeton Theological School, and moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. He continued to live in Princeton after his retirement in 1936, and it was his vision that Princeton should be developed as a center for choral music. He was instrumental in bringing both the Westminster Choir College and the Columbus Boychoir School to Princeton,⁴ establishing permanent homes for two of the country’s great musical institutions.

The commuting director

James Litton was appointed full-time organist and director of music at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York in 1982, succeeding Jack Ossewaarde. William Trafka became assistant organist to Litton at St. Bart’s in January of 1985. In the summer of 1985, Jim Litton was offered the directorship of the American Boychoir. Jim met with Thomas Bowers (rector at St. Bartholomew’s) and Stephen Howard (president of the American Boychoir School), and they worked out a scheme having Jim cut back to half-time at St. Bart’s, while assuming the directorship at ABS. William Trafka’s job became full time, and over thirty years later, Trafka is still director of music at St. Bart’s. 

Jim Litton commuted between the positions in New York and Princeton for ten years. He left St. Bart’s in 1995 and retired from the ABS in 2001. During his tenure with the school, the choir sang over a hundred performances with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur, including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis, Bach’s St. John Passion, a Christmas special with the Boston Pops under John Williams, and they made a recording of Christmas music with Jessye Norman at Ely Cathedral. Jim was an adviser during the filming of Boychoir, and in the scene with the Woolsey Hall concert, it was pure delight to see him sitting in the audience next to Dustin Hoffman.

After seeing Boychoir, I invited Jim for lunch. We spent a couple nice hours together, and it was fun to hear his stories about working and traveling with the American Boychoir. He spoke of the responsibility of providing such a specialized education to talented children, and how exciting it was to grow with the choir, performing around the country and the world. I subsequently learned that during his tenure Jim led more than “2,000 concerts in 49 states and 12 nations.” What an impressive legacy.

Nurturing the gift

In some ways, the boys of the fictional National Boychoir Academy are just boys. But we can tell they’re a little smarter than average because the pranks they pull on each other are especially savage and hurtful. We watch the small community of young boys working hard on academics and taking their musical studies and performances very seriously. The school administrators face disciplinary issues, fight among themselves, and try to balance their own musical aspirations to the needs of their students. Wooly, a young teacher played by Kevin McHale, cares deeply about the boys as he leads them in rehearsals and ear training sessions, and offers them advice as they navigate from one challenge and crisis to another.

The choir arrives at Riverside (Cathedral) in their snazzy bus for their long-coveted New York debut and goes through customary warm-ups under Drake’s haughty direction. Just before they’re to enter the church, Carvelle sits side-saddle on a folding chair in front of them, and using the softest tone and expressions of the entire film, delivers a pep talk to the young singers. He acknowledges that the career of the boy soprano is short, just one or two years at the highest level, and he refers to their gifts as a mystery. “You wake up one morning and it’s not there anymore. Some of you will become altos, some of you will become baritones, some of you will become dentists.” He goes on to say that whatever you choose to do, there will be other gifts, and whatever they are, you must nurture them.

A few days after the triumphant concert (with the tacky descant), Stet is standing alone in the school’s gymnasium singing random notes and looking concerned, realizing that his voice is changing. He confides in Wooly, saying he thought he would have had more time and wondering if he might be a good alto. Wooly responds with a beautiful statement about artistic gifts, “You’ll never sing like you did. That voice wasn’t yours to keep. You borrowed it for a little while, and then it went somewhere else.”

Great music-making is about what the musician has to offer to the listener. Whether you’re singing, playing the organ, or any other instrument, you honor your audience by caring for your talent, nurturing it, and sharing it freely.

The career of a boy soprano is one of the shortest in music, but every artistic gift is just that, a gift. Some musicians take their gifts for granted and assume that everything good is coming their way. You know the type? I’m talking about the person who whines that everyone else gets the good gigs. I’m talking about the person who laughs at someone else’s innocent question. I’m talking about the person who assumes everyone knows how great he is. Facebook is a great revealer of the petulant musician.

Backstage backstabbing 

New York’s Metropolitan Opera is the largest performing arts institution in the world with hundreds of musicians on staff and many hundreds more in technical and administrative departments. Its annual budget is over $300,000,000. It may be the most prestigious stage in the world, with more than 200 performances of opera each year. While most musicians savor the privilege of performing there and delight audiences with their grace as well as their musical talents, others use it as a stage for monumental collapses of dignity.

Joanna Fiedler (1945–2011) was the daughter of Arthur Fiedler, the legendary leader of the Boston Pops Orchestra. She wrote a memoir about her father, Arthur Fiedler: Papa, the Pops, and Me. She served as director of public relations for the National Symphony, was editor of program books for the New York Philharmonic, and from 1975 until 1989, she was chief press liaison for the Metropolitan Opera. I am just finishing reading her 2001 book, Molto Agitato: The Mayhem Behind the Music, a scathing, gossipy tattle about the ugly side of artistic temperaments. Jealousy, rage, vindictiveness, and even murder pepper the pages of this colorful book.

Internationally renowned stars bicker among themselves, set each other up for falls, and fling temper fits when they feel they’re not getting their way. One well-known singer changed and cancelled rehearsals, banned certain conductors from working with her, even demanded that other singers not look at her, to the extent that the Met’s general manager fired her from a production and cancelled all of her upcoming engagements, all this from a talented and beautiful woman with an agile and clear voice. Dustin Hoffman’s Master Carvelle could have given her a stern talking to about nurturing her gifts and her responsibility toward her audiences.

