Presented by: The Rev. Beth Brown Shugart, MM Location: Hyatt Regency - Inman Serving as a church organist requires working with clergy and church members! This session will address the challenges of doing so effectively, as well as the extra responsibilities that are a part of working in a church.

Presented by: Charles Tighe, MM Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover B How to utilize the Orff process in working with inexperienced musicians. Topics addressed include warm-ups; using rote to develop vocal technique, ear training, and interval recognition; incorporating movement into rehearsal; and how music games in rehearsal can help develop inner hearing, note recognition, intervals, […]

Presented by: Ulrike Theresia Wegele Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover E This trilingual organ method (English, German, French) is for beginners age 8+ and for autodidacts. It comes in three volumes and proves that one can learn the organ right from the beginning without knowing notes or having played a keyboard instrument. This totally new […]

Presented by: David Bower, PhD and Panel from the AGO Committee on the New Organist Location: Hyatt Regency - Courtland This informative presentation will focus on the resources the AGO Committee on the New Organist offers local chapters as they reach out to pianists inviting them to take part in chapter workshops. A panel of […]

Presented by: Wilma Jensen, MM, DMus (Hon.) Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover C The ability to perform music of different historical periods with "verve, passion, and authority," as George Houle said, requires an understanding of musical techniques and styles across different musical periods. Key components for each period from Medieval/Renaissance chants through Baroque, Classical and […]

Presented by: Barbara Adler, DMA, Councillor for Finance and Development Location: Hyatt Regency - Learning Center In this workshop, you will learn how to create wealth for yourself - if you start at a young age. In addition to learning about stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, you will discover how time is on your side […]

Presented by: Herb Buffington, MM Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover F This workshop is open to organists who seek tools to develop greater creativity and confidence in improvisation. Attendees will be encouraged to explore a number of logics (ideas) at the keyboard as they learn techniques to improvise hymn introductions, preludes, postludes, and interludes in […]

Presented by: David Lamb, DMus, CAGO, Councillor for Membership, Elizabeth George, Director of AGO Membership Services, and members of the AGO Committee on Membership Development and Chapter Support Location: Hyatt Regency - Dunwoody This presentation will focus on ideas and suggestions for building chapter membership by expanding the current chapter programming ideas.

Presented by: Faythe Freese, DM Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover E The year 2020 marks the quasquicentennial of Leo Sowerby, the American organist, composer, and church musician often referred to as the "Dean of American Church Music" in the early to mid-20th Century. This workshop will focus on the three compositional periods of organ plus […]

Presented by: Jillian Gardner, MM, Convener of AGOYO Location: Hyatt Regency - Learning Center Mental wellness is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can make a positive contribution to his or her community. […]

Presented by: Sarah C. Harr, DMA, FAGO Location: Hyatt Regency - Courtland Join us as we discuss the step-by-step process and multiple benefits of pursuing AGO certification at any age or skill/education level. We will outline the prerequisites and common procedures for all levels of AGO certification, discuss effective preparation techniques for both the prepared […]

Presented by: Clair Maxwell, MM, AAGO Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover C Today’s parish church musician is expected to do it all. The staff music professional must be able to conduct the various ensembles in the church, play the accompaniments, and make it all work together successfully in the context of the worship service. In […]

Presented by: Dr. Linda Patterson Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover F Flor Peeters was a distinguished composer, teacher, cathedral musician, concert organist, and musicologist whose students included Paul Manz, Kathleen Thomerson, and Charles Callahan. Composer of the largest published collection of American organ chorales, Peeters’ works include Gregorian Chant accompaniment, a collection of early music […]

Location: Hyatt Regency - Regency V

Presented by: Richard Webb, PhD Location: Hyatt Regency - Inman Framed in the context of his era through anecdotes, reviews, quotations from his writings, rare photographs, excerpts from documentary films, and other archival material, this workshop offers unique perspectives on the life of Max Reger, the obsessive workaholic many considered the "second Bach of Leipzig," […]

Presented by: Faythe Freese, DM Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover E The year 2020 marks the quasquicentennial of Leo Sowerby, the American organist, composer, and church musician often referred to as the "Dean of American Church Music" in the early to mid-20th Century. This workshop will focus on the three compositional periods of organ plus […]

Presented by: Norman Mackenzie, Director of Choruses, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Location: Hyatt Regency - Regency VII There was only one Robert Shaw. His supreme intellect, his force of personality, his musicianship, his standards for study and performance, and his dynamic vision for the place of the arts in modern society literally transformed the lives of […]

Location: Hyatt Regency - Regency V

Presented by: Alexander Meszler, MM Location: Hyatt Regency - Learning Center Secularity in the United States is on the rise. Though the organ faces many obstacles in the twenty-first century — a shortage of organists, financial troubles and declining interest in classical music, among others — no other issue is as all-encompassing and as serious […]

Presented by: Steven Young, DMA, AAGO Location: Hyatt Regency - Dunwoody The year 2020 will commemorate the 170th anniversary of the birth of Aloÿs Claussmann (1850- 1926). Claussmann, a student of Eugene Gigout, spent his career in a province outside of the mainstream musical life of Paris and devoted himself to performing and teaching the […]

Presented by: David Pickering, DMA Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover F Icons Harold Gleason and Catharine Crozier used their gifts as teachers, performers, and scholars to contribute significantly to raising the standard of organ performance and teaching in the United States. This workshop will give brief biographical synopses, discuss the similarities and differences of both […]

Presented by: Leslie Wolf Robb and Dr. Zach Klobnak, members of the Committee on Pipe Organ Encounters Location: Hyatt Regency - Courtland This presentation will focus on teaching strategies for working with pianists transitioning to the organ, a brief introduction to the four types of Pipe Organ Encounters (POE,) reasons a chapter should consider hosting […]

Presented by: Charles Tighe, MM Location: Hyatt Regency - Hanover B Explore ways to use pitched and unpitched instruments to supplement choral instruction in a liturgical setting. Topics addressed: working with beat; rhythm, rhythmical stress, and meter; and teaching pitch and intervals using movement, body percussion, and pitched instruments. This program is particularly useful to […]