Develop practical conducting skills to lead choirs from the console with confidence, incorporating efficient rehearsal strategies and clear gesture techniques.
Organ Performance & Techniques
Daniel Brondel – Conducting Techniques for Organists (2025 Alleluia Conference)
Develop practical conducting skills to lead choirs from the console with confidence, incorporating efficient rehearsal strategies and clear gesture techniques.
Daniel Brondel – Organ Registration for Service Playing (2025 Alleluia Conference)
Discover how to apply effective registrations for hymns, choral accompaniments, and liturgical moments, ensuring clarity, expression, and dynamic leadership in worship.
Daniel Brondel – Organ Recital Series and Programming (2025 Alleluia Conference)
Discover strategies for planning and executing engaging organ recitals, from selecting repertoire to audience engagement and effective promotion.
Daniel Brondel – Organ Maintenance and Care (2025 Alleluia Conference)
Understand key maintenance practices for pipe organs, from routine care to troubleshooting common issues, ensuring the longevity and reliability of your instrument.
Daniel Brondel – Enhancing Congregational Singing (2025 Alleluia Conference)
Learn techniques to strengthen congregational singing through thoughtful hymn playing, effective registrations, articulation, and creative use of the organ’s resources.
Daniel Brondel – Vocal Care for Cantors and Choirs (2025 Alleluia Conference)
Explore essential vocal health strategies and techniques to support cantors and choirs, helping them maintain strong, healthy voices for liturgical singing.
Jan Kraybill – Week by Week: Tips for Efficient Rehearsal (2021 Alleluia Conference)
One of the challenges for any church musician is the need to have new music ready every week, with limited rehearsal time in the midst of busy lives and other responsibilities. There is never enough time! This workshop will offer tips and tricks to make your practice more efficient, less stressful, and more enjoyable.
Jan Kraybill – Singing Poetry-Encouraging Enthusiastic Congregational Song (2021 Alleluia Conference)
Authors and composers of congregational music have given us rich expressions with which to shape and renew our faith and help us form connections with God and with each other. But our congregations will only get the message if they pay attention to the texts they sing! In this workshop we’ll discuss how best to help our worshiping communities sing this poetry with appreciation, artistry, and enthusiasm.
Jan Kraybill – Beginning Organ Improvisation for Service-players (2021 Alleluia Conference)
Every worship organist has encountered needs to improvise: the offering or communion takes longer than anticipated, a fanfare is needed for a processional hymn, the bridal party is running behind, variety is needed for a multi-stanza hymn, the anthem was originally written for piano. This workshop will explore easy ways to begin and build upon your improvisation toolkit.
Jan Kraybill – Bach’s Example: Living and Playing Your Faith (2021 Alleluia Conference)
Johann Sebastian Bach left a rich legacy of examples of how to live one’s faith as an organist and a composer. This workshop will explore Bach’s life and music in the context of his time, his theology, and his career as a church musician. We’ll discuss how to best live our own faith through our music-making.
Gregory Peterson – The Organist’s Alpha and Omega (2019 Alleluia Conference)
A survey of chorale-based repertoire, both old and new, suitable for preludes and postludes.
Gregory Peterson – Come to Us, Creative Spirit (2019 Alleluia Conference)
In this session Gregory Peterson will cover a variety of practical tips for creative hymn playing.
Jack Mitchener Performance Practice from Alpha to Omega (2018 Alleluia Conference)
We live in a time when it is understood that we should play Bach and Buxtehude differently from Brahms and Bolcom. This will be a discussion and demonstration of the stylistic differences in organ literature and the performance practices of various styles.
Jack Mitchener – Bach Chorale Preludes for the Organ (2018 Alleluia Conference)
J. S. Bach was one of the greatest church musicians in history. This session will be a discussion and demonstration of Bach’s art of “preluding” on a chorale tune. The approach will include a chronological journey through Bach’s chorale-based works.
Jack Mitchener – Healthy Playing Techniques for the Organist (2018 Alleluia Conference)
Have you ever felt tired or even exhausted after practicing the organ or playing a church service? Come and hear some ideas of ways to alleviate tension in playing. Renew your love for playing the organ!
John Ferguson – The St. Olaf Choir Tradition (2017 Alleluia Conference)
College choirs enjoy a different “life style” from church choirs. Ferguson will…
John Ferguson – What Every Choir Director Should Know About the Organ (2017 Alleluia Conference)
Ferguson will explore the “nature” of the organ, especially considerations relevant to accompanying…
John Ferguson – Improvisations in Hymn Playing Part 2 (2017 Alleluia Conference)
This session is a continuation of part 1, with specific emphasis on the improvisation of creative introductions.
John Ferguson – Improvisations in Hymn Playing Part 1
An exploration of simple improvisational techniques useful in providing variety while responding to themes in…
Bruce Benedict – Incorporating the Organ in Contemporary Worship (2017 Alleluia Conference)
In this workshop we will examine a few congregations that regularly…
John Ferguson – The Art of Playing (2017 Alleluia Conference)
Ferguson will explore concepts and techniques for efficient and productive practice drawing upon over 40 years of teaching organ.
