American Organ Institute

The American Organ Institute is a part of the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts in the University of Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma’s American Organ Institute combines scholarship, performance, technical skill and craftsmanship to produce the world’s greatest organists, organ technicians, and organ scholars. We are able to accomplish this through the applied science of organ building and a triptych curriculum of Classical, Theatrical and Sacred music study.

Many aspects of the “King of Instruments” are uniquely American from the vaudeville organists of the teens and twenties, to the silent film artists of the mid to late 1920s, and in more modern times fabulous theatrical organists. The legacy of the pipe organ deserves to be not only preserved but enhanced with today’s technology and skill as it has been over and over since its creation nearly a millennia ago. The American Organ Institute stands to reclaim, reinvigorate, and reinvent the time honored traditions of pipe organ building, playing, and music making by preparing and equipping students for careers as performers, teachers, and technicians.

The American Organ Institute (AOI) is a comprehensive program and facilities located within the University of Oklahoma's School of Music and the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. Its goal is to become the leading center for the art of American organ playing, composing, pedagogy, and organ building. The AOI will house and maintain a collection of the finest examples of American Organ building, both past and present.

Organ studies at the University of Oklahoma began with the nearly four-decade tenure of Mildred Andrews Boggess (1941-1979), during which time it grew to become one of the most highly regarded organ programs in the United States. Professor Boggess produced more Fulbright Scholars among organ students (35) and national organ competition winners than any other organ teacher in American history. OU graduates hold academic and church-related positions across the United States. They are parish directors of music, university professors, choral conductors, and concert performers. With the formation of the American Organ Institute in 2006, OU will become the leader in the world of the pipe organ in ways heretofore unimagined.

Under the direction of Dr. John Daniel Schwandt, the American Organ Institute was founded in 2006 to lift up and celebrate American contributions to pipe organ design, building, and playing. The philosophy behind the Institute is to unite the worlds of the classical and theater pipe organ, advancing the art by emphasizing improvisation in all genres along with the performance of classical repertoire. A fresh curriculum will include courses in arranging, computer notation, and multiple styles of composition – a return to the classic concept of the complete organist: one-third performance, one-third improvisation, one-third composition.

An integral part of the Institute is the establishment of a fully equipped and staffed pipe organ workshop on campus. This unique facility will be home to the restoration of an important instrument acquired in 2006 by the University for the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at the School of Music. Möller Opus 5819, envisioned as the crown-jewel of the OU pipe organ collection, and other instruments in the future will allow students the opportunity for hands-on experience with organbuilding, even to providing pipe organ maintenance services for the general Oklahoma City area. Future generations of organ students graduating from OU will be well-versed with knowledge of organ design and construction, in addition to organ history and music theory. As the only college or university in the nation with a working pipe organ shop, those wishing to learn the technical side of pipe organ construction, maintenance, and repair will discover the AOI facilities equivalent to the best pipe organ shops in North America.

The mission of the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts is to provide the highest quality performance, exhibition, teaching, creative ability, and research, through a diversity of activities and arts experiences. Equally, the mission of the School of Music is to foster excellence in creative activity, research, teaching, and service, through involvement of the faculty and students in public performance, media presentations, research publications and other creative activities. The College of Fine Arts produces nearly 300 concerts, recitals, dramas, musicals, operas and dance performances each year, as well as numerous art exhibitions. The recent formation of the American Organ Institute is yet another example of OU's commitment to the fine arts.

External Links

* [http://aoi.ou.edu American Organ Institute]