Secrets Of Organ Playing Podcast

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #99! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guests are two organists from Bavaria in Germany, Gerd Hennecke and Markus Kumpf. We met at Vilnius University St. John's church last week where a few days before Gerd played a concert of organ, vocal and oboe music together with soprano Gunta Gelgote and oboist Juste Gelgotaite. Gerd kindly agreed to share his organ journey with our podcast listeners and even brought a friend Markus who was returning to Vilnius from another town, Nida, a UNESCO protected national treasure on the Curonian Spit in the Western part of Lithuania. Both Gerd and Markus also played a joint recital this week in Vilkyskiai, a small town with the German organ about 250 kilometers west from Vilnius. Gerd Hennecke was born in Schwabach, Germany, in 1970. After the completion of a degree in Sacred Music in Bayreuth, he undertook further studies of organ music with Domkantor Professor Hartmut Rohmeyer in Lübeck. Since 1995 he worked as professio

Solving Challenges when Accompanying the Choir on the Organ from the Distance Secrets of Organ Playing: http://www.organduo.lt

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Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #98! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an American organist Edward Landin who began his intensive musical training at the St. Thomas Choir School under the direction of Gerre Hancock. Upon his graduation from St. Thomas, he entered Interlochen Arts Academy where he began his organ studies as a student of Thomas Bara. After high school, he attended the Eastman School of Music for two years; he then transferred to Westminster Choir College where he completed his BM in organ performance as a student of Ken Cowan. While at Westminster, he also studied harpsichord with Kathleen Scheide. Further organ studies and coachings have been with Roberta Gary, David Higgs, Susan Landale, Marie-Louise Langlais, Kimberly Marshall, Paula Pugh Romanaux, Kathleen Scheide, and Carole Terry. Edward has been recently appointed Sub Dean of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Currently Assistant Director of Music at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, h

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #97! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Gena Bedrosian who is a a lifelong musician and also a retired emergency physician and legal consultant. Sacred music speaks most closely to her. She sees music as worship to the glory of God, not just performance. In retirement she performs in three choirs, on piano and pipe organ. She reached out to me because she has a number of piano recitals coming up and one big organ recital planned for the next year. Gena faces a challenge in communicating with one particular church because they won't let her to advertise this recital using church's internal marketing tools: email newsletter, website promotion etc. It's a strange situation because it seems as though Gena has been scheduled to perform there, the church doesn't want people to come to her recital. So if you are facing similar challenges, I hope this conversation will be helpful to you because together we will find a solution how Gena could go about in

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #96! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Jay Farnes from San Diego, California who is a student of mine and he tries to improve his organ sight-reading abilities, especially sight-reading hymns, even though he is 70 years old. He got interested in the organ back in the 70’s and always had a love for jazz music. He got enamored with organs, especially the Hammond organ, after listening to jazz organists like Jimmy Smith and Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith. It was exciting for him to hear some rock groups embrace and incorporate the Hammond organ in those days, like Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. He quickly became a huge fan of those people and that sound. Jay had played piano for some years, being taught in his youth by his mother, who was a pretty good pianist. He started playing saxophone early in school years and continued in that from Junior High through college. His favorite school groups were jazz ensembles. In the early 70’s, Jay joined a band

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #95! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an talented young American organist, Christopher Henley. He is native of Talladega, Alabama and serves as the organist of Anniston First United Methodist Church, where he provides service music for the 8:30 and 10:30 traditional worship services, manages the Soli Deo Gloria Concert Series, and accompanies various vocal and instrumental ensembles. Prior to his service at Anniston First, he served as the organist of the First United Methodist Church in Talladega and Pell City, Alabama. He is the founder and artistic director of The Noble Camerata, an auditioned vocal ensemble, that sings choral services in the Anniston, Alabama area and seasonal concerts. In addition to his church responsibilities, he serves on the faculty of the Community Music School of the University of Alabama, where is an instructor of piano. In March 2017, Christopher was named a member of the Class of 2017 “20 Under 30” by The Diapason ma

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #94! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Frank Mento who is an American born organist and harpsichordist currently living and working in France. He is Professor Emeritus of Harpsichord at the Conservatory of the 18th precinct in Paris and Organist Emeritus at Saint-Jean de Montmartre Church, also in Paris. He has recently published the 10th volume of the his comprehensive Harpsichord Method. This treatise is especially suitable for organists because harpsichord and organ in early music are very closely related - they are like cousins. Frank wrote this method because he started teaching harpsichord back in 1992 and there was very little material available for beginners. There were few methods that were on the market and some had good ideas but they all started from the standpoint that the beginning pupil already had some basic musical knowledge and some basic keyboard technique. The first two or three pages were easy but afterwards they jumped to di

