Organ Lessons

Several weeks ago in church I saw a little announcement in the ward bulletin that a guy in the stake was offering free organ lessons to anyone who could play the hymns on the piano. Brian had been complaining that we never have anything to do in the evenings, so I emailed the guy asking for more information, and he sent me a big long email that included the following: "Experts agree that it is best to learn on a pipe organ first, then transfer that knowledge to the electric organs we have in our buildings. Since I have the second-largest pipe organ in Utah County in my home, that's where we will have the lessons." Brian and I were asking ourselves where this guy lives! We signed up for the lessons and have had two so far.

The teacher is quite the eccentric guy, living by himself with his pipe organ, electric organ, and piano all in the same room of his house, and always talking too much about his illnesses and surgeries. We happen to be the only ones in our class (ha!), so we get plenty of individual work. The first hymn we are working on is..."Sweet Hour of Prayer." It's a good thing I have it memorized from when it was the only hymn I could play--it lets me focus my attention on those pesky foot pedals.

If you ever hear a sampling of our organ skills, don't expect anything like this. We don't have our organ master shoes yet.