If anybody on this forum has any suggestions on the following educational topic (which doesn't, as far as I can tell, appear to have been raised elsewhere in the ISI Forum), I'd be very grateful for them.

The topic is this. Can any reader, preferably from personal experience, recommend an American university where a graduate can study organ performance with a view to a master's degree or a doctorate?

I speak as one who has successfully completed most of the organ exams available in my native Australia (these have brought me to approximately the repertoire level of the American Guild of Organists' Associate rank). Australia, alas, doesn't seem to have a single college for further organ study. This is why I'm looking at America.

A regular organist in various Australian churches since the mid-1990s, I also played - during a recent American visit - for two Masses at a church in Front Royal, Virginia, near Christendom College. I'm aware that I'm probably older than is ideal for graduate school (I'm 46 years of age). Also, I didn't major in music as an undergraduate; most of my organ training - and music training more generally - occurred after my bachelor's degree was completed, as did the long list of my music-related publications. (These last-named include a book on classical music history which ISI itself has issued.)

If anybody has any suggestions regarding a suitable locale for further study, I'd be most interested to read them. I've heard good reports about the Catholic University of America's Institute of Sacred Music; and overall I'd prefer a Catholic institution to a non-Catholic one. Incidentally I've also placed a request for suggestions at the admirable MUSICA SACRA website.

Many thanks.

I'll be happy to help guide you in your quest to find an appropriate graduate school in organ performance as I am currently an organ graduate student. I am new to the organ, having just begun organ studies in August 2007. From what I've picked up on from my colleagues in the department, the major schools for organ graduate work are Indiana University, Eastman School of Music, Yale, and University of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, none of these schools are Catholic institutions.

I humbly add that I attend the University of Oklahoma (OU). Students who auditioned here this past winter auditioned at Indiana, Eastman, and Yale, and most of them have decided to attend OU because of its vital new curriculum that emphasizes comprehensive musicianship. These student's alma maters include St. Olaf's and Catholic University.

We have beautiful facilities, as well, with a ten-year-old C.B. Fisk organ. We are working on restoring a Moller for our concert hall, which has both concert organ and theater organ capacities.

Neither age nor background are inhibiting factors to entering OU's graduate program. All that is required is a thirst for learning, an enthusiasm for the instrument and the department, and a good work ethic. With these in hand, much is attainable.

I'm posting a few links to give you a taste of the organ department's American Organ Institute. The first link takes you to the general webpage, the second to a newsletter in which I contributed a column about my transition from piano major to organ major last year. I hope that both will give you a taste of our vision.

http://aoi.ou.edu/
http://aoi.ou.edu/AOI/Windlines/2008Spring.pdf

Thank you very much, Mr. Carini, for your helpful post. I must confess I hadn't even regarded Oklahoma as a possibility (the Southwest is not one of the few parts of America that I know reasonably well) but clearly I should consider it, especially after looking up the informative and useful links that you provided. What with your response, and with the comments that my original inquiry elicited at the <I>Musica Sacra</I> website, I now have much food for not only thought but also serious research.

I hope that your search is going well. I meant to add to my earlier discussion with some additional information about the other schools. If you're looking for programs with sacred music emphases, Indiana and Yale would also be good options. Indiana offers a church music degree, and it seems that Yale has some kind of center for aesthetics through its theological school, which might be a good resource if you plan on continuing your writing while you pursue organ graduate work.

If you have specific questions on each school and on different regions of the country, what to expect regarding artistic opportunities, living expenses, etc., I'd be happy to help out with that, as well.

I've just read your book on music history today while traveling back from a conference and must say that it was quite absorbing and thought-provoking. Obviously you will not have any trouble proving your capabilities in the music history realm as you enter graduate school.

This is extremely good of you, sir. If possible I'd like to continue writing while pursuing graduate work - I would rather be a musician who writes than be "just" a musician - and I shall look up some more information re Indiana and Yale, in particular, now that you've mentioned those places.

I'd like to think that the evidence of the book might amount to something as far as music history qualifications are concerned. Thank you for your kind words about it.