Confidence and practice technique - April 2013 Lesson

Last Saturday at my lesson two themes emerged: confidence and practice technique.

Confidence:

I have been learning the hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King" for several months. I choose to start my lesson with this piece. I was nervous as it had been 6 weeks since my last lesson. Also, I had lost a week of practice time due to illness. When I am nervous, my playing sounds nervous. My first couple of attempts did not go so well. Finally, Michael told me to focus. He knew I could do it. Then I played the hymn much better. I need to learn to have confidence going into to a lesson as eventually as I will need confidence once I am ready for public performances. 

Practice Technique:

We ended the lesson with Fugue from Prelude and Fugue in C Major (BWV 553) which I have been working on for over a year. I am still having issues with holding a consistent tempo (speed). I slow down for harder sections and speed up for easier sections. This is not a new problem and has been discussed at many lessons. The problem is with how I practice. I keep doing the same things over and over again which ingrain the wrong habits into my brain. 

Albert Einstein described insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". 

To combat this insanity Michael suggested I practice in small sections, only 3 or 4 measures at a time, alternating with and without the metronome. I should also record myself so that I can get better at critiquing myself and hearing my problems on my own. 

Overall, the lesson went well and it was a joy to play the pipe organ. The picture below was taken from the balcony just before my lesson began. As you may remember, the organ at Trinity Episcopal Church is in the balcony. This is the organist's view of the nave from the balcony.

 

Organist's view from balcony at Trinity Episcopal Church

 

March 2013 Lesson - A lesson in multitasking

A couple of Saturdays ago, I traveled to Toledo for an organ lesson. The theme of the lesson became multitasking as I had trouble learning the new hymns and Bach piece assigned at my previous lesson. What do you think of first when you here "multitasking"? I think of my job where I often have several tasks going at once. 

How does this apply to an organist?  

Organists need to be very good at multitasking to be successful. Each hand and foot usually has it's own "task" to handle. The notes for the left hand will not be the same as the right. The feet are playing the pedals. The tempo must remain consistent. Registration (stops) may need to be changed throughout a piece. Pages may need to be turned. Some organists also direct a choir while they play! 

I've learned that playing the organ is harder than it looks! To improve more quickly, I need to practice each "task" independently. For example, learning the part for each hand separately before playing them together. 

What could you learn more quickly if you broke it down into smaller pieces?

Facing anxiety (February 2013 Lesson)

Last Saturday at my lesson I was reminded that when I feel anxious, that anxiety transfers to my playing and can be heard by all. Even after 3 years of lessons, I still feel intimidated when I sit on the organ bench of a pipe organ at the beginning of a lesson. The pipe organ is much more grand and awesome than the old electronic instrument I practice on at home. And Michael (my teacher) is there too watching and listening ready to critique or give approval of my performance. 

I began this lesson with the hymn "O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee" as I was confident in my ability to play it. What I didn't consider was my anxiety level. It was uneven and rushed and wrong notes were played! This hymn should bring peace and my initial attempt was quite the opposite. After a few attempts, I calmed down and was able to play it successfully. 

Michael and I had the anxiety talk again. I should be relaxed from the start. How do we conquer anxiety? 

In this video, "O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee", is played by Frederick Swann.

At the 30 second mark of this video of the camera pans over the audience of several hundred.  Just the thought of playing for this many people provokes anxiety. 
 

With more practice and patience, I will gain confidence reducing the anxiety, at least that is what I am telling myself. The first step is making it through a lesson without anxiety.

Have you ever had to overcome public performance anxiety? How did you do it?

What if I set a schedule

A new year is upon us. What will your goals be? Will you write them down and commit to them? I set several goals in a few areas including the typical to eat healthier and exercise more. I wrote them down which increases the likelihood that I will be successful. Now let's get to my organ related goals.

Back in March 2012 I announced my goal to practice 10 hours a week. I have not yet come close to 10 hours in a week. Since mid October 2012 I have been recording a few notes, the date, day of week, and amount of time spent practicing in Evernote. Upon review, I have only been practicing 3 or 4 days a week. I had intended to practice at my church on the way to work but discovered that I am afraid to go there in the dark. 

