John Weaver’s 80th birthday celebration

A Concert Celebrating John Weaver’s 80^th Birthday
Choir of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church
Andrew Henderson, organist & conductor
With Guest Organists Paul Jacobs & David Enlow

Michael Barone

Michael Barone is host and producer of American Public Media’s Pipedreams program, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2007. Pipedreams can be heard on radio stations across the country, also on XM Satellite Radio Channel 133 and in Hong Kong on Radio Four. Barone is a native of northeastern Pennsylvania, a music history graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, and a nearly 39-year employee of Minnesota Public Radio.

John Weaver, one of the America’s finest concert organists, celebrates his 70th birthday on April 27, 2007. The following interview is offered in honor of this milestone.
Dr. Weaver was director of music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1970–2005, and served as head of the organ department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia 1971–2003, and also chair of the organ department at the Juilliard School 1987–2004.
His formal musical studies began at the age of six, and at age 15 he began organ study with Richard Ross and George Markey. His undergraduate study was at the Curtis Institute as a student of Alexander McCurdy, and he earned a Master of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary. In 1989 John Weaver was honored by the Peabody Conservatory with its Distinguished Alumni Award. He has received honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and the Curtis Institute of Music. In 2005 he was named “International Performer of the Year” by the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
In addition to his work at the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, he has taught at Westminster Choir College, Union Theological Seminary, and the Manhattan School of Music. He has written numerous articles for organ and church music magazines and has served as president of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
Dr. Weaver has been active as a concert organist since coming under management in 1959. He has played throughout the USA, Canada, Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. He has performed on national television and radio network programs in the U.S. and Germany, and has made recordings for Aeolian-Skinner, the Wicks Organ Company, Klais Orgelbau of Germany, a CD on Gothic Records for the Schantz Organ Company, and a recording on the Pro Organo label on the new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle. His most recent recording, “The Organ and Choral Music of John Weaver,” is available on the JAV label and features his own organ and choral compositions. His published compositions for organ, chorus/organ and flute/organ are widely performed.
He currently lives in Vermont and continues to concertize and lead workshops and masterclasses around the world. The Weavers love to climb the New England mountains, and have a tradition of an annual ascent of Mt. Washington. Marianne is an avid gardener, and John’s hobby is a deep fascination with trains, both model and prototype.
This interview took place July 11, 2005, at the Weaver home in the rolling countryside near West Glover, Vermont.

MICHAEL BARONE: How did John Weaver stumble into the world of the organ?
JOHN WEAVER: We moved away from the little town where I spent the first four and a half years of my life. I have very few recollections of that place, except one of them that’s very strong—the organ at the church where my father was the pastor had a wonderful sound on low E. Something about the 16' stop on that organ resonated in the room in a glorious way, and I fell in love with that. As soon as I learned how to play a few notes on the piano, my favorite thing was to hold down the sustaining pedal and play an arpeggio—slowly at first—and just listen to it ring like an organ. Something in me has always been attracted to that sound.
MB: With whom did you study and how would you characterize those years?
JW: My first organ lessons were with a wonderful organist in Baltimore, Richard Ross. He died at age 39 shortly after having given me a lesson on a Saturday afternoon—just failed to show up the next day at church. Ross was becoming one of the best-known and finest organists in the country. When I first went to him, at the age of 15, instead of auditioning me at the organ, he told me to go up onto the stage of the Peabody concert hall and play for him on the piano. Well, there was a big Steinway up there, but the thing that really interested me was the 4-manual E. M. Skinner. I could hear air escaping from it, and I coveted playing that instrument so badly that I can feel it still today.
Nevertheless, Ross told me that he wanted to hear me play something on the piano. So, I stumbled through my Mozart sonata that was not really very good at that point, and afterward he said to me, “I don’t want you to study organ yet. You need to study at least another year of piano and really work at it very hard.” And then he also said something that I’ve always remembered: “If in the meantime you study organ with anybody else, I will never teach you.”
Well, I took his advice, and I went back to my piano teacher and really did work for a year—then came back the next year and played for Ross again. This time I played the Beethoven “Pathétique,” and I played it pretty well. Ross said, “OK, now you can start studying organ, but you must continue to study piano as well.”
Fortunately I had a very good piano teacher, and I studied with Ross for about a year and a half, until his death. The Peabody Conservatory brought in George Markey as an interim to fill out the rest of that academic year. While I was studying with Markey, at this point as a senior in high school, he said “Where are you going to go to school next year?” I just assumed I would go to Peabody because we lived in Baltimore, and Markey said, “Well, have you considered auditioning for the Curtis Institute of Music?” And I remember asking him, “Where is that?” I was soon to find out a lot about Curtis and also about the great teacher there, Alexander McCurdy. I did audition and was accepted, and had four glorious years in Philadelphia.

MB: McCurdy is something of a legend, and the stories about him are numerous. I expect you have more than a few.
JW: I’ve described him on numerous occasions as an Old Testament figure. He was someone you both loved and feared at the same time—certainly, not one to suffer fools. If you went into a lesson unprepared, you were sure to get a dressing down that would do a drill sergeant credit. But when words of praise came, they were so precious and so rewarding that they could light you up for a whole week. He was a very liberal teacher in that he did not insist on playing any piece of music in any certain way. Within that department at that time we had about six students—there was one student who was very much a disciple of E. Power Biggs, and there were others of us who were much more in the Virgil Fox camp. That was sort of the nature of the department, but McCurdy was as enthusiastic about the fellow who was a Neo-Baroquist as he was about the rest of us. That person, by the way, is Temple Painter, who is one of the leading harpsichordists in the city of Philadelphia and still plays organ as well.

MB: What were McCurdy’s techniques to get the best out of students? What did he create in you that might not have been there before? And then how did you take what you learned from McCurdy and shape that with your own personality?
JW: McCurdy had several ways of getting the best from us. I’ll never forget my first lesson: he assigned a chorale prelude from the Orgelbüchlein, which I had not played, and he said, “Mr. Weaver, I’d like you to play this next week from memory in organ class.” Well, right away it was jump-starting; and seven, eight hours a day of practicing became the norm. At my second lesson, he assigned the Vierne Cantabile, from the second symphony, and said, “I’d like you to play that next week in organ class in front of your peers.” Well, that was really a struggle. And he did that for about three weeks at the beginning of the four years. After that, he never assigned a piece again. But he got me into the habit of learning—I knew he expected that kind of production from week to week.
That’s a Curtis tradition that was started by Lynnwood Farnam, continued by Fernando Germani and by McCurdy, and I believe is still the case—each student comes every week with a new piece memorized to play in class. This could be a little one-page chorale prelude for manuals alone, or it could be a major prelude and fugue, a big romantic work, or a modern work—you could repeat something from previous classes, but you always had to have a new piece also. It got us into the habit of assuming when you started to learn a piece that you were eventually going to play it from memory. There are some pieces that I have never been able to play from memory. I’ve memorized a fair amount of Messiaen, but with more atonal pieces, I find that I am just not comfortable playing without the score.