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #93! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an American concert organist Wyatt Smith who is a native of Rapid City, South Dakota. He performs with “nuance, polish, and personality” (Michael Barone, APM Pipedreams). Wyatt concertizes extensively throughout the United States by keeping an active concert schedule. he has performed in twenty-eight states throughout the US over the last seven years, and more recently in Europe. Notable performance venues include the US Air Force Academy Protestant Cadet Chapel (Colorado Springs), St. Thomas Church (New York), St. Andrew’s Cathedral (Honolulu), St. George’s, Hanover Square (London), St. Mark Episcopal Cathedral (Seattle), the Spreckels Organ Pavilion – Balboa Park (San Diego), National City Christian Church (Washington D. C.) King’s Chapel (Boston), Trinity Church – Copley Square (Boston), Woolsey Hall – Yale University (New Haven), William Jewell College (Liberty), the Community of Christ Auditorium and Templ

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #92! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast I'm an organist and a blogger. This combination has changed my life over the past 5 years. I'm writing these words to you after a long day of teaching at school where I still managed to write a blog post in between of classes after lunch. It's 9:39 pm. I'm ready to go to bed soon but I know my readers are waiting for me to show up in their email inboxes. That's a powerful motivation for me to write tonight. If I remember correctly, I haven't missed a post in five years. Yes, sometimes I write them in advance and schedule them to be published later. But there's something new on my blog to read every day. I do this daily. No matter if I'm tired, no matter what kind of weather it is outside, no matter how I'm feeling. Because I have long ago adopted pro mentality. Long before I became a professional blogger. Mentality is everything. It gives me enormous rewards - as a person, organist, creator, artist, teacher, blogger, or thi

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #91! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is organ builder Oliver Schulte from Germany, who is the owner of Schulte Orgelbau. He specializes in the development of all kinds of organ concepts and has over 30 years of experience in new construction and restoration. In 1997-2000 Oliver apprenticed in his Dad's workshop and 2001 started working at Martin Vier organbuilding in black forest (restoring German early romantic organs). In 2004 he continued his education by taking a masterclass in Ludwigsburg and in 2005 completing his MBA studies. The most important organ for Oliver is surely the Binns-Schulte organ in the church of Heilig Kreuz, Bonn-Limperich. It was his first project as the owner of Orgelbau Schulte and by far the most important project because it was the first English rebuild they did. His company would not be what it is now without this instrument. In this conversation, among many other things, Oliver talks about what does it take to restor

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #90! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Peter van Tour who is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Leuven, Belgium. As a scholar in musicology, Peter has specialized in the counterpoint pedagogy and historic improvisation and composition. He studied Music Pedagogy (5 years) at Brabant Conservatory in Tilburg, Master in Musicology at the University of Utrecht and Master in Music Theory (MA) at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Peter's PhD dissertation "Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples" (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala, 2015) highlights the practical teaching strategies at the Neapolitan conservatories during the late eighteenth century. ​In 1995, Peter co-founded the Gotland School of Music Composition, where he has been teaching Music Theory until 2014. ​In this conversation Peter shares his insights about his new publication on 189 partimenti of Nicola Sal

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #89! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Wolff von Roos, a young and talented organist student from Ball State University, Indiana. He took an interest in the organ when he was about three years old. When he was 6 he started piano. Throughout those years he taught himself about the organ and methods. By the time he was 15 he started taking organ instruction. He's 20 years old right now and is currently studying music/organ performance with Raul Prieto Ramirez at Ball State University. He is also taking outside formal instruction from Travis Person who teaches at the University of Indianapolis. Wolff currently serves as Assistant Organist (Organ Scholar) at Broadway United Methodist in Indianapolis, IN. He also works as a solo freelance concert organist and play in an organ duo team called 2Chamades with Jacob Minns. He loves to study works from Josef Rheinberger to Vaughan Williams, from Olivier Messiaen and Louis Vierne to underrated composers li

