Twin Cities American Guild of Organists

February Mid-Winter Music Workshop

Saturday, Feb. 13
Westminster Presbyterian Church
12th Street and Nicollet Mall

AGENDA

8:30 AM Refreshments/networking

9:00 AM Two concurrent sessions:

1. John Ferguson: Role of the organ/organist in blended worship - CHAPEL

2. Melanie Ohnstad: Organ repertoire/new literature - SANCTUARY

10:00 AM Break

10:15 AM Two concurrent sessions:

1. John Ferguson: Global music for worship - CHAPEL

2. Steve Gentile: Basic registration and hymn-playing techniques - SANCTUARY

11:15 AM Break

11:45 AM Two concurrent sessions:

1. Dave Hagedorn and Dianne Jelle: Percussion workshop - CHAPEL

2. David Cherwien: Incorporation improvisation into worship - SANCTUARY

1:00 PM Conclude

Music sale - throughout the morning...Bring organ music to be sold. All music becomes the property of the TCAGO and all profits will go to the Program Budget.

These sessions are Free for all TCAGO members. A charge of $20.00 to non-members Pre-Registration is requested to Karen Flynn at flynn.karen@comcast.net

February Pipe Organ Discovery Day

PODD on Saturday, February 20, University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Information, registration and schedule documents available on the Events Page

Bach's Birthday Bash

The Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presents an Ecumenical Sequence of five free organ concerts in Minneapolis. Celebrate the coming of spring with music by Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest of all Baroque composers, on the day before his 325^th Birthday. Click here to learn more.

January in San Francisco

In January, your webmaster David Engen had an opportunity to attend three very different organ recitals on the San Francisco peninsula. See pictures and read about these programs in January organ events in San Francisco

Organs of Interest in the Upper Midwest

We now have close to 700 organs listed in the new TCAGO Organ List webpage. To look through the list, just go to the TCAGO homepage and click on "Organs".

In November, December and January I moved the information we had on the old database and created a new webpage to be attached to the TCAGO webpage. It gives you easier access to information and gave me more space for pictures, histories, and stories. Take a look at the organs you know. Is there anything you know or have that isn't there? Send it to me!

I'm taking a more historical approach to the listings. Plymouth Congregational in Minneapolis has six listings. One for each organ they built since the Civil War. Each one a "state-of-the-art" instrument for that era. It's really interesting reading the specs. Several churches have multiple listings. If you have information on previous instruments for any of the listings, let me know.
I've tried to keep rebuilds to a single page so I could put the new and old specifications side-by-side making comparison easier.

I now have space for things like letters between organists. Check the listings for St Clement's Episcopal in St Paul. Organist Jack Fischer and his thoughts on physically moving 16' Diapasons.

I need help. I need the help of every individual who is a member of TCAGO. I encourage friends of the organ to chip in. In this digital age there is no excuse for there not being a picture of an existing organ.

I need volunteers to take on a segment of the organs to do research. If someone would take, for instance, all the Methodist churches in Minneapolis. Check their listing for completeness and accuracy. I have so many listings without pictures or specifications. I have so many listings that were current in 1950. How many church organs do you know that haven't been changed since 1950? I need volunteers to research these organs.

I'm having fun with this project. Come on along!

Richard C Greene
739 Como Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55103
rgreene@me.com

Organs of Interest in the Upper Midwest

Archives Update: The Archive page now lists indexes for a number of historic collections stored at Westminster Presbyterian Church as well as images of documents from our founding and two anniversaries. Back issues of Pipenotes for 2008 are also available.

Minnesota Chapters

Visit the websites of our sister Minnesota chapters:
Sioux Trails Chapter
Southeast Minnesota Chapter

TCAGO Group Notification

Join the TCAGO Yahoo group for reminders of upcoming events and to interact with other members.

Organ Recital Database

The organ database includes a table of interesting, historic information. When Bob Pope died, many of his materials went to the Minnesota Historical Society. Dick Greene has loaded recital data going back to 1941. Bob saved programs from more than 1100 recitals covering more than 50 years. You may find there programs that you attended or even performed. See instructions on that page for accessing the new table.