MB: The challenge for the organist, of course, is that each instrument is different from the next and requires its own learning process. The traveling recitalist comes to a church, gets used to the instrument, gets used to the instrument’s response in the room, and then tries to make music with the repertoire that you’ve brought to town. Perhaps it’s no wonder that fewer organists want to memorize these days, but there’s still something about a performer totally connected to and deeply involved in the music that is missing when a score is being read.
JW: There is always the problem of the page-turner—or, if one turns one’s own pages, that has its risks as well. Page-turners can sometimes pull music down off the rack inadvertently, or pull a page right out of the book, or turn two pages—there are lots of risks. Page-turners also have a tendency sometimes to hum or to tap their foot. I’ve even known some who think it’s safe to step on the pedalboard to reach a page that’s far out of the way—that really does produce a catastrophe.
I guess it doesn’t make a lot of difference if the console is completely hidden. I wouldn’t know if someone was playing from memory or not, but pianists, violinists, singers are expected to walk on stage and play from memory. It’s harder for organists, yes. I like to have 12 to 15 hours at an instrument before I’m ready to play a recital on it. If I had 20 hours it would be better still. If I had 25, I would find a few more things to make that instrument come across in the very best possible way and the music to be the best that I could do. That kind of time is rarely available, but 12 to 15 hours is a norm.

MB: I always get the sense watching you that you really enjoy playing. Now is this actually true or are you just a very good actor?
JW: If it looks like I’m having fun, I’m glad for that because in a way, I am. I also am constantly aware of the pitfalls—how many things might happen that you don’t want to happen and sometimes do. But I do enjoy playing. I love playing recitals, though it scares me, and five minutes before the recital I ask myself “Why did I ever agree to do this?” But once I start playing, why, that departs and I really do settle down and enjoy what I love about the music that I play—hoping that people will catch something of what I’m feeling about that music and my devotion to it.

MB: How did you, a former student at the Curtis Institute, come to be the head of the organ department at Curtis?
JW: One fine day Alexander McCurdy called me up and said, “Mr. Weaver, I’m going to retire from the Curtis Institute, and Rudolph Serkin would like to meet with you and see if you might be an appropriate successor.” (Rudolph Serkin at that point being the director of the Curtis Institute.) Needless to say, I went down to Philadelphia and met with Serkin, and he suggested that I play a recital in Curtis Hall—it was never called an audition recital, but I think they wanted me to clear that hurdle before giving me a green light. Curtis Hall is one of the hardest places to play. It is totally dry acoustically, with a 118-rank Aeolian-Skinner in a room that seats about 200 people—probably more pipes per person than any place else in the world. But it’s an instrument that can, if one works with it, do remarkable things. So I did play the recital and did get the job, and was there very happily for many years. I started in 1971 and retired in 2003—32 years.

MB: How would you characterize yourself as a teacher?
JW: I’ve tried to follow the McCurdy mold. When I was at Curtis we continued the tradition of the organ class—memorization and new pieces each week. I also tried to not impose my own interpretation of any given piece upon the students that I was fortunate enough to teach, both at Curtis and at Juilliard. I do believe that everyone should somehow sound like themselves, that there is some part of themselves and their own musical personality that will affect the way that they perform any piece.
I’ve had students who were extremely flamboyant and almost overdone. I’ve tried to curb that a little bit sometimes, but I certainly don’t want to squelch the enthusiasm and the very strong personal interpretations that a student like that can bring. Sometimes I find a student’s playing to be too conservative, just dull note pushing, and then we talk a lot about the music and about its nature—its liveliness or passiveness or serenity or agitation—trying to have the student project something in the music other than just the notes on the page.

MB: Who were some of your outstanding recent students?
JW: Well, without naming any priority, certainly Paul Jacobs, who succeeded me at Juilliard; Alan Morrison, who succeeded me at the Curtis Institute; Diane Meredith Belcher, who’s on the faculty at Westminster Choir College; Ken Cowan, who is on the faculty of Westminster Choir College and is now the head of the organ department there—and a whole host of others. Those are four that are under management, nationally known, and do a great deal of playing—I’m very proud of them indeed.

MB: How did you come to be at Madison Avenue Presbyterian? What are the different demands, delights, and challenges of being a church musician as opposed to being a fancy-free artist in the world of recitals?
JW: For eleven years, I was at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York. While there, my wife and I started the Bach cantata series that continues to this day, and we really made that church known for performances of the music of Bach. In 1970, I knew that the position at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church was vacant. It never occurred to me to apply for it. But one day, a gentleman came into the church office unannounced, no appointment, and asked to see me. When we met he said, “We,” meaning the search committee at Madison Avenue, “were hoping that you would apply.”
Well, having the door opened by him at that point, I decided to follow through with it, and I did so with a great deal of doubt because I had grown up in a Presbyterian church, where the din of the congregational chatter before the service completely drowned out anything that could possibly be done on the organ. And I had the impression that Presbyterians generally did not place a very high value on the quality of the worship, the sermon being the centerpiece of the whole Sunday morning experience. But I met with the committee at Madison Avenue and particularly with their pastor David H.C. Reed, in whom I found a Presbyterian with wonderfully high regard for worship and high expectations for the quality of worship. My fears were allayed. I did go to Madison Avenue in the fall of 1970, and immediately we began changing the nature of the worship service there. The congregation began to sing a great deal more—four hymns every Sunday, plus they began to sing the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.
That progressed until the congregation tended to draw people who liked to sing, and so the congregational singing was strong and is to this day. David Reed was followed by Dr. Fred Anderson, who was a musician—his first degree was as a music major—and a great lover of music and of worship. Now one could go to Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and the worship experience would be very ecumenical. You would not be certain if you were in a Lutheran or a Roman Catholic or an Episcopal church. It’s very much Presbyterian, but at the same time very ecumenical and very rich liturgically.
MB: Have you considered yourself an organist who composes or have you always thought of yourself as a composer who had to make his way as an organist and a teacher?
JW: Very definitely the former: I’m an organist first and foremost, but I’m an organist who loves to compose. Many composers who try to write for the organ don’t understand the instrument and therefore write pieces that get a premiere performance and are never heard again. In fact, the organ literature that does become mainstream is almost always written by people who play the instrument. One great exception is Paul Hindemith, but he of course was able to write for any instrument, and he always did his research and knew what he was doing—he wrote three wonderful organ sonatas and a concerto.
Years ago, when I was in my early teens, I started going to Vermont in the summer to a music camp for theory. No lessons were taught on piano or clarinet or violin or anything like that. There was no applied music—it was all theory. We had counterpoint classes, form and analysis, and harmony and such, and the result of it was that the students of the camp composed because we had been given the tools of the musical language.
So I’ve gone to Vermont every summer of my life to compose, and now that I live here I hope to do a lot more composing. I’ve also composed primarily things that I myself could use. Although everything I’ve composed for the last 15 years has been on commission, I’ve always written something that I could use in my own work, either in recitals or in church services. I’ve written a lot of choral music and a lot of organ solo pieces and also several pieces for organ and flute because my wife is a very good flutist and we like to be able to play those pieces together.

