The Lutheran Organist

Welcome to The Lutheran Organist!

So, what is this place?

Well, it’s a bit of a side project of mine, a bringing-together of strands of hobbies and bits of knowledge that I’ve gained over 20 years as a church organist. This site, and indeed the Twitter account and YouTube channel that go with it, can be seen as an attempt to organize for the world bits and pieces of church music, Lutheranism, playing the organ, classical music, church life, and music theory that exist in my brain from time to time.

Now, a bit about me:

If you’re here for note-perfect organ playing, this is not the place. I, like many others, am a part-time church musician (I have a day job running a small real estate company). I don’t have a big hefty music degree (I quit music school after two semesters because I felt like being employed might be a good idea), and I don’t pretend to be world-class by any means. I’m a rural, small church, organist who likes a quality church service with quality church music. That’s all. No pretensions.

What kind of things can you find here?

Well, that’s a good question. The blog(s) and the YouTube channel are designed to go hand-in-hand, though my YouTube skills aren’t quite up to snuff as yet (if you happen to be an expert in such things, feel free to let me know). We’ll talk about church music of course - I have plans to go through and discuss all of the hymns and all of the services in Lutheran Service Book and probably The Lutheran Hymnal also - and about organ music (particularly Bach, because…well…it’s Bach, right?). There are plans for some livestreams (again, once the YouTube is up and running), and there will probably also be some content about Hauptwerk (explaining what this is will probably be a segment all it’s own, but in brief it’s the software that runs the organ in my music room, which makes all of this possible).

We’ll be bringing in some clergy and others from the wider life of the Lutheran church as well (mostly LCMS, but others are welcome of course), sometimes to discuss the music, sometimes to discuss the texts, and likely sometimes to discuss other things entirely.

There will be tips and help for the organist who wants to improve their Sunday services - how to add some spice to your hymns, for instance, as well as a running list of books suggested for the astute and attentive Lutheran church organist. From time to time I might take the occasion to review some of the new products coming from the various publishing houses.

And, I’m sure, much more. So, I’m very glad you’re here. I’m just getting started, but I do hope you enjoy. We are inheritors of one of the great musical and liturgical traditions in the entire history of the world - a musical existence that includes Bach, Mendelssohn, and many other greats that is truly incomparable. This is most certainly true, and I hope you enjoy this experience as much as I do.

Soli Deo gloria.