An Analytical Approach to Organ Case Design

Organ cases are more than mere clothing for instruments. In addition to creating visual harmony, a good case should mirror the community that commissions it. The skillful case designer must know how to weave together numerous architectural, mechanical, and tonal constraints, conceiving a composition that reflects the client’s aspirations. The ultimate impact of the case depends upon many subtle details. This lecture explores examples of organs from throughout the ages and extracts specific attributes that the case designer uses to visually shape instruments.

Didier Grassin

Didier Grassin is an organ builder with Noack Organ Company. His interest in organ building began in the shadow of the famous Clicquot organ of Poitiers, France, his native town. His professional path took him through European workshops, ultimately leading him to head the drawing office at Mander Organs, United Kingdom. From 1996, he spent several years as freelance designer, working for major European and American firms before joining Casavant Frères for eight years as director of the Tracker Department. His designs can be seen in England, France, Japan, China, Canada, and the United States. As a member of professional organizations, he served on the editorial boards of the International Society of Organbuilders (ISO) and the Institute of British Organbuilding. He is currently Vice President of the ISO. He holds a Master of Science in acoustics from Southampton University, United Kingdom, and a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from Université de Compiègne, France.

Purpose Beyond Performance

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This workshop generously sponsored by the Lincoln Chapter of the AGO

This workshop explores our collective vocation as organists, conductors, teachers, performers, and pastoral musicians. Tom Trenney shares his journey from conservatory to concert hall to congregation, inviting all to reconsider or reaffirm their calling to music ministry. In this interactive and inspirational workshop, all reflect upon the ways music reveals the meaning of sacred texts and discover how purposeful singing may tender us to experience the realities and mysteries of God. By considering that music can unite us in community, we reaffirm the purpose of our music ministry to nurture our congregation’s faith that we may sing always.

Tom Trenney

Tom Trenney serves as minister of music to First-Plymouth Congregational Church (UCC) in Lincoln, Nebraska. He leads a vibrant music ministry, conducting adult and children’s choirs, directing the acclaimed Abendmusik at First-Plymouth Concert Series, and playing the church’s Schoenstein organ. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, he is grateful for the inspiration of his teachers and mentors, especially Anton Armstrong, David Davidson, David Higgs, William Weinert, Anne Wilson, and Todd Wilson. A winner of the American Guild of Organists’ National Competition in Organ Improvisation, he has shared his passion as pastoral musician, performer, and teacher at regional and national conventions of the Guild, the Organ Historical Society, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, and the Calvin Institute of Worship.

The Boston Classicists and Organ Music in the Gilded Age

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Serious organ music, for church and concert, did not begin to flourish in America until the 1850s and 1860s. The early leaders were New Englanders trained in Europe during that time. They and their students were part of a movement which, abetted by the prosperity that flourished in the postwar wake of territorial expansion, resulted in expanded music appreciation, the founding of conservatories, and the building of large concert halls and churches outfitted with modern organs. Buck, Paine, Chadwick, Foote, and Parker are known today as mainstream composers; this workshop investigates their impact on organs, organ music, and pedagogy.

Barbara Owen

Barbara Owen holds degrees in organ performance and musicology from Westminster Choir College and Boston University. She is author of numerous articles, entries in The New Grove Dictionary of Music, and books, including The Organ in New England, E. Power Biggs: Concert Organist, The Registration of Baroque Organ Music, The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms, and The Great Organ of Methuen. She was Music Director of the First Religious Society of Newburyport (1963–2002) and Librarian of the AGO Organ Library at Boston University (1985–2012), and is currently active as organist, lecturer, and consultant. A former AGO regional councillor and dean of two chapters, she is past president of the Organ Historical Society and a trustee of Methuen Memorial Music Hall. Honors include the American Musical Instrument Society Curt Sachs Award, the Westminster Choir College Alumni Merit Citation, the Max Miller Book Award, and the Organ Historical Society Distinguished Service Award.

Practical Hymn-based Music for Organ and Instruments

You often discover that someone in your congregation plays an instrument, is competent, and is eager to play for a service. High schools often have outstanding music programs, which might be an avenue for community outreach. Many of the arrangements explored in this workshop have been successfully played with high school and even junior high school instrumentalists in parish settings. They can also, of course, be performed with professional musicians, who are often grateful for the opportunity to play music that, for them, is not at all difficult.

Joseph Burgio

Joseph Burgio earned a Bachelor of Science in music education and organ at Nazareth College and a Master of Arts in pastoral music, awarded jointly by Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and the Eastman School of Music. He studied organ with Barbara Harbach, Will Headlee, and David Craighead, and performed in masterclasses at AGO conventions for Russell Saunders and Marie-Claire Alain. He has performed in both the Summer Sunday and Advent Vesper series at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, and presented workshops for the Hymn Society, which named him a Lovelace Scholar. After serving parishes in Syracuse, Norfolk, and Chicago, he is currently director of music at St. Bernardine of Siena in Forest Park, Illinois, where he has directed adult and youth choirs, adult and teen handbell choirs, and trained cantors. In addition to his church work, he is the administrative assistant in the Ticketing Department of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Relaxing and Maintaining Calm in the Midst of Stress

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Ever feel frustrated with yourself for being overly tense, anxious, and distracted when under stress? This workshop will help the professional organist learn or refresh their relaxation skills and ways to master shallow breathing, muscular tension, racing thoughts, anxiety reactions, and distracting agitation. The instructor will lead participants through exercises that aid in reducing anxiety and stress, and in changing thought patterns to more positive ones.

The Professional Organist as Successful Communicator

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In times of economic turmoil, in which churches are closing, positions “downsized,” and salaries and job descriptions often lacking, the organist of 2014 can be helped by tuning-up and improving communication and negotiation skills. This workshop focuses on communication skills useful in navigating organists’ professional relationships. Clergy, choirs, music committees, parishioners, volunteer boards, colleagues, and agents are among a long list of professional relationships that the organist faces. This workshop reviews practical skills and approaches for communicating, as well as internal skills, that help the organist remain calm, focused, and well-composed.

David Christopher Bellville

David Christopher Bellville, Ph.D., is a pastoral psychotherapist and consultant. A graduate of Boston University Graduate School, he also holds degrees from B.U. School of Theology and General Theological Seminary in New York City, and two degrees from Michigan State University. He has led workshops on reducing anxiety and stress (as at this convention), and other topics, for American Guild of Organists chapters and its 1990 national convention, and for churches, religious communities, and numerous professional groups in the United States and South America. He has an active practice in Brunswick, Maine. He is also married to an organist and is a clergy person himself.