MB: Do you have any favorites among the pieces that you’ve written? JW: My favorites tend to be the ones that have been performed a great deal. The Passacaglia on a Theme of Dunstable—it may not in fact be by Dunstable, but it was thought to be by him, namely the tune Deo gratias—was composed for the 25th anniversary of the state trumpets at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and I played the premiere performance there. It’s a set of variations in passacaglia form, and one variation is designated for that magnificent state trumpet at the west end of that huge cathedral. Nevertheless, the piece works on instruments that don’t have that particular kind of stop available. The piece has been recorded by a number of people and has been played all over the world—that gives me a lot of satisfaction. It’s also one of my favorite pieces.

MB: How many compositions have you’ve written up to this point?
JW: I’ve probably composed about 20 choral pieces, that is, anthem-length pieces. I’ve also composed all four gospel settings of the Passion story, and probably a dozen solo organ pieces.

MB: And other than the commission that you just received on Friday, the future is an open book at this point?
JW: Yes, actually that’s the only commission I have in hand right now, but I am trusting that others will come in. And if they don’t I’ll write anyhow.

MB: Someone wanting to commission you would do what? Do you have a website?
JW: .

MB: Do you enjoy the process of recording? You’ve made some notable recordings. It ends up sounding as though you’re having a good time, even if you might not be.
JW: No, I hate recording. [laughter] There’s something a little bit antiseptic about it. First of all, one does not get that sense of response from a live audience. You simply do the playing, and then there are people sitting around with scores and dials and they’re wanting to do this over again and that over again—or a siren will go off or there’ll be a clap of thunder; things like that can make it very frustrating. When they listen to a recording, people have no idea about how long it takes to make that, because street noises or other interruptions can destroy what otherwise would have been a perfect take. It’s very hard.

MB: You’ve been performing in Portland on the Kotzschmar organ—well, you must have been a boy in knee pants when you started.
JW: It was in 1956—at the end of my first year as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music—when I first played the instrument that had been given to the city of Portland by Cyrus H. K. Curtis, whose daughter was the founder of the Curtis Institute. So there was a wonderful connection there. And I’ve been back every year since. [Editor’s note: Dr. Weaver played his 50th recital on the Kotzschmar in August 2005.]

MB: The organ is a challenge as a musical instrument—it is this device with so many opportunities for color and dynamics, and yet is an incredibly complex machine, which even at its best seems to be intractable. Is this something that organists don’t think about, they just do? Or is making music on the organ as difficult as it might appear to a layman, seeing all of those controls to be manipulated and the separation between the console and the pipework and all of that?
JW: Michael, I believe every instrument has its challenges. For pianists, the way in which the key is struck is so critical, and a pianist’s hands must cover a large key compass, whereas organs have a shorter keyboard, 61 notes as opposed to 88; and organ music tends to stay in the middle register, so, in a way, that’s much easier. Violinists have tiny strings and a fingerboard, and it amazes me that they can play a C major scale. Violin virtuosos are just astonishing. The challenges of the organ are mastering the pedals, mastering console technique that enables you to draw upon the resources of the instrument—and then also to a very great extent, the imagination that you can bring to bear with so many different colors available. Each person will choose sounds to produce the right color, if I might use that word, for the passage that they’re playing in a way that pianists and violinists couldn’t possibly do.

MB: In the 21st century young organists face not only sustaining the presence of their instrument but actually rebuilding an audience for organ music. I see this as a real challenge.
JW: Yes, it is. Every now and then though, one sees very hopeful signs—one of those being the recent installation within the last five to ten years of a great many organs in the concert halls of this country—something that’s fairly standard in Europe; for instance, the renovation of the wonderful Ernest Skinner organ in Severance Hall in Cleveland, a new organ in Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the restoration of the organ in Boston Symphony Hall, the new Disney Hall instrument in Los Angeles. One could go on and on and name any number of places where new instruments have been installed or old instruments have been restored—to me this suggests that the organ will take, again, its place as a concert instrument and not just a liturgical instrument.
On the other hand, it must be said that concert halls are often not the most perfect, acoustically, for organs. Great organ music was written to sound its best in places with fairly substantial reverberation, such as a large stone church. So concert hall organs are wonderful, and I’m glad they’re being built, and they enable us to do organ concerti and sometimes organ solo recitals. But the church, particularly one that has a long reverberation period, is still where the organ seems most at home.

MB: How would you compare the scene for organs and organists in your day? Was this a peak of energy with that marvelous—some would say divisive, some would say energy producing—polarity between the historicists and E. Power Biggs on one side, and the theatricalists and Virgil Fox on the other? We don’t have quite that type of energy today. I daresay the man in the street, if asked to name a concert organist today, might be hard pressed, whereas back in the ’60s and early ’70s, the names of Biggs and Fox were very much in the public ear.
JW: Biggs and Fox, both of them very talented, extraordinary musicians, had a great advantage of working right at the time that the LP recording was becoming common in the American home. RCA Victor and Columbia were the big producers of LP recordings at the beginning of that time in the early ’50s. And there was Biggs and there was Fox, and these two polarities were represented in the recording industry—that did a great deal for the visibility of the organ and the popularity of organ music.

MB: It could be argued that now is both the best of times and the worst of times—there are far more organ recordings available, representing a much larger panoply of artistry and instruments both new built and historic, marvelously represented—and yet there is so much that the focus is lost to some degree.
JW: Yes, I think that’s right. When it was Biggs and Fox, you could expect to find their names in the crossword puzzle. No organist today has that kind of visibility. Another name that was right up there at the top was Marcel Dupré because of his extraordinary playing and also the fact that he had been the teacher of so many organists in the U.S. through the Fulbright program. There isn’t anyone who has really achieved that kind of star status in the organ world, which is not to say that there aren’t a great many wonderfully talented and brilliant performers. Maybe there are just too many.

