Sigma Alpha Iota

ORGANISTS AT WORK AGO President Guenther Promoted to Professor T he American Guild of Organists (AGO) celebrated the promotion of Guild President Dr. Eileen Guenther to Professor of Church Music at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where she has been Associate Professor. Her promotion was approved by the seminary's Board of Governors on May 17, in Washington. Wesley is a teaching seminary and a service-oriented community with a student body of approximately 1,000 members. Her responsibilities include directing Chapel Music and the Wesley Chapel Choir, chairing the Chapel Committee, and supervising worship planning teams and teaching courses in music and worship. Dr. Guenther is an initiate of Bete Beta Chapter at the University of Kansas and a current member of the Washington, DC Alumnae Chapter. She previously served on the guild's Task Force on Issues of Guild Inclusiveness. She was elected to her third consecutive term as AGO President in July 2012. Also on May 17, Eileen Guenther was honored with the presentation of the 2013 Inspiration Ribbon from the Concert for Life Committee at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington. The occasion marked the 20th annual Concert for Life, which Dr. Guenther established to raise These are simply the search results of an Internet engine — with some thumbnail analysis of each — and were originally published for the convention of Kansas' Teaching Parents Association in June of 2012. All the features of the online teaching unit are nothing, of course, if we do not continue to offer "hands on" organ experiences. Here in Wichita, we still have a big "tub" of pipe organ materials that local teachers can check out for classroom use — committee member Glen Chambers constructed new, durable display cases for some of these. Our continuing to present organ demonstrations and children's concerts, calling kids "to the bench" in churches and giving them hands-on experiences are what really tap students' excitement about the pipe organ, and we still expect this element to be a given. However, we do have the results of what for us was a major collaborative effort, and we want to share these results with the readers of this journal. We will be pleased if you can make use of them, or if you have feedback to give on any of our methods or choices. The work is not really "finished." "It is a thrill for me to see all this happening; but the best is yet to come . . . and that depends upon the creativity of all of us in the organ world," Shaw said. "I'd like to encourage everyone who shares my passion for promoting this marvelous instrument to build on the basic ideas we have set forth, and help create a body of materials that will invite use by the widest potential audience. I told the teachers, when I enlisted them to help on this awareness and support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Washington and Africa. During her tenure at Foundry, the Concert for Life raised more than $600,000 for this cause; this year's anniversary concert brought the cumulative total to over $1 million. Dr. Guenther was presented a plaque citing her for "blending the healing power of music with mission in a labor of love that saves lives" and given funds to take to South Africa to present to the beneficiary of her choice. The AGO is the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields. Founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization, it sets and maintains high musical standards and promotes the understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music. The purpose of the AGO is to promote the organ in its historic and evolving roles, to encourage excellence in the performance of organ and choral music, and to provide a forum for mutual support, inspiration, education, and certification of Guild members. The Guild currently serves approximately 19,000 members in more than 300 local chapters throughout the United States and abroad. The American Organist Magazine, the official journal of the AGO, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, reaches an audience of more than 20,000 each month. project, that I am 'technologically handicapped,' so I am 'passing the baton' to a new generation. I wish you all godspeed in your efforts! As Shaw passes that baton, the Wichita Chapter has commissioned a new solo organ work in her honor, to commemorate her pioneering efforts with POPs for KIDs. The piece, of moderate to intermediate difficulty, is a Prelude, Recitative and Fugue by Wisconsinborn organist and composer Bernard Wayne Sanders. Sanders studied for his Master's degree at Wichita State University in the early 1980s, and his Ornament of Grace was a major contest winner in the AGO's International Year of the Organ. He is now active in southern Germany, and serves as secretary of the European AGO Chapter. The new composition was previewed for Shaw and chapter members at an Epiphany party on January 5. POPs for KIDs will mount a public premiere of the work later this year. — Reproduced by permission of The American Organist Magazine. Stay in touch. The Updated SAI Membership Directory. See the Fall PAN PIPES for details. sai-national.org SUMMER 2013 PAN PIPES 11

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