INSPIRED BY

Describe your own practice regime:

The key is consistency - practicing 5-6 days a week keeps my hands, feet and ears “well tuned,” and disciplines a mind constantly bombarded with distractions. It also keeps me connected with music as a participatory act. With practice, absence does not normally make the heart grow fonder- just like in human relationships, you may begin to fall out of love with your instrument if you don’t invest enough quality time on a regular basis.

I believe piano practice strengthens manual technique and invites other ways of listening - the piano often reveals what we are, or should be, doing with our fingers, wrists, arms and torso in ways the organ cannot. There are thousands of ways to practice and I enjoy exploring new and old methods. It’s fun to still find new ways to engage music at every stage of its development! When I’m tired I focus by doing some memorization. I record and mark my score when reviewing the recording - a painful but necessary step - and play through for others many times before a “big” event. I keep myself on track with a detailed monthly practice plan - meeting each small goal takes the worry and guess work out of meeting the large goal.

I would add that teaching my students to practice healthfully, effectively & creatively is the most important thing I do, because that is how they stay in love with the organ and become their own teacher.

Current projects?

I am nearing the completion of a complete recorded cycle of Petr Eben’s solo organ works, Velvet Revolution, distributed by Brilliant Classics. Disc 1-3 are available as volume 1 and the remaining 3 discs should be completed by December. I am also producing a teaching video which will be available free online. It’s a labor of love made possible by a generous grant from my university that is really pushing me because I am performing recitals featuring other music whilst I am recording all of these highly intricate and difficult Eben works. Great expectations are necessary for continued growth throughout one’s life.

Why Petr Eben?

I was able to collaborate with him throughout the writing of my dissertation on his organ works, and we remained in contact the rest of his life. He was an amazing man who had been through so much adversity in his life but he exuded warmth, optimism, humor, and a remarkable spirituality.

What is your advice to young organists wanting to explore Eben’s organ music?

Some “gateway” pieces are Versetti, the Partita and easier movements from cycles such as Faust, Job and Labyrinth. If you are fluent with Baroque performance practice look at his Homage a Dietrich Buxtehude, which is one of his best pieces. It can be helpful to get an “Eben roadmap” for your hands by starting pieces on piano before you tackle complex manual & registration changes. Learn his music very slowly and carefully and, once under control, its inherent drama, lyricism and dance will invite you in.

What are some trends you see in the Organ world?

I am optimistic. I believe there has never been a time in history when there were so many wonderful organshistorical and modern - and skilled and knowledgeable organists to play them. Although we have far to go, the concert field is beginning to look more like society in terms of ethnicity and gender. In the US, career opportunities are still there, but require an entrepreneurial spirit. My successful graduates make their successes and don’t count on a concert agent to get them recitals. They expand their concept of what a recital is - new repertoire, improvisation, collaboration with other artists. Be flexible, creative and diplomatic, and expect to put in long hours - work until the job is done, and done well.