It is with great regret that we inform our members of the recent death of Dr. Richard Enright, founding member of the North Shore AGO chapter and long-time professor at Northwestern University. Below is the link to his obituary:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/richard-enright-obituary?pid=1000000183266028
Greetings from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary! Faculty member, Dr. Ron Anderson, shares with members of the North Shore Chapter of the American Guild of Organists an opportunity to take an online lifelong learning course with Dr. Anderson this coming spring. The details about the course can be found below.
Course: Music, Lectionary and the Christian YearInstructor: Dr. Ron Anderson, Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Worship at Garrett-Evangelical Theological SeminaryDates: February 1 – May 8, 2017 (This is a 13 week online course. While there are weekly deadlines, students are able participate on their own schedules within each week.)Cost: $150; Participants who successfully complete the course will earn 2 Continuing Education Units.Course Description:The purpose of this course is to explore the history and theology of the Christian year, with particular attention to its implications for the selection and practice of church music. This course will seek to:
Register at https://www.garrett.edu/music-lectionary-and- christian-year. For more information, please contact Dr. Ron Anderson at ron.anderson@garrett.edu or 847.866.3875.
Andrea Handley
Your NSAGO board met last month, and discovered that our recent attention to rebuilding our efforts in the area of chapter scholarships dovetails beautifully with the recent national AGO initiative that I wrote about last month in the Dean’s Column – the Committee on New Organists, headed by Isabelle Demers.
Based on our discussion at the last board meeting, this message below is from sub-dean Sharon Peterson:
Building on Isabelle Demers’ National AGO initiative from the Committee on the New Organist, the North Shore Chapter’s Scholarship Subcommittee is offering three free organ lessons and one year’s membership in the chapter. The committee’s goal is to offer five scholarships, so members are encouraged to complete the teacher application form (http://northshoreago.org/the-new-organist-initiative/) to offer three lessons free of charge. Participating as a teacher is a good tool for increasing his/her studio, and the chapter would benefit from new members. Please consider this vital program.
Members are also encouraged to let the sub-committee know of piano teachers, churches, synagogues, who might have students to recommend. Please submit to subdean@northshoreago.org. Students may be children, youth, or adults. The chapter’s Scholarship fund will provide the membership fee – regardless of age.
The promotional materials and application will be distributed during the Spring of 2017, after which the sub-committee will pair teachers with students. (This will be based on both expertise and location.) Lessons will be offered during the Summer of 2017.
Thank you, in advance, for your active support.
Sharon Peterson, sub-dean
Have a wonderful Advent and Christmas, everyone, and see you at the Epiphany party on Friday, January 6! Watch for an evite to come.
Andrea Handley, Dean
Chris Urban, Andrea Handley, Sharon Peterson, Jill Hunt
Saturday, November 12, 2016, four presenters cooperated on two workshops: “Creative Hymn Playing & Adapting Piano Music for the Organ.” This event, hosted by Chris Urban and First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, IL, was taught by Organists Andrea Handley, Chris Urban, Jill Hunt, and Sharon R. Peterson.
In the first session Andrea and Chris each addressed Creative Hymn Playing from their own perspectives. Andrea creates her own modulations and enhanced harmonizations, so she demonstrated various templates she uses for introductions, alternate harmonizations, pedal lines, and modulations between verses. It was particularly helpful that she included printed Finale examples of all these techniques.
Chris Urban gave an overview of many printed collections of Introductions, Free Harmonizations, Modulations, Piano/Organ Duets, music for Organ & Brass, and music for Organ and various instruments. His demonstrations as well as comprehensive list of resources is a wonderful tool the chapter appreciates and will use frequently as well.
Jill Hunt shared her research on the R. Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, using the piano score, (the original composition,) J. Melvin Butler’s organ accompaniment, and the full orchestral score to inform her organ accompaniment. She explained how she compiled her part to show what Vaughan Williams intended, using what the organ can offer to best advantage.
Sharon R. Peterson gave a demonstration of the possibilities the organ offers to enhance an anthem written for choir and piano. She invited the attendees to sing to enable them to first feel how the organ supported them. Then she analyzed what she’d played – emphasizing the importance of listening and thinking as a Conductor while making decisions about the adaptation from piano to organ.
This rich presentation inspired the attendees to take these resources to heart to enhance their playing. The workshop provided the perfect follow-up to the previous month’s astounding concert presented by Notre Dame Cathedral’s Organist, Vincent Dubois.
Although attendance was decent, given four people presented, (and three of them are on the NSAGO board) members should make a renewed effort to attend these valuable educational events. The Board will make the distributed resources available to our chapter members in some way. Please look for details in upcoming Overtones.
Sharon R. Peterson
Sharon R. Peterson
Brian Schoettler
I recently joined the NSAGO this past summer after I began my new position as Minister of Music and Organist at First United Methodist Church in Evanston. My wife Annastasia and I are both from Kenosha and we were excited to move back to the Midwest after several years in New Jersey and New York during my graduate studies.
My first encounter with the organ was through organ lessons sponsored by the Worship, Music, and Arts committee at St. Mary’s Lutheran in Kenosha. These first lessons with Michael Burkhardt involved working on repertoire and service playing but also focused on improvisation. As I gradually developed a repertoire, I composed and arranged pieces for instrumental ensembles at my church (including a 20-member saxophone ensemble!). I continued my studies with Richard Hoskins at Carthage College where I completed a triple emphasis in Organ Performance, Church Music, and Instrumental Music Education which included student teaching at New Trier and serving as Organ Scholar at St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal in Chicago.
During my master’s at Westminster Choir College and my doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music I was fortunate to study with some of America’s leading organists and pedagogues. The sense of community among organists in both in Princeton and Rochester was inspiring – organ music was and is alive and well. While in Rochester, I was fortunate to coordinate two of Eastman’s organ concert series (one weekly, one monthly) featuring Eastman’s Italian Baroque Organ and our department actively sought to bring organ music to new audiences.
In addition to my role as an organist, I’m passionate about my career in church music. I’m actively involved as a member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts and I enjoy crafting liturgies that utilize the best choral and organ music from all eras and traditions. As a church musician, I’m grateful for the opportunity to teach, conduct, improvise, compose, and perform on a regular basis along with a group of dedicated musicians of all ages.
I look forward to getting to know everyone in the North Shore chapter and taking part in events that help us hone our craft and performances in which we can share our music with the community. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Brian Schoettler