Neil Cockburn is Head of Organ Studies at Mount Royal University Conservatory, Artistic Director of the Calgary Organ Festival, and Director of MRU Conservatory’s Purcell Ensemble. He is also the continuo-player and organist for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. I’m looking forward to meeting him this summer when he is one of our tutors on the RCO Summer Course in London – when I will have to ask him how to get hailstones and frogs out of the organ (see below).
More on Neil and a link to his website at the bottom of the page. In the meantime, here are his answers to my five questions:
Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
I have a very varied performing routine – including organ and harpsichord as both soloist and ensemble member – so there are always many scores on my music desk at any one time! I’m currently preparing to accompany the choir of Calgary Anglican Cathedral on its UK tour to Exeter Cathedral, where they will sing the services for a week in July. So, that involves choral accompaniments primarily, and as I don’t play weekly in a church, many of the pieces are new to me. As for solo organ repertoire, the next completely new piece I will learn is the C.P.E. Bach Organ Concerto in G major Wq 34 for a performance in October with a Calgary chamber group – the Kensington Sinfonia. We chose that particular concerto because it fits the size of the ensemble (strings only), and it will highlight well the 2-manual pipe organ in the church where the concert will take place.
What has been your best experience as an organist?
I have two types of best experience – one related to instruments, and one related to playing with other musicians. Every time I travel somewhere and experience a beautiful instrument, I consider that a real perk of the job. One recent high point for me was playing the magnificent Taylor and Boody organ at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Secondly, because we organists tend to work a lot on our own, it’s always a wonderful experience for me to play in an ensemble or orchestra. Playing continuo for a large oratorio or Passion is always a highlight, and I will always cherish the memory of having brought to life the hailstones and frogs of Handel’s Israel in Egypt!
What has been your worst experience as an organist?
Two occasions come to mind, both involving large organs in concerts halls with mobile consoles. In each case there was an intermittent malfunction in the data communication between the console and the actual instrument, causing the computer to reset itself. The automatic reset meant that the instrument went dead for about 45 seconds. In both cases this happened multiple times during the rehearsals (on both occasions I was playing a concerto with orchestra), but thankfully it didn’t happen during the performances! However, it did make for very nerve-wracking experiences! Although I’m very grateful for the technological advances that have been made to modern instruments – such as sequencers – I don’t like the uncertainty of malfunction.
What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?
I have received so much wonderful advice from so many people over the years that condensing it down to one single nugget is impossible. I have been grateful for suggestions on which piece to learn next, which exam to attempt (or not attempt), which shoes to wear, how to deal with performance nerves, and this is a really good one: never to check-in your music or shoes in your hold luggage on a flight! But probably, the most significant wisdom all of my music teachers shared with me was how to practise, and the common theme there was – prepare for success by simplifying and working slowly!
What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Use the internet wisely! There are many excellent free online resources nowadays, but sadly there are far more poor quality ones. Look to your teacher for help in filtering the good from the bad. This is particularly true for YouTube, where there are many performances that do not incorporate current thinking on performance practice vis-à-vis registration and ornamentation and so on. Remember that people have the freedom to post anything they want to on YouTube, and they frequently do! Just because it’s there, doesn’t alone make it worthy of emulation. Ask yourself –who is the performer? (Try to find a biography online to confirm credibility.) On which instrument was the performance recorded? (ie are the sounds a suitable model in your own case? If you are studying Frescobaldi, but listening to a performance on Romantic instrument, you may not be able to learn much – unless you are specifically wondering how best to adapt Frescobaldi to your Father Willis.) Once again – look to your teacher for help. Ask for verification of a potential study aid before committing too much time to it.
Neil received his musical education at Oxford University (BA Hons, Music), the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK (MusM, Organ Performance, and the Professional Peformance Diploma, PPRNCM), the Conservatoire National de Région Rueil-Malmaison, France (Premier prix de perfectionnement), and the University of Calgary (PhD, Musicology).He won First Prize at the 1996 Dublin International Organ Competition, and has received numerous other prestigious awards, including the W. T. Best Memorial Organ Scholarship, a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Prize. As an organ soloist he has given an all-encompassing spectrum of solo organ recitals on a wide range of instrument types, from all-Bach recitals on historically inspired organs, to symphonic programmes on romantic instruments, and concerts of entirely new works. Learn more about him at his website.