MB: Yes, it could be argued that the performance quality of the 21st century is higher than it’s ever been. Do you think that it’s possible with so much talent around for someone to distinguish themselves or do they have to almost jump beyond mere artistry and do something odd in order to be discovered? JW: Perhaps it would be best to think in terms of naming names. The name of Cameron Carpenter who studied with me at Juilliard comes to mind. Cameron is extraordinarily flamboyant, both in dress and personality and in playing. His playing annoys the purists terribly, but certain people are simply mesmerized by his performances. And he is a genius—there’s no question about that. Another name that gets a great deal of visibility these days is the young German organist, Felix Hell, whom I also had the honor to teach. Felix, at first, was famous because he was so very young when he was playing recitals all over the world, literally, as he still does. But now he is taking his place among the more mature artists of the younger generation and plays very well indeed—and has made numerous recordings. So these two are a little bit like Biggs and Fox—Felix tends to be a fairly conservative player, not extremely so but more middle of the road, whereas Cameron is way out there in show biz land.

MB: Presuming it’s something different from that marvelous, resonate low “E” that had you mesmerized as a child, when you play and hear the organ, what sort of thoughts go through your mind? What is it about the instrument that still captures your heart and soul?
JW: Who could not be seduced by the instrument itself? Just the mechanics of it and this great collection of pipes, some of them enormous, much larger than most people realize, and most of them very much smaller. I think when a layman sees the inside of a pipe organ for the first time, they’re always astonished—even if it’s a small instrument, it looks amazingly big and complex. And the large ones, of course, are simply mind-boggling. So there’s something about the instrument: its bigness, its history. When I’m playing an organ, if I’m playing Bach I’m thinking about instruments I’ve played that Bach may have played—there’s this great history and great repertoire, and frankly the sound of the instrument has always seduced me.

MB: How would you characterize your playing style?
JW: Probably other people should do that. I would say that I am in the middle someplace. I probably am a little bit on the extrovert side of dead center, but I also am not one to completely disregard the knowledge that musicologists have brought to us of performance practice, of historic instruments—but sometimes I will just say “this piece that I’m playing on this particular instrument cannot be played in a good, authentic, 18th-century style.” Something must be done to make the music and the organ come together in a way that is satisfying and gratifying. And sometimes that means just throwing the rulebook out the window.

MB: Did you set out with goals? You probably didn’t begin your study imagining you would go to Curtis, and then after having studied at Curtis, you probably hadn’t thought that you might end up teaching there, or at Juilliard for that matter. You’re like a natural surfer who has swum out into the sea and found a fantastic wave and you’ve been able to ride that wave through your career with skill, with accomplishment, certainly with a sense of pride. How do you look back at your career from this point?
JW: I would have to say that as with many careers, a great deal of it has to do with being at the right place at the right time, but also having ability to do the job that is required. I’ve often thought that if I had been five years younger, the Curtis Institute would not have thought me an appropriate age to head that organ department. If I had been five years older, it’s likely that they would have chosen someone else from among Alexander McCurdy’s students.

MB: You have moved on from three prestigious positions and you’ve now settled in what used to be your summer home in rural Vermont, up in the marvelous rolling countryside in the northeast corner of the state. Somehow, I can’t think of you as retiring. What projects have you set for yourself for the future?
JW: The mail recently brought a new commission for a new organ piece—that’ll be one of the things. I do want to continue to compose. I’m playing a number of recitals this year including two that I’m extraordinarily excited about, because I will be reunited with the instruments that I had my first lessons on. One of them, the Peabody concert hall Skinner, was put in storage for about 40 years, and then set up at a big Roman Catholic Church in Princeton, New Jersey. A week later I will be playing a recital on the wonderful Skinner organ at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, where my teacher Richard Ross was the organist, and before him, Virgil Fox—a beautiful, perfectly untouched Ernest Skinner that really is quite a marvelous instrument. And I’m playing some other recitals and some dedications around the country.

MB: So, you keep your organ shoes polished and ready to go?
JW: Indeed so.
[Editor’s note: Dr. Weaver has announced that the 2007–2008 concert season will be his last for regular concert activity.]

MB: Tell me about some of your memories from being “on the road.”
JW: The wonderful occasions that I love to think back upon are two recitals that I played—one in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, for a national convention of the American Guild of Organists, in which everything went the way I wanted it to. I loved the instrument, the audience was wonderful, the acoustic was great. And the other one was the Mormon Tabernacle—a recital I played when the Tabernacle was having a three-day symposium to celebrate the restoration of the organ there. Everything was fun, and the instrument was to die for, and of course the acoustics are world famous.

MB: Tell me about your railroad fascination. Where did you grow up? Mauch Chunk?
JW: Yes, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, is a little town north of Allentown and Bethlehem, about 20 miles up into the Pocono Mountains—it’s in a ravine cut by the Lehigh River, and there was a railroad on both sides of the river that ran through the town. The town is now called Jim Thore, but its historic name of Mauch Chunk has great importance. Anyhow, it was a railroad town, and being in this mountain ravine, day or night you could hear the sound of a steam locomotive. The bells and the whistles and the smell of coal smoke were a constant feature of that place. I can remember standing by the railroad track and holding my father’s hand and counting the number of cars on a freight train as it rolled through. It became a part of my life—a very strong hobby, and we are seated right now in the midst of a model railroad that I’m creating that is 26 by 36 feet and has 390 feet of track in it. This is my last model railroad—if I live to 150 I might actually finish it.

MB: And you had one in your office at Madison Avenue Presbyterian.
JW: Yes, unfortunately when I retired from Madison Avenue that meant the end of that railroad, but all of those trains and the structures and the little people and the automobiles and all that are now a part of the railroad here.

MB: I’m sure the compositions that you created for Madison Avenue Presbyterian remain in the files there for the choirs to sing. It’s too bad that your railroad installation in the office wasn’t kept by your replacement.
JW: In the search for my replacement, a fondness for railroads had nothing whatsoever to do with their choice. So.

MB: What of your siblings and in what directions did they go?
JW: My older brother took piano lessons from the same teacher that I had, and he could see that I was making faster progress, so he switched to violin and became in his high school years a reasonably good violinist—he played second chair, first violin in what was at that time a very good high school orchestra. My younger brother is a wonderful tenor, does a lot of solo work in the western Massachusetts area, teaches mathematics at Mount Holyoke College, has an abiding passion for music and even does some composing—he has been published.

MB: And your parents’ musical backgrounds?
JW: Both of my parents played the piano, my father better than my mother. My father had also studied organ for a year or two, and could get through a hymn—knew how to use the pedals a little bit for hymn playing. My mother was an artist, did a master’s at Carnegie Tech and then studied for a year at the Sorbonne—the walls of our houses are covered with paintings that she did over the years.

