Your executive committee met this week to review the results of the program poll and to continue the process of  creating the program schedule for next year.

About half of our chapter membership voted on  at least one question.  The information is very helpful and will be used to guide our program choices and other events for the coming year.

The two most important program attributes are “being provided with educational objectives” and “learning practical things that make my job easier.”  Public outreach, audience participation, and social time are moderately important.  Inviting a nationally known speaker is not important.  Surprisingly (at least to me), starting and stopping on time is not important.

With regard to specific programs, the top tier of membership choices roughly matches the number of program slots available, making our work a little easier.  The top program choice is “an introduction to psalm settings and how to incorporate them.”  This program has already been scheduled for October.  Other top choices include a report from one of our members about a sabbatical trip to Europe, an introduction to the latest organ at the Fritts shop, a tour of organs on Vashon Island, and a masterclass with Kraig Scott of Walla Walla University.  All of these topics are being pursued for next year.

There was also significant interest in inviting Jeffrey Rowthorn of Yale University to discuss hymnody.  We are going to look for some partnerships for this one and hope to be able to sponsor such an event early in the 2019 program year.

With regard to the question of types of programs, there is a clear winner–“academic, such as history or musicology, with musical examples.”  The second tier includes masterclasses, tours of interesting organs, and “practical programs, such as how to conduct or how to reharmonize.”

There are also clear winners on the day of the week (Monday) and program time (7:00 p.m.).

The program year is coming together but still not final.  As events are finalized, they will be added to the calendar.  By the end of August, we hope to make a final announcement.

In the meantime, please plan to attend our opening meeting on September 17 at 7:00 p.m. (note the new time) at Christ Episcopal Church.  With the help of a number of members providing musical examples, David Dahl will discuss the Couperin organ masses.  There will be a reception following this program.