MONTHLY UPDATES FOR NOVEMBER

Website monthly updates for November include:

"This Month in Music History"

and

"Monthly Videos"

TWO UPCOMING ORGAN & BRASS CONCERTS

There are 2 organ and brass concerts fast approaching!

The first is Sunday, November 1, 1:30 pm, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church, 510 Columbus Ave., Sandusky. The concert will feature John Franks on organ with the Boradale Brass. They will perform music of J. S. Bach, Benedetto Marcello, Samuel Barber and others. The concert is FREE and open to the public.


The second concert is Sunday, November 8, at 7:30 pm. at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 429 Central Ave., Sandusky. Performers will be Tim Claubaugh, Organist, and the Terra State College Brass Choir. Works by J. S. Bach, William Walton, Andre Campra, Giovanni Gabrieli, Vaclav Nelhybel, Wilbur Held, and others will be performed. The concert is FREE and open to the public.

FROM OUR DEAN FOR OCTOBER 2009

Have you put the organ / trumpet concert on your calendar for Sunday, October 25, 2009? It is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, Sandusky and is sponsored by the Sandusky Concert Association. You may have noticed the concert is listed on page 106 of the current issue of TAO. Tickets are $15 and are available by sending a stamped self-addressed envelope with your check to P.O. Box 1537, Sandusky, OH 44871, or purchase your tickets at the door that afternoon. (Editor's Note: You received either in the mail or by email an invitation to the reception after the concert with the persons name and phone number to call to put your name in for the reservation of the reception. If you did not receive an invitation, contact Tim Claubaugh at 419-625-7465 or email at agosandusky@yahoo.com ).

LOOKING AHEAD! Your program Committee looked way ahead and noted that Johann Sebastian Bach’s 325th birthday, March 21, falls on a Sunday in 2010. What better way for church musicians to honor his memory than by having all of us use Bach’s music for organ, solos and choir anthems that day. Not all of his music is technically difficult and we are giving you time to find and practice the music of this greatest of Christian composers. We hope to enlist the cooperation of ALL of our area churches and hopefully get good coverage in the “Sandusky Register.” As the time draws closer, let me know of your cooperation so we can list you as one of the participants.

Then to top off the day’s celebration we are planning an afternoon of 30-minute organ concerts at Holy Angels Catholic Church, First Congregational, UCC, and Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic church. Two organists will play organ solos at each church. Last year’s tour of three churches brought requests to “do it again,” so we are honoring those requests and doing it as part of Bach’s birthday celebration. The recitalists have been selected and will be announced in a future letter. I am excited about these plans and hope that you are too.

Welcome to our newest member, Jann Graham Glann who directs the Chancel Choir at First Presbyterian Church in Huron. It is always a pleasure to welcome new members to our chapter.



Sincerely,
(signed)
Laura M. Stellhorn, Dean

ALLEN HOME ORGAN FOR SALE

Robert Seaver has an Allen AP4 (model year 2000) computer chip church organ for sale. It is in excellent condition and would be ideal for someone's home or for use in a small church. Robert lives in the Grafton, Ohio area. His phone number is: 440-355-6835 and his email address is rseaver1@windstream.net.

FROM OUR DEAN FOR SEPTEMBER 2009

Yes, I am the reason you haven’t received an AGO newsletter the past number of months. It just didn’t have priority on my schedule, and I give you my apologies. However, we are still a viable Chapter in the national American Guild of Organists, and as such are ready to start our 2009-2010 season.

A program committee met Tuesday, September 1 to plan programs of interest and benefit to our members. There is still space for input, and it would be welcome. Your suggestions may be given to any of the officers listed above.

To start the season Henry Kihlken will present his recital at St. John Lutheran Church, Port Clinton, on Sunday, September 27, at 3:00 p.m. A reception will follow. Henry’s recitals are always well planned and well played, so he deserves the support of all our members.