Carrying the torch

Perhaps I’ve been a little hard on the Hollywood stunts in Boychoir—it’s unseemly to be the one snickering in the audience because you know a little more about the subject than those around you. (Although when Wendy and I saw Boychoir in a theater near home, an esteemed colleague organist was sitting behind us!) I’m grateful that the creative powers in Hollywood thought enough of the concept of the exclusive choir to dig into the subject. I have no sense that the movie was a great success. While the film has done well in Canada and overseas, here at home it opened in a limited number of theaters, played for just a few weeks, and vanished for more than a year until I was finally able to purchase a DVD. 

I know I’ve been something of a spoiler, telling so much of the story here, but I promise I haven’t given away the ending. For anyone in the field of the performing arts, Boychoir is worth a viewing. It’s easy to find online. Maybe you’ll agree with me that there’s a hokey factor—after all, giving a good downbeat is a particular and unique skill. But the positive takeaway about the importance of caring for a musical gift and the importance of carrying oneself with dignity and humility is very well taken. Dustin Hoffman may not portray a performing musician well enough to convince a performing musician, but he plays a mighty strong mentor. ν

Notes

1. The boys in the American Boychoir School are from varied backgrounds, and according to James Litton, most have received significant financial aid.

2. The fictional performance is conducted by the actual conductor of the ABS, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz.

3. Dustin Hoffman is also quite a pianist. Jim Litton relates that Hoffman himself played the Rachmaninoff prelude during filming.

4. The Columbus Boychoir School was renamed the American Boychoir School
in 1980.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Herbert L. Huestis is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Craighead 40 years ago. After a stint as a full-time church organist, he studied psychology and education at the University of Idaho, where be obtained his Ph.D. in 1971. He spent time as a school psychologist, and was subsequently lured back into the organ world and took up pipe organ maintenance with his wife Marianne and son Warren. Now retired, he spends more time tuning pianos and reconditioning harpsichords.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and the Westfield Center, Orcas, Washington, presented an international conference entitled “Central/Southern European influences on Bach,” June 7–10, 2006. The conference celebrated the new cathedral organ by Hellmuth Wolff, Laval, Quebec, Canada, and honored organ virtuoso, historian and teacher, Harald Vogel, Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany.

The Westfield Center

The Westfield Center is a national resource for the advancement of keyboard music, serving professionals and the public since 1979. In pursuit of this goal, they host symposia to celebrate major instruments of our day, and have sponsored more than 30 conferences. This year they met in Victoria to honor the career of Harald Vogel, noted organist and scholar, and a new organ built by Hellmuth Wolff for Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia.

The new Wolff organ

I have dubbed this organ of 60 stops a “singing organ” because it stands nearly alone in its ability to bring to life the vocal effects and Italianate characteristics that infused the music of Bach and his predecessors. For Hellmuth Wolff, the creation of this organ was no small accomplishment. In fact, this masterpiece caps a career that is filled with instruments of artistic merit.
Delicate and well-balanced voicing is a hallmark of Wolff organs, and in this case the organ matches the room perfectly. Wolff has a reverence for historical organs and is able to build in various styles for his clients and the contemporary buildings they offer. The musical requirements of Christ Church, Victoria, and inclinations of the builder came together when a design was chosen that followed the work of builders such as Holzhey and Riepp, who were linked to French, German, and Italian organ building practices in the 18th century.
Hellmuth Wolff established his firm in 1968, after serving his apprenticeship in Switzerland with Metzler and continuing as a journeyman with Otto Hoffman in Texas and Charles Fisk in Massachusetts. In Canada, Wolff worked with Casavant Frères in the development of their mechanical-action workshop and subsequently worked in collaboration with Karl Wilhelm until he started his own workshop in Laval, Quebec. There, he heads an elite group of organbuilders who participated in the design and construction of this organ over a period of several years.
The organ comprises 61 stops, located in five divisions, including the pedal. Three manual divisions begin with 16' sub octaves, while the pedal has two stops at 32' pitch. There is an abundance of unison tone on every level, and the harmonics of the pipework are enhanced by both third- and fifth-sounding mixtures spread over four keyboards. Wolff was able to integrate character and variety into an extremely broad ensemble while at the same time emulating vibrant examples of organ style from times past. This sense of integration is perhaps the strongest aspect of Wolff’s art.
Spatial variety is a very strong characteristic of this organ. The wide case with Hauptwerk split on either side and Oberwerk in the center provided unique opportunities for registration at many volume levels by combining these two divisions into a large ensemble or playing them separately. The Rückpositiv lies well forward of the rest of the instrument and speaks directly to the listener, creating a clear, three-dimensional sound.
The variety of stops is compelling, both in flues and reeds. All are voiced with a sense of just the right volume so that interplay between stops is remarkably well balanced. Trumpets of all national styles are available on each keyboard and pedal, providing a tonal palette seen in few organs. Wolff has an intuitive sense of proportion in the placement of these reeds, so that volume and stylistic variation work very musically. He has taken great care in the selection of pipework to amplify his concept of the Holzhey organ style found in southern Germany in the late 18th century.

