A few days ago, a longtime friend who is a faithful reader of this blog sent me this message: “… I haven’t read a blog from you for quite awhile. Everything ok? 🤗💕” I pointed out that I had written a post just five days prior, but apparently she hadn’t received the notice. People who… Read More Controlled (?) mayhem
Lately I have to admit that I’ve been a little discouraged about the few number of organists in this town. I’ve been getting calls from churches looking for both temporary and permanent organists where in reality, none can be had. You may remember that the priest at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church contacted me early in… Read More The future … the organ ?
The mission of the American Guild of Organists is to foster a thriving community of musicians who share their knowledge and inspire passion for the organ. The vision of the American Guild of Organists is to engage, support, and uplift every organist. As of July 1, I have a new responsibility—I’m the Membership Chair of… Read More My AGO peeps
A couple things have prompted me to write this post. One is that I just got my August issue of The American Organist, the official journal of the American Guild of Organists. One article in particular caught my eye: “Organists: a Dying Breed” by Rhonda Sider Edgington. She says that at first glance, things look… Read More On my soapbox
Organists these days are undergoing an identity crisis. If the slashing of church music budgets wasn’t enough to cause consternation among the ranks, the worldwide shortage of organists, the fact that fewer and fewer people study the organ, and the American Guild of Organists’ membership is dropping, it’s the old adage that whenever two or three… Read More Identity crisis
Even though the use of the organ in some churches is passé, there still seems to be a need for organists in others. And it seems that organists are on their way of going the way of the dodo bird, or the dinosaur. So when an organist goes on vacation, or needs to have surgery,… Read More Desperately. Seeking. Organists!
Operator: 911, what is your emergency? Caller: I need an organist! So it was Tuesday of this past week, that I actually received a text AND an email message with the title, “SUBBING EMERGENCY,” from John Renke at St. Andrew’s Cathedral who needed an organist to play a funeral. Brian McCarthy, the Organ Scholar who… Read More Emergency?
Have you ever heard the term “circuit rider?” It referred to clergy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the United States who traveled from church to church to organize congregations. It was especially prevalent in places where there was a dearth of ministers, and so it was common to have ministers serve more than… Read More Have shoes, will travel!
Okay, I admit it. I love looking at print ads, the design and content. When I was a senior in high school, I wrote a paper on the psychology of advertising and showed it to my then-boyfriend to look at it. What I found out later was that he copied it word-for-word and submitted under… Read More Wanted: Organists
I’ve written posts about the vanishing organist before — the fact that there are fewer and fewer organists around the world. Some of this may be due to changing worship styles where the organ is no longer in a place of prominence. Some of this may be due to the fact that it takes many… Read More The vanishing organist