2011 in brief

It was a great year of recitals, choral concerts, and teaching progress. Mentoring and practicing what I preach are the things I cherish the most and to which I shall always give my fullest attention and efforts.

A few months ago, I received wonderful questions about reed stops, a beautiful pencil drawing of an organ façade, and a Toccata from a neat kid who attended one of my recitals.

It was also a year of heavy curriculum assessment and revision, most of which was required by upcoming accreditation reviews, but in the end none of which hurts. I’ll get over it.

And my number of organ majors hovers around five. Which can be considered a record in some circles. We are pleased.

This year launched the heaviest performing season of my career. The Fall was full, but the Spring and Summer will be absolutely bonkers. And I love it.

2011 was also marked by a few, um, interesting conversations I didn’t see coming:

1. The ADA official told a church, “You’ll need to provide handicap access to that new organ console up there. You’ll also need to provide handicap access to the organ chamber for service personnel.”

2. The local Fire Marshall said, “That organ chamber is a room, and rooms must have sprinklers.”

3. A teenager asked another teenager from another church, “Why do you sing your hymns from a book? You're supposed to flash the words up on a screen.”

Those little innocent tragedies aside, I have no complaints. No injuries, no bankruptcy, no deaths. My 2012 looks good from here so far, and I hope yours will, too.