The conference

The conference topic, “South/Central Influences on J. S. Bach,” grew out of advances in musical scholarship and organology that have increased the understanding of influences of Pachelbel, Frescobaldi, Kerll and others on the music of Bach. The celebration of the work of Harald Vogel reaches to the beginnings of the Westfield Center, founded by two of his early students, Lynn Edwards Butler and Edward Pepe. This all culminates in the largest publication of the Westfield Center to date: Orphei Organi Antiqui: Essays in Honor of Harald Vogel. This Festschrift brings together 21 articles and essays that delineate the Vogel personality as well as performance practice, improvisation, congregational singing, organ restoration and organ culture. This work was edited by Cleveland Johnson, professor of music history and dean of the School of Music at DePauw University. Harald Vogel’s legacy as a teacher was outlined by Elizabeth Harrison, assistant professor of music at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She gave an inside look at the North German Organ Academy, the founding of which she described as his most pivotal accomplishment.

Recitals

One should note that there are two audiences who have interest in an event such as this, “those who were seen and those who were unseen.” For those who heard this amazing instrument and the recitalists who presented this organ literature in a vital way, this report may serve to crystallize the event itself. For those who were not able to attend, it is hoped that some idea of the freshness and originality of these players will be communicated.
It is invigorating to see how a group of players could present varied aspects of this unusual organ in such a concerted way. Harald Vogel praised the instrument as one of the finest of its type in the world, and each artist contributed a unique vision to the celebration of this organ. One had the feeling that all recitalists read from a similar script, with great attention paid to Southern influences on German music.
William Porter, professor of organ and harpsichord at the Eastman School of Music, presented the inaugural concert with a fresh idea that served the symposium very well. He designed his concert after the style that Bach himself used when he played, as described by Forkel, his biographer. This showcases the instrument rather than the repertoire. Porter has a strong reputation as an improviser, which led him in this direction for the concert. He maintained that “since the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries has its roots in improvisational practice,” he could take the opportunity to show off all the colors of the organ. Italian influences were immediately apparent, and Porter, like all of the recitalists, concentrated on variation and ciacona forms.
Michael Gormley, Christ Church Cathedral organist, and Erica Johnson, a student of Hans Davidsson, Eastman School of Music, continued the concert series with an exploration of the breadth of the instrument and a further presentation of Italianate aspects of the music and instrument. Johnson explored the concerto style and played with a lightness and delicacy that characterized subsequent recitals. Her theme for the recital was the dance—both in her playing style and aspects of the musical styles of Italy and Germany. She characterized this as a “pas de deux” where Italy led and Germany followed. Indeed, Italian influences on German music were the order of the day.
Harald Vogel continued these ideas with toccatas, canzonas, a spectacular battaglia and the famous Capriccio Cucu of Johann Kerll. His program reached a zenith with intense colors found in his interpretation of the second Biblical Sonata of Johann Kuhnau. In this organ he found a tonal palette with which to characterize the depression and madness of Saul as Kuhnau envisioned it. Beauty was everywhere, but more than that, the organ could communicate real emotion, passion and feeling, even fear and anxiety.
Edoardo Bellotti, who teaches organ, harpsichord, and continuo playing in Trossingen, Germany, and Bergamo, Italy, brought these recitals to a climax with a presentation of Frescobaldi, Pachelbel and Bach. By limiting his repertoire to three composers, he was able to explore the styles of variation, toccata and ciacona, building in the listener an expectation of both floridity and drive culminating in a rendition of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue full tilt, with no resorting to the usual registrational variation in the Passacaglia. His performance was so musically varied, and the organ so clear and delicate in its ensemble that he could play the whole piece in a continuous, driving plenum. He was so convincing in this performance that he gave immediate credence to statements that Harald Vogel had made, that organists are often the victims of “bad traditions,” which they must rethink in order to fully appreciate this music.
The final concert was a mix of vocal and organ works in which Michael Gormley, director of the CapriCCio Vocal Ensemble (of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria) and Carole Terry, professor of organ at University of Washington, Seattle, stood the conference topic on its head and presented a concert entitled “Bach influences on Central/South Europe.” These included vocal works of Mozart, Bruckner, and Reger, among others. Dr. Terry made a final and climactic statement of what the organ could do with masterful renditions of the works of Max Reger. Reger’s music gave a final contrapuntal and harmonic lushness to the sound of this organ, whose 60 stops exhibited a monumental heroism. Again, it seemed that all of the recitalists had similar goals: to show the full effect of this magnificent new organ and to trace the beauty of the musical styles that made their way from Italy to Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries and beyond.
These musical influences were further elaborated in noontime recitals by Colin Tilney, harpsichordist, and Ulrika Davidsson, fortepianist. Tilney explored the Italianate forms and Davidsson followed J. S. Bach’s influence through C. P. E. Bach to Joseph Haydn.

