February 2002

Chesman appointed

Jeremy Chesman has been appointed University Carillonneur
and Instructor of Music at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. He will develop and direct a carillon program and teach music theory.
Additionally, he will serve as staff accompanist.

The carillon, installed in August, is a 48-bell instrument
cast by the Royal Eijsbouts Foundry in Asten, The Netherlands. The bourdon, a
C3, weighs 4850 pounds. The instrument is chromatic for four octaves, excluding
the lowest C-sharp.

Lorene S. Banta
(Mrs. Cornelius Gordon S. Banta) died on November 22, 2001 in Winter Park, Florida. Born on May 18, 1914, Dr. Banta and her husband moved to Winter Park in 1978 from Massachusetts when they retired from teaching at Phillips Academy in Andover. In addition to degrees in music, Banta received the PhD in classical
literature from the University of Michigan, and held several church positions
in the Boston area as well as in Orlando. Dr.

What instruments were being used for continuo playing in Bach's time? It might surprise many to learn that there is very little evidence of box-shaped portable organs resembling our continuo organs in use in Central Germany in the eighteenth century.

Twenty-four people traveled to the south and middle of England for the British Organ Music seminar, directed by Christina Harmon, the week of June 24, 2001. The great cathedrals of Winchester, Gloucester, and Liverpool formed part of the itinerary with guide John Norman.

On September 7-9, the fourth annual Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival/USA was held at the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, Connecticut. The historic 1781 Meetinghouse was selected in 1996 as the site of the annual competition for high school and college (undergraduate) organ students.