Sound Theology: The Organ at the Time of the Reformation

At the time of the Reformation, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches alike disallowed the use of the pipe organ in services of divine worship; the lecture first reviews the theological reasons for this prohibition. Yet, in less than one hundred years’ time, theological dictum notwithstanding, almost all churches [re-]incorporated the pipe organ in order to rescue exasperated a cappella singers. This paper examines the intriguing history of the pipe organ during this era, tracing its role as a concert instrument used before and after worship, then as a silent backdrop during worship, and finally its reinstatement as a liturgical instrument.

Randall Engle

Randall D. Engle, Ph.D., is the senior pastor of the North Hills Christian Reformed Church of Troy, Michigan, and adjunct professor of theology at Oakland University and Detroit Ecumenical Theological Seminary. He is also chaplain for the Detroit chapter of the American Guild of Organists, a trustee of Calvin College, and former president of the national Board of Directors for the Choristers Guild. He received a Bachelor of Arts in music (organ) from Calvin College, and a Master of Divinity from Calvin Theological Seminary. He also received a Master of Arts in Worship from Luther Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Wales, where his dissertation was on the pipe organ’s evolution from a concert instrument to a liturgical instrument during the Reformation (also the subject of a paper given at this convention).

The Jazz-influenced Service Music of Joe Utterback

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Live organ and piano solo and duet selections of Joe Utterback’s service music, with commentary about performance practice. A handout relates various service music pieces to the church year.

Joe Utterback

Joe Utterback—jazz pianist, composer, and recording artist—is director of music and organist at First Congregational Church, Stratford, Connecticut. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and is a member of the music faculty of Sacred Heart University, Fairfield. His recent recording, Souvenirs!, marks fifty years of jazz performances, both internationally and throughout the United States. His more than 380 published compositions include many jazz-influenced organ arrangements of spirituals, gospel songs, hymns, and original material. His catalog also includes instrumental works with organ and voice, including three larger choral compositions: Missa Jazzis, Newton Requiem, and Love Remembered, published by Jazzmuze, Inc.

Andrew Shenton

Andrew Shenton is a scholar, prize-winning author, performer, and educator based in Boston. He first studied at The Royal College of Music in London, and holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from London, Yale, and Harvard universities, respectively. He holds the Choir Training and Fellowship diplomas of the Royal College of Organists. He has toured extensively in Europe and the United States as a conductor, recitalist, and clinician, and has received numerous scholarships and awards, including Harvard’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching and a Junior Fellowship from the Humanities Foundation at Boston University. Moving freely between musicology and ethnomusicology, his work is best subsumed under the heading “music and transcendence,” and includes several major publications on Messiaen, Pärt, and others. He is associate professor of music at Boston University, artistic director of the Boston Choral Ensemble, and director of music at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Weston, Massachusetts.

Regional Convention Coordinators

Future regional convention coordinators will meet with Mark Babcock to discuss process and procedures for hosting an AGO Regional Convention.

Mark Babcock

Mark A. Babcock received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Central College in Pella, Iowa, and a master’s degree in choral conducting and organ performance from Westminster Choir College in Princeton. He also pursued doctoral studies in choral conducting and organ at the University of Iowa. He has worked with great musical leaders such as Joseph Flummerfelt, Joan Lippincott, Robert Shaw, and Riccardo Mutti. He is the M. Joan Farver Endowed Professor of Music, chair of the Music Department, and director of choral activities at Central College, where his duties include private organ instruction; coursework in church music, music education, and music theory; and choral conducting. He is organist/choirmaster at St. Mark Lutheran Church in West Des Moines and the American Guild of Organists national councillor for conventions. He has also served the Guild as dean of the Central Iowa chapter and chair of the 2011 Region VI convention.

The Rise and Fall of Ernest M. Skinner: 1885-1950

Drawing upon three decades of archival and site research, Jonathan Ambrosino provides new illumination on the career arc of Ernest M. Skinner, America’s most influential American organbuilder.

