Teaching Young Organists: Essential Skills

When a young student arrives for their first organ lesson there is no way of predicting their musical future.  We cannot tell whether the student will become an international recitalist, a music teacher, a church organist, a leisure organist, or any combination of these.  The list of areas which ideally needs to be taught in order to support these different outcomes can seem both long and daunting:  technique, registration, interpretation, practice strategies, sight-reading, liturgical skills, and keyboard musicianship. This first workshop aims to offer advice on each of these aspects with helpful strategies based on the presenters’ wide experience and many years of teaching.