I learned from Jon Acuff that we will accomplish more if we schedule time to work on our goals. Writing out a schedule feels scary. Then I will be committed and can be held accountable. I am afraid of not sticking to the schedule. Should I let fear stand in my way? Should I let fear convince me that I should not try it because I am going to fail? What if I did it? What if each Sunday I wrote on a calendar practice times for the week? Even if some weeks I could not stick to it I'm sure my overall practice time would increase which is the ultimate goal.

Scheduling practice times could change my life!

Deciding to not give up on a piece - December 2012

A couple of weeks ago I had another lesson with Michael at his church. 

For over a year, I have been learning the Adagio movement from Widor's Symphony No. 5. I am still having technical issues with this piece as was evident when I played it at my lesson. I usually play the correct notes at home, but I was not as successful at my lesson. My usage of the expression pedal was not accurate enough - the expression pedal is used to create crescendos and decrescendos (increase or decrease the volume). As I was playing, Michael interrupted several times to point out issues and then I would attempt to correct and move on. I kept making mistakes. 

Michael proposed that I may be making more mistakes than usual because of all the interruptions which tend to increase my nervousness. So he had me play it all the way through from start to finish without stopping even if I made an error. I didn't play it perfectly but it did feel good to play the entire piece. My rendition is not performance ready. Then Michael asked a question: did I want to continue perfecting the piece or move on to another piece leaving this one unfinished? I heard this as: Do you want to give up?

Giving up would be easier but I would likely regret it later. I didn't want to give up! I decided to continue with it for at least one more lesson. It feels close to being complete and the finish line is in sight! 

An Organist's Christmas - Concert 12/7/12

Ted and I attended the concert entitled An Organist's Christmas on 12/07/2012 at the First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor., MI It was presented by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the First Music and Art Series.  The church is large and beautiful with stone and woodwork and stained glass windows. The organ was initially installed by W. W. Kimball Co. in 1940. Additional stops and pipes were added in 1958 by the Reuter Organ Co. Reuter also provided a new console in 1988. This organ has 3 manuals and pedals and 44 ranks of pipes. The organ specifications in the program listed each stops and the number of pipes associated with them and indicated which pipes were Kimball pipes. The organ was recently renovated by the Renaissance Pipe Organ Company.  

Pipe Organ at First United Methodist Church - Ann Arbor, MI

The church had a big screen at the front of the church. This is likely used to display words to songs and sermon notes during services. During this concert it would serve a different purpose, showing close ups of the organist playing the organ! There were 3 or 4 different views. One zoomed in on the organists hands on the keyboards. Another view was at a wider angle where we could see the organist and their feet and hands. Then another view of just the pedals allowing the audience to see the fascinating footwork. The technical crew seemed to know just when to switch views!

There were 3 organists: David Hufford, Marcia Van Oyen, and Thomas Strode. The first piece played by David was played by memory! Marcia played an interesting piece called - "Variations sur un Noël" by Marcel Dupré . It consisted of about 10 variations each sounding unique. The finale was spectacular! Thomas played a chorale prelude along with violinist Kathryn Votapek and the Boy Choir of Ann Arbor.

Each organist played 3 or 4 pieces with the last being a hymn with singing by congregation and with the boy choir. Prior to playing the hymn, Thomas and David both played variations on the hymn they were about to play. David played "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and Thomas played "O Come, All Ye Faithful". It was very interesting hear the variations followed immediately by the traditional version one would expect to hear. Marcia's hymn was "Once in Royal David's City."  Hearing the voices of the congregation and the boy choir along with the organ was wonderful.

Overall the concert was very enjoyable and I encourage you to attend Christmas concerts that feature the pipe organ.

 

A coincidence, I think not

Sunday evening I decided to listen to an episode of The Joy Of Music while doing some cleaning. I almost could not believe my ears! Diane Bish played her arrangement of "All Creatures of Our God and King." I instantly felt amazed and overcome as I am currently learning this hymn. This is not the first time where I have unexpectedly heard a piece performed that I am currently learning. I am awestruck each time it happens. I feel like it is a sign from God to continue pursuing the organ. At my last lesson Michael reminded me to listen to recordings of the pieces that I am learning. Perhaps, God brought this recording to me!

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (NIV). 

You may be thinking, oh that was just a coincidence. How many things have to align for it to not be a coincidence?  