MB: With your family’s church affiliation and your being a church organist, it’s maybe not surprising that some of the most lovely works that you’ve created have been fantasies on or settings of hymn tunes. You certainly do respond to the church’s song in your compositions.
JW: Well, I love playing hymns. I especially love hymns when a congregation is stirred to sing really well—that’s a wonderful experience. Very often the reason for writing pieces based on hymns has to do with the nature of a commission that I have received. In fact, almost always when I have composed a piece based upon a hymn tune, it’s been requested by the person who commissioned the composition.

MB: Did your parents live to see the honor accorded their son who went on to great things?
JW: My father was very gratified to live to see my appointment to Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. It was one year later that I was appointed to Curtis. By that time, my mother had died, and my father was not at all well. My father did not particularly encourage my desire to be a professional organist. He, as a minister of a medium-size church, saw that as being at best a part-time job, which would mean having to do something else on the side, and that’s always a difficult life. I think he was very happy to see that I had the security of a full-time church position that was also in a church of great prominence within the denomination.

Michael Barone adds: When I first heard John Weaver play, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for the AGO convention in 1984, I was charmed by his physical presence (Mr. Clean in a dinner jacket!), awed by his control of the instrument (and himself), and beguiled by his musicianship. Subsequent convergences have confirmed my first impressions. John is a modest man of major accomplishments, a patrician artist and persuasive virtuoso who has fostered and encouraged the talents and individuality of an inspiring array of youngsters. He is a musician whose own playing leaves a lasting memory, and whose compositions touch the soul. He’s a guy I’ve been both honored and delighted to know. Happy birthday, John!

John Weaver will be the featured guest/topic of a Pipedreams broadcast (#0717) during the week of April 23, 2007, which will remain available 24/7 in an online audio “programs” archive at www.pipedreams.org.

Michael Barone's John Weaver interview

See the interview here.

 

Other items of interest:

John Weaver honored by Juilliard

John Weaver honored by Union Theological Seminary

Honoring John Weaver's 80th birthday

John Weaver dies at age 83

John Weaver honored by long time representative

by Gordon Atkinson, William Bolcom, Phillip Burgess, James Hammann, Michele Johns, James Kibbie, Gal

Marilyn Mason celebrates her 80th birthday on June 29. She was born in Alva, Oklahoma, on June 29, 1925. Dr. Mason is University Organist, Professor of Music, and Chairman of the Organ Department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her affiliation with Michigan began in 1944 as a pupil of Palmer Christian, and she later completed the MMus degree at Michigan. She spent time in France, where she studied under Nadia Boulanger (analysis) and Maurice Durufl? (organ), and in 1954 she earned the Doctor of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
As an undergraduate, she was awarded the Stanley Medal, the highest award given to any music major. Later, in her teaching career, her colleagues presented her with the Distinguished Faculty Award, and music alumni awarded her the first Citation of Merit. During her time at Michigan, annual summer and fall Conferences on Organ Music have become regular highlights. She has led more than 50 historic organ tours abroad, and the Marilyn Mason Organ was created in a specifically designed recital hall in the School of Music. The organ, built by C. B. Fisk, is a replica in the spirit of the instruments of Gottfried Silbermann.Marilyn Mason has made a lasting impact in her distinguished career as concert organist, teacher, lecturer, adjudicator, consultant, recording artist, and by the nearly 75 organ works she has commissioned. Dr. Mason has performed on every continent, save Antarctica. She was the first American woman to play in Westminster Abbey, the first woman organist to play in Latin America, and the first American to play in Egypt. She has served as judge at nearly every major organ competition in the world. Her dedication to contemporary organ music is evidenced by the names of prominent composers who have written for her: Albright, Bolcom, Cook, Cowell, Creston, Diemer, Haines, Jackson, Johnson, Jordan, Krenek, Langlais, Lockwood, Near, Persichetti, Sowerby, Wyton, Young, and others. In 1987, Dr. Mason was awarded the degree Doctor of Music honoris causa from the University of Nebraska. In 1988 she was chosen as Performer of the Year by the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists.We join the contributors below in wishing Dr. Mason a most happy birthday.
?Jerome Butera

The gift of friendship

The time: July or August, 1957; the occasion: TheInternational Congress of Organists; the place: Westminster Abbey, London.

The Royal College of Organists hosted a meeting of organistsfrom around the world, with soloists from the American Guild of Organists, theRoyal Canadian College of Organists and the RCO. Many distinguished playerswere heard, and the recital by Marilyn Mason was greatly anticipated. Theprogram included Leo Sowerby?s Classic Concerto for organ and orchestra conducted by the composer.The stylish and polished performance by Dr. Mason, exemplary in every way, wasa highlight, her playing all the more telling as the abbey organ at that timehad only one general piston.

Later in the week at a garden party on the abbey grounds,heavy rain sent delegates running for shelter, and it was in the safety of thecloisters that I first spoke with Dr. Mason--and I was immediately awareof her warmth and interest towards a recently graduated organ student.

I had no thought of leaving England, but in the followingyear I accepted a church appointment in Canada. In 1959 Dr. Mason played aprogram at Metropolitan United Church, London, Ontario, which included theRoger-Ducasse Pastorale, a piece she hadmade her own, and the much underplayed Suite of Paul Creston that she had commissioned.Afterwards, in the line of listeners to say ?thank you,? Dr. Masonsaid, ?I remember you, where?? ?Running from the rain atWestminster Abbey.?

The University Organ Conference became a yearly fixture forme following the first in 1962 with Anton Heiller as the featured player. Whocould forget his lecture-recital on Orgelbüchlein?  Overthe years many European and North American organists made great contributionswith their lectures, demonstrations and performances.

Having played hundreds of recitals throughout the world,taught and encouraged hundreds of pupils in almost 60 years at the Universityof Michigan, Marilyn?s ability for friendship is one thing that sets herapart. Her legendary technique, her ability to get to the core of the music, isalmost superseded by her rare gift of friendship.

The 50 U-M trips to historic organs of Europe, eye and earopeners, are arranged so that members can hear the 18th-century north Germanorgan builders, those of the south, or the wonders of France from the Clicquotsto the Cavaillé-Colls. Doors are opened, organs made available, becauseof Dr. Mason?s reputation and her extensive network of players in theorgan world.

As a former student I say thank you, Marilyn, for yourinspiring teaching, the many walks through the ?Arb? (AnnArbor?s Arboretum) to the School of Music, the innumerable meals andconversations, your delightful sense of humor, your love of poetry and analmost  lifelong friendship.

Many are in awe of Dr. Mason?s musicianship,championing and commissioning of music for our instrument. I appreciate hercare and concern for all people she meets.

