Heavenly Joy, Earthly Teamwork
Updated: Sep 29
Earlier this spring, Augsburg/Fortress released my latest publication, an album of pieces for organ, composed for the Christmas season. Heavenly Joy includes nine works that offer pieces for the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany seasons. Each hymn setting in this collection was composed for my wife Joan, who had first-performance dibs on each one! Now they are available for other organists to play, which is very satisfying to both of us.
In our 45 years together, we have shared a lot of church positions. Joan was at the console, while I worked with choirs. If I had a new choral piece, Joan was there to help me with the organ part, offering excellent suggestions on organ registrations and other matters related to writing for organ successfully. She has also been there for my organ works, offering that same valuable assistance.
The organ is a tricky instrument to understand. Yes, it is a keyboard instrument, and I come from a keyboard background. But understanding how to work with multiple keyboard consoles, a pedalboard and seemingly limitless possibilities for organ registrations can be overwhelming to the novice. It is no coincidence that many organ works played in our churches and concert halls today were written by organists. They understand their instrument from their experience as performers and can compose music for their instrument with confidence. I need to make educated guesses as to what is needed and then consult someone like Joan to help me address the performance issues that I sometimes create!
In this respect, Joan is my muse and guide. To this point, my organ pieces have been hymn-based. These are pieces that are suitable as service music for worship services. But I also endeavor to write pieces that can appear on concerts too. Joan has often programmed a selection of my works (3-4 in a set) for public recitals.
Joan’s work as an editor for this Heavenly Joy has been crucial. She can take my general ideas on registration and make it work for the professional organist. She has helped me to keep track of the lines that have been assigned to the Swell, the Great or the Choir on the organ. One keyboard at a time, or two? Could that pedal line be played with more ease on another keyboard? Of course! With this valuable assistance, my music has avoided many tragic moments. For this help, I will always be grateful.
Joan’s work enables me to use my imagination and craft to produce viable pieces. Several approaches have been used in creating the works in Heavenly Joy. Some settings present a simple, direct presentation of the tune (Joy to the World; I Wonder as I Wander; Silent Night; Of the Father’s Love Begotten). Other settings employ more variation and development of the source material (Good Christian Friends Rejoice; Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine; ‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime). The setting of How Brightly Shines the Morning Star is a fantasia. And then there is that creature unto itself, Go Tell it on the Mountain! This setting takes a bit more work on your part (thank you in advance!) but produces smiles on the faces of those who hear it. The good people at Augsburg/Fortress tell me that they have published organ pieces that are more difficult than my Go Tell. We shall see!.......
Our most recent collaboration is on a new album of organ works that are based on American hymn tunes. We are a little late for America’s 250th birthday celebration, but the need for organ settings of some of these hymns remains. Hopefully, there will be good news from my publisher in the months to come!
If you go to the Augsburg/Fortress website, you can read more information on Heavenly Joy and hear performances of two of the pieces from the collection:
The Recordings section of this website features a performance of an earlier version of I Wonder as I Wander. Joan and I will have to see about getting some other recordings of the Christmas pieces online…..
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