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PEDALS, PIPES AND PIZZA AT PHILLIPS CHURCH, EXETER, NH ON SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2009 @ 10 AM. Organist Abbey Siegfried will offer a hands-on lecture/demonstration - AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE PIPE ORGAN - while seated at the console of the
Fratelli-Ruffatti Organ (installed 2004) in Phillips Church on the campus of
Phillips Exeter Academy, NH. A Note From Our Dean Once again, we shall be "piggy-backing" on the St. Paul’s School program for our meeting this month, so be sure to put the St. Paul’s School and Madrigal choir concert on your calendar! Details about this program can be found in this month’s feature article here in "The Cypher". As a chapter, we are now in high gear in preparation for the POE we are sponsoring this coming summer, so please, give extra special attention to Colin Lynch’s POE Corner article elsewhere in this issue. Next month, we shall be hosting our 1st "Pedals, Pipes and Pizza" at Philips Exeter Academy. Abbey Hallberg Siegfried will be the presenter. Do you know of any piano students who would love to experience an introduction to the pipe organ? All are welcome to enjoy Abbey’s delightful program. It is free to all who come. I hope to see you there! Liz Black
Dear Colleagues, I once again beg your forbearance - the combination of switching over to a new electronic format while retaining the printed format for our non-web readers has been formidable. Added to that has been my own saga with Fairpoint Communications takeover of New Hampshire’s Verizon customers. It has been a bit of cyber "hell" recently. 64% of the chapter responded to my sent email test, but the other 36% did not. If you are able to receive the "Cyber Cypher" (a nickname for the electronic version of our newsletter) and you did not receive my test message a couple of weeks ago, do let me know directly. All "Cypher" delivery related issues can be communicated to my either via my home email: frazma@myfairpoint.net Or through the Cypher address which is: nhagocypher@yahoo.com See you at our chapter events soon. Sincerely, Mark W. Frazier Pipe Organ Encounter 2009 . . .
How can YOU support the New Hampshire Pipe Organ Encounter?
I am a die hard NPR fan. I listen faithfully to "Wait, wait, don’t tell me" and "The Diane Rehm Show" until they begin their fundraising drives, when I immediately change the station to something much less satisfying. Now working hard to make our POE a success, I am beginning to realize the importance of such drives for support. While there is a relatively small group of individuals working tirelessly on the POE, the success of the program is and must be dependent upon the stewardship of entire chapter. Several local members will serve on the faculty, others on the executive committee. Some will offer their organ benches and some a seat in their car to transport students to their lessons. It is my hope that each person in our chapter can offer their time, talent, and treasure. At this point, our greatest need is funding. Undoubtedly, the POE is the largest project that NHAGO has ever undertaken and there are large financial implications for such a venture. We have been offered some generous support from outside of our chapter, but we still cannot do it without the support of our chapter members. NHAGO must support its own efforts before we can ask for assistance from other entities. We hope to make the POE affordable for every student, and as such, the $450.00 tuition cost only covers about half of the cost per student. To ensure the future of the king of instruments, we need to raise $15,000. If each member sent in at least $50.00, we would be well on our way to meeting our goal. That’s less than an evening at the BSO! Your donation will go to help pay to develop 40 young, new organists. In this time of economic uncertainty, this investment is sure to pay great dividends. On behalf of the AGO, the POE committee, and 40 teenage organists, we thank you for whatever gift you can make. Your tax-deductible gift made out to NH AGO POE 2009 and mailed to:
We hope you will visit www.nhago.org to learn more about the exciting week that has been planned! Upcoming Events
********************************************************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************************************************* Merrimack Valley AGO Chapter Mini Convention XI - Saturday, March 7, 2009 Click here for details and registration form
BRUCE ADAMI DELIGHTS EXETER AUDIENCE WITH FRENCH TREATS Former Dean and active chapter member Bruce Adami played a wonderful recital Sunday, February first, at Christ Episcopal Church in Exeter as part of the Aliento Chamber Players concert series. His all-French program was well served by the new Lively-Fulcher organ of three manuals and 45 ranks. I was interested to read in the description of the organ, passed out at the recital, that it was inspired by English models. It strikes me as being more French oriented, albeit tailored to a typically drier American acoustical environment. In any case there was no mismatch of organ, music, and performer. Bruce is a virtuoso performer with both strong chops and interpretive depth. His program choices explored the abilities of the instrument widely. A selection of Noëls by Dandrieu was the sole example of the French Classic school, but it nevertheless exploited some of the colors available that are peculiar to the genre. The remainder of the program was devoted to music of Romantic, Impressionistic, and Modern styles, all of which call for the timbral and dynamic range of Cavaillê-Coll's masterpieces, convincingly emulated in Christ Church's new organ. One color in particular was to die for -- the Harmonic Flute solo in the Widor selection. Other composers heard were Alain, Dupré, Duruflé, Franck, and Vierne. It was an outstanding musical event, warmly received by a large audience which expressed its appreciation with a spontaneous standing ovation at the end, eliciting a delightful encore by Jean Langlais. - George Bozeman IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE Michael Joseph has made available to the public on Youtube the video of his Workshop on Improvisation presented to the NH Chapter at St. Joseph Cathedral in 2006. Anyone can view the presentation without signing on to or having any kind of membership on "Youtube". Simply go to your browser and type or paste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QARPX4Foi8cWorkshop handouts are available on his "Improvisation Forum Web Page". The address is: http://sites.google.com/site/organistsimprovisationforum/ Also, there are plenty of good organ performances on Youtube to be watched from world-wide contributors.
For several months you’ve been asking me to write some words of wisdom about navigating the disagreements that arise between church musicians and clergy. Do I need to explain why I have hesitated to take on this perilous subject? When we met last summer at Liz Black’s home and shared strawberry shortcake, I asked you to share some of the conflicts that typically come up over church music. What I heard from you convinced me that I have been wise to dodge this bullet. Clergy who demand specific music on impossibly short notice: Moi? Never! Clergy overruling the musician on tempo or style: What kind of horse’s patooti would ever do that? Then I started listening more closely to what clergy have to say on the subject. "Our congregation wants contemporary praise music, but the organist won’t play it." Hmmmmm.... Still haunted by your request, I thought about some model rules of the road—who should be in charge of what, and why. How pompous! No, your chaplain is not going to be your Dutch uncle (or Dutch aunt). Then it came to me. I do know something helpful about this. I know about collaboration. And if there ever was an example of collaboration it’s music itself, in which sounds, voices, and instruments work together to create better than any one sounding separately. Last fall I was privileged to take a course on interpersonal collaboration, given by the Mennonite Peace Center. Here’s some of what I learned that may be helpful for you: Perhaps by using these techniques clergy and musicians will not be apples and oranges all the time. Celeste Hemingson |
CONCORD,
NH - Sponsored by the St. Paul's School Choir (Colin D. Lynch, Director and
Michael Wayne Smith, Guest Accompanist) NHAGO members and friends are invited to
the Chapel of St. Paul's campus to hear music in preparation for their upcoming
international concert tour of South Africa - including stops in Johannesburg,
Pretoria, Soweto and Capetown. Their performances will raise money to
benefit the local community schools, choirs and charities. The trip,
scheduled for March 1-13, will also provide ample opportunity for cultural
enrichment. Stops on the twelve day journey are expected to include the
home of former South African President Nelson Mandela, the Freedom Park Museum
and St. George's Cathedral, where the choir will perform Evensong at the church
once presided over by former Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
A Note from
the Editor
Regular
AGO Annual Membership: $88.00