John Ferguson – Leading Congregational Song from the Organ Bench (2017 Alleluia Conference)
Ferguson will explore concepts relevant to hymn playing including: leading from…
David Cherwien – Variety in Traditional Hymnody (2016 Alleluia Conference)
Hymns have come to us from a large variety of times and places, which gives us the opportunity to bring out this variety! How? Topics will include tempo…
David Cherwien – Ideas for Creative Hymn Introductions (2016 Alleluia Conference)
A list of quick and simple ideas other than playing the first and last line, with which hymns can be introduced…
David Cherwien – Creative Registrations for Congregational Singing (2016 Alleluia Conference)
The organ is an instrument full of a variety of colors, uniquely able to evoke a wide range of expression in the singing. Ideas for keeping registration…
David Cherwien – Improvisation (2016 Alleluia Conference)
For many improvisation feels out of reach, yet everyone is capable! Where to begin, and how to gradually (and slowly) build this ability. We will…
David Cherwien – Helping Congregations Sing (2016 Alleluia Conference)
Simple ways the organist can encourage (or inadvertently discourage) robust singing. The basics include pulse, breathing, reliable downbeat, and finding the “right” tempo.
Isabelle Demers – Choral Accompaniment (2015 Alleluia Conference)
Accompanying choirs is a crucial component of most church positions, one that requires a very high skill level. This workshop will provide…
Isabelle Demers – Transcriptions: Arranging Piano and Orchestral Works for Worship (2015 Alleluia Conference)
Organists are often asked to perform works originally written for piano or orchestra. This workshop will provide some techniques and strategies to…
Isabelle Demers – The 10,000 Hours Rule (2015 Alleluia Conference)
Church musicians are called upon to be among the most versatile of musicians. However, their many duties limit the time at their disposal for practice…
Isabelle Demers – A Pianist’s Guide to the Organ (2015 Alleluia Conference)
An introduction to the organ, geared towards pianists and other keyboardists.
Isabelle Demers – Beginning Improvisation (2015 Alleluia Conference)
Improvisation is one of the most valuable liturgical skills, yet it is all too easy to suffer from white-page syndrome when facing a liturgical transition…
Bradley Welch – The Organist’s Palette: An Orchestra in Your Fingertips (2014 Alleluia Conference)
The organ can be one of the most inspiring, colorful, and expressive instruments for leading worship when we maximize its potential. This class will demonstrate how to make the most…
Bradley Welch – Choral Collaborator: Part II (2014 Alleluia Conference)
We will explore the ways the pianist/organist can best support, inspire, and express inherent meaning in the music in worship/performance.
Bradley Welch – Choral Collaborator: Part 1 (2014 Alleluia Conference)
No matter the ability level of the choirs with which we collaborate, the artist at the keyboard has many opportunities to hasten the choir’s progress in rehearsal as…
Bradley Welch – Planned Improvisations: Part II (2014 Alleluia Conference)
Following Part I, this class will examine some more advanced techniques as well as allow the opportunity for class participants to try out some techniques.
Bradley Welch – Planned Improvisations: Part I (2014 Alleluia Conference)
The word “improvisation” frightens many organists, but in reality, the best improvisers have their own “bag of tricks” to use in creating a new song.
Tim Allen – The Liturgical Year beyond Christmas and Easter (2013 Alleluia Conference)
The different liturgical seasons open up opportunities for inventive choices of organ music. We will…
Tim Allen – Expanding the Repertoire (2013 Alleluia Conference)
A session during which we can encounter, share and play some different organ literature….
Tim Allen – A Pianist’s Guide to the Organ (2013 Alleluia Conference)
What does a pianist do when confronted by more than one keyboard, ranks of stops and an insistence that “only….
Tim Allen – How do I play the Hallelujah Chorus (2013 Alleluia Conference)
A session answering questions about accompaniment at the organ. The art of organ accompaniment involves….
Tim Allen – The Online Cornucopia (2013 Alleluia Conference)
The Internet contains a vast amount of organ and choral music in the public domain. In this session we…
Tim Allen – The English Episcopalian at Baylor (2013 Alleluia Conference)
An introduction to the English Cathedral musical tradition, its history, its music its choirs and its organs as well as its theology. What can it teach us as church musicians in different settings?
Al Travis – Invent Your Own Songs to Him (2012 Alleluia Conference)
Improvisation is a useful tool for more effective service playing: creating your own hymn introductions, interludes, reharmonizations, hymn arrangements, postludes…
Al Travis – Interludes, Reharmonizations (2012 Alleluia Conference)
Interludes add an exciting dimension to hymn singing. They also serve a useful purpose as transitions from preludes to hymns, hymns to anthems, offertories to…
Al Travis – Improvisations, Worship, and the Psalms (2012 Alleluia Conference)
http://edge.baylor.edu/media/183569/183569-audio.mp3 Location: McCrary Music Building, Baylor University - Waco, Texas.
Charles Callahan – So Little Time (2011 Alleluia Conference)
Explore how to get the most out of your practice time.
Charles Callahan – Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs (2011 Alleluia Conference)
A discussion on hymn-based repertoire.
Charles Callahan – All the Stops (2011 Alleluia Conference)
Focusing on organ terminology, definitions and helpful registration hints.