The accounts have been reconciled with the bank statement as of December 31, and the closing totals are as follows:
Checking $3524.68
Scholarships $4373.41
Reserves $25,179.59
Total $33,077.68
Those figures include the remittance of dues and contributions from the national headquarters in the amount of $448.00 and a credit return of $70.89.
No checks were written, and December was a Miserly Treasurer’s dream with all transactions being income and interest instead of expenditures.
In addition to chapter dues, usually either $33.00 or $41.00 per year, the chapter is dependent on reserves and additional donations to cover the costs of underwriting programs, the website, and expenses. Next month’s report will include the recognition of donors, and an annual financial report of the past fiscal year.
Richard Spears, Treasurer
Another Organ Scholarship Initiative!
The previous Organ Scholarship Initiative was so successful, (9 students taught by 7 chapter members,) we’re doing it again! The applications for both teachers and students will be available in the Spring, but now is the time to consider how you can participate.
Are you someone who could donate 3 lessons, to be taught during Summer 2019? Do you know a chapter member to recommend? Do you know piano students, children or adults, who would benefit from this program – 3 free organ lessons plus a free membership in the NSAGO 2019-20?
I recently met an adult who wished she could take more organ lessons – after having studied briefly earlier. I’m going to invite her to apply. Whom will YOU invite?
Thank you for your consideration of this important educational outreach. The future of Organists depends upon our seeking out and encouraging people with the interest and potential to carry on in this magnificent calling.
Sharon R. Peterson
NSAGO Board Member
Our Hymn Festival of Global Hymns and Songs held on Sept 16th was a wonderful way to begin a very exciting year of programming for the North Shore Chapter.
Royce Eckhardt prepared a varied program of hymns and songs from around the globe and left us wishing the program was longer. Having spent my early years in Africa, I was especially interested too find a selection of well written global and ethnically diverse music that is appropriate to use in our services.
Seeing so many of you stay to visit during the reception was a big indication that we desire to build community as colleagues and lovers of organ music. This is so important in order to keep our chapter thriving – so if you aren’t a member, please consider joining our membership.
You won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear Olivier Latry at Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 7:30 pm . Hopefully your schedule is free and you can be there!.
Warmly,
Judy Kohl, Dean
Royce Eckhardt, hymnal editor and historian, presented a hymn festival on September 16 titled “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing!” Held at Winnetka Covenant Church in Wilmette, Illinois, the hymn festival focused on global hymnody and utilized a variety of instruments to support congregational song. 
The church’s current music director, Dimitri German, led several hymns on guitar and current board member Sharon Peterson served as primary organist for the event. In addition to emphasizing the importance of including global hymnody in worship, Mr. Eckhardt provided historical context and helpful performance instructions for each hymn.
While an hour program permits merely a glance into this vast repertoire, fourteen carefully chosen hymns allowed everyone in attendance to experience some of the best examples of global hymnody that have entered our hymnals in recent decades.
Sharon Peterson
Mr. Eckhardt served as editor of The Covenant Hymnal (1996) which was used during the event along with supplementary materials. This afternoon of enthusiastic singing was a great way to kick-off our 2018-2019 season.
Royce Eckhardt
Event reviewed by Brian Schoettler
Kirsten Santos Rutschman
As the energy of fall swirls around and students return to school, I am drawn back to the whirlwind first days of my freshman year at Stanford University, where I promptly failed to make the cut for private piano study. Not to be deterred for long, I noticed that the course catalog included a listing for beginner’s group organ lessons—a swell silver lining, one might say. Coming from a family of church musicians, I had played occasional hymns and other service music on manuals only, but had never seriously contemplated the instrument. This was my chance, and I haven’t looked back! After foundational study with Dr. Robert Huw Morgan (which began with his “sheep dip” method: each student had a brief turn at the task before the next student was “dunked” into the pool of notes), I went on to study with Frederick Frahm; Lars Åberg and Karl Wikenståhl in Sweden; and Dr. Robert Parkins of Duke University, interspersed with holding parish positions and a great deal of subbing.
While young organists are a rare species in this country, it was refreshing to spend a year studying alongside a whole class of church-musicians-to-be at an educational institution run by the Church of Sweden, learning local liturgical and hymnodic traditions alongside solo repertoire. Since full-time organist positions continue to be a viable career path in that country, most of my classmates now occupy such roles, with tales of fantastical working conditions (one Sunday off per month—imagine that!). For me, however, organ is an important endeavor complementing my work as a historical musicologist. Indeed, I wore my proverbial academic hat to the 2014 National Convention in Boston, where I delivered a scholarly paper on “Tournemire’s Improvisation on Victimae Paschali: Audio vs. Transcription.”
