2016-October
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Pipelines October 2016 Volume 97 Issue 1 IN THIS ISSUE DEAN’S NOTES Dean’s Notes… pg 1 By Edward Alan Moore, DMA - Dean ([email protected]) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Musical Road to our 65th Dear Colleagues, Wedding Anniversary… pg 2 October is Here. ScHools are bacK in session. Concert Celebrating the Sainte- CHoirs Have resumed reHearsals. Arts organizations Clotilde Tradition… pg 3 around the region Have launcHed new seasons of concerts. So many options…so little time! Directory Updates… pg 4 In this issue of Pipelines and througH our paid Email Blasts, we see there are lots of concerts and Substitute List… pg 4 events going on involving the membersHip of the PittsburgH AGO CHapter. October Meeting: Dr. Brenda Please Keep sHaring those events, and please continue to attend and Portman… pg 5 support your fellow cHapter members as you can. Speaking of attending and supporting events, one of the jewels in OAS Opener… pg 5 the crown of the PittsburgH AGO CHapter is the Organ Artists Series of Pittsburgh. The 38th Season of OAS opens on October 16 at 3:00 PM with Upcoming Events… pg 6 a concert by David Higgs from the Eastman ScHool of Music. THe concert is Job Openings… pg 7 at East Liberty Presbyterian CHurcH. More information about this concert can be found on page 5. The OAS has continued to present Thirty-Eight seasons of some of our profession’s finest artists in concert to audiences throughout the greater Contact the editor: Pittsburgh area. [email protected] THis is not only significant, it is remarKable! OAS is a great source of pride for our cHapter, but not one that sHould be taken for granted. Support for OAS begins with our cHapter, but cannot end there. THese Online at: www.pitago.org concerts are not Here just for our own personal enjoyment; they are Here to sHare with the greater community. To that end, I invite you to bring a guest, or two, or more with you to the concert on October 16. Maybe someone wHo is already a lover of Facebook: www.facebook.com/pittsburghago organ music, or maybe someone wHo Has never attended an organ concert. THis is the second season wHere OAS is offering FREE admission to all students! If you Have students, or Know of some wHo migHt be interested, the price is rigHt! FREE THe concerts I attended as a student are still fresH in memory and played an important role in my musical formation. I Hope to see you at the OAS concert on October 16, and to welcome you bacK to East Liberty for our monthly dinner and meeting on October 24. Page 1 of 8 Pipelines October 2016 THE MUSICAL ROAD TO OUR 65TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY By Wilberta Naden PicKett, SMM, CH.M For the first part of this article, see September 2016 Pipelines, where Wilberta and John met. I Had spent so mucH time planning music for our "perfect" wedding that I decided to write my master's thesis on "Music for the CHristian Wedding Service," all 200 pages, many of wHicH JoHn typed because He Had access to an electric typewriter. He spent a final all-nigHter to get it done, and then Hopped a train to NYC so He could deliver it to me personally by the deadline. My thesis advisor pronounced it "the best formatted of all the class theses." I never would Have earned my degree in 1952 without His Help. In 1957, I presented a program on "Music for the CHurcH Wedding" at the AGO, then Region V, Convention in MilwauKee, Wisconsin, complete with two model weddings - one for a small cHurcH and one for a larger one with a cHoir, followed by a reception and display of music. My talK to the assembled "guests" was even editorialized in the MilwauKee Journal and the Toledo Blade - in a jesting negative tone for suggesting "appropriate" sacred music. Again turning the tables on convention, and ahead of His time, JoHn urged me to get a job wHerever I could, that He, as an accountant, could get a job anywHere. I was Hired as full time Minister of Music at Reid Memorial United Presbyterian CHurcH, RicHmond, IN (featured on the cover of the Organ Historical Society's national convention booK in 2007) with a HooK & Hastings pipe organ and five cHoirs. Providentially JoHn's former co-worKer in nearby Muncie, IN Had moved to RicHmond, and Hired Him to be Senior Accountant for AVCO Corp's Crosley Division, maker of SHelvador refrigerators. THe cHurcH got a bonus with a tenor wHo could read music and stay in tune - and I Had a trusted advisor. IMAGE 1 ORGAN AT REID MEMORIAL UNITED From there I Have already written for you about the Guilders PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IMAGE W.T. VAN PELT WHo Guided Me in that first and