It’s time to tell the truth: the name of this website is a mistake. When I first undertook to start composing a few years ago I agonized over the name of this website. I thought of all sorts of different names, but eventually settled on The Organ In Praise. It was going to be a… Read More The Value of a Good Mistake
Abide With Me has always been one of my favorite hymns. The image it evokes of Christ speaking with his disciples on the road to Emmaus is one of my favorite Bible stories. I wrote this arrangement as a special musical number for a Saturday evening session of stake conference a couple of months ago.… Read More Abide With Me (Eventide)
Sweet Is the Work is one of my favorite hymns. It’s powerful, optimistic message speaks of the joy that we can feel when we serve God and keep his commandments. This arrangement is in trio form. Along with my arrangement of I Need Thee Every Hour, it’s intended to be easier to learn than many of… Read More Sweet Is the Work (Douglass)
The nation of Wales, part of the United Kingdom, is famous for its love of music. Its music culture has greatly influenced our music as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My wife and I recently visited Wales and heard an excellent Welsh men’s choir perform at a Methodist church. At… Read More Postlude on “Aberystwyth”
Some people change your life. I’ve been fortunate in that most of those people have changed it for the good. Those people have far outnumbered those who have been a negative influence, thank goodness! Some people have been a positive influence in my life for years. One of these is my first organ teacher, who… Read More I Need Thee Every Hour (Need)
Recently we went adventuring. Here’s quick report of our recent travels. Vacation 1: The Stuart family recently went on a vacation. We chose to do a cruise. We sailed out of a dirty, nasty city and had to walk around the trash and the people passed out on the streets. Just getting to our room… Read More A Tale of Two Vacations
Let me make this clear: the organ is my instrument. That being said, I respectfully (and sometimes begrudgingly) acknowledge that other musical genres exist. One of my favorites is the male chorus. The sound of men singing together can be subtle, powerful, and inspirational. As a lover of church history, I value the early converts… Read More Jesus, Once of Humble Birth (Male Chorus)
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