--Gordon Atkinson

At the time he left England, Gordon Atkinson was organist atSt. John the Baptist Church, Holland Road, Kensington, London, where among hispredecessors were Healey Willan and William Harris. A former president of theRCCO, Dr. Atkinson now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Gospel Preludes

This past century has seen an enormous growth in challengingnew organ music, and one of the most influential virtuosi and proponents of neworgan music is Marilyn Mason. She has encouraged so much new music from so manycomposers, and I especially thank her for her extensive performances andinsightful teaching of my own music. She has commissioned several of my mostimportant organ works and has always championed them, and this is precious to acomposer--maybe the work will have a life! But no work has a life withoutthe right performance, and her doing the right performance for me and so manyothers, long dead and still living, is what makes Marilyn Mason so extremelyspecial.

--William Bolcom

Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Music,The University of Michigan

A student for life

Once you have studied with Marilyn Mason, you study with herfor life. Yes, you may graduate, but you are never far from her constantguidance and care. During my years with her, I found that in one breath shecould correct my articulation and registration and also inquire if my checkbookwas balanced. Never overly critical, she could find ways to correct andencourage at the same time. And her analogies were priceless. Once afterplaying a particular piece, she thought for a moment and said to me,?hearing you play that piece like that reminds me of someone trying toeat peas with a knife.? Dr. Mason is a tireless teacher dedicated to theentire well-being of her students. As other students can attest, she insistedthat each of us have a church position. For her, a learning experience is notsufficient without a practical application. And you earn money. How convenient!

Dr. Mason also insisted that all of her students be able tocook. Although I never mastered the art, Saturday mornings were dedicated tobread baking in her Ann Arbor home, and her famous baguettes accompanied nearlyevery meal. Her equally famous ?green punch? was a fixture atnearly every reception or party! While not always green, the punch was seldomwithout its admirers.

Traveling remains an important part of Dr. Mason?slife. Her organ tours, numbering over fifty at this point, have exposed many tothe famous organs of the world. On each tour, a mix of music aficionados andstudents embark upon a life-changing experience. Through her generosity, manystudents are able to receive scholarships to help them defray the cost of thesetours, a benefit not lost on many. As a student, I traveled on five tours. Itis one thing to read about the organs of Spain, France, and Italy and be toldwhat they sound like. But to actually play and spend time on the instruments isquite another matter. As any tour member can tell you, Dr. Mason knows thatwherever you travel in the world, the most important person is the man with thekey! Once while in Rome, I found myself on the bench at St. Peter?s.Being told by the organist that we had only a little time, each of us rotatedon and off the bench while Dr. Mason kept the keeper of the key distracted.Playing last, I was quite prepared to finish my pieces and leave. Turning to mefrom a distance away, she told me to play ?longer and slower . . . theycan?t kick us off the bench while the music is going.?

As many of us have experienced over the years, I have foundProf. Mason to be a completely approachable and unselfish person. In constantcommunication with students and colleagues, whether through her famoustypewriter or e-mail, any problem musically or otherwise is given thoughtfulconsideration. As a ?second? mother and extension of my family, sheoften invited us into her home for holidays and special events. During times ofillness and strife, her home or studio was often filled with moments of prayeror words of encouragement. 

As Prof. Mason approaches this milestone in her life andcareer, I see no sign that she is slowing down. Indeed, following her for a daywill leave you intellectually challenged and mentally and physically exhausted.I could go on and on recounting our times together, but instead I will simplyclose with her most famous quote. ?Remember students, your performanceisn?t over until you are in the parking lot.? Dr. Mason, pleaseremember that as well, and God bless you for another eighty years.

--Phillip Burgess

Phillip Burgess holds MM and DMA degrees from the Universityof Michigan, and is currently organist/choirmaster of St. Luke?sEpiscopal Church in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Marilyn?s maxims

One is not around Marilyn Mason for long before it becomesapparent that one is in the presence of a walking ?Poor Richard?sAlmanac.? Just as Ben Franklin filled the minds and hearts of colonialAmericans with short pithy phrases that helped them cope with the practicalrealities of life on the frontier, Marilyn has helped several generations oforgan students navigate the treacheries of left hand and pedal, church musiccommittees, and the beginnings of musical careers with similar phrases for boththe particular and the universal.

When our concentration flagged during a long fugue we werereminded that, ?The performance is not over until you are in the parkinglot.? When we were pondering career options and had not put forth theeffort of sending out that additional résumé we heard, ?Youcan?t accept a position you haven?t applied for.? In themiddle of a long project, or when our devotion to duty wavered, Nadia Boulangerwas quoted: ?You must do your little bit each day.? Marilyn tellswith relish the story of an admirer who gushed in a receiving line after one ofher recitals, ?You are so lucky to play so well.? Her reply was,?Yes, the more I practice, the luckier I get!? 

Some of the sayings have universal application.?Timing is everything? works for the shaping of sonata allegro form, knowing when to make thatrecommendation call to the chairperson of a search committee, or when it istime for a joke during a tedious meeting.

Then there is the short ejaculation,  ?How convenient!? Thisphrase was quickly adopted after it was uttered by an organist demonstratinghow to change stops on a Rückpositiv where the knobs were located on thecase behind the organ bench. The organist twisted herself into a pretzel andexclaimed ?See how convenient these are.? The irony and humor werenot lost, and this two-word phrase now highlights most any situation, just asan ?Amen? can be used after a prayer of thanksgiving, supplication,or devotion.

Well, Marilyn, timing may be everything, but somehow timejust doesn?t seem to apply to you. For one thing,  time stands still when we are aroundyou. Your constant activity, love of life,  infectious enthusiasm and devotion to the world of music ingeneral and the pipe organ in particular keep us entranced. Fifteen years aftermost people retire you have just produced another recording, premiered a newwork in New York and Paris, and are preparing for another historic organ tour.This is all in addition to your normal duties as professor of organ andchairman of the department. Just as Ben urged his fellow citizens to create agreat country by improving themselves, we are reminded to do the same by yourexample, your devotion,  your loveand care for us, and all of those maxims. HOW CONVENIENT!!!

--James Hammann

James Hammann teaches organ and theory at the University ofNew Orleans. He is director of music for The Chapel of the Holy Comforter, andruns his own maintenance business for pipe organs in the New Orleans area. Heearned the DMA in organ and church music from The University of Michigan in1987, where Marilyn Mason was his primary teacher.

A lady of firsts

The first American woman to play organ in Westminster Abbey(900th anniversary of the abbey).

The first woman to play organ concerts on five continents inone year.

Her reputation for innovation, learning, and sharing throughteaching traverses the world. She refreshes the art of organ playing throughthese excellent traits. As an example to her students she is alwaysregenerating herself with new ideas and new ways to learn.

