FROM OUR DEAN FOR JANUARY 2010

There are many items of interest and news to pass along to you this month.

1) Are you making plans to use Bach organ and choir music at worship services on Bach’s 325th birthday March 21, 2010? We hope the Sandusky Register will give us good coverage, so let me know if you plan to participate.

2) That afternoon we continue Bach’s birthday celebration by inviting the public to join us for short Bach recitals in three Sandusky churches. Starting at 3:00 p.m. we meet at Emmanuel UCC where Jim Gardner and Henry Kihlken will be recitalists. Moving to First Congregational UCC at 3:30 we will listen to Bach music played by Charles Scroggy and Randy Ruthsatz. The third church will be Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church where John Frank and Tim Claubaugh will provide the final Bach numbers. A reception will follow there. The three churches are in close proximity to one another so walking and parking should pose no problems. Let your enthusiasm for Bach’s 325th birthday be contagious!

3) Backing up in time, the Toledo Chapter announces “Bach and the Dance” at St. Michael’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, Ottawa Hills, on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. The publicity states that Trudy Faber, a Wittenberg University professor, will help us “examine Baroque dances, along with rhythms and accents J. S. Bach used in his composing.” The Toledo Chapter invites us to join them for “an afternoon of delightful music and historical retrospective on a fascinating topic.” Can we carpool to Toledo for this promising program? I have the address for the church.

4) The program for the Saturday, March 20, 2010 meeting of the Lorain Co. Chapter is a tour of the Schantz Organ Co. at Orrville, Ohio near Wooster. Here is a great opportunity to meet other AGO members and spend a profitable few hours learning more about the basics of our profession.

5) Palm Sunday evening at 7:00, March 28, 2010 St. John Lutheran Church, Bellevue, is showing the 1927 Cecil B. DeMille silent movie “King of Kings.” Of course, there is live organ music to accompany the film, and this will be provided by Charles Wilson, resident organist at the Ohio Theater. A freewill offering will be received. I await further information from Paul Lieber.

What a wealth of wonderful events lies ahead, and we will want to attend many or all of them. If you have questions that I can answer, don’t hesitate to phone.

I close with a quote I recently read: “The Bible is filled with examples of God’s people surviving through praise of God and singing. When Biblical truth and doctrine are set to music, they become emotional, memorable, teachable, and transformational. God – pleasing music in our sanctuaries – entering into our ears, minds and hearts – equips us to be armed and dangerous!”

(signed)
Laura M. Stellhorn, Dean