2015 marks my 40th year as an organist. Being an organist has been quite an adventure, marked with the usual things of life – triumph and tragedy, happy and sad, good and not so good. Most of what has happened to me as an organist has been very positive, however, and I would do it… Read More The Power Button
I have to admit it. 2015 has been a difficult year for me. Plans I had long made for my personal improvement were painfully interrupted. I ran into several situations in my other church calling as high priest’s group leader (for my non-LDS readers, that’s the person responsible for older men and people who otherwise… Read More A Difficult Year
If you are a frequent visitor to this website, you’ve noticed a significant redesign. A few nights ago my dear wife had a bout of insomnia. Rather than stare at the ceiling, she devoted her attention to The Organ Is Praise. As I woke up the next morning, I was greeted with the dreaded “Dear,… Read More A New Look
I have observed throughout my life that some people are not happy unless they are miserable. The general population has many cases of this condition and organists are not immune. If you are one of these people, I’d like to offer some suggestions to assist you further in your pursuit of musical gloom. First, forego… Read More How to Be Miserable as an Organist
One day a man traveled through the woods and fell into a deep hole. The hole had been disguised so that it could not be readily detected and the man fell in unawares of the danger he faced. The man tried to get out of the hole, but it was deep enough and wide enough… Read More The Parable of the Hole
1 Corinthians 13 is unquestionably my favorite passage of scripture. In it the Apostle Paul encourages us to develop the greatest of divine attributes – love. The word that is translated as charity in the King James Version of the Bible is the Greek word agape. The Greeks wisely have four different words for love:… Read More Charity
It finally happened. I’ve been dreading the day for years but it was inevitable. I had my first senior moment. A few weeks ago I was playing an intermediate hymn in sacrament meeting and lost track of which verse we were on. I thought that the hymn had been completed, so I hit the cancel… Read More The “R” Piston
I have been very fortunate. Good teachers have guided my journey as an organist. Like most organists, I started out as a pianist. In my very early teenage years an intense spiritual event changed my course to the organ. With the support of some great examples in the ward I grew up in and the… Read More In Praise of Good Teachers
Let’s face it – being an LDS organist is hard. We play the world’s most difficult musical instrument. The mathematician in me says that even the simplest instrument has hundreds of possible combinations of sounds it can make. A larger instrument, such as the ones that the Church has been purchasing recently for meetinghouses, can… Read More Be Happy You Can Serve!
I have a suggestion that will greatly help your playing: Forgive someone! Yes, forgive someone. In fact, forgive everyone! Forgive the ward members who talk over your preludes, the church leaders that have openly censured you from the pulpit, the people who have sent you hate mail, the people who can barely play who were… Read More A way to improve your playing
