Wild Air

Archive for the ‘Musings’ category

The Biography of a Pipe Organ

November 19th, 2015

A NEW BOOK! Read the biography of an organ, and with it, the biography of a city. The Estey pipe organ in Marion’s Memorial Coliseum was one for Estey’s storied “luminous” consoles.  That in itself should make this book worth reading.  But more than that, the organ was a symbol of all that was good, […]

The last time I posted to this blog was last spring, just before the spectacular rededication concert on the E.M. Skinner/Reynolds Associates organ at High Street United Methodist Church in Muncie, IN.  Raul Prieto Ramirez, the world-renowned virtuoso who now TEACHES ORGAN AT BALL STATE UNIVERSITY gave us a wonderful program. After High Street, we […]

The Church and Communication

December 27th, 2014

I want to comment briefly about church communication in our post-modern world.   EVERY CHURCH, whether very large or very small, should maintain a website, and should have an e-mail mailbox that is posted on that website and is monitored at least daily.  Facebook and Twitter are great, but many people don’t know how to […]

Occasionally, the demands or opportunities of life part us from dear friends and colleagues. So it is that we must say goodbye to Martin Ellis.  Martin has accepted a professional opportunity that will take him to Portland, Oregon.  I understand that in Portland they have beautiful weather and good food.  Now they also have one […]

A Thought for Today…

July 17th, 2014

      “The only escapes    from the misery of life   are music     and cats…”         -Albert Schwetizer (physician, humanitarian, organist)            

A Hymn for the Fourth

July 4th, 2014

  Here is a great hymn for the Fourth of July.  I offer it as a meditation on the meaning of being an American.  It doesn’t appear in most hymnals today, probably because it is politically incorrect, especially in the last stanza.  God bless our EXCEPTIONAL country!  Not alone for mighty empire, stretching far over land […]

A Craft, Not an Industry

July 3rd, 2014

  We organ builders sometimes suffer from an identity crisis. In my current issue of American Organbuilding, a knowledgeable writer asserts that the Organ industry has contracted over time. He makes this statement in reference to the valid point that, as an industry, it is difficult for organ builders to make an impact on those […]

“The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” -Andrew Carnegie

Patrons of the Organ

June 28th, 2014

Speaking of England, here’s an idea that was recently shared on Twitter.  I think it’s a great idea, and one I would like to see implemented in many of our churches. At the Liverpool Cathedral, they have a core group of people called the “Patrons of the Organ.”  Such a group would be committed to […]

Shana Norton, from Austin, TX recently made a comment on Twitter that deserves repeating. She and my wife were having a Twitter conversation about the organ in England. Ms. Norton writes, “We visit England often. I find the sacred art, architecture & music to be a compelling invitation to spirituality.”

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