Reasons for Optimism - San Joaquin Valley

Recently James Thomashower, AGO Executive Director, asked for "Reasons for Optimism" from AGO chapters.  I'd like to share what Laurell Huber, San Joaquin Valley Chapter Dean, had to say:

Each January for about 15 years, our chapter has a PIPE ORGAN EXPERIENCE
for young pianists at CSUFresno on the Martin Ott mechanical action
organ in which each student plays their piano piece on the organ after
hearing, seeing, touching, and learning how it works. An informal
concert for their families follows. This year we added a very successful
Orff instrument segment as an improvisation "experience." There have
been up to 50 students attend (two sessions).

At our POEx, we take note of the high school age "standouts"  and invite
them to the upcoming Regional POE, with our chapter paying the
application fee as a scholarship. Some years we have sent up to four
students to a POE and even a few to AdvPOE.
So we have a good crop of student members!

We have a Hymn Festival each year involving around eight  chapter
organists, several church choirs, and other added instrumentalists from
the community and its universities.
We are trying to keep hymn singing alive and try to involve different
churches and members each time.

This fall, we presented several young University composers in a concert
of their pieces ("Spotlight on Young Composers") It also included their
instructor who played one of his original organ compositions -- a suite.

(We are trying to lure him into the AGO. He thinks it is a little
expensive, as he is not a regular church organist.)

These young composers were invited to perform their same selections on
our local public radio station on a special program of young local
talent. They were featured just recently on this.

Our chapter sponsors an annual Open Console on the 1928 Robert Morton
Theatre Organ at our downtown Fresno Warnors Theatre. It is a community
event for anyone of any age to come and play or listen. Member Richard
Cencibaugh is the talented and beloved "curator" and encouraging
"demonstrator" at this event. Nearly 30 newcomers tried it out this
year.

We are in the practice of not charging for our events, but asking for
donations. We try to channel most moneys received into our scholarship
fund. It was originally endowed by a generous member about twenty years
ago, upon his passing.

In addition to the POE, part of our scholarship funds are aimed at an
organ competition (Central California Youth Performance Awards
Competition) which our chapter cosponsors with the Philipp Lorenz
Memorial Keyboard Concert Series.
Each division, High school and College has three prizes available. Most
of the prizes are named in memory of specific members.

In recent years we have twice offered  a $1,000 Colleague Scholarship
(the repertoire level of the AGO Colleague
Exam) to worthy students for University organ study.

These are a few things San Joaquin Valley Chapter does to try to "keep
the torch alive and burning" for our instrument, the pipe organ.

Thank you for your interest,
Laurell Huber AAGO

Reaching out to the community

Has your chapter done a program that reaches out to the community?

San Diego AGO recently supported Civic Organist Dr. Carol Williams as she performed a 12-hour organ marathon to raise funds for Wounded Warriors. It was a great way for us to support a wonderful cause and to becpome more visible in the community. Learn more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHr-6u-7CkA

Paul Rosas from the Bay Area writes about Sparkling Concerts held in November 2012 to benefit the Alzheimers Association. Read on:

Nov., 9 Sunnyvale Presbyterian
Nov. 10 Los Altos United Methodist Church
Nov. 11. Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Saratoga

The origin of the concept of this series of programs came out of my annual fund raising concert for the Alzheimer's Association. I have been doing the concerts for 4 years and it struck me one day that I had never heard of the AGO doing any concerts for the community.

The members of the AGO have been complaining that "no one comes to the concerts" or on the other side "who wants to go to hear an organ?"
My solution has been to become associated with an organization that has helped my family when we were going through a health crisis with my wife's parents. Another reason for this link is that the pastor's wife, Bonnie Bollwinkel, works with the Alzheimer's Association and has also had members of her family who have died of Alzheimer's. Our church, consequently, has a membership that is very devoted to raising money for the Alzheimer's Association.