Were you able to enjoy the organ concert on Tuesday, July 7, on the historic Johnson Organ at First Congregational UCC? Christopher Marks gave the concert as part of the annual convention of the national Organ Historical Society, and what a splendid recital it was! Just to be there for that one concert was a privilege. A special word of thanks to our Guild members who helped direct traffic when the seven busses arrived from Cleveland.

Annual dues should now be sent to our Treasurer, Charles Scroggy, at 218 W. Bogart Rd., Sandusky. Regular memberships are $55 plus $15 for local membership; total $70. Special memberships for those over 65 are $37.50 plus the local dues of $15; total $52.50. Partners, second member to the same address, pay only $30 plus the $15 local dues; total $45. Charles would appreciate your sending your check to him promptly so the national office doesn’t haunt him.

The national AGO office informs us we last contributed $50 to the Annual Fund in 2006. “We hope we can count on your renewed support,” writes F. Anthony Thurman, Director of Development and Communications. Can we agree to do that this year?

GOOD NEWS! The Sandusky Concert Association has contracted to bring Anthony and Beard, organ and trumpet, to Zion Lutheran Church, Sandusky, on Sunday, October 25 at 4:00 p.m. (See the Phillip Truckenbrod ad on page 1 of TAO). Ticket prices have yet to be set, but we certainly owe the Concert Association our full support in this endeavor.

Laura M. Stellhorn, Dean

ORGANS IN THE HOOD SERIES

The series on our Sandusky Chapter web site “Organs in the Hood” will be launched in October. This year, we will be covering organs in Sandusky. We hope to cover a different city every year.

This is basically an attempt for our Sandusky Chapter to document and catalog most (if not all) the organs in our Chapter area. This is a HUGE project that Tim Claubaugh will need your help to undertake. He will call the organists in the area to ask about getting into the church to take pictures of each instrument (inside and out) as well as have the organist write up a short article about the instrument. This information (article and pictures) will be posted on our website; 1 every month.

So when Tim calls, please be willing to help.

SANDUSKY CHAPTER AGO EMAIL ACCOUNT HIJACKED

FROM THE EDITOR:

If you received the email below, delete it immediately. This is a fraud. I, in no way, shape or form have ever been or am now in the UK.

These people hijacked / hacked into our agosandusky email account (including the password to get into it). I think I have it back (I had to change the password) - time will tell.

Thanks to the several people who contacted me to tell me about this!
If you have any questions, email or call me.

Tim Claubaugh,
Editor

P.S. Does anyone know how much american dollars equals 800 UK Pounds? If so, leave it in the comment section below.



FRAUDULENT EMAIL SENT OUT BY HACKERS / CRIMINALS:

I recently traveled on an invitation for a conference to London UnitedKingdom before the Unfortunate thing happened to me, some armed robbersvisited my room at the hotel where i lodged and robbed me of all the money ibrought , my phone , my return ticket e.t.c , I know it a bit strange for meto have contacted you under this situation and time, believe me because ihave limited access to people and i have chosen you in time of need. I wouldhave call but i also lost my phone during the incident, i don't have anymoney here to eat or even make call ,because i trust and hope that you canhelp me that is why i have decided to contact you.

I cannot get to the person i came here to meet because i lost my phone wherehis phone number were kept ,he does not even know where i am now, I am soconfused right now, I don't know what to do or where to go,I have access toonly emails, No Phone, Pleasecan you loan and send me £800 today so i can return home, As soon as i gethome i would refund it immediately ,you need to help me have it sent throughWestern Union money Transfer because there is no account here, here is thedetails you will need to use in sending it right away please: I am sendingthe details that you will need to send the money in jiffy so that once icome to check the mail you would have sent the money

Name: Tim Claubaugh
Address: 3A Montagu Row, Marylebone, London W1U 6DZ
Amount: £800

I trust that you will be very kind and show mercy to my present ordeal.Help! let me have some relief. Any amount that you send will be refunded.You know my value and worth, i am also making it know to you to keep thematter secret I have ask you to loan me the money because i believe i cancount on you and believing in my heart that i can trust you with my problem.

