Feature Article - From Sea to Shining Sea
What makes From Sea to Shining Sea so different? The concert is performed in a story format, instantly engaging the audience.
I am Jeannine Jordan and I am a Mayflower descendant. What does that 
With that background, I decided to research the lives and times of organists in the colonies and the new United States. What I found are stories and music that you won’t hear anywhere else -- stories and music that are too good to keep buried in a dissertation locked away in a library.
So… let's go back, back over 300 years and start our journey, a journey 
Diaries! Journals! Hmm… keeping a diary has never been something I’ve been too interested in doing. Thankfully though, for me, I found there were those in our colonial past who documented every jot and tittle in their lives. Sitting in dusty church attics, historical archives, and museums of cities up and 
62% of today's audience is visual
Who were these creative, forward-looking people who had brought their Baroque European customs, ideas, and belongings across the ocean in a sailing vessel, over land by oxcart or in a horse-drawn wagon, on a trip of five to six months duration to a city in the wilderness? Cities where mere existence was an exciting and often daily challenge.
Come with me to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and let me introduce to you the local shoemaker, 20-year-old Br. Wilhelm Grabs. He’s taking an organ 400 miles through the densely forested terrain to Wachovia, North Carolina.
Research for the music and stories provides an accurate and informative background, assuring a quality event.
While the Moravians and others were busy creating settlements in the vast outlying territories of
committed to the establishment of the United States of America. By signing this document, it meant the battle lines were then formally drawn and the loosely organized colonies were at war with England.
However, as history tells us, by Christmas Day of 1776, just a few short months after the signing of that all-important document, General George Washington was losing faith that he and his rag-tag army could indeed defeat the British. However, on that very day, he and his troops gained a victory that turned the tide of the war and gave impetus and direction to the citizens of the colonies to continue and complete their quest.
What happens next? The fight for independence went well and it’s now 1792 in our young country. Let’s meet a recent immigrant, James Hewitt – a musician who quickly has embraced the era's uniquely American programmatic musical style. In Mr. Hewitt’s enthusiasm for his adopted country, he’s composed a piece of musical 
hero, General George Washington and his piece is becoming very popular with concert artists and audiences alike.
After the tumult of the Revolutionary War, the band of thirteen colonies was quickly becoming a unified country and one that was full of opportunity. Immigrants by the thousands made their way to the shores of the new United States. Steam-powered ocean liners carrying several hundred people at a time became the common mode of transportation to cross the Atlantic.
Consider the year 1751, what was cool? No, really.
The pipe the organ has always been and continues to be the most complex
Under the able fingers and feet of one player, a wondrous plethora of sounds and harmonies could be produced on a pipe organ. Expressly, for this reason, the organ became hugely popular. The organists of that day were amazing entertainers. Why? Well, they played music everyone could relate to – fast, lively toccatas that showed off their finger and foot technique, transcriptions of symphonic works, and programmatic pieces which were quite incredible
It was reported that a 20-rank pipe organ built by a Mr. Johann Schmahl created such a stir that an immense crowd came a great distance – some traveling ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty hours’ journey to see and hear this marvel! Who do you think traveled the 50 hours to hear an organ concert?
Life is relatively easy in today’s modern world for an organist. One goes to the church, flips the power switches and begins a practice session or plays a service or concert. However, in the 1800s, life wasn’t so simple for an organist because…well, without electricity to turn on the blowers which produce the wind for the pipes, the organ was nothing except a pretty grouping of soundless pipes.
Ah…but how did those mighty pipe organs make those glorious sounds 150 years ago? The air was pushed into the pipes using bellows – yes, just like fireplace bellows – only much bigger. And here’s the catch. Those bellows didn’t work on their own – they had to be pumped by friends, family, or employees of the 
An organist involved in a duel. This can't be good.
As I sat in dank church attics sifting through crumbling volumes of church minutes, reading mundane board meeting notes hour after
hour, occasionally, I would come across something especially surprising, even spectacular. December 4, 1809, a young organist named Charles Gilfert had been hired. Continuing to page through those centuries-old records, I found Mr. Gilfert’s name two more times. First, was the shocking notation on May 16, 1811, stating that the young Mr. Gilfert had been involved in the fighting of a duel. Come to the concert and see what happened.
There was a virtual explosion of American organ builders in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In early 1896, Gerrit Smith, a prominent organist from NY City had an idea:
122 years later, the American Guild of Organists still promotes the organ in all its historic and evolving roles. It is indeed a privilege to be a part of that organization and to share this historical concert with all of you today. Many of the founders of the AGO were not only accomplished organ recitalists and church musicians, but also teachers and composers of note during the late 1800s}– just as it is today.
The popularity of the organ in America in the mid-1800s was also due to the many instruments of great size and quality being built for concert halls and churches by American organ builders. You’ll see samples of many of the organs from this period including the first photograph of an organ in the USA.
David's stunning visuals will take you to the Battle for Baltimore where Francis Scott Key penned the now famous text to what was to become our National Anthem.
If you see that From Sea to Shining Sea is within driving distance, please join us. We'd love to share the story of the colonies and the new United States via music and visual with you.
