Category Archives: Organist

CPH Spring 2011 Music Sale

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 in a bloated collection.  A quality library doesn’t necessarily have to be large.  It does, however, have to be well chosen. (Organ Music: Chorale Preludes)

Concordia Publishing House is one of the few publishers that I routinely use that has substantial sales on some of their music products.  Vendors like SheetMusicPlus will often have rotating 20% sales on different publishers or types of music (e.g., choral), but CPH usually has a limited selection of choral, handbell, organ, and piano music at significant savings (50% – 75% off). If your congregation subscribes to Creative Worship from CPH, you can also work directly with their Music Department to order “suggested” products at 20% off.  I know this sounds like an advertisement for CPH, but it’s more of an FYI of how to make a music budget stretch further (assuming you have a need for their products).

One word of caution: just because something is on sale does not mean you need it!

As I scanned through the latest CPH Music Warehouse Sale, I’ve listed a handful of organ music items that are frequently on my music rack (and a book about handbells) with the thought that someone might also find them useful. If you’re looking for other recommendations, Kevin Hildebrand normally has organ and choral music reviews in each edition of His Voice from the Good Shepherd Institute.

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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 handbells with Kantor Muth, in addition to studying theology, meeting fellow musicians, and being fed with the daily rhythm of prayer services.

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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 in a bloated collection.  A quality library doesn’t necessarily have to be large.  It does, however, have to be well chosen. (I previously wrote about The Other Essential Lutheran Library – Musician Edition which included some of my “core” organ books.)

So where does a musician find resources to sift through all the choices?  I have usually received the best advice from my mentors and friends who are Lutheran musicians.  (Organists and Choir Directors: The Good Shepherd Institute’s bi-annual newsletter His Voice normally has music recommendations from Kantor Kevin Hildebrand).

To that end, I would like to share with you a recent acquisition to my organ music library which I think will be quite valuable: the six volume series “Choralvorspiele Zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch.”  The journey to this collection began in the summer of 2007 while I was at an Organist Workshop at Concordia Theological Seminary with Kantor Resch.  He had a volume of this series on the organ console and this gave me a hint to consider adding it to the library.  I recently inquired with Kantor Resch about the series and he highly recommended it.

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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 editorial consultant, and finally recommended that CPH appoint Klammer as head of the department. (For more information on Buszin, get the biography published by The Good Shepherd Institute).

In 1948 CPH published an “Anthology of Sacred Music – Chorale Preludes by Masters of the XVII and XVIII Centuries” selected and edited by Buszin.  It is the Foreword of this volume that I’d like to share with you.  First, it provides insight into what CPH was publishing at that time.  Second, it gives some guidance for parish musicians today.  Third, it will provide a segue into another piece I’ll be posting in a few days.

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