Write me immediately so that i know when you will have sent it, andimmediately you have sent it , scan and send me the western union moneytransfer receipt or just write out the details on the receipt and send to me. Please keep this to your self only please, this embarrassment is enough..

Tim Claubaugh

SITE UPDATES

Recent updates were done to the following areas:

1) "This Month in Music History" (and in the sidebar).
2) "Monthly Videos" (and in the sidebar).
3) New article below: "Ideas Needed"
4) New article below: "Chapter Dues"
5) New article below: "OHS Concert Review" by Charles Scroggy.


Remember if you have something that would be of interest for our chapter, contact Tim Claubaugh at agosandusky@yahoo.com .

OHS CONCERT REVIEW

OHS 54th Annual National Convention
July 5 - 10, 2009, Cleveland
By Charles Scroggy

Although the 2009 OHS Annual National Convention was based in Cleveland, Ohio, convention attendees stopped at First Congregational United Church of Christ, Sandusky, Ohio for an organ recital on Tuesday, July 7 as the group traveled from Cleveland to Toledo.

After a 55-minute delay due to the late arrival of the approximately 385 convention attendees, organist Christopher Marks, assistant professor of organ at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, began his recital by playing Nathan Hale Allen’s Spring Gathering on the church’s 1875 Johnson & Son organ. The swift, pianistic style piece from Dudley Buck’s four-volume anthology entitled Vox Organi featured the Swell Oboe in the opening and closing sections. The unseasonable, summer temperatures in the low 70s and the bright, sunny day of July 7, 2009 were unintentionally interpreted by Marks’ selection.

Spring Gathering was followed by Night: A Meditation written in 1907 by Arthur Foote. The softer stops of the organ, beginning with the Swell Stopped Diapason, Swell Salicional, and the Great Dulciana, were highlighted. After a slight crescendo in the middle section, the piece concluded on the quiet Swell Salicional coupled to the Pedal Bourdon.

An OHS tradition is to sing a hymn at each recital facing the organ. As if on cue, the attendees rose and sang two verses of Now on Land and Sea Descending. Marks added the Pedal Trombone as the final verse began, the Great Mixture IV on the refrain, and the Great Trumpet on the final stanza to combine the organ’s full ensemble with the powerful voices of the mostly male attendees.

A theme and variations on VESPER HYMN, the tune for Now on Land and Sea Descending, was then played. The five variations and five transitions of the piece, composed by Samuel B. Whitney, creatively demonstrated the four, organ pipe families: principles, reeds, flutes, and strings. Although the audience had been instructed prior to the recital to refrain from applause after each selection, the audience offered a well-deserved round of applause after Marks’ pedal solo and coda that used, in Marks’ words, “everything but the kitchen sink.”

The recital then shifted from service music to program music with Scherzino by Horatio Parker (1863-1919) which demonstrated the full range of the Great Melodia. Scherzino was the most obvious pianistic piece of the program, and it had striking resemblances to composers like Chopin rather than most organ music of Horatio Parker’s day.

Marks concluded his recital with Allegro vivace non troppo from the third and final movement of Dudley Buck’s Second Sonata, Op. 77. Full and medium choruses were used throughout the piece until the manuals were coupled near the end after a fiery pedal solo on the Pedal Trombone. Marks wrote that he felt this was an appropriate selection for his recital because of “Buck’s long-standing relationship with the Johnson organ firm.” Only the original Johnson stops “(or their replacements, in the case of the reeds)” were used, according to Marks.

Forty minutes after the recital began, the appreciative audience delivered a standing ovation before they quickly exited the church and walked to board motorcoaches in Zion Lutheran Church’s parking lot for the trip to Toledo. Three additional recitals were scheduled that afternoon and evening in Toledo before the group returned to their hotel in Cleveland.

IDEAS NEEDED

Our chapter Program committee is looking for ideas for this coming program year. If you have any ideas for any programs this year, please contact Laura Stellhorn at 419-626-0231 or email them to agosandusky@yahoo.com .

Your help and ideas would be GREATLY appreciated!