In April, I was contacted by colleague and councilor of the American Guild of Organists Young Organists board, Jillian Gardner, asking if I was available and willing to serve as a volunteer for the Pipe Organ Encounter in Hartford, Connecticut during the week of June 26 - July 1. I readily agreed, excited to work with young organists for a week! June 25th arrived and I was on a plane from PHX to BDL. Here is a review of the week and a summary of the experiences!
17 excited students checked in on Sunday, June 26 at Trinity Chapel on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford, CT. From the moment the first student arrived there was palpable energy. I helped five girls move into the dorm and POE director, Vaughn Mauren, helped 12 boys settle into the dorm adjacent to ours. For the majority of the attendees, this was their first POEso after dinner, we played an icebreaker game called, “two truths and a lie”, which was an effective way to let the kids meet each other and share interesting facts about themselves! Afterward, we went over rules, expectations, and the schedule before heading to bed.
Although I never attended a POE as a student, I attended church youth camp every summer from the ages of 7 to 16, followed by serving four summers on staff. I love the camp experience and enjoy working with children and teens, but I was not sure what to expect from a Pipe Organ Encounter. I quickly realized that, although the days were filled with music and lessons rather than horseback riding and archery, the social environment was very similar to summer camp youth programs. There are the confident kids, the shy kids, the budding friendships, the occasional disagreement, and all other normal teenage interactions.
I volunteered to help the Greater Hartford POE in whatever capacity was needed. This included staying in the girls' dorm all week, acting as a chaperone for every off-campus excursion, and interacting with each student to create a personal connection. An unexpected role was to serve as Faculty to two of the students when the scheduled Faculty member was unable to attend at the last moment. I hadn’t anticipated this role but was glad for the opportunity to work with two of the many talented students that attended the POE. We had only three lessons together but the students came well-prepared and over the course of three lessons I had a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and watch them incorporate them into their playing.
Monday afternoon was full of interesting workshops and master classes. Katelyn Emerson shared many wonderful pieces of advice on practice techniques in her workshop, Nathaniel Gumbs conducted an engaging masterclass on hymn-playing, and Christopher Houlihan gave a tour and organ demonstration at Trinity chapel that included a fun “eye-spy in the stained glass” game! Each of these was helpful and informative to all our young organists.
As POE’s continue to be places of learning and instruction for upcoming generations of organists, I believe an important seminar addition should be considered in the curriculum of future POE’s - Organ Research Seminar. There are various people who have expressed concern about encouraging young organists to enter the field of professional musicians without adequately preparing them for the realities of that path. For example, one of my courses an undergrad, Biology Research Seminar, provided students earning a degree in biology an opportunity to learn about all the various career possibilities they could pursue with that degree, as well as exposing them to current topics, literature, and controversy in biology studies. Not every student earning a degree in biology would go on to be a medical doctor, just as not all students earning a degree in organ will become concert organists. I believe a seminar informing students of a variety of career paths attainable with a degree in organ, as well as the realities of the job market, salaries, and perhaps even burnout rate, would be incredibly beneficial to every young organist we encounter.
In addition to workshops, there were many wonderful excursions throughout the week. Tuesday was a day trip to New York City to visit the organs of St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas, and St. Patrick churches. Wednesday included a visit to the Austin Organ Builders and on Thursday the organs on the campus of Yale University.
As you can imagine, traveling with 15 teenagers can be challenging, but, despite the occasional mishap, everyone was safe and accounted for at the end of each day. Possibly the most chaotic moments occurred immediately following organ demonstrations. Many times the host would offer a chance to play the instrument and ask anyone interested to come forward. I realized that the same group of enthusiastic students were always the first to jump on, and would also take the longest on the bench. While I can admire the eagerness of these students, without intentional direction from the chaperones, some of the quiet and more patient students would be left without a turn. More than a few times it felt like a mad-dash-free-for-all rush to the bench with little regard to others. The POE director and I agreed to start calling on students to play so that we could ensure that everyone was getting an opportunity to experience the instrument. We also set time limits for playing to make sure all 15 students got time on each instrument. Overall the energy and character of the students shifted to an atmosphere of calmness and collegiality when we began calling by name.
Learning about collegiality is an important aspect of the POE experience. In addition to sharing time during excursions, evening practice time with a limited number of instruments was very challenging and led to some disagreements. Oftentimes, these students come from places where they are the only young organist in the school, church, or community, and suddenly find themselves surrounded by a dozen peers. It was very rewarding to help the participants learn to respect one another, share bench time and be supportive.
You may have noticed earlier that I mentioned the ratio of boys to girls being nearly 3 to 1. While it is known that the organ tends to be a male-dominated instrument, we continue to encourage young female organists to join our ranks. I became close to the girls, chatting about music, summer plans, the upcoming school year, and more. When I asked what they would like to see improved in future POE’s the general response was “more access to practicing”. I had noticed that the evening practice sessions were highly dominated by the young men in the group, I’m sure unintentionally, but nevertheless, the female students were more timid and cautious about asking for time on the organ bench. I so badly wanted to encourage them to be confident and make sure they got their fair share of time on the bench but, as I got to thinking of myself at their age, I would not have had the courage to kick a guy off the bench. If I couldn’t have done that at 14, I shouldn’t expect them to do it! This is why I believe it’s extra important to advocate for our female organists who attend the POE. Fostering courage is important but also occasionally stepping in and making sure there is equal opportunity for practice is imperative.
The week culminated with a phenomenal 90-minute concert by 14 of the participants. From Buxtehude to Bach, Franck to Widor - even more contemporary composers such as Marcel Lanquetuit, Mons Leidvin Takle, and Richard Elliot made an appearance! Each student prepared, presented, and performed beautifully.
The Pipe Organ Encounter is arguably the most important experience offered to the next generation of organists. They require immense amounts of planning and coordinating, volunteer and faculty efforts, and community support. I traveled from Arizona to Connecticut to help and would do it all again. I hope to continue working and providing opportunities to our young organists, even in Phoenix. The future of the organ is only as viable as the students we prepare for it and I encourage anyone willing and able to find, help, and support POE efforts and other AGO Young Organist-sponsored events. Congratulations to the many successes of the 2022 summer POE’s hosted in Hartford (CT), Long Beach (CA), and Winston-Salem/Greensboro (NC). To the directors, volunteers, faculty, and students - it was a SWELL week, and a GREAT time - thank you for such a POSITIF experience!
For more information: https://www.agohq.org/education/poe/
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