This morning our Iolani School Chaplain, the Rev. Daniel Leatherman (whose mom, by the way, studies organ with me) and I worked on configuring the school’s Virtual Organ which we use in the gymnasium for four All-School Chapels a year. It consists of two keyboards and a pedalboard and uses software called Hauptwerk on a… Read More The Virtual Organ and the Virtual Organist
Over the weekend, there was an article published by the Kansas City Star which has been widely shared among organists: “Pipe organs soar, but number of players dips.” According to the article, the number of college organ students is shrinking, despite the number of new instrument installations. It cites the multi-million dollar University of Kansas organ… Read More Endangered species
One of the projects I’m currently working on is a presentation for the next regional convention of the American Guild of Organists, June 24-26 in Bakersfield, CA. If you want to check out their website, click here. One sentence on their home page gave me a ray of hope: There are many outstanding organs in our… Read More Is it over?
What do you call a group of organists? Tonight we are hosting a potluck dinner for the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) — and you might say that we are a herd of dinosaurs! (I didn’t know what you call a group of dinosaurs and had to look it up!) We are… Read More A herd of dinosaurs?
A couple of days ago, there was a fascinating article published by CatholicPhilly.com that blamed shrinking church budgets and changing tastes for the shortage of organists. You can read the article by Beth Griffin in its entirety by clicking here. According to the article it was the Second Vatican Council in the 70s which changed… Read More Looking for organists?
With the church organist shortage situation reaching critical mass, I guess it was just a matter of time before someone would come up with a technological solution. When I was sick with stomach flu a couple of weeks ago, apparently a few people went into panic mode. I wonder if they would feel better had… Read More Replaced by technology?