Keynote addresses

The academic side of the symposium centered on the presentation of a Festschrift, Orphei Organi Antiqui by Cleveland Johnson, to Harald Vogel on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The publication (“Orpheus of the Historic Organ”) is a collection of 21 articles and essays. It features writings about Vogel as teacher, performer and scholar, and deals with keyboard literature, performance practice, improvisation, congregational singing, organ restoration and organ culture.
Harald Vogel took the opportunity in his keynote address to open up some very interesting concepts regarding organ culture. He examined “organ tradition” and outlined some rather subjective but important considerations. The most notable of these seemed to be the idea that somehow “traditions” were carried from Bach through the 19th and 20th centuries unbroken, when in fact, they are deeply flawed in terms of playing style, registration and type of instrument. He appealed to his listeners to look toward historical evidence to make decisions regarding playing style, rather than rely on old traditions that have been passed through many teachers and students, with all the attendant changes in organ culture, of each period of time and style of instrument.
Lynn Edwards Butler also presented a keynote address on the general topic of organ examinations, which harkened back to the celebration of the Paul Fritts organ at Arizona State University and the topic of “The Historical Organ” presented in 1993.
In a third keynote address, Keith Hill, the noted harpsichord maker, took a look at the psychological aspects of artistic performance in a topic called “The Craft of Musical Communication.” This is a difficult subject, and he was able to create the imagery to help his audience grasp important concepts involved in music making. He outlined various building blocks of artistic performance so that some analysis could be made of performers and their art. A certain objectivity was welcome in an area that is almost always purely subjective!
Masterclasses were provided by the artists, and of course there was the joy of discovering all the various aspects of the organ and its construction. Michael Gormley and the cathedral staff were most gracious, and the setting in the provincial capital of British Columbia was magnificent. From a meeting in the parliament buildings on the first day to high tea on the last, there was the constant infusion of Canadian culture and magnificent weather, found only on this enchanted isle on the west coast of North America. I suppose the only thing that can be said is “You should have been there!--Herbert L. Huestis

Improvisation jam session

For many of us the culmination of the symposium was the jam-session of the three improvisers by name of Vogel, Porter and Bellotti. The demonstration was divided into three parts, first the reeds, second the solo possibilities and then the different organo pleno possibilities.
Harold Vogel demonstrated the many different reed stops—there are six trumpets at 8' pitch, four reed stops at 16', and one 32' Posaune, besides softer reed stops, such as Hautbois, Krummhorn, Schalmey and Vox humana. The sound of the latter, a Voix Humaine after Dom Bédos, can easily be coloured by adding flutes at different pitches. Mr. Vogel’s improvisation was haute voltige—flying high, through all kinds of places unheard of—and concluded his flight with the glorious roar of the trumpets!
A good number of the organ’s solo possibilities where shown through William Porter’s delightful and poetic improvisations. The various flutes and strings—typical for organs of Southern Germany and Austria—and the mutations (there is a jeux de tierce in every keyboard division, except for the Swell) were shown in a single piece, wonderfully constructed by a great player.
One could have thought that demonstrating the mixtures might be a much more arduous task, but Edoardo Bellotti brought us to new heights with his magnificent demonstration.
Each organist was an inspired Orpheus, playing with great power and imagination—and each of them should have received an Olympic trophy!
—Hellmuth Wolff

First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, January 12-16, 2001

"Despite the nay-sayers, the organ is very much alive and we're going to keep it that way." With that hopeful remark, Fred Swann opened the third annual Organ Alive! conference at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. Swann started this conference when he assumed the position of organist at the church three years ago, in response to a request from the church leaders for more prominence for the organ. The previous year's conference in January 2000 had been a retrospective of the organ in the 20th century. This year focused on the future of the organ and young emerging talents who will help keep the organ profession vital, hence the subtitle, "The Organ in the 21st century--Quo vadis?"

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, founded in 1867, is the oldest Protestant church in continuous service in Los Angeles. It is built in gothic style of reinforced concrete, with a square tower rising to a height of 157 feet. The church is a large multi-storied facility--157,000 square feet--with fellowship

/dining hall, chapel, meeting rooms, parlors, and lovely courtyards, providing a very pleasant atmosphere and ample space for the conference events. Thanks to Swann's planning and music administrator Kathie Freeman's organizational wizardry, the conference was well-planned and organized. An army of volunteers from the church gave up their weekend to serve as ushers, set tables, provide refreshments, drive the shuttle bus, give directions, and see that visitors were comfortable. 175 people from 21 states and three  foreign countries were registered for the conference (the original registration limit was 120, they increased it to 175 and still had to turn 63 people away).

After formally opening the conference, Fred Swann asked everyone to stand and launched into a "name that tune" game. He played very brief excerpts from organ literature, starting with the opening of the Bach D-minor Toccata and getting progressively more difficult. When you couldn't identify one, you had to sit down. There were prizes for the winners--great fun for all. The organ in Shatto chapel--34 stops, including seven digital voices installed by Robert Walker--proved able to suggest the characteristic sounds to help us identify the pieces from hearing only a few notes.

The Great Organs

"Like Zephyrus, Eurus, Boreas and Notus, the four winds of classical antiquity, the quartet of organs at historic First Congregational Church are awesome to contemplate, even when calm in the stillness of their vaulted home. From the gossamer evanescence of their lightest stops to the redwood-strength and majesty of their full fury unleashed, they are positively mind-altering in power and heart-stopping in passion." (--Peter Rutenberg, in the program notes for Double Organ and Chorus concert)

While some readers might be put off by the poetic effusion of Rutenberg's description, the great organs at First Congregational are magnificent indeed. Few places in the world can boast of the musical resources available in these organs. The color, contrast, and spatial distribution of the pipes make the sanctuary a very exciting place to hear organ music.