I have been privileged to study with Marilyn Mason throughtwo advanced degrees during a particularly creative and innovative time in thehistory of American organ-playing: the so-called Early Music Revival. (Severalyears earlier, I had made her acquaintance during the founding of the Ann ArborAGO chapter.) During this time of revival, Marilyn organized the University ofMichigan Summer Keyboard Institute (now celebrating its 25th year), whichfeatured the venerable Peter Williams--author, performer, and innovativethinker. Due to his great mind among us, we always left the Institute with morequestions than answers! Also at this time, Dr. Mason won for herself auniversity grant to study organ-building in Europe. Thus, Professor JamesKibbie and I, as graduate students, were privileged to be her researchassistants visiting organbuilding shops and major instruments of more than adozen builders in Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark.During these travels we personally witnessed her seemingly limitless capacityfor learning and refreshing her thinking. This single event was the start ofthe famous Historic Organ Tours, the 50th of which she recently completed. Whata way to learn about historic organ performance practice. The instruments arethe great teachers!

Impressive accomplishments for Dr. Mason, but let?slook some decades earlier. Marilyn Mason had played many of these instrumentsin the early years after World War II. She knew the importance of studyingoriginal instruments and European musical thinking. Thus the annual U-MConference on Organ Music was born in 1960 and has flourished ever since. Theconference has always featured European artists who  performed and spoke about the music of their particularcountry. Along with these visiting artists came Lowell Riley, an American whohad spent years photographing European organs and who brought to us dazzlingslide shows of great masterpieces of organbuilding.

MARILYN MASON: fresh-thinking, Energizer-Bunny energetic,humor-filled, highly spiritual, and totally committed to teaching students ofall ages.

Innovations

* performing the Alain Trois Dances with a troupe of U-M dance majors

* performing the Dupré Chemin de la Croix with narration of the famous poem by Paul Claudel andaccompanied by a PowerPoint presentation of great works of art depicting theStations of the Cross

* performing the complete organ works of J. S. Bachthree times in 1985 accompanied by slides of the actual music being played.

Quotes

?I always love a meal that someone else hascooked!?

?Your recital isn?t over until you are in theparking lot.?

?I was once introduced as Marilyn Monroe.?

?See if you can get somewhere near the rightnotes.?

?When you study with Dr. Mason you have to learn tochop veggies.?

Seen and heard

Baking French bread, stacking it in the basket on herbicycle and riding around to give fresh bread to neighbor friends.

Attending Bible study sessions in the neighborhood.

Talking her way through customs after visiting France,trying to explain that those plastic bags in her suitcase were not marijuanabut herbes de Provence.

Her famous ?Joke Book? which was stolen atRiverside Church one day.

My all time personal favorite

Professor Kibbie and I were tape recording in a Europeanchurch and asked Marilyn to run the tape recorder. She was confused: turn thetape over and then rewind or the other way around? Things didn?t work outcorrectly and we lost some of our research. I tried to cheer her up, saying:?Dr. Mason, you were a Phi Beta Kappa, remember?? She apologizedquietly and said, ?It was a low moment. They were taking everyone!?

--Michele Johns

Dr. Michele Johns is adjunct Associate Professor of Music,the University of Michigan School of Music.

The same as ever

Recently, the University of Michigan?s cable TVchannel rebroadcast an interview with Marilyn Mason first televised in 1977.The interviewer?s long hair, wide collar and bell-bottomed trousers aredated, but Marilyn looks remarkably as she does today. She demonstrates theorgans in her studio and Hill Auditorium with masterworks of the repertoireplayed from memory and talks of her love for the instrument and its repertoire,including the new music she has commissioned.

People around the country often ask, ?How is MarilynMason?? The answer is, ?The same as ever,? as that oldvideotape demonstrates. After more than 50 years on the faculty of theUniversity of Michigan, she is still as active and engaged as ever, performing,teaching, leading organ tours, confidently spinning off new ideas, championingour students, and promoting her vision for our profession.

Birthdays can sometimes be an occasion to reminisce, butMarilyn herself doesn?t often engage in that sort of retrospection.She?s far too busy making new plans and promoting new projects. So forMarilyn?s many friends and former students, perhaps I can suggest someother appropriate ways to observe her birthday:

* Attend one of her concerts (easy to do, since sheplays almost everywhere)

* Buy another of her recordings (a new one has justbeen released)

* Play for one of her masterclasses

* Go on a U of M Historic Organ Tour

* Perform a new work for organ, or better yet,commission one

* Attend the U of M Organ Conference or SummerInstitute

* Make a donation to the Marilyn Mason ScholarshipFund at the University of Michigan

* Tell a joke

* Raise a glass.

Like many other former students of Marilyn Mason, I claimher as one of the most important people in my life. I look forward to many moreyears to enjoy her as mentor, colleague and loyal friend.

--James Kibbie

Professor of Organ

The University of Michigan School of Music

Joie de vivre

On the occasion of her 80th birthday,  all best wishes  to an energetic, enthusiastic andremarkable lady and teacher!

When I came to Ann Arbor 37 years ago to study organ,Marilyn?s sons were small enough to crawl behind the sofa when studentscame to her house. Now my grandson is crawling behind the furniture and Marilynis still entertaining students. The years have passed but her vitality andwonderful energy remain. Her jokes have changed but her joie de vivre has not.Longevity alone, if that were all there was to it, has allowed her to affectthe musical careers of hundreds of students, from the United States toSingapore!

But there is more to her endurance than longevity. Her ownprofessional development has never stopped. Marilyn has always kept up with thetimes. Her teaching reflects the traditions of Palmer Christian and JeanLanglais, but it has followed as well the trends of Bach playing through thedetaché 1980s and it has included the revived understanding of classicFrench organ style that made alternatim and Grands Jeux household words amongher students.

Presentation is everything, she has said, in music and infood. What she taught us about stage presence she modeled for us inface-to-face presence. A very few enthusiastic words in a foreign languagecoupled with her smile have opened doors of understanding with guests both hereand abroad.

Good health and a healthy appetite go hand in hand with herlove of life. For years the teacher who explained the grand manner of theFrench tradition rode to work on her bicycle. Travelers on her University ofMichigan historical organ tours will remember her legendary ability to catch ashort nap on the back seat of the bus and to rise refreshed and ready to climbto the next organ loft. The anticipation of the sound of a Cavaillé-Collorgan is always matched by the joy of savoring a great wine and a cassoulet deProvence.

Let?s see--endearing, entertaining, energetic,enthusiastic, enduring--I shouldn?t forget e-mail. Possibly herfavorite mode of communication enables her to stay in touch with students oftoday and yesterday and with traveling companions from more than 25 years ofEuropean tours. I?ll be sending a birthday greeting to her e-mail addressand I know it will be answered promptly and with  enthusiasm!

