Open Clinic Come Ask Your Questions

The panel of organbuilders members of APOBA will conduct an open forum for participants to ask questions about organs, their design, construction and maintenance.

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.

Jazz and Gospel on the Hammond Organ

Berklee College of Music professor Dave Limina presents a workshop on the history, inner workings, and musical applications of the Hammond organ since it first appeared in 1935.

 The electro-mechanical technology of the Hammond organ remains unique in electronic music. This presentation covers Hammond tone production, the original intent to offer a cost-effective alternative to pipe organs and theater organs, and how the technology reflects pipe organ design and nomenclature; it also addresses the irony of Laurens Hammond’s intent to not market to professional contemporary musicians, given their role in his instruments’ enduring use and popularity. The presentation includes demonstrations of specific sounds and their uses in distinct musical styles, and an explanation of how Hammond drawbar settings and Leslie speaker settings combine to make popular Hammond sounds.

Dave Limina

Dave Limina is assistant professor in the piano department at the Berklee College of Music, where he received the Most Valuable Contribution to the Performance Curriculum Award in 2001 for his work in creating and developing the school’s Hammond organ program.  He is the author of Hammond Organ Complete (Berklee Press) and the instructional DVD Accelerate Your Keyboard Playing (Rittor Music). An experienced session keyboardist, composer, and arranger, he has performed with Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, Lori McKenna, Duke Robillard, Paula Cole, Mark Murphy, Robert Lee Castleman, and the first national touring company of the Broadway musical Rent. He received Boston Music Award nominations for his work with Courage Brothers, Ronnie Earl, and Mighty Sam McClain, and played keyboards on Michelle Willson’s Boston Music Award-winning Wake Up Call. He does extensive session work in Boston and New York, featuring his piano, Hammond organ, and vintage keyboard playing.

Kotzschmar 4 Kids: A Collaborative Curriculum for Organists and Schools

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Working with school children has been a major focus of Ray Cornils’ work as Portland Municipal Organist. For more than a decade, he has worked with classroom teachers to develop interactive and interdisciplinary curricula that use the organ and the music of Bach and Messiaen to teach music, history, physics, science, art, creative writing, movement, and videography. This workshop explores both in-school programs and concert experiences that introduce the pipe organ and its music to the next generation. Examples of curriculum materials and projects are shared.

Ray Cornils

Ray Cornils is the Portland municipal organist, a post he has held since 1990. As minister of music at First Parish Church, UCC, Brunswick, Maine, he has led a program of five vocal and two handbell choirs for twenty-seven years. He is convention coordinator for the 2014 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. Known for his teaching skills for all ages, he leads the education programs of the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, an extensive array of in-school programs about the pipe organ and its music for elementary, middle, and high school classes. He is a member of the music faculties of Bowdoin College and the University of Southern Maine. He has concertized throughout the United States, Europe, and South America, and performs regularly with the Portland Symphony Orchestra as organist and harpsichordist. He received degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and New England Conservatory.

Sure-Fire Practice Techniques

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Stuck in a rut? Tired of practicing aimlessly, Not realizing results? The goals of practicing are: learning notes, polishing music for performance, maintaining music between performances, and bringing back old repertoire. This workshop session features a discussion and demonstration of efficient practice techniques guaranteed to help you realize your goals. Discover a systematic and efficient approach to learning, polishing, maintaining, and relearning music.

Faythe Freese

Faythe Freese, D.Mus., professor of organ at the University of Alabama, has performed throughout the United States, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, and Singapore. She is the first American woman to have recorded at L’Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris on the landmark instrument where Guilmant, Messiaen, and Hakim were titular organists. She was a lecturer and recitalist at the 2010 national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Washington, D.C., various regional Guild conventions, and many Pipe Organ Encounters. Her performances have been hailed as “powerful…masterful…impressive…brilliant.” As a Fulbright scholar, she studied the works of Jean Langlais with the composer in France, and the works of Max Reger with Heinz Wunderlich in Germany. She studied with Marilyn Keiser, Robert Rayfield, William Eifrig, and Phillip Gehring, and coached with Dame Gillian Weir, Simon Preston, and Daniel Roth.

Conversations and Legacies: Exploring American Organ Pedagogy Through Oral History

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During the last third of the 20^th century, American organ teaching experienced some of the most dramatic changes in the history of our profession.  This video-enhanced presentation documents the experiences and insights of nearly twenty university-level organ teachers who are approaching or currently in retirement.   Their interviews address recent trends in our profession through fascinating oral accounts of their musical formation, career trajectories, teaching methodologies, and professional experiences.  In addition, those conversations impart insights and wisdom that the interviewees generously share as they reflect upon their own legacies.

Ann Marie Rigler

Ann Marie Rigler, DMA, is professor of music and college organist at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where she plays for weekly chapel services and teaches courses in music history, applied organ, class piano, and Christian worship practices. She previously served on the faculties of Simpson College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Northern Iowa, Wayne State College, and Pennsylvania State University. She holds degrees from Southern Methodist University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Iowa. She has concertized across the United States as solo recitalist and chamber musician, and in the United Kingdom as organ soloist and choral accompanist. At home, she serves as co-organist for Colonial Church (UCC) in Prairie Village, Kansas. She frequently lectures on topics related to organ pedagogy, with recent presentations to meetings of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. Concert Artist Cooperative represents her.

Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911): Aspects of Life and Work

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One of the greatest Parisian organist-composers of the Belle Époque, Alexandre Guilmant exercised considerable influence as a musician. This presentation includes a wealth of photos, documents, and anecdotes about Guilmant, in particular about his three concert tours to the United States, and an overview of Guilmant’s life and work as organist at La Trinité in Paris, a much sought-after teacher of Europeans and Americans, co-founder of the Schola Cantorum, Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatoire, and President of New York’s Guilmant Organ School.

Hans Hielscher

Hans U. Hielscher has been organist at the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden, Germany, since 1979. He studied at the Detmold State Academy of Music and in Paris/Rouen, France. His organ concert tours have taken him to all European countries, the United States (fifty-two tours), the Bahamas, Israel, Iceland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. He has been featured on radio and television broadcasts, twenty-two CD recordings on the Motette, Wergo, IFO, and Lade labels, and is the author of the books Alexandre Guilmant: Life and Work, Famous Organs in the U.S.A., and The Organ of Wiesbaden Marktkirche. He is a published composer of some fifty works for organ. He has been honoured by the French government in Paris for his worldwide engagement in French organ music and nominated Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985.

Beginning a Children’s Choir in Your Church or Community

One of the most wonderful gifts we can give young people is the opportunity to experience the joy of singing in a choir. In addition to exposing children to the finest choral music, and fostering their love of singing so that they will become singers for life, choral singing builds confidence, encourages teamwork, and helps children make a valuable contribution to worship by sharing their music in performance. This presentation addresses recruitment, rehearsal techniques, vocal exercises, repertoire selection, service/concert programming, organizational management, and educational resources.

Tamara Rozek

Tamara Rozek is artistic director of the Sandpipers Seacoast Children’s Chorus, an auditioned treble chorus for ages seven through fifteen, widely recognized in the New Hampshire Seacoast Area for the performance and educational opportunities it provides. She is director of music ministry at Middle Street Baptist Church in Portsmouth, and has given organ recitals in the New Hampshire Seacoast Area, Boston, and Sydney, Australia. She holds a bachelor’s and masters in performance from the University of New Hampshire, studying organ with John Skelton, harpsichord with Peter Watchorn, and voice with Kathleen Wilson Spillane. She continued post-graduate keyboard studies with Peter Sykes and Amy Johansen, and singing and vocal pedagogy with Nancy Armstrong. She has sung with the Seraphim Singers and Boston Bach, is a teacher for the Young Organist Collaborative in New Hampshire, and has a private studio in piano, organ, and voice.

Vocal Hints for Healthful Choral Singing

Choir members must sight-read new music, sing in foreign languages, fit text to rhythmic passages, sing in tune, and listen for balance within their own section, as well as within the entire choir. Give them the opportunity to focus on the act of singing—thinking about just their instrument itself—affording the building of good vocal habits that are then incorporated into the rehearsal setting. Learn new vocal warm-ups, descriptors, gestures, facial expressions, and more that aid singing with less tension and more consistent vocal quality, resulting in finer music making. 

Kathy Grammer

Kathleen Grammer has experience as a teacher, musician, conductor, and arts administrator. She taught public school music, K–12, and private voice at community music schools and colleges, including Westminster Conservatory, Wilmington Music School, Trenton State College, Muhlenberg College, and the University of Southern Maine. She was alto soloist for more than ten years at St. Thomas Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania, a member of the professional Ensemble Singers of VocalEssence, and a guest soloist, and performed in solo recital. She has conducted workshops for church choirs in New Jersey and Maine, and conducted high school, church, and community choirs and ensembles. Today, she is executive director of Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ and maintains a teaching studio in Scarborough, Maine. She holds a Master of Music from Westminster Choir College and a Bachelor of Music from Heidelberg College, and is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and Chorus America.

Voluntaries Rediscovered

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Much glorious repertoire has gone “out of fashion” over the years, but a current renewal of interest in voluntaries, particularly from the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English school reveals repertoire that is both beautiful and relevant today. This workshop offers suggestions for preludes and postludes, drawn from a wide spectrum of the standard repertoire, that may have been forgotten over the latter half of the twentieth century.

Andrew Scanlon

Andrew Scanlon, FAGO, is an organ professor at East Carolina University. He is organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, and artistic director of the East Carolina Musical Arts Education Foundation. He previously taught organ at Duquesne University, and has held positions at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Buffalo; Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, New York; and Marquand Chapel at Yale Divinity School. He has performed at national conventions of both the American Guild of Organists and Organ Historical Society, and throughout the United States and in Canada, England, Italy, France, Germany, and Croatia. He has been a faculty member for three Pipe Organ Encounters, and serves on both the National Board of Examiners and the National Committee on Professional Certification of the Guild. He holds degrees from Duquesne University and Yale University. His principal teachers have been John Skelton, Ann Labounsky, David Craighead, John Walker, and Thomas Murray.