SOP #46 - Tom Trenney On Why Some Organists Are Afraid of Improvisation

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #46!

Today's guest is Tom Trenney, an American organist who is known for his engaging improvisations on hymns, submitted themes, silent films, scripture, poetry, and artwork, Tom became the first organist to be awarded First Prize and Audience Prize in the American Guild of Organists’ (AGO) National Competition in Organ Improvisation in 2006.

Tom serves as Minister of Music to First-Plymouth in Lincoln, NE, ​guiding the Plymouth Choir (adults) and the Choristers (grades 3-5), playing the magnificent Schoenstein organ, and serving as Artistic Director of Abendmusik: Lincoln, the Abendmuisk Chorus, and ABENDCHOR. Tom is also Music Director of sounding light- the chamber choir of Many Voices…One Song, an extensive music outreach program he founded in Southeastern Michigan. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Tom is grateful for his teachers and mentors: Anton Armstrong, David Davidson, Craig Hella Johnson David Higgs, William Weinert, Anne Wilson, and Todd Wilson.

​Tom shares his passion as pastoral musician, performer, and teacher both in worship at First-Plymouth and in recitals, hymn festivals, choral and organ workshops, and master classes all around the country.

Represented by Karen McFarlane Artists Concert Management (www.concertorganists.com), Tom has been featured at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, National Pastoral Musicians, the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, and the Calvin Institute of Worship.

In this conversation, we talk about why some organists are afraid of improvising on the organ and what you can do to reduce this fear and anxiety.

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Related links:
Tom Trenney AGO Improvisation Workshop 2012 Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Tom Trenney at Concert Organists
First-Plymouth church in Lincoln, Nebraska