The original 58-rank organ was built in 1932 by Ernest M. Skinner, with William H. Barnes serving as consultant. The organ was greatly enlarged in 1969, but the Skinner hallmark sounds--rich diapasons, lush strings--were unaltered. A large new instrument was built in the rear gallery by the Schlicker Organ Company in 1969, adding great versatility to the church's musical resources with its 17th-century North German character. Schlicker also constructed an Italian-style continuo organ located above the south choir.  In 1984, a state trumpet was added to the chancel organ. In 1990, the church began a renovation and renewal project with three phases: replacement of the consoles with two new consoles built by Möller, new windchests and mechanical repairs for the chancel organ, and, thanks to a substantial gift, the installation of 100 additional ranks to the organs. The two new consoles are the largest drawknob consoles ever built in North America (the movable chancel console was completed shortly before the Möller company closed). All of the organs can be played from either or both of the twin five-manual consoles, one in the chancel, the other in the rear gallery. Richard F. Muench, longtime curator of the organs at First Church, undertook the second and third parts of the work until his death in 1992. William Zeiller, present organ curator, continued the project. The present renovations to the Great Organs will make them collectively one of the largest musical instruments ever built, and one of the largest and most complete organs in any church in the world. When the restoration work in progress is completed, the Great Organs will consist of more than 346 ranks, 265 stops, 233 voices, and 20,000 pipes.

Sunday morning worship

I was eager to attend the Sunday service at 11:00 am, looking forward to observing a master service player in action. I tend to dislike services put together solely to demonstrate repertoire, etc., for conference attendees (though enjoyable, they always have an ersatz feel), so I was glad to be attending a regular Sunday service at First Congregational. Upon entering the narthex, I was greeted by ushers in morning coats, and took my place to listen to Swann's extended prelude--Chorale from Symphony II, Vierne;  Choralfantasy "How Brightly Shines the Morning Star", Buxtehude; Came Three Holy Kings, Glière; and The Children of God, Messiaen. People listened in silence. Attendance was sparse, but those there exhibited enthusiasm. I looked and listened with admiration as Swann played the hymns from memory and skillfully accompanied the conference choir and the First Congregational choir.

Concerts and recitals

Sunday afternoon featured a concert given by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The program included Kodály's Missa Brevis, Laudes Organi, and Vierne's Messe Solennelle, with organists Fred Swann and Philip Allen Smith. As concert time approached, the sanctuary was filled to capacity--people were standing in the aisles. The 60-voice Los Angeles Master Chorale, under the direction of Paul Salamunovich, is marvelous. Their sound is a seamless and rich straight tone, the altos and basses particularly strong, never outshone by the tenors and sopranos. Fred Swann knew when to keep the organ just behind the choir, and when to let it be at least equal, skillfully using the Skinner organ sounds to blend wonderfully with the voices. Kodály's festive "Laudes Organi" was premiered by Swann at the national AGO convention in Atlanta in 1966.

The Vierne "Messe Solennelle" was handled skillfully by Philip Allen Smith at the gallery organ and Swann at the chancel console. It was a treat to hear this work in an environment that shares important characteristics with the one for which it was conceived. Parry's "I Was Glad" was a thrilling close to an outstanding concert, rewarded with thunderous, extended applause.

The evening before the conference officially began, participants were invited to attend a keyboard tribute to Fred Bock at the First Presbyterian Church of Bel Air. The concert featured organists and pianists playing repertoire from two collections--"Encore, Encore" and "Bock's Best Friends," both published by Fred Bock Music Company--honoring the memory of Fred Bock, composer, music publisher, and former organist of First Presbyterian of Hollywood.

The organ at First Presbyterian of Bel Air was built by Robert Tall & Associates, blending 60 ranks of pipes salvaged from the previous Casavant organ (destroyed in the Northridge earthquake in 1994) with Rodgers digital voices to create an instrument with 151 ranks and 118 speaking stops. Although the organ's range of sounds is impressive, tuning and blend problems were evident. John West, artist in residence at First Presbyterian of Bel Air, demonstrated his expertise in effectively and tastefully handling the instrument's non-organ sound MIDI voices, while Fred Swann handled the instrument's traditional sounds with elegance in absentia (performing via MIDI playback, having been called to a rehearsal), in his own arrangement of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." A fabulous Steinway concert grand was given equal time on the program, as pianists Jan Sanborn, Dwight Elrich, Mark Hayes, William Phemister, Michele Murray and Dick Bolks performed some lovely hymn-tune settings, several of which were arranged by the performers. These works are published in the collection "Bock's Best Friends" (Fred Bock Music, catalog number BG0967).

In keeping with the conference theme, two young artists were featured in recitals--Felix Hell and Svetlana Fiakhretdinova. The programs were well attended, the audience nearly filling the main floor of the 1000-seat sanctuary.

Felix Hell, 15-year-old organ prodigy, exudes a natural musicality and a palpable eagerness to perform. Dwarfed by the monster five-manual console, from the first notes of his performance he took command. His Bach, Buxtehude and Mendelssohn were elegantly expressive: he lingered over cadential harmonies and exuberantly freed the fantasy sections. His Bach D-major Prelude and Fugue was heroic. The fiendish Schlafes Brüder, his signature piece, sizzled, Felix negotiating its fistfuls of notes with aplomb. Felix hasn't quite grown into the expansive legato style of the Franck B-minor Choral, which also suffered from ineffective registration (though limited practice time while on tour might have been a factor). The Adagio from Widor's fifth sounded hurried, but he romped through the famous Toccata with ease. His encore was the Final from Vierne's Symphony I, and the second encore a repeat of "Schlafes Bruder."