• Diane Bish has recorded over 500 episodes of The Joy of Music. 
• • This particular episode was saved on my DVR. 
  • The DVR is set to record The Joy of Music every time that it is on (it airs on the The Church Channel on Dish Network). 
  • The DVR will only keep the 20 most recent recordings. 
  • I randomly picked this episode of the 20 saved on the DVR.
• My motive for listening to the show was not purely to hear organ music. Just recently my husband asked me if I still watched them. I decided to put on an episode in the background while cleaning as I had been neglecting the show.  My initial goal was to be able to tell my husband that I listened to an episode. 
• I had attempted to invite myself over to my niece's for the evening but she had other plans. If she has been around, I would not have been home cleaning.
• I was only cleaning because my washer had broke on Saturday and my brother-in-law was coming the next day to fix it.

I could list more but I am not trying to convince you, although perhaps I am attempting to be a bit persuasive. 

Regardless of what you believe - hand of God or just coincidence - it felt awesome to me! 

A corrected mistake is evidence of progress!

As described in my last post, my November lesson was a bit tough. However, I did show some improvement. While playing "Like a River Glorious", I played a wrong note in the pedal line. I immediately corrected and Michael noticed. This was a big deal. In the past, when playing a wrong note (especially at a lesson), I would freeze, or stop playing, or continue playing with each subsequent note being wrong. Organists will make mistakes. It is likely no one will remember a wrong note (unless it is the first or the last!). This mistake and the correction the followed was a sign of progress!

We all make mistakes. How we handle them can often be more important than the actual mistake. When I play a wrong note [make a mistake] the best option is to quickly correct it and move on. Dwelling on it (freezing until corrected), stopping (giving up completely), and continuing but not fixing it (one mistake leads to another) emphasize the mistake instead of the solution.

What are the best ways you have find to handle mistakes?

 

 

Why to practice as recommended - November 2012 Lesson

Lessons go better when the advice of the teacher is followed!

Last Saturday, I had an organ lesson with Michael. I was very optimistic going into the lesson. I was confident that Michael would be impressed with my improvement since my last lesson. But that is not how most of my lesson turned out. You see, I had become over confident during my practice time. And I made excuses. I was often tired when practicing so I didn't turn on the metronome. I wanted to avoid it's persistent and never ending clicks. I didn't want to take the time to record myself and play it back. It's much easier to deny my errors when I didn't hear them. I didn't sing along with the hymns to given the words the attention they deserve. 

I felt a little crushed after the lesson. I wanted to be better but I wasn't. It was my fault. I hadn't put in the proper effort. I didn't follow the advice that I'm paying for. I sulked a bit, but that wasn't going to help me improve. I made a  list to remind myself of some of Michael's suggestions (paraphrased) has given me multiple times. These should lead to me showing improvement at my lessons:

• Pay attention to details when practicing - READ THE WORDS in hymns
• Listen to recordings of other organists playing the pieces I am learning. 
• Make friends with the metronome. Don't just turn it on, listen to it while playing!
• Record myself and playback the recordings 

This lesson was tough as it's hard to hear "its not good enough". But this may turn out to be a very pivotal lesson as I confronted my issues. Now I will be more diligent when practicing and more likely to think about all the instructions and guidance Michael has provided. I will be sharing more about this lesson soon.

You are probably not taking organ lessons (if you are let me know!). But all of us can learn from this situation. if you are any type of student working with a teacher, take your teacher's advice! (assuming it is sound advice, of course). 

October 2012 Lesson

Last Friday, I met with Michael Gratz for an organ lesson at Trinity Episcopal Church. For the first time that I can recall I was late to the lesson. I stopped at the bank on the way and the ATM decided to keep my debit card! Fortunately, the bank was opened and they retrieved my card. Between this incident, traffic, and construction I was about 10 minutes late.

When I finally arrived Michael was waiting for me at the organ. We started the lesson with the Bach Prelude and Fugue in C Major (BWV 553). As with most lesson, my first challenge was to adjust to the pipe organ hearing the decay of previous notes while playing the current note. I primarily practice on my electronic organ at home and on electronic organs (at least older models from the 70's) there is not a decay. I am still having tempo issues with the second half of the prelude and the entire fugue which is evidence that I did not practice enough with the metronome.