--Gale Kramer

Metropolitan Methodist Church, Detroit

New recording

For several decades, Marilyn Mason has enjoyed a singularlydistinguished and influential career as a recitalist and teacher, which hastaken her to major venues throughout the world. No other organist has been asactive as Dr. Mason in commissioning and promoting new music.

Her latest CD, Paul Freeman Introduces Marilyn Mason, consists of three 20th-century organ concertos andthe  William Bolcom?s GospelPreludes, Book Four. Assisting Dr. Mason isthe first-rate Czech National Symphony Orchestra under the able leadership ofthe American conductor Paul Freeman.

The three concertos were recently recorded in Prague?sDvorák Hall in the Rudolfinum on the 1975 Ceskoslovenske hudebninastroje organ, the first four-manual organ in the Czech Republic built withmechanical key action. The concertos include Emma Lou Diemer?s Concertoin One Movement for Organ and Chamber Orchestra (?Alaska?), which was premiered in 1996 at the Universityof Alaska with the composer as soloist. For this reviewer, the main interestlies primarily in the rhythmic vitality and divergent musical references toEskimo, Hassler and Hebrew themes.

Leo Sowerby?s Classic Concerto for Organ andStrings (1949) was played at the 1957International Congress of Organists in London at Westminster Abbey with Dr.Sowerby conducting and Dr. Mason at the Harrison & Harrison 1937instrument. (Mason, along with David Craighead and the late Robert Baker,represented the United States at the congress.) In this sprightlythree-movement work, Sowerby brings the classic form of the concertoharmonically into the 20th century, and certainly with it, romantic overtones.After a half-century it still wears well.

One of the Czech Republic?s leading composers, PetrEben, is represented by the 1982 Organ Concerto No. 2, a work in two sections. Technical demands are madeon the performer to successfully bring off this work; Dr. Mason does it withher usual aplomb.

The Bolcom Three Gospel Preludes are played on New York City?s RiversideChurch?s justifiably acclaimed 216-rank Aeolian-Skinner-Adams-Bufanoinstrument. The three preludes are based on the hymn tunes ?Sometimes IFeel Like a Motherless Child,? ?Sweet Hour of Prayer,? and?O Zion Haste? and ?How Firm a Foundation.? Theseskillfully crafted works, which are performed with great sensitivity by Mason,were recorded in 2003 and produced by Michael Barone for Minnesota PublicRadio?s Pipedreamsbroadcasts.

The CD is available for $15.98 (plus shipping) from theOrgan Historical Society; 804/353-9226;

<www.ohscatalog.org&gt;.

--Robert M. Speed

Robert M. Speed is Professor of the Humanities Emeritus,Grand View College, Des Moines, Iowa.

A tribute to a beloved icon on her 80th birthday

?Set dates come.? This was one of the manywatchwords for life that I learned from my mentor, Dr. Marilyn Mason, all thoseyears ago. On June 29 another wonderful ?set date? willarrive--her 80th birthday, and what a joyous occasion for exuberantcelebration! Of course, those of us who know and love Marilyn are keenly awarethat this legendary lady is totally and completely ageless--that at eightyshe possesses more energy and wit and mental acuity than most forty-somethingscould ever dream of having. Her incredibly successful career continues at fullthrottle. Students from around the world still flock to her door, and they arerewarded with unsurpassed educational, musical and personal experiences thatwill sustain and empower them throughout their careers and lives. Attending oneof her performances or master classes, traveling on her fabulous historic organtours or just spending an hour visiting with Marilyn Mason today is still asinspiring and energizing today as forty years ago. 

Wonderful memories engulf me as I anticipate this special?set date.? A host of Marilyn Mason axioms resurface: ?setdates come; it?s those thin pieces that are hardest; the performanceisn?t over until you?re in the parking lot; the most importantthing is how well you know the music; miss one day of practice and you cantell, two days and your friends can tell, miss three and your entire audiencecan tell; never pass up a chance to visit a restroom,? and countlessothers.

I remember prayers just before going onstage, rolls ofpeppermint Lifesavers backstage at intermission to provide an energy boost forthe second half, and her omnipresent encouragement and support. I rememberstudio classes when, if we urged persistently and strongly enough, Marilynwould sit down and whip off flawless performances of the Alain Dances, theSchoenberg Variations and the Bach D-Major, all at one sitting, by memory, withtotal ease. I remember the historic organ tours, the group recitals in Europe,the joy of being students under Marilyn?s wing again. I remember howMarilyn invited my husband and me to her home for prayers and shared tears overbreakfast when we learned that our dear friend and colleague, Carol Teti, wasdying. I remember the warm hospitality of delicious meals and cozy eveningsspent in Marilyn?s home . . . and always I remember the laughter--thenever-ending supply of wonderful jokes and hilarious true stories she hascollected during a lifetime of optimism and joyous adventure. New generationsof student scholars continue to reap this bounty every year.    

I am Marilyn Mason?s student, and I will always be herstudent; anyone who is privileged to work under Marilyn?s tutelageremains her student for life. Marilyn Mason?s musicianship isunparalleled, her scholarship and intellect are impeccable, and the breadth anddepth of her experiences are endless. However, even more priceless than allthese gifts combined is the example that she sets in every aspect of herprofessional and personal life. Every day of Marilyn?s life is aninspirational example of all that she teaches. She works harder and more energeticallythan most of her students can possibly manage; she demands even more of herselfmusically and personally than the high standards she sets for her students; sheinspires her students to do even better than their best, because she alwaysdoes her best. Marilyn is deeply religious, but instead of preaching, shedemonstrates her faith through her example of flawless ethics and morality, herselfless dedication to service and her genuine respect, tolerance and affectionfor all whose lives she touches. These long years later--after all themusical knowledge and skill, all the professional opportunities, all theteaching methods, performance techniques and tricks-of-the-trade that haveserved me so well throughout my teaching and performing career--it?sthe example that Marilyn sets that has been her greatest gift of all to me. Iam humbled and deeply grateful for the privilege of having studied with MarilynMason, for having my own students go on to earn doctoral degrees with her, andespecially for the honor of calling her my friend.

Happy 80th birthday, Marilyn! Please continue sharing yourimmeasurable gifts and boundless energy with students at The University ofMichigan and with your loyal admirers throughout the world for manyyears--through many ?set dates? to come. I hope I receive thespecial honor of being asked to write a message to you again on your 90th.

--Mary Ida Yost

Mary Ida Yost is Professor Emerita of Music at EasternMichigan University. She received the Master of Music degree at The University ofMichigan in 1964 and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1970, both as astudent of Marilyn Mason.

&R?