2010 Summer Organist Workshops
Once again I’m making my annual “plug” for the summer Organist Workshops at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. I can’t recommend these enough to parish organists of all skill levels. For three of the last four summers I’ve had the joy of studying improvisation with Kantor Hildebrand, organ playing with Kantor Resch, and [...]
Organ Music: Chorale Preludes
Church musicians are often in a quandary when selecting sheet music to add to their libraries: a finite budget and seemingly infinite choices from music publishers. The musician needs a discerning eye to determine what will be useful at their skill level and worship context. Random selection might yield a few gems, but also result [...]
Walter Buszin on the Lutheran Masters
Earlier this week the Concordia Publishing House music department celebrated the 60th anniversary of hiring its first full-time head of the music department – Edward Klammer. That hiring happened at the recommendation of Walter Buszin. During the 1940’s, Buszin, in the midst of his other teaching responsibilities, organized the music department catalog, served as an [...]
A Bach Gem From YouTube
As many of you know, you can find virtually anything on YouTube — some of excellent quality and some that is mediocre. One particular organist that I enjoy listening to (and watching) is Rob Stefanussen. His most recent video is of Bach’s Wachet Auf — an obligatory favorite of organists and non-organists alike. Take a [...]
Hymn Playing for Organists
As I was preparing and practicing the hymns for today, I came across the following quote from Luther Reed in a book of Creative Hymn Accompaniments by Gerhard Krapf:
A poor organist will make of hymn playing a commonplace thing. A good organist will challenge the intelligent interest of the congregation and charge its hymn singing [...]
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