Michael approved my rendition of Come, All Christians, Be Committed. This hymn took many months (possible over a year) for me to learn correctly. It felt great to have Michael check this one off my practice list!

The highlight of the lesson was playing Holy, Holy, Holy. After some instruction from Michael, I was able to play this hymn in a manner that would be acceptable to a congregation. I felt such joy hearing the music coming from the pipes while I played.

Overall it was a great and enjoyable lesson!

Visiting Brentwood United Methodist Church

During my recent trip to the Nashville, TN area I attended a Sunday morning service at Brentwood United Methodist Church. 

This church was big! It was a little intimidating at first. I arrived early and their contemporary service was underway. The lobby was nearly empty other than a few having a conversation at the welcome desk. I slide by them in search of a restroom. By the time I returned the lobby was filling up and with the size of this church this size I was not easily recognized as a visitor.

During the service, the hymns were well played on the organ by Dr. Gregg Bunn. The music inspired and encouraged the congregation to sing.  This was one of the best sounding pipe organs I have heard. After the service I talked with Dr. Bunn for a few minutes. He confirmed that the church takes very good care of its instruments and keeps the environment at the proper temperature. The history behind the BUMC organs (they also have an organ in their chapel) is extensive.

This Möller organ has four manuals with many stops as you can see in the picture below. When I explained that I was visiting from out of town, Dr. Bunn suggested that I play the organ while I waited for my flight! How exciting would that have been! I politely declined as I wanted to get to the airport with plenty to spare. But really I didn't have the confidence to play such an instrument in front of others.

You may be wondering, just how I decided which church in the Nashville area to attend. I found this particular church by looking for churches within reasonable distance of my hotel, in the direction of the airport, and also listed has having a pipe organ on the website for the Nashville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.  Then I confirmed on the church site which services used the organ.

Console of the Möller Pipe organ at BUMC.

The visible pipes in the BUMC sanctuary.

It's been 3 years - looking back and forward

This month marks three years of organ lessons. Three years! Looking back, I have made significant progress. I can now play the pedals and the manuals (keyboards) at the same time, substitute fingers (and feet), play a few pieces from beginning to end, and  have a basic understanding of how a pipe organ works.

Before I began, taking lessons, I thought in 2 or 3 years I would be proficient enough to be an organist at a church. I have been asked "How much longer will you need lessons?" and "When will you be ready to perform?" Learning the organ has been much more difficult than I ever anticipated.

Last weekend, I attended Jon Acuff's Quitter conference which was about following dreams. My dreams are to be an organist and a writer. I learned that its okay to go slow. It's better to make mistakes now while fewer people are watching. As Jon said, we can be awesome later. I need to be patient and make better use of my time to accomplish goals. There are things I can work at my current day job which will help with my dreams. The conference provided me with the inspiration to keep working on my dreams.

Looking forward, I will be better at planning. I will figure out what this blog should really be about. I will continue to learn. I will make use of the information provided at the conference. I will face my fears!

At the conference Jon Acuff said "Action always beats Intention". What actions do you need to start taking? Are there dreams you have been intending to work on?

Summer Recital Series - August 20, 27, 2012

Recently, I attended the last two of four recitals presented by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists as part of their Summer Recital Series at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, MI. I also attended the first recital but skipped the second recital as I was not in Ann Arbor that day.

August 20, 2012 - Shin-Ae Chun

Shin-Ae Chun performed four pieces. Her recital is not as fresh in my mind as it has been almost two weeks, but I do recall enjoying the performance and that the four pieces flowed well together. Shin-Ae also turned all of her own pages. Turning pages sounds simple but to do it while playing is harder than it looks! It is a skill I have not yet mastered.

Shin-Ae has an impressive resume holding several degrees and she is represented by Concert Artist Cooperative.


August 27, 2012 - Ted Emch

Ted Emch's recital included a variety of pieces. He played a couple of Bach pieces, a Buxtehude piece, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and his own complied improvisation of several melodies from movies in the first half. Following intermission, he played pieces from French composers and ended the program with Jon Phillip Sousa's Liberty Bell March, accompanied by a drummer. After a standing ovation, he performed another piece from memory.

