Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America (APOBA) is partnering with the American Guild of Organists to support the 2017 Pipe Organ Encounter-Technical event. The next POE-Tech will be held at the workshop of Parkey OrganBuilders, Berkeley Lake, Georgia, near Atlanta, July 9–14, 2017. The POE-Tech focuses on organ building, while the regular Guild-sponsored POE includes organ instruction and playing.
During the POE-Tech, young persons, regardless of keyboard skills, attend a week of instruction in a pipe organ builder’s workshop, to learn about how pipe organs and all their various parts are made. Instruction is given in the building of chests, voicing of pipes, wiring, mechanical systems in tracker organs, etc. The teachers are professional pipe organ builders.
APOBA supports the Guild’s sponsorship of these events by providing substantial grants for the POE program, especially POE-Tech. While some instruments will be visited and inspected, students will spend most of their time with hands-on work in the shop.
Twenty spots are available on a first-come basis. Application is the same as for regular POE events. Visit www.apoba.com and agohq.org for additional information. AGO helps train the church musicians of the future; APOBA wants to make sure instruments for those musicians continue to be built and maintained.
