First, the backstory. For five years, I was the Director of Music/Organist for Central Congregational Church in Galesburg, Illinois. This magnificent building is on the National Register of Historic Places and tours of church are frequent. I hosted many of those tours and learned much about the people who are memorialized by the stained glass…
Category: Maestro Heights
Each building in this town features its own topic. A description for each topic is below.
Music Room Skill Sets 1-5
The first five Music Room Skill Sets are now available! The story line running through the entire series is based on my actual students, past and present. Their questions, situations and gentle humor are very real making it easy for students to relate to the Music Room characters. I have lost track of how many…
1912 M.P. Moller, Avon Federated Church, Avon, Illinois
The first settlers in Avon, Illinois, arrived in 1835. In just twenty years, the area grew enough to have a post office, changed its name twice, saw the building of a branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) and formed several churches. Among those fellowships were a Universalist Church and a Congregational Church….
The Notre-Dame Cathedral Paris Pipe Organ
The world watched in frozen horror as news broadcasts showed a fire blazing through the Notre Dame Cathedral on April 15, 2019. The fate of the historic building and its contents hung in the balance. The damage was extensive, yet somehow, miraculously even, some things survived. Among the remaining treasures in the cathedral is the…
1901 Hinners & Albertsen, First United Presbyterian, Knoxville, Illinois
Standing proudly in the small town of Knoxville, Illinois, is First United Presbyterian Church. Founded in 1835, the congregation made their church home in other locations before erecting the current structure and moving into it, debt free, in 1899. The Hinners & Albertsen organ was installed in 1901. Hinners Organ Perfection Manufactury was founded by John…
February 16, 1848: Chopin’s Final Concert
Born in the Duchy of Warsaw (present-day Poland) and raised in Warsaw, Frederick Chopin (1810-1849) settled in Paris by the time he was 21 years old. His musical compositions are primarily for solo piano and remain among the most popular selections for students, artists, and audiences. While admired for his technical virtuosity at the piano, he was generally…
Join the Ranks!
Combining my interest in history with performing on a magnificent organ seemed like a great idea, so when Mike Hobbs, from the Civil War Round Table, asked me to provide a program for them I quickly agreed. I had absolutely no idea, however, how this event would grow…and grow…and grow over the next days and…
“Be Thou But Near”
Johann Sebastian Bach. Often considered to be the organist among organists and the composer among composers, many of his melodies are instantly recognizable and familiar. And such is the case with the song we are looking at today, Bist Du Bei Mir or Be Thou But Near. There’s just one little problem. Bach didn’t write…
Bunte Blätter, Opus 99, by Robert Schumann
Between 1838 to 1841, German composer Robert Schumann wrote the fourteen piano pieces which later became collectively known as Opus 99, Bunte Blätter (Colorful Leaves). It is an unusual collection, consisting of Stücklein III (Three Small Pieces), five untitled Albumblätter (Album Leaves), and six individual piano pieces. Schumann was first a composer for solo piano. …
Music Plate Engraving
Maybe you selected a song to learn, purchased it, and have spent hours looking at it while practicing. Maybe you found some old pieces of sheet music in a piano bench. Have you ever give stopped to think how that page of music was printed? There were — and still are — multiple ways to…
Making Music with My Friends
2013-14 was the first year for a music program at the school where I teach general music and choir to middle and high school students. Our spring concert was last night, and I am incredibly proud of the great progress made by these students in just one year. They performed the music wonderfully, stood tall,…
“O God, Beyond All Praising” (THAXTED)
It was during the turmoil of World War I that English composer Gustav Holst completed The Planets, arguably one of the most popular orchestral suites ever written. The suite has seven movements, each named for a planet. While experiencing the complete suite is certainly ideal, movements are sometimes performed individually. In the case of…
Gail Masinda (History Heights & Maestro Heights) 