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #88! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Samuel Delaunay who is an organist, a flutist and an amateur composer from France. Professionally, he is a project manager in a big IT company. Alongside his scientific studies, he started playing the organ at the age of 20 as a self-taught musician. He learned improvisation with Henri-Franck Beaupérin. He took several diocesan organ courses in order to master the repertoire, accompaniment and a first approach to musical writing. At the conservatoire of Nantes, he took a course in musical composition from composer Christian Villeneuve and another in analysis from conductor Jenö Rehak. A master class with composer Thierry Escaich was also an important step of this training. Samuel loves to write for the organ, sometimes with the flute as a solo part. Compositions for serpents, orchestras and choirs widen his sound universe. His pieces are often organized as thematic suites, explorations of scientific or poetic

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #87! Today's guest is Jeff Perks, concert organist and pianist from Charlotte, North Carolina. We talk about sound delays, coordinating fands and feet and playing fugues. Enjoy and share your comments below. ​ And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends. Thanks for caring. Relevant links: https://www.facebook.com/JeffPerksPianistOrganist http://jeffperks.com

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #86! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is a young and talented American organist and pianist Matthew Cates who is an avid lover and player of classical music - from Chopin and Rachmaninov at the piano, to Messiaen and Durufle at the organ. He has a huge passion for composition and improvisation as well. Matthew currently studies organ with Dr. Timothy Olsen as a junior organ major in the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He won the Second Prize at the 6th Annual UNCSA/Salem College High School Organ Competition, where he performed works of Bach and Litaize. He also won two superior prizes for piano performance in the 2013 and 2014 ACSI competitions. Matthew started his piano study at the age of nine with Carly Karns. His passion for music continues and he is very dedicated to playing and performing music from the Baroque to contemporary compositions. ​ In this conversation, Matthew shares his insights about

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #85! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is and Italian organist and harpsichordist ​Maurizio Croci. He holds diplomas in organ and harpsichord studies from the conservatoires of music of Milan and Trent (Italy) and spent four years at the Schola Cantorum in Basle (Switzerland) on advanced courses in organ and harpsichord under Jean-Claude Zehnder and Andrea Marcon. He also graduated “Summa cum laude” in musicology at Fribourg University in Switzerland under Prof. Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini. Prize-Winner of the Paul Hofhaimer international competition in Innsbruck (1998), Mr. Croci has concertized throughout Europe, Russia and Japan. He performed J.S. Bach’s complete organ works in Bern to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death. Several of his concerts were broadcasted by radio and television (RAI, SDR, RNE, RSI, RSR) and he had recorded several CD's devotes to G. Frescobaldi, J.S. Bach, G. F. Kauffmann, G.F. Haendel, D. Scarlatti, A. Soler

​Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #84! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an American composer, concert organist, writer, editor and consultant Carson Cooman (b. 1982) with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. ​​Since 2006, Cooman has held the position of Composer in Residence at The Memorial Church, Harvard University. From 2008-11, he also served as Composer in Residence to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2015, he has been Organ Editor for Lorenz Publishing Company. Carson's music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s music appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions, Convivium, Altarus, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels. Cooman’s primary compositi

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #83! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guests are Lydia Vroegindeweij from the Netherlands, the Dutch organist and founder of OrgelKids and Erin Scheessele from the United States who helps bringing OrgelKids to America with OrgelKids USA. Orgelkids is an educational pipe organ curriculum and kit dreamed up by Dutch organist Lydia Vroegindeweij. Lydia enlisted the help of organ builder Wim Janssen to build the first and only two Orgelkids kits in existence. ​With Orgelkids, young children are empowered to assemble a working two rank, 2-octave pipe organ in under an hour. Orgelkids can be deployed to schools, music festivals, Maker Faires, museums, bringing the King of Instruments to children. See below for how Orgelkids complements AGO’s outreach programs. Erin's son Peter is 7 years old and he loves pipe organs. He’s an active member of the Eugene Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO). Peter likes to play pipe organs, but he sure would like to

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #82! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is Peter Holder who is Sub-Organist of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. He was appointed at the age of 23 following two years as Organ Scholar at Westminster Abbey. His responsibilities at both institutions have involved playing at numerous events of national importance, including the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II, and accompanying the world famous choirs. He completed both undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music whilst studying with David Titterington. During his studentship, he was awarded numerous scholarships and prizes, most notably HRH Princess Alice the Duchess of Gloucester’s Prize for exemplary studentship at Graduation in 2013. He was appointed the Pidem Organ Fellow in 2014 and to the Junior Royal Academy of Music where he is now an organ tutor. He continues his repertoire studies with David Titterington, Jon Laukvik and Patrick Russill, and impr