Peggy Massello
First, thank you for inviting me to share my story with fellow members of the NSAGO, an organization near and dear to my heart.
The church has always played an important role in my life, particularly First Presbyterian Church in Wilmette. I was baptized, confirmed and married there and have been Director of Music for 18 years. Our youth group and youth choir was a particular source of friendship and faith formation for me, so when I went off to DePauw University, that foundation was strong. Although I auditioned for the School of Music on piano and voice and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance, I studied organ for several years with professor Arthur Carkeek. He and his wife Maureen led several of us for a semester in Vienna, Austria. Playing and hearing organs at various churches in Vienna and in Budapest, Hungary was a highlight of my undergraduate years. My first organ position, one I shared with another organist friend, was at the Greencastle Presbyterian Church. We also had a DePauw AGO chapter; small but mighty, made up mostly of students.
Upon graduation, I thought I was going to pursue a master of music therapy degree but federal cuts in the arts and mental health discouraged me. Certain pieces fell into place and before I knew it, I was working toward a Master of Sacred Music degree at Northwestern. I enjoyed studies with Richard Enright, Wolfgang Rübsam, and Grigg Fountain, among others. Becoming a member of the University Chorale during my years at NU kept me singing. Brief stints at Emmanuel Methodist Church in Evanston and Edison Park United Methodist kept my hand in the church music world.
After Northwestern, I began working at Highland Park Presbyterian Church as Director of Music and also taught private piano lessons. While serving HPPC, Pastors Carl and Donna Gray encouraged me to grow, especially in the area of children’s music and handbells. The church committed to sending me to beautiful Montreat, North Carolina for several summers for the PC (USA) conference on Worship and Music. I was able to put my skills to work in the church’s growing music program though LOGOS (a weekly, after-school multi-faceted children and youth program) and our intergenerational handbell choir. After 13 years at HPPC, I felt the tug to return to First Presbyterian Wilmette when the Director of Music position became available.
When I began working at First Presbyterian Wilmette, much time had passed from when I had grown up in the church. Still, one older member and former neighbor claimed that he changed my diapers as a baby and reminded me and others of that fact many times (yikes!). The church was ripe for growth in many areas, especially music, and it has been a wonderful ride, not over yet.
I have served as a board member, sub-dean and dean of the NSAGO over the years. I encourage those who may be sitting on the side lines to become active on the board or with projects, as it is in this way you get to know fellow organists and form friendships. Soli Deo Gloria!
Peggy Massello, NSAGO member
Our bank account grew by $52 this month from renewals sent to us from the National office, providing us with a balance of $48,320.44.
I expect that many of you have received your renewal notices and that many of you will be processing your payment in the next few weeks. Note that it is also possible to make a contribution to the chapter when renewing your membership online. Your contributions are tax deductible, and are categorized Great, Swell, or Positiv, depending on amount. Your contribution enables us to bring quality programming to you, and will be noted in our programs and treasurer’s corner in coming months. Please also note that it is now also possible to make a contribution to our chapter scholarship fund through ONCARD when you renew your membership. Please feel free to reach out to me at treasurer@northshoreago.org with any issues or concerns you may have.
Remember that up until a year ago, there was a fixed membership calendar. No matter when you joined, the “year” ended in June. Now with a flexible calendar, folks are free to join at any point in time and renew 12 months later. So if you are not sure of your renewal month, check the label of your “The American Organist”.
Laurie Stivers
Happy playing,
Laurie Stivers, treasurer
Andrea Handley
Some of you may notice that while we have had a Calendar tab on the homepage of our website, it’s been pretty empty up till now. Well, no longer! We’ve finally gotten up and running with the Calendar feature. So when you click on Calendar from now on, you will not only find our NSAGO events and programs, but you will find non-NSAGO events listed as well. When you hover over the event, you will see the basic information, but when you click on the event, you will be taken to a full description of the event, where you can easily add events to your google calendar and find a map for directions to the event. Also, you may add all the month’s events to your calendar by clicking on the “Export Month’s Events” tab at the bottom of each month on the calendar.
To find these events on the calendar, click here: http://northshoreago.org/events/
So when you receive notice of the June newsletter, with all the events for our 2016-17 season, you can immediately add them to your calendars! So we can expect to see many more of you at our events next season!
Andrea Handley, Dean
It has been observed that clergy and musician may be the most crucial leadership and pastoral team within the life of the church. At the heart of their work is the creation and implementation of worship services that are fresh, inspirational, historically rooted and biblically centered, liturgical, winsome and accessible, observant of the church year and relevant to current events and congregational life. Quite a task!
Demonstrating how this ecclesiastical relationship can work effectively in shared ministry were four clergy/musician teams at the February 28 panel discussion, held at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Members of this panel included Rev. Daniel Ruen and Mark Bowman of Grace Lutheran Church, Evanston; Rev. Sue Sommer and Julia Brueck of St. David’s Episcopal Church, Glenview; Rev. Craig Mueller and David Brackley of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago; and Rev. Erin Raska of First Presbyterian Church, Wilmette. The program was ably moderated by Dr. Ron Anderson, professor of worship and director of the Music Ministry program at Garrett.
The presentations were excellent, insightful and compelling, coming out of real life experiences. Particularly emphasized was the need for highest mutual trust and respect, to be mutually empowering and synergistic, to understand and fully accept each other with different personality types and working styles and to exhibit patience, flexibility and openness. Musicians were challenged to see their work as pastoral and a sense of calling, rather than imply a music position.
Disappointing was the rather small audience turnout for these fine presentations on a crucial topic for the church. Yet, for those in attendance, much “food for thought” and valuable insights were proffered that can be most beneficial to the worship and music ministries of local church.
Below are some comments from board members who attended the program:
Christine Kraemer: We owe thanks to board member Royce Eckhardt and AGO member Ron Anderson (Garrett faculty) for recruiting four outstanding clergy/musician teams and providing the teams with substantive topics and questions about shared ministry to prepare for the event. One of the teams performed a skit depicting their first planning meeting—a younger Lutheran pastor and a Methodist musician with 40 years of experience—humorous but illustrative of two very different personalities getting to know one another. Advice from another Lutheran team: don’t assume that you have to depart from traditional liturgy and music to attract new members. Young people in their Lakeview congregation prefer traditional worship! Also, church musicians were encouraged to mentor young musicians with an interest in church music. Clergy have seminaries, but there are no longer many training programs for church musicians. Ron Anderson described Garrett’s Ministry of Music Master’s program.
Lee Nelson: All four pastor/musician couples presented excellent points, well thought out, new insights, even more compelling than previous discussions. What I especially noticed about all four teams was the high respect and trust they had for each other. This is so important for a successful working relationship between pastor/musician. Ron Anderson was a great host and moderator and kept the discussion moving.
Sharon Peterson: The Clergy and Musician panel presentation and discussion was reassuring to hear church staff share how they are able to work through stylistic and expectation differences in not only positive, but productive ways. Their ideas and answers to the chapter members’ questions were very helpful. Relationships need nurturing, and these colleagues showed us imaginative techniques to do so.
Royce Eckhardt
–Submitted by Royce Eckhardt