ensuing cHurcH jobs. Just as important to me, thougH, was the encouragement and support that JoHn gave me. WHen cHildren came along (five in all, eacH two years apart), JoHn Helped take care of them on Sundays and at bedtime. He tooK them grocery shopping on Saturdays to give me a break. After three years of worKing, I tooK a break for a few years. WHen we moved to Cleveland in 1960 I felt lonely not Knowing anybody and I felt overwHelmed by so many cHildren in our small House and in the neigHborHood. JoHn encouraged me to take a job as organist only in a small cHurcH, getting me out of the House to practice and feeding my musical soul, a boon to my morale. In the meantime the cHildren were growing up, and I was getting bacK in musical sHape for PittsburgH. So Here we landed in 1965 wHen JoHn was transferred, and if you've been reading my saga this past year, you Know the rest of the story. I Have appreciated all the Guilders wHo Have guided me in my career. But it Has been JoHn's supportive and steady presence in my life that Has made it possible to combine being a cHurcH musician with being a devoted and loved wife and mother. We now Have thirteen grandcHildren, six great-grand- cHildren, and two more on the way. We recently Had two anniversary parties - one given by and for friends Here at Longwood, and the other given by our cHildren with relatives from all over the country coming "bacK Home again in Indiana." From there most of our own family went on to a family camp at ElKHart Lake, Wisconsin, run by JoHn's alma mater, Indiana University wHere we were again feted at the annual Adult Dinner, planned by our cHildren. We often say that early "Dance of Death" launcHed our "Dance of Life." It Has been a great 65 years. THanKs to you, JoHn, and THanKs be to God! Page 2 of 8 Pipelines October 2016 CONCERT CELEBRATING THE SAINTE-CLOTILDE TRADITION By Holly S. Lord, daugHter of Dr. Robert SutHerland Lord A concert program entitled “THe Sainte-Clotilde Tradition: A Living Legacy” will be presented at the Heinz Memorial CHapel on Sunday, October 30, at 3 p.m. THe program will include worKs of the three organist- composers wHo embody THe Sainte-Clotilde Tradition—César FrancK, CHarles Tournemire, and Jean Langlais— titular organists at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris for a total of 115 years. THe concert commemorates the second anniversary of the death of Dr. Robert Sutherland Lord, University Organist (1962-2006), and the 25th anniversary of the death of Jean Langlais (1907-91), the final bearer of the tradition. Organists for the concert will be Steven AnisKo, Robert Blevins, and Dr. Douglas Himes, all protégés of Dr. Lord, with special guest Marie-Louise Langlais, widow of Jean Langlais. THe concert is open to the public at no cHarge. THe Sainte-Clotilde Tradition is one of the most important traditions of organ performance, composition, improvisation, and pedagogy in the History of the instrument. THe tradition was named by Robert Lord, wHo became one of its leading international authorities. Dr. Lord began studying with Jean Langlais in Paris in 1958, a mentorsHip that spanned 33 years until the death of the master in 1991. THe bequest of Dr. Lord’s collection of scHolarly materials and recorded performances to the University of PittsburgH ArcHives created a major repository that is used by researcHers from around the world. IMAGE 2 ROBERT SUTHERLAND LORD The four organists for the commemorative concert all Have deep (LEFT) AND JEAN LANGLAIS IN PITTSBURGH IN 1976 connections to THe Sainte-Clotilde Tradition. Special guest Marie-Louise Langlais is internationally renowned as an organist, musicologist, teacHer, and recording artist. SHe Has Held positions as Professor of Organ and Improvisation at the National Regional Conservatory of Marseilles, the ScHola Cantorum in Paris, and the National Regional Conservatory of Paris, and Has served on numerous international juries for organ competitions througHout the world. SHe also served as Assistant Organist at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde with Her Husband, on wHose life and music sHe is the leading international authority. SHe is currently in residence as DistinguisHed Visiting Professor of Organ at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. THe other three organists for the concert studied music of THe Sainte-Clotilde Tradition under the tutelage of Dr. Lord: Steven AnisKo (1992-2013), Robert Blevins (1978-80), Douglas Himes (1970-81). Mr. AnisKo and Dr. Himes served with Dr. Lord as Assistant University Organists in the Heinz Memorial CHapel. Dr. Himes also studied with Jean Langlais and performed by invitation at Ste.-Clotilde.