Ted is an assistant organist at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church and also a high school teacher. I found Ted inspiring as, like me, he makes time for the organ outside of his full time (non-organist) job.

My cats and the organ

July has been a very busy month. I still have my goals in mind to update the blog weekly and practice the organ at least 10 hours week. I plan to get back on track soon for I need more practice to become a successful organist and writer!

Since I have not done all that much with the organ in July, today I will introduce my 3 cats: Lina, Kilala, and Buster. All three cats occasionally visit me while I am practicing the organ. Sometimes Lina will insist that I hold her while I practice! Other times I find them sitting on the organ or the speakers.

 Lina and Kilala are sisters from the same litter and were born in February 2003. Buster is our rescue cat who we took in January or February 2011 . He is a younger cat and probably about 2 or 3 years of age.

Please enjoy the pictures below!

Kilala on organ watching as I practice.

Kilala next to me on organ bench

Buster stepping on pedals to get into the window.

Lina looking out the window.

Kilala

Kilala and Buster

Buster and Kilala

Buster on speaker

Lina on organ speaker. A few days after this was taken she knocked yellow picture frame in this photo off the speaker which broke the frame and the glass!

Pre-Candidate Recital at U of M

On Friday, June 15, 2012 I attended Nancy J. Deacon's pre-candidate recital at the University of Michigan. U of M has several pipe organs on campus. This performance was on the Marilyn Mason Organ at Blanche Anderson Moore Hall which is located in the basement of the E.V. Moore Building. Andrew Langlands was the cantor.

I do not know what degree Nancy J. Deacon is a candidate for. The program did not provide any background information on Nancy and I did not stick around for the refreshments afterward to ask questions.

For the recital Nancy played three different versions of "Gloria":

Gloria from Messe pour les convents (1690) by Francois Couperin (1668-1733)
Gloria from Messe pour les paroisses (1689) by Francois Couperin (1668-1733)
Gloria from Livre D'Orgue (1699) by Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703)

Nancy talked about each piece before she played and I learned that Gloria was (and perhaps still is) used during Roman Catholic Mass. The latin text of the Gloria was provided in the program as for each piece, the cantor would sing a few words (broken into couplets) of the Gloria and Nancy followed on the organ. This alternating pattern repeated for each of the 9 couplets.

The singing by Andrew and Nancy on the organ was well executed. However, by the end of the program, all three pieces seemed similar in style and I felt like I could not easily distinguish the differences between them. I could see in the program that the couplet names varied. And perhaps the breaking point for each couplet varied from piece to piece.

I also admit that I was a little distracted by my surroundings. Much to my surprise the organ hall was in the basement! The walls were made of cement (or similar material) and the floor was covered in square green tiles. I felt like I was sitting on a pew in a drained swimming pool! It is likely that the materials were chosen for their acoustic properties. Their appeared to be seating for about 100 and I estimate that there were about 45-50 people in attendance. Below is a picture of the hall and pipe organ.

The Marilyn Mason Organ

June 2012 Lesson

Last Saturday, I met with Michael Gartz for another organ lesson. Before my lesson started Michael played through a few of the pieces that he would play during service the following day. This would have been the perfect opportunity for me to take a few pictures of the church and pipe organ. I didn't think of this until after I was home. But as always, I enjoyed listening to him play!

This lesson was like many others. I played pieces and Michael provided instruction and pointed out issues. The most profound problem was my continued inability to keep a consistent tempo. This is depressing, but I will not give up!

I need to change the way I think about sixteenth notes. When I encounter them in a slower piece I play them much faster than they should be. I don't really have an explanation for why I think this, but it is evident when I play. I don't always hear the issue myself though and sometimes I think I have corrected the issue between lessons but really have not.

In the Bach piece, which I have been working on for over a year, I do not play the sixteenths consistently, especially in the difficult sections. This means that some are played at the correct rate of speed but others are too short or held too long. The result is the piece sounds jerky when I play it. Nobody wants to listen to jerky organ music! The world doesn't need another bad organist.

Until my next lesson, I will be using the metronome as I practice to help me correct the tempo issue. If you have any suggestions please post a comment!

