Faces
Organ lessons come full circle for teacher S
ome girls her age might have been more excited to get a new bicycle or some clothes, but
15-year-old Karen Black’s life was forever changed when an organ arrived at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Kiester, Minn. Her congregation’s organist was still learning to play, and she offered to teach Black, who had several years of piano lessons under her belt. Black liked the power and volume
of the organ, but she had no idea that those lessons would lead to becoming a music teacher and organist at Wart- burg College, Waverly, Iowa. Now her organ education is com- ing full circle. Using funds from the Rudi Inselmann Organ Endowment, Black started a scholarship to teach teens to play the organ.
“I get all of these calls from con- gregations that have these organs, but they can’t find an organist to play them,” said Black, a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Waverly, who added that the need tends to be greater in smaller communities where there are fewer worshipers and less funds for a music program. Black’s idea was to search for teens with at least four years of piano experience who wanted to learn the organ. She promised to give 12 les- sons to students who promised to
100 plus
In addition to giving lessons to college students, like Colleen Tague (right), Karen Black started a scholarship to teach teens to play the organ.
return to their home congregation and play at least part of a service. She put out the word throughout the Northeastern Iowa Synod, as well as to non-ELCA congregations within a 30-mile radius of Wartburg. “I thought I could take up to four students, but I wasn’t sure we would get as many as four,” she said. “I was shocked and thrilled when we got more than 20.” Black prioritized the list by years of experience and age. She selected six students to start, and she hopes to teach more on the list when the first group is finished. Two have completed their lessons and have played at their congregations.
Though Black doesn’t expect most of them will follow in her footsteps and study the organ in college, she hopes that training new church organists can keep the music alive in small congregations. “I’m trying to do my part to spark an interest,” she said. “When I was that age who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t gotten that organ, or the organist hadn’t asked me if I wanted to play.”
Jeff Favre Favre is a contributing editor of The Lutheran.
107: Ida Steiner, St. John, Hicksville, Ohio; Iris Westman, Sundahl, Aneta, N.D. 106: Roland Hartman, First, Redlands, Calif. 105: Margaret Taylor, Messiah, Auburn, Wash. 104: Theodore Wattenberg, Grace, Mt. Prospect, Ill. 103: Frieda Foth, All Saints, Spokane, Wash.; Mary Alice Groppe, Emmanuel, Salem, Ohio. 101: Ben Bakkegard, Hope, Fresno, Calif.; Isabelle Clelan, St. John, Lewistown, Pa.; Florence Jacobson, First, Astoria, Ore.; Esther Johnson, Good Shepherd, Rutland, Vt.; Clara Trom, Trinity, Ventura, Calif.; Jennie Volenec, St. Luke, Omaha, Neb. 100: Selma Akland, Viborg, S.D.; Audrey Andersen, St. Luke, Omaha, Neb.; Helen Bekke, St. Peder, Minneapolis; Rose Bell, Hope, Ellijay, Ga.; Lolly Bundtzen, First English, Ortonville, Minn; Alice Erickson, North Coon Prairie, Cashton, Wis.; Virgie Hammer, First, Redlands, Calif.; Ray Myrvik, Hemnes, Min- neota, Minn.; F. Verne Johnson, Central, Everett, Wash.; Bernice Kamerling, St. Andrew by the Sea, Jacksonville Beach, Fla.; Hedvig Olsen, Christ, Whiting, N.J.; Eleanora Ott, Atonement, Syracuse, N.Y.; Olga Pestal, Woodlake, Richfield, Minn.; Nettie Rumsey, Christ, Mt. Wolf, Pa.; Frieda Rowell, Concordia, Watertown, N.Y.; Virginia Zielke, St. John, Briceton, Ohio.
November 2012 65
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