Svetlana Fiakhretdinova, native of Moscow, Russia, was a regional winner in the AGO Young Artists Competition and is a student of John Weaver at the Curtis Institute. She played her program from memory, opening with Guillou's Toccata, demonstrating a very quiet technique. Her Vierne Adagio showed a good sense of the long lines in French music, and the stops of the Skinner organ sang warmly. Her Bach Trio Sonata, though rhythmically supple, was hindered by memory lapses, but she hit her stride with the Duruflé Suite. The Prelude flowed well and rumbled satisfyingly, the Sicilienne bubbled along gracefully at an impressive tempo, and the Toccata was electrifying yet solidly under control.

Noon organ concerts were offered on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday by Robert Plimpton, Melody Steed, and Sean O'Neal, performers from the Los Angeles area.

Conference workshops

The conference workshops focused on two main topics--performance and organbuilding. Sessions on improvisation, repertoire, MIDI, the role of the accompanist, and organ maintenance made up the performance-related offerings of the conference.

The Los Angeles AGO Chapter, a sponsor of the Saturday events of the conference, had requested that the conference include workshops on improvisation. Two such workshops were held on Saturday afternoon: "Improvisation for the Advanced" led by Bruce Neswick, and "Improvisation for the Challenged" led by Fred Swann. Since I had heard Bruce Neswick speak before, I attended Fred Swann's session. He distributed a handout--"Basic Improvisation Suggestions for the Doodling/Noodling Challenged," which was full of great advice and guidelines, all demonstrated by Swann. The talk was interspersed with anecdotes from his experiences at Riverside Church and the Crystal Cathedral. Mark Thallender, associate organist at the Crystal Cathedral, was coaxed to the bench to demonstrate as well. These workshops were followed by an improvisation recital by Bruce Neswick.

Craig Phillips

If you haven't played anything written by Craig Phillips, call your music supplier. His works have a modern sound with somewhat modal harmony, are rhythmically interesting, and are very appealing to the listener. His oeuvre consists of organ solo and choral works as well as a smattering of works for organ with instruments and various instrumental ensembles. Craig Phillips serves as music associate at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. He's a fine organist and demonstrated several works based on hymn tunes, including Torah Song, a well-crafted piece based on a tune from the Hymnal 1982. His yet unpublished Pastorale for Bassoon and Organ was lovely, and beautifully played by a bassoonist from his church. He commented that organ repertoire is inextricably linked to the development of the instrument, tied to the church, and for utilitarian purposes, with many works associated with specific instruments and churches. His influences are Buxtehude, Mendelssohn, Franck, Widor and Messiaen, and he views his work as part of a well-established continuum.

Thomas Somerville

Thomas Somerville, director of music at First Congregational, gave a workshop titled "What a Choral Director Expects of an Organist." Far from being a dry, didactic "how-to" session, Somerville's workshop was inspiring and well-planned. His affable nature and obvious respect for his colleagues communicated as much as his outline and remarks. He stressed the importance of communication--about the music and about working together. He distributed a sample of the detailed music schedule he prepares, relating how he discusses accompaniments and plans with Fred Swann and other staff members.

Somerville defines our purpose as church musicians as follows: "to point to, and glorify God as the author of goodness, the creator of beauty, the giver of artistic sensibility and talent, and focus of adoration and praise." He shared five points towards achieving our purpose as musicians in the church: choose music that embodies our purpose, prepare to perform the music to the best of our ability, commit to a musical partnership with all who will rehearse and perform the music with us, maintain an attitude of respect for all who will hear the music, do this with joy insofar as possible. Fred Swann concurrently gave a workshop on designing recital programs. A lively discussion had arisen at the end of Somerville's lecture, and Swann, having finished his workshop, poked his head in the door to tease Somerville about going a few minutes over time.

Robert Noehren

Having been an avid reader of his work and played his instruments, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to hear Robert Noehren speak after dinner on Saturday evening. This elder statesman of the organ world offered a new perspective on listening to music, noting that when you're ninety years old, you definitely live one day at a time. He asked himself two questions: "Do I listen to music simply for the pleasure of it?" "Have I missed that in my profession?" He realized he had been guilty of not truly listening to music. He believes you can't truly listen to music and do anything else, so now he sets aside time each day just to listen--behaving like an amateur, listening with curiosity. This practice has brought music to him in a refreshing new way and has virtually changed his outlook on music. Each morning he looks forward to his listening time.

He detailed some of the repertoire he listens to, and some of his experiences as performer and organbuilder, and made a parallel with food. He wants to make eating an art, to take great pleasure in it. In closing, he recommended choosing only music that you like, playing everything beautifully, and taking pleasure in doing things as well as you can. Live your life with a sense of artistic purpose. Sound advice for a world of people rushing around, often too busy to savor the substance of life. (See the text of Noehren's lecture in this issue, pages 15-16.)

Organbuilding workshops

Organbuilding workshops featured presentations by several prominent personalities from the organ world. John Wilson, organ curator at the Crystal Cathedral, gave a workshop on organ maintenance, offering advice on how the organist can help organ technicians, and what the organist should not do. He shared some anecdotes about the challenges of keeping the Crystal Cathedral organ in tune. Meanwhile, Robert Tall of Robert Tall & Associates, Inc.--a company that builds pipe and digital organs--gave a workshop, "The Magic of MIDI," demonstrating with equipment brought in for the workshop.

