Summer Begins

Now that the spring semester is finished, I have the luxury of practicing the organ more.  I am learning about how to practice more efficiently and avoid “mindless practice.”

I found this article very helpful. 

http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/

It was shared with me by my friend and mentor, Dr. Carlton Russell.  This article was written by Dr. Noa Kageyama, who is a performance psychologist and Julliard alumnus and faculty member.  He teaches musicians how to play their best under pressure and writes a blog about this.

I have been learning Easter Hymns and playing the organ more at St. Teresa’s Church.  I played half the service on April 27 and May 4.  I learned to play the Glory to God from the Paul Taylor St. Francis Mass, so I was able to play all the hymns and acclamations for the May 25 Mass at St. Teresa’s.  On May 25 Kevin Birch cantored and my nephew, William Walker (who was visiting from Sloansville, New York for the Memorial Day weekend), joined us to sing in the small choir.

I visited my son, Karl, his wife, Janie, and my three grandchildren, in Cardington, Ohio the weekend of May 16-19. 

With my grandchildren in Cardington, Ohio:  Lesley, Heidi, and Keian

Cardington is close to Columbus, Ohio.  Dr. Paul Thornock, the Director of Music for the St. Joseph Cathedral, generously invited me to play the Fritts, Opus 25, pipe organ at St. Joseph Cathedral for a few hours on the afternoon of May 19 before I caught my flight back to Bangor.

Paul Fritts and Company, Opus 25 (2006), St. Joseph Cathedral, Columbus, Ohio

(3 manuals, 66 stops)

This is a magnificent organ that is very responsive with a wide range of voices.  Here is a link to the organ specifications.

http://cathedralmusic.org/fritts.html

This organ is tuned in Kellner unequal temperament. 

On May 22, I attended a concert by the Pitches with Attitude, the a cappella group from Salve Regina College in Rhode Island.  This concert was held in Orono at the Church of the Universal Fellowship.  The twelve ladies who sing in this group had beautiful voices and they performed a wide range of music.

On June 1, at 4 pm, at the Orono United Methodist Church, the Bangor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) will present their member recital.  This year, the recital is focused on Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries.  All the music for this recital was composed by J. S. Bach or someone who was living during the time that Bach lived (1685-1750).  I will be playing Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (“The “Cathedral”), BWV 533, on the historic and restored Emmons Howard pipe organ (1891).

1891 Emmons Howard/1978 Berkshire rebuild

(2 manuals, 29 ranks)

at the Orono United Methodist Church

My husband, John, is very supportive of all my musical interests.  With the more leisurely summer pace, we are enjoying each other and more time together.

Finals are Finished!

I am finished with final exams!  This week I had two written final exams, one performance exam, and two juries.  During juries, multiple teachers listen to me play music that I have practiced during the past semester.  I did well in all of my final exams.  I did OK on my juries; I would have liked to have done better.

Our final Chamber Jazz Ensemble concert at the Student Union on April 23 went very well.  It was the last performance of retiring professor, Dr. Karel Lidral, who founded this ensemble.  Dr. Lidral is fourth from the left in the photo below.  My husband, John, helped me move my electronic keyboard to the Union for the performance.  I am very grateful for John’s support of my pursuits.

The University of Maine Chamber Jazz Ensemble, April 23, 2014

I was awarded the Omar F. and Lenora L. Tarr Memorial Scholarship for the academic year 2014-2015.  This covers a portion of next year’s tuition.  The scholarship application included a description of my background and goals and two recordings of my organ performances.  As this was a merit scholarship, I felt very honored to be selected to receive it.  Here is a link to a description of this scholarship that profiles a previous recipient:

http://www.umainefoundation.org/student_profiles/deborah_smith.html

I am thinking about my schedule for next fall.  I want to balance the course work with time to practice both organ and piano.

What did I learn about being a University student again after more than 30 years?  I list several of my thoughts here.

·      As a commuter student, there’s no privacy on campus.  There were a few times I wanted to have a private phone call while I was on campus, and I had to go to my car in the parking lot to have those phone calls.  I checked at the university library, and all the conference rooms require a group to reserve them.  I could have used one of the practice piano rooms in the music building, but then that room would not be available for someone to practice their piano or singing.  Other times I just made phone calls from the public area of the library.

·      I have many key advantages because of my significant work experience.  I have self-discipline, organization skills, and a strong work ethic.

·      It helps to have a clear goal.  My goal is to be a music minister at church and I want to learn all about music so that I can perform, lead, and inspire others in church music.

·      Just like at work, besides learning the course work, the relationships are important:  both the relationships with the faculty and with my fellow students.  My fellow students will be some of my peers once I become a music minister.

·      All of the professors are very supportive not only of me, but of all the music students.  The professors really want us to learn the material and work with us to suggest ways to improve in areas where we are struggling.

·      Most of my fellow music students are right out of high school.  They all have a love of music and express that in their own way.  I attended as many of their public performances as my schedule allowed.  Part of this was to support them, and part of this was to check out the various university-sponsored music ensemble groups to see which ones I might join for a future course requirement.

·      After the first few classes, people tend to sit in the same spots in the classrooms.  I like to sit up front so that I can hear.  I sat farther back one time and I couldn’t hear everything that the professor said.  My fellow music students are welcoming and supportive of me, even though I’m older than most of their parents.

·      The University of Maine allows their employees to take courses tuition-free and a few of my fellow students work full time at the University and are taking a few courses.  So I was not the only student who was not right out of high school!

·      I enjoy the energy and creativity and opportunity for risk-taking of the students.  One example is the “humans vs. zombies” a couple of times a year.  Many of the students came to class with Nerf guns.  I did not participate.  This is described in a blog of someone who participated:  http://umaine.edu/studentblogs/features/humans-vs-zombies-sweeps-campus/