During the short two years that I lived in Chicago, I wish that I had had the chance to get to know more North Shore chapter members. This summer I relocated to Saint Louis, where I have the joy of playing for a social justice–seeking Presbyterian congregation, a wonderful Sunday counterpart to my weekday work teaching music theory courses at Saint Louis University and Webster University. Thanks to this column, I note with a certain satisfaction that the pivotal moment that sparked my organ study neatly divides my life into two periods of equal length. From this point forward, my time as an organist will grow ever longer than the time when I was “only” a pianist, and I look forward to many more decades of supporting voices raised in song. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kirsten Santos Rutschman
This month’s Membership Matters includes the first “Activities and Interests” posting, where musical accomplishments, hobbies, and current projects of Northshore AGO members are showcased. An interview with Morgan Simmons and pictures of his exquisite needlepoint talent follows.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Curiosity! Some years ago Studs Terkel quipped, “Curiosity didn’t kill this cat.” I’m another surviving feline! The perennial quest for knowledge is the motivating force gets the juices flowing. A crossword puzzle is a regular component of the breakfast routine that is supported by a dictionary and atlas that rest on the chair adjacent to mine. No smart phone!
What was something that recently brought you great joy?
Having our most recent great grandchild Vivienne (number three) squeeze my offered finger — assurance that the family will go on for another generation.
What is the best piece of advice someone gave you?
That’s a difficult question to answer because I’ve been blessed by an abundance of wise family members and a host of caring mentors throughout my life. In the musical realm I remember the admonition from my revered piano teacher of teenage years saying: “speed is the easiest thing to acquire if your technique is secure”. I often think of that adage when hearing young performers race through compositions, while sacrificing musical subtitles.
The words of the trainer in the movie “Chariots of Fire” have stuck with me for years and have curbed the temptation to judge others’ behavior: “You can’t put in what God left out”! Nature wins over nurture most of the time, but the promise that sustains me is the unconditional love of God for ALL humanity!
What aspect of active music making do you miss the most?
Leading congregations in the playing of hymns! Hands down! For me that opportunity Sunday by Sunday was the highlight of my week. As an early teen, I had the privilege of serving as the pianist for the Methodist Youth Assembly at Huntingdon College in Montgomery. Hearing a chapel full of young people sing hymns as I played ignited my interest in hymnody, which continues to the present – the wedding of head and heart, text and tune and sharing that powerful marriage with fellow worshipers.
What organ that you have played has lasted in your memory?
On Sunday April 29, 1956 Mary and I, along with our 10 month-old son, had the thrill of attending the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar, Holland which houses what many consider the finest organ in the world, one built in 1646 by van Hagenbeer and Franz Caspar Schnitger. Here is an excerpt from my log:
After the service Piet Kee, the organist, let me try the organ and although the action is tracker it isn’t too stiff. The stops look much like the ends of spooled bedposts and pull out about 3 or 4 inches. The tone is magnificent and, of course, very clear. The acoustics are just right for the organ.
What other musical experience holds a special place?
In December of 1955 I had the opportunity of a lifetime: attending the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College Chapel Cambridge with Boris Ord conducting. Seated in the choir stalls, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Entering that building is, in itself, a religious experience, but with the addition of glorious music enhanced by unparalleled acoustics, there are no words adequate to describe the resulting grandeur.
What are three things you are passionate about?
Family, respect for all humankind and respect for the natural world!
How did you discover a love for needlepoint and how many hours do you do it a day on average?
During World War II, my father’s youngest brother was sent overseas for almost five years, and his wife and baby daughter came to live with my grandmother. My Aunt Sara brought with her a classical musical record collection and the art of needlepointing. I was enamored of both; the bug has continued to bite all these years later. Since I don’t rest easily in “downtime”, needlepointing fills the void. I would say that I spend an average of two to three hours a day with a needle and wool/silk/metallic/pearl cotton stitching.
Which needlepoint project has been the most fun or gratifying to date?
There are two pieces that vie for top choice: a tapestry of Middle East design that hangs in our entrance hall and “The Burning Bush” tapestry that hangs in the new addition to Fourth Church in Chicago.
What else would you like us to know?
The gratitude that Mary and I feel for our long association with our fellow members of the North Shore Chapter of AGO. I have been associated with the Guild since I joined the student chapter at DePauw University in 1947. It has been a sustaining force for both my personal and professional life, and for that I will be eternally thankful.