Manuel Rosales

Anticipation was in the air as Manuel Rosales took the podium on Monday afternoon, the audience eager to hear what this outspoken organbuilder had to say. Rosales feels it unwise to try to predict the organ's future, but prefers to look back and synthesize the ideas of the past to create something new. He seeks an organ design that allows a vast range of music to be played, not necessarily authentically, but convincingly, allowing performers to bring out the best in their own playing. In the 20th century, much of what the 19th century developed was discarded; the 21st century is now reversing that. He calls this idea the "universal" organ, citing examples from his opus list, pointing out the "restoration of the 8¢ principal in each division," something not common in tracker organs built in the second half of the 20th century.

Two of his latest projects are of particular interest--the organs for Disney Hall and the Catholic Cathedral, both in Los Angeles. The Cathedral organ will be housed in a new building, with a sanctuary seating 3500. The instrument will be built by Lynn Dobson (with electric action and a movable console), with Rosales as the consultant, overseeing the voicing of the instrument. He described the Disney Hall organ as a further development of his "universal organ" ideas. (See the article, "A Brief History of the Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ Project," by Manuel Rosales, in the July issue, pp. 12-13.) For this project, he will be collaborating with Glatter-Götz Orgelbau, a firm he has worked successfully with on two other organs. G-G is building the pipes and other components, while Rosales is overseeing the voicing. The organ's tonal design (4M, 72 stops, 107 ranks) is a traditional three-manual concept, but very grand. He described the organ's 4th manual division, the Llamarada, as "Spanish on steroids," including the Llamada (Spanish for bugle call) and Trompeta de Los Angeles, stops that are "spicy as a chili pepper." The organ will be mainly tracker action, but the big bass pipes and the Llamarada division will be on electric action, a necessity, Rosales says, in large tracker instruments. In fact, the entire organ will have redundant electric action, and a second, movable console will be provided to help the organist hear and be seen. The organ's façade was greatly influenced by the architect Frank Gehry (designer of the concert hall complex), and has been the subject of much discussion. About the design, Rosales commented, "It's something you'll never forget and people will have an opinion about it. However, its unusual design will incite people's curiosity and they'll want to hear it!"

Jeff Dexter

Jeff Dexter is tonal director of Schantz Organ Company, probably the youngest person in such a position in American organbuilding, and an organist himself. Dexter's lecture, "A Look Beyond the Stoplist," dealt with unraveling the intricacies of creating a stoplist and what goes into making it a reality. Dexter excels at presenting technical information in easily digestible form, with a personable style. His purpose was to illuminate what the stoplist reveals: the musical intent of the builder, particular musical goals, desires of the client, and a link to the past. He outlined the building blocks of tonal design: scaling (historical practice and empirical knowledge) and pipe construction (materials appropriate for desired sound), and reliable mechanism so the vision can succeed. He described tonal finishing as the ultimate realization of the tonal design, molding the sound and polishing it.

Panel discussion

Given the framework questions and the organbuilders involved, the panel discussion promised to be interesting. The discussion questions included: Is the pipe organ doomed? What are the trends? What can we do to keep it alive? What "style" will dominate? Fred Swann opened the session by saying, "There's an audience for every type of organ. The main criterion is can you make music on it?" He had invited four organbuilders representing four schools of thought to be on the panel: Gene Bedient--tracker; Jack Bethards--Romantic/symphonic, electro-pneumatic; Jeff Dexter of Schantz--tried and true middle of the road; Robert Walker--digital sounds. Each builder was invited to make an opening statement about his own work and point of view. Excerpts follow.

Gene Bedient: We at Bedient believe first and foremost in creating beautiful, acoustical sounds made by organ pipes. I'm constantly struck these days by the amount of knowledge there is in the organbuilding world--knowledge of types of sounds, of different national styles. My interest is in how we combine those exceptional sounds--and that does not mean only sounds from 16th-century Italy, but everything I've learned abroad and in this country from the early history of the organ through the present. American culture is diverse and has many facets, but the pipe organ is not inherent in our culture like it is in some cultures. It's important that we as organists, organbuilders and organ-lovers engender enthusiasm in the pipe organ among the rest of society.

Jack Bethards, Schoenstein: Our tonal philosophy is based on the romantic or symphonic tradition and it's our goal to try to carry forward this tradition into the modern age by increasing the musical expressiveness of the pipe organ through two main means--increasing its dynamic range and the range of tonal colors. This type of instrument has a solid place in the church because it is so suited to the role of accompaniment and playing a wide variety of repertoire--things that all churches want and need. It is a very musically flexible style.

I see an extremely bright future for the pipe organ in terms of quality and variety. I give a lot of credit for this to sources that may seem surprising. First,  the electronic organ. The electronic organ has now progressed to the point where pipe organ builders do not have to try to satisfy every need, every budget. It leaves pipe organ builders free to concentrate on highly specialized work for discriminating clients who really love the pipe organ. In a way, that is a real blessing. Second is the tracker organ revival. The organ reform movements have been a great boon to the whole organbuilding world in two ways. One, bringing back the idea of thorough research into organbuilding, developing knowledge of what went on before. Another, the interest in fine hand-craftsmanship. Now what we are seeing is a variety of organbuilders working in all sorts of fields, but most of them working for high quality in both mechanical and musical matters.

