Sinden.org

Speaking of ST MAGNUS (written by Clarke, you know), there's the St. Magnus Festival in Orkney (where?).

Gillian Weir played, and wouldn't you know it

. . . a sour note on the organ - a crucial one in Messiaen's Dieu Parmi Nous - rather hampered her performance. Intended for BBC Radio 3's festival coverage, it will have to be re-recorded if it is to be broadcast.

Smith, Rowena. Music: St Magnus Festival, Orkney. The Herald 23 June 2008.

So, that means the organ was out of tune? I find that easier to believe than Gillian Weir missing a note.

In an article that references the "slow death of organ music", the New York Times profiles the 50-year veteran organist of the College World Series.

And "French pipe organist" Michel Bouvard plays the largest pipe organ in Asia.

Labels: organists

Yesterday, Christoph Bull accompanied Safety Last for a full house in Los Angeles, and organist Clark Wilson performed an accompaniment to Metropolis Tonight in Toronto.

Labels: organists

The result of a recent tribunal probably means that organists in the Church of England will gain "full employment rights".

You know, like parking spaces and coffee privileges.

Organists across the pond evidently constitute their own religion:

Of the estimated 30,000 practising organists in Britain, only about 100 are full time. The majority have other jobs and can expect to take home about £40 a week for their services.

Nugent, Helen. "Church told to play pipes of peace as organists get workers' rights" The Times (London), emphasis added

I like the phrase "practising organists", and I imagine large late-night bonfires and Messiaen.

How do "practising" organists contrast with North America's "practicing organists?"

Do the latter play better?

Labels: organists

If church music and Super/Fat Tuesday were to intersect, Sinden.org would be the one to bring that convergence to you.

From the two political donors who have identified their occupation as "organist", Barack Obama has received $250, while Mitt Romney has only received $225.

Expand the criteria to those who identify as "music directors", and there's a lot more money involved:

• Ricki Byars Beckwith, who lists herself as music director at Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, has given a whopping $2,300 to Barack Obama.
• John Demain of Madison, Wisconsin has given $500 to Obama.
• Karen Pieper, music director at All Saints Lutheran Church, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, has twice donated to the Obama campaign. Her contributions total $650.
• Robert Lansell, of Springfield, Virginia has given $350 to John McCain.
• Charmaine Nygaard, music director and liturgist at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, Greenlawn, New York, has given the unusual sum of $292 to Obama.
• Amy Lepak, music director at St. Anselm Catholic Church, Sudbury, Massachusetts, has given $250 to Obama.
• Adam Waite directs seven different ensembles at the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township in New Jersey. He has given $250 to Obama.

There you have it. "Music directors" have given $4,242 to Barack Obama, and $350 to John McCain.

How do you like them pancakes?

Labels: church music, organists

On the front page of the Arts section of today's New York Times is an article about the sudden departure of the director of music and organist at Trinity, Wall Street: "Director of Music at Trinity Steps Down".

Owen Burdick's departure is rather abrupt, leaving the Trinity choir and Rebel Baroque Orchestra leaderless for their upcoming Monteverdi Vespers performance at the end of the month.

In the Times article, Linda Hanick, vice president of communications at Trinity is quoted as saying "We’re going to be looking at how we’ll restructure the music program."

Churches of Trinity's caliber don't often use the word "restructure" in regard to the music program; usually, they just want to keep it going. But Hanick is blunt: she doesn't say the church will be looking at if or when they'll restructure the music program. Those two questions are implicitly answered in her statement. Yes to restructuring, and now! This led the staff of Sinden.org to speculate that some forces in the church are eager to depart from the professional chamber choir model.

So how will the Trinity program be "restructured"? Perhaps the Trinity Choristers, currently under the direction of Rob Ridgell, will have a more prominent role in the music of the church. Or perhaps their will be an increased focus on liturgical music rather than afternoon concerts.

There is also speculation about what this may mean for the organ in the church, which is a Marshall & Ogletree digital prototype dubbed a "virtual organ". Last summer Burdick wrote an "Open Letter to the Organ Community" in defense of the instrument.

Labels: church music, churches, organists, organs

Organists everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief: a man who killed two organists is not going anywhere soon.

Suspect charged, 26 years after Mishawaka man's murder

Labels: organists

On YouTube you can watch bridal processionals from recent decades. It's interesting to note the variety in the processional music.

1999 - Edward and Sophie - Herbert Brewer's "March Heroique"

1986 - Andrew and Sarah - Elgar's "Imperial March"

1981 - Charles and Diana - Clarke's "Trumpet Voluntary"

So why, then, do modern, non-Royal American brides feel that they have but only one option? (At least in my experience. I have never been asked to play anything other than the Clarke.)

Among their myriad tasks, organists unwittingly carry on Diana's memory everytime a Jane Schmoe walks down the aisle in a white dress.

Labels: organists, weddings

A young organist in Charlotte, North Carolina speaks for a whole profession when he says:

I thought for the longest time that it would be neat to be able to play that thing with all those keyboards and all those knobs.

and

"That's what I like about playing the organ -- especially in church. When you're playing the hymns ... you get to lead everybody," he says with a laugh. "If you take it slow, they have to follow you. I like having that kind of power."

Organist senses power of music... and of politics

Labels: organists

And now the latest installment in the ongoing battles between pious clergy and dirty, hippie-liberal musicians: St. Joseph's Catholic Church in New Franken, Wisconsin has removed their organist for selling sex toys.

This story has been picked up by the Associated Press.

Linette Servais, had been serving St. Joseph's as organist and choir director for 35 years (since she was 15 years old?). She was not salaried, and it sounds like she volunteered her services. Linette also "says she started selling sex toys after treatment for a tumor left her experiencing sexual dysfunction". She feels that the sex toy business is her "ministry".

Sounds like wrongful termination to me. Though, I must wonder how much of a "ministry" musicmuzak-making can ever be in the Roman Catholic church.

(via Boing Boing

And of course, leave it to CBS News to come up with Musician Canned For Focus On Wrong Organ

Labels: organists, Roman Catholocism