One Hour

I have one hour of time. I must decide how to spend that hour. Not deciding is the same as deciding to do nothing. Here are some things that I could do in a hour:

• Play organ
• Open and read the Experiencing God workbook
• Read a book
• Learn more about the features of my new smart phone
• Put away laundry
• Clean something
• Check tire pressure
• Go for a walk
• Pray
• Take nap
• Start a Words with Friends game with each of my Facebook friends.

The list could go on and on. I have many choices. If we are intentional about how we spend our time we will get more accomplished and come closer to reaching our goals. I decided to spend part of the hour writing this post and will spend the reminder of the hour at the organ.

Are you deliberate with your time? 

10 hours of practice update

At the end of March 2012, I set a goal to practice 10 hours per week. For the week ending 6/2/12, I practiced for 7 hours. This is the closest I have come to the 10 hour goal so far. For tracking, I am using calendar weeks. The lowest number of hours for a week, occurred when I had Shingles.

A couple of weeks after setting the goal, I read a post on Jon Acuff's blog about practicing your dream more than you promote it. He suggests that we practice 10 hours for every 1 hour of promotion. It was a great reminder of how important practice is when it comes to reaching our goals/dreams.

My blog could be categorized as promotion, since the idea of the blog is to share about my progress and experiences of becoming an organist (any other random things of my life). Maybe someday I will also become a writer although I suppose that am I writer since I am writing this blog! For now though, I want my ratio of organ practice to blog writing to be about 10:1.

I've wondered how much better my organ playing would be now, if I had set a specific practice goal early on. 

What goals do you need to set?

May 2012 Lesson

This afternoon I had an organ lesson with Michael Gartz at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Today's lesson began with a question. What should I play first? Should it be a piece that I feel better about than the others? Michael said that when performing a recital the organist will start with a piece they are very comfortable with to give them confidence and help settle nerves. It seemed logical to start my lesson in this fashion.

I choose to being with Andante movement of Mendelssohn's Organ Sonata No. 6 which I had played through with only a few issues this morning before church. Well, about half way through it feel apart! There is a difficult section which I thought I had mastered. I could barely get through the measure. I was playing wrong notes and trying again slower did not help. Part of the issue was the pipe organ at Trinity sounds different than my electronic organ at home. I need to learn to adjust more quickly to different organs! Anyway, I eventually calmed down and managed to play through the problematic section.

The lesson proceeded with the usual things that occur during a lesson. I played through my pieces and Michael gave me feedback. Last fall, I had requested to learn a Christmas hymn. Michael choose O Come, All Ye Faithful.  Since I was very familiar with it, he felt it would be easier for me to learn. However, I continue to struggle with playing it evenly and adding time when I shouldn't. I am confident that I will be able to play by Christmas 2012!

I finally had Michael take my picture at the console. The sharp/flat keys are made of beautiful rosewood and the white keys are made of bone.

Heidi at Trinity Episcopal Church, Toledo, OH

Giving organ music a chance

Three years ago I did not know that Bach was an organist.

When I decided to become an organist three years ago, I knew very little about organ music. I had heard hymns accompanied by organ at my childhood church and at my current church (until they switched to praise band format).


Early on in my lessons, I learned the world of organ music is vast and greatly extends beyond hymns.  With the Internet, there is easy access to any type of music of interest.  Perhaps, you have never heard pipe organ music besides in horror movies. I encourage you to check out organ music, especially if you have not given it much consideration previously. Keep in mind that all performances are not equal! Do not let a bad performance on YouTube discourage you.

I hope you have not dismissed organ music without ever giving it a chance! 

I highly recommend Pipedreams. Pipedreams is produced by American Public Media. Each week they air a 2 hour program on many public radio stations. Most (if not all) of the music is recorded on pipe organs. A list of stations is available on their website. The programs are also available for listening on their website. I usually listen to the program while at work.

Organlive.com streams organ music continuously. Some of the recordings are not great, but you can request any piece they have in their library to be played.

The Joy of Music with Diane Bish is broadcast weekly on TV (check website for stations). Diane Bish is very talented and provides me with inspiration. Her performances are wonderful and often include some history of the piece or that where she is preforming. I enjoy seeing the old European churches that have maintained their pipe organs.

I also suggest checking out live events in your area at churches (that still have and use their organs) or performances put on by college/university students. I have attended a couple of recitals put on by students from the University of Michigan. These students will not disappoint!