The "Sparkling Concerts" came from an idea of the pastor's wife. She said that the caretakers get so tired of the constant vigilance that they lose their energy and stamina. They need to get their sparkle back with the help of the Alzheimer's Association. I liked the idea so much that I wanted to get the San Jose Chapter of the AGO involved and began discussion with members of the board. It took several meetings before I had a clear enough vision that we could develop together. Once we clarified that we wanted three concerts in one weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and that we wanted other instrumentalists to join us, we used our combined resources to create a concert with handbells and organ; voice and organ (with a piano/ organ duet thrown in); and brass and organ. We then used our various contacts, called local organists and instrumentalists and set up the concerts.

The other aspect of the concerts is PUBLICITY. Most concerts are only advertised in the AGO Newsletter and at one church. I have been a member of the Silicon Valley Arts Coalition for 2 years. This group of 22 performance art groups was founded for the express purpose of providing lower cost advertising in local community papers as well as free and low cost Internet listing. I used my knowledge gained by this a membership to put advertising in local papers and 9 Internet sites. A link was put on the posters and programs that allowed people to donate online directly to the Alz Assoc. The Alzheimer’s Association also helped to put ads for our concerts on their website. We received $150 in online donations.

RESULTS:
The first concert, "Sparkling Handbells", had posters, announcement to the choir and connections with the various handbell members to boost attendance to over 100 people. They raised $470.

The second concert, "Get Your Sparkle Back", had the best advertising --church web site, church newsletter, posters, announcements to choirs and small groups, Emails to Alzheimer's walkers. There we about 150 people in attendance. We raised $3800.
NOTE: This church is the home of the largest Alzheimer's walking group as well as the group that has raised the most money for Alzheimer's.

The third concert had no posters, one sentence in one Sunday bulletin, no contact with any of the musicians on staff and no contact with the priests of the church. There were about 25 people in the audience, most having some connection with the musicians or the AGO. We raised $240 dollars.

CONCLUSIONS:
We had the best results when the church staff, ministers and various groups at the church supported and promoted the program AND when there was at least two months of publicity at the church to support the concert and the purpose of the concert.

My big question is "How do we get people outside of the organist circle and the Alzheimer’s circle to come to the concerts?". What will motivate them?
Shall we do the concert series again next year?

Has your chapter done a similar program? If so, please send me details so I can share them with other chapters!

Young Church Organist!

Ethan earned the AGO Service Playing Certificate earlier this year and attended the San Diego AGO Pipe Organ Encounter this summer.  Here's what he's doing now:

http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44479&Itemid=60

Congratulations to the following Region IX members who earned certification this year:

Service Playing Certificate: Ethan Haman (Fremont, CA), Florence Hawkinson (Provo, UT), Howard E. Lee (Mountain View, CA), Ryan William North (Park City, UT), Jessica Page (Cottonwood Heights, UT), Kathleen B. Stanford (Salt Lake City, UT)

C.A.G.O: Mary Lee Mistretta (Toluca Lake, CA), Ryan William North (Park City, UT)

Special congratulations to Ryan William North, who earned BOTH certifications in one year, and to Howard E. Lee, who earned the SPC Dual Certification with the National Association of Pastoral Musicians!

The Los Angeles International Liszt Competition now includes organ!  Go to www.liszt-competition.com for more information.

A new blog for organists

A blog for organists, by Utah Valley chapter secretary Jennifer Morgan:

http://organlessons.blogspot.com/

Region IX composer turns 98!

Paul Hesselink and Linda Parker from the Las Vegas chapter had the opportunity recently to visit Region IX composer Wilbur Held.  Here's what Paul had to say about their visit:

We spent a wonderful four hours visiting Wilbur Held in Claremont, CA on Thursday, August 9. Wilbur had been my major professor many years ago at The Ohio State University when I was working on my Master's degree in organ pedagogy, and we have maintained a life-long friendship ever since. Prior to our arrival Wilbur had been composing and confessed to being a little frustrated. He knew what he wanted to write but couldn't quite figure out exactly how to position the notes on the page. The voices crossed and there wasn't enough space for all of them! We thought it was remarkable that someone on the verge of celebrating his 98th birthday was actively pursuing the creative muse!