What about the quantity of organs being built? This is another story, and I'm very concerned about it. The real problem is the music that's being played on the organ. I would classify the music by type and quality. There is music that is organistic and music that is not organistic. What I see creeping into the church is music that is primarily based on rhythm with vanilla harmonic structure. This is a serious problem for those of us who love the great choral and organ tradition. We're being inundated with cheaply-constructed, terrible pop music. I'm concerned that we're not doing enough both as builders and players and as educators to fight this trend of cheapness. We must not back down on standards. We're not in a relativistic world. There are good things and bad things and we need to stand up and fight for the good.

Jeff Dexter, tonal director, Schantz: It was said of our firm by a very distinguished colleague of mine that the Schantz organ company has the distinct quality of building ordinary church organs. While I'm not sure that this colleague meant that as a compliment, we take that as a very, very high compliment. We unapologetically build church organs; 95% of our business is associated with building church organs. I would wholeheartedly echo the sentiments of Mr. Bethards about the quality of church music and how important that is, and how important it is that organbuilders, organists, choirmasters, and leaders of church music make sure that the quality of the music is the absolute best. We need to get young people involved in this art form. We have to be tireless in our advocacy of getting young students involved and interested in what we do and what we build.

One of the things that we're going to see in the early part of the 21st century is something that really has been evolving over the past several decades--an actual American organbuilding school, much like we think of Germanic or French or Spanish schools. I think we're going to see more and more coalescing of that which is "American," just as Willis sounds English or Cavaillé-Coll sounds French.

As organbuilders, whatever discipline we find ourselves in, I believe there is room for everybody at this table in terms of American organbuilding. There are some basic tenets that we could all agree to. First, we have to have organs that are accessible in a variety of ways. They have to be easy to play in the sense that they must be approachable. They must not put off people. They must be flexible in their ability to perform a wide variety of literature, and above all, they must be musical. If they're not musical, we've failed on a very basic level.

Robert Walker, Walker Technical Company: I look at things abstractly because I'm centered in the pipe organ business but I'm not really in it. I love the sound of a pipe organ more than anything--nothing is like it. What we're doing is imitation. It's very good and getting better, but not the same. What makes the pipe organ live for hundreds of years? The pipe organ appeals to the senses more than any other instrument. You feel it, you can feel the 32¢ sounds. The overall grandeur of the organ is going to last. You can create various moods with an organ.

One of the worst aspects of reproducing pipe sounds by digital means is that speakers project in a conical fashion, which is fine for reeds but is terrible for flues. A flue pipe is a spherical radiator. One of the reasons electronic reproduction has not been successful is its speaking system. The one thing we really love at our company is to have an enclosure because we can aim speakers in different directions at different surfaces to get all reflective sound; 80-90% of pipe organ sound is reflective energy. And it's the reflective energy that fills the building as opposed to being directed at it. The pipe organ moves the building whereas speakers move the air. So in order for us to reproduce what a pipe is doing, we need a chamber to really be able to move the chamber in addition to the air.

Walker's last comment sparked some questions regarding organs with cases or unencased and straight vs. concave radiating pedal boards. Further discussion dealt with what the aspects of an American sound are and the fight against pop-style church music. The most interesting exchanges dealt with the marriage of digital voices and pipes. The builders were asked to give their thoughts on the matter.

Walker: Digital sounds can be effective if a quality perspective is taken. All aspects must be considered--how do the sound families match? How will they be tuned? How will maintenance be undertaken and synchronized with pipe maintenance? It requires a great deal of custom work.

Bedient:  "This is one situation where divorce is justified." (great laughter from the audience)

Dexter: Schantz uses digital voices for 32¢ pedal stops and percussion sounds, but no manual stops are digital. Schantz was a founding member of the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, which has strict guidelines. Schantz never uses a digital sound to substitute for a real rank of pipes. Their philosophy is if it won't fit, don't do it in digital.

Bethards: Schoenstein uses digital percussion sounds and no others. "We are PIPE ORGAN builders." His concerns about the marriage were related to service and maintenance, and the need to find qualified people who can do both. Also, digital sounds tempt people to make additions to organs that shouldn't have additions. Instruments that have unity and balance can be thrown off by being able to add anything. It's a slippery slope.

At this point, Fred Swann quickly raised his hand and said, "Guilty as charged! I've had digital stops added here." But Swann knows how those sounds should be integrated with the instrument, and how to use them effectively, key concepts to grasp when traversing the "slippery slope" of the world of digital sounds.

Thank you, Fred Swann

The future of the Organ Alive! conference is uncertain due to Swann's retirement in May. In fact, the entire First Congregational music staff--Swann, Thomas Somerville and music administrator Kathie Freeman--retired at the same time. Martin Neary will assume the position of director of music at First Congregational. It is hoped that  he will be able to continue to share the great organs and ample facilities of the church as Fred Swann has with the Organ Alive! conferences.

During the conference, many peopled shared anecdotes about Fred Swann, and reminiscences of performances and of his kindnesses. I was amused by the way he often pipes in with a quip of some sort. My favorite was: "More souls have been saved by two notes on the chimes than by all the mixtures in captivity." He often uses humor to get a point across and is self-effacing. He has served the field of church music for sixty years with his excellent musicianship and inviting manner.

Expressing his appreciation for the presence of the many conference attendees, Fred Swann graciously said, "I can't thank you enough if I thank you every time I see you." No Fred, WE can't thank YOU enough if we thank you every time we see you.