Jonathan Ambrosino

Boston native Jonathan Ambrosino is an organ technician, consultant, and journalist. He has been involved with tonal restoration projects on important twentieth-century American organs, most recently the 1927 Skinner at St. Paul’s, Rochester; the 1930 Aeolian at Longwood Gardens; and the 1938 Kimball at St. John’s Cathedral, Denver. As a consultant, he has served more than 130 churches and schools, surveying organs and guiding projects of many kinds. Known for speaking and writing, he has been Choir & Organ’s chief correspondent for the United States organ building scene. At home, he curates select Boston-area instruments, including those of Old South Church and Church of the Advent, and is currently engaged in the restoration of a 1929 Skinner for his home church, the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont. He is a past president of the Organ Historical Society, and served on the committee for the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition.

Glorious Praise: Praise Music Grows Up in the Digital Age

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Cheryl Duerr with The Attleboro Covenant Praise Team

Cheryl Duerr

Praise music is growing up in the digital age—the genre is now infused with jazz, gospel, and even classical style. This demonstration of crossover styles equips you to ride the wave of changes church musicians face today: it surveys styles and theology; supplies resources and links on the language of chords, improvisation, modulation, instrumentation, and alternative keyboard styles; offers strategies for working with congregational requests for changes; and supplies a bibliography with resources for finding and presenting great songs. The Attleboro Covenant Praise Team plays live, dynamic examples of the best crossover songs from various styles for group participation.

Cheryl Duerr, M.M., AAGO, ICF, is American Guild of Organists councillor for Region I. As minister of music at Attleboro Covenant, she leads one praise-based and one traditional service each Sunday, with the Chancel Choir, Celebration Ringers, Junior Choir, Junior Ringers, and the Praise Team. The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is a Christian denomination of more than eight hundred congregations in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, and Lutheran in theology, the church is one of the most rapidly growing and multi-ethnic denominations in North America representing the gamut of musical styles.

Accompanying the Divine: Dramatic Improvisation in Liturgy and Silent Film

We often search for relevant meaning in our musical contributions to the liturgy we serve. In this hands-on workshop, we connect the dramatic musical expression found in successful silent film accompaniment and the dramatic meaning so hungered for by our congregations. In the silent film era, directors were often concerned with presenting stories that stirred audiences’ emotions. Across film genres, themes of social justice and the general state of the human condition are portrayed with great skill. How can we make similar and appropriate connections with our congregations through our music-making and, in particular, through musical improvisation?

Peter Krasinski

Peter Edwin Krasinski currently serves as organist of First Church of Christ, Scientist in Providence and as accompanist at Beth El Temple Center, Belmont, Massachusetts. He is on the faculty of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School, Cambridge and serves as organ consultant on a number of high-profile projects. He holds both a Bachelor of Music in music education and organ performance and a Master of Sacred Music from Boston University. A winner of the first prize in improvisation in the American Guild of Organists National Competition, he has played in concert at many of the world’s most important organ venues. He has premiered the art of silent film accompaniment at many distinguished venues, including Saint Paul Church, Cambridge; National City Christian Church, Washington, D.C.; Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford; Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal; Second Congregational Church, Holyoke; and major halls in Yokohama, Fukui, Miyazaki, and Kanazawa, Japan.

Richard Purvis Centennial: Character, Compositions, Contributions, and Controversies

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Richard Purvis (1913–1994), Alexander McCurdy’s star student and a classmate of Leonard Bernstein’s at Curtis, elevated American service playing, compositional style, registration, and interpretation as San Francisco’s celebrity organist-choirmaster for twenty-five years. His tempestuous tenure as “Master of Grace” became untenable under Bishop Pike, an equally stormy figure. But Purvis, who wrote his famous setting of Greensleeves while a prisoner of war in Germany, went on to fame, influence, and legend as a performer, teacher, and composer with a passion for programmatic music, a habit of high drama, and a lively disdain for organ orthodoxy.

Welch, James

James Welch is university organist at Santa Clara University and organist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance from Stanford University, with further studies in France and Austria. His concert career includes performances at Notre-Dame Paris, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the National Cathedral, and the Mormon Tabernacle. He has also performed and taught in Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Jerusalem. A specialist in Latin American organ music, he received a Fulbright to perform and conduct research in Brazil; he also concertized in Mexico and edited three volumes of organ music by Mexican composers. Author of a major new biography, Richard Purvis, Organist of Grace, he has performed at conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the International Congress of Organists, written extensively for The American Organist and The Diapason, and released numerous recordings on a variety of organs.