It had been two years since we had last visited him, so we were delighted to find him in fine shape, mentally alert and still walking rather sprightly. We spent much of the time "catching up" and remembering events of the past. I knew that he had played the two church services each Sunday for the last four Sundays in July at his church, the Claremont United Church of Christ which is home to the large 60-stop three-manual and pedal Glatter-Gotz-Rosales tracker organ completed in 1998. When I asked him what he played during those eight services, Wilbur sort of dismissed the question by saying, "Oh, just easy stuff." But as the conversation went along, some of the repertoire he played was mentioned:  Bach's "Schmucke dich," the middle movement of Franck's "Grand Piece Symphonique," several of his own compositions and arrangements, including the "Now Thank We All Our God" setting arranged from the Bach cantata, and the Boellmann "Toccata."He referred to playing these services as "my farewell." I am sure I won't be doing that at 98 even if I make it that long!

We spent quite a bit of time discussing California Pottery, in particular Caliente, Haldeman, Catalina and other pottery. During his retirement years in California he avidly collected Caliente pottery and became THE authority on it, eventually publishing a catalog of what the company produced (1933-1953), Collectible Caliente Pottery. During this lively discussion, Wilbur brought out books from his library and examples from his collection...a real "show and tell." It was evident this is still one of his passions.

Over a leisurely lunch at the local Carrow's, we learned about his family and about how he plans to celebrate his birthday on Monday, August 20. Should you wish to help him celebrate by sending him a birthday greeting, his address is: Dr. Wilbur C. Held,  West 650 Harrison Avenue, Claremont, CA. 91711. Wilbur doesn't have e-mail, but his student Maxine Brechbiel will be happy to receive any e-mail birthday greetings and print them out for him: CBrechbiel@aol.com  I treasure our brief visit with Wilbur. Linda and I told him we'd plan for sure to come back for the big "100" in two years!

                                         Paul Hesselink and Linda Parker (Las Vegas)

The AGO's fiscal year ends on August 31 - if you haven't already made a donation to the Annual Fund, please consider doing so today!

To quote Tony Thurman, AGO's Director of Development and Communications:

"For more than a century, the American Guild of Organists has been the world’s strongest advocate for excellence in the performance of organ and choral music. Like many other charitable organizations, we rely heavily upon the generosity of philanthropically minded individuals and businesses to support the ongoing operations of the Guild and our educational and outreach programs. Because only 40% of our national operating budget is currently funded by annual membership dues, your generous gift to the Annual Fund, Endowment, or New Organist Fund will greatly reinforce the financial framework on which our organization exists.

The AGO is extremely grateful for all those who contribute vital resources each year in support of the mission of the Guild. Please give as generously as you are able. You may wish to honor a friend, loved one, or teacher with your contribution. We publish our annual list of donors in the December issue of THE AMERICAN ORGANIST Magazine."

To contribute, go to www.agohq.org and click on "Contribute Now" near the bottom of the page.  As a young friend of mine once said, "No gift is too small...or too large!"

Congratulations, Orange County!

Congratulations to the Orange County (California) Chapter on receiving an award as part of the “Grow the Guild” Campaign for the American Guild of Organists.

The chapter received the First Prize Award:

First Prize: $3,500 for a major concert artist recital
(sponsored by Habersham Funding LLC, in honor of Herbert Buffington and the Committee on Membership Development and Chapter Support)

From San Diego Civic Organist, Dr. Carol Williams

Dear Friends,

 On September 2, 2012 on the Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park, San Diego, California,  I will attempt a World Record Performance of a 12 hour "Organ Marathon" to raise funds for "Operation Rebound" who support our returning disabled vets! But, I am starting to raise the funds now!

Our men and women who have served every one of us are now returning by the hundreds from military service with permanent injuries and, they are needing our help !!!

"Operation Rebound" provides these military veterans the means to pursue an active lifestyle through physical fitness and athletics.

Please help me with a $10 (tax-deductible) donation at:http://operationrebound.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=471167&supid=358491335

For a long time I have wanted to do something with my talent and the Spreckels organ to benefit humanity. Operation Rebound is truly an amazing organization.
They dedicate their work to helping people who have sacrificed so much for us.
  
Please give what ever you can. Your donation will mean so much to so many !!! http://operationrebound.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=471167&supid=358491335
  
Thank you all in advance,

Dr. Carol Williams
Civic Organist of San Diego