Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #108! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an American organist Matthew Buller. A native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, he is a recent graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. He began his piano studies at age 9 and 3 years later he began his organ studies at age 12 under Calgary native Marlene Mullenix. At the age of 14, Matthew commenced his church music career by playing voluntarily at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles. He then became accompanist at Christ the King Catholic Church at the age of 15 in 2009, and in 2011 he returned to the Cathedral to play for the Saturday Vigil Mass in addition to holding the principal organist position at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church in Lake Charles. He currently serves as organist at St. Clement Catholic Church in Lakewood, Ohio, and in September 2017 he will assume the position of Director of Music at Holy Family Catholic Church in Parma, Ohio. Matthew recently graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance and a Master of Music in Organ and Historic Performance. During his undergraduate studies, Matthew studied under James David Christie, in addition to lessons with Madame Marie-Louise Langlais in the fall of 2012 during a semester in residence at Oberlin, as well for two months in the fall of 2016. He has also taken lessons with Liuwe Tamminga and Jean-Baptiste Robin in the fall of 2014, as well as with Philippe Lefebvre in the fall of 2015. In the fall of 2012, Madame Langlais returned to Oberlin for six weeks, during which time Matthew studied several pieces by Jean Langlais with her. . Matthew also studied harpsichord under Webb Wiggins for two years at Oberlin, as well as one year of fortepiano study with David Breitman. Matthew has concertized extensively throughout his hometown; at the Oratoire du Saint-Joseph in Montréal, Canada; in Appleton, Wisconsin; in Cleveland, Ohio; in Vero Beach, Florida; and participated in a student recital in Paris with his colleagues during a two-week organ tour in France. Matthew is the winner of the 2015 Dallas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, as well as successfully competing as a finalist in the Southwest Region of the American Guild of Organists in 2015 and the University of Alabama Full Tuition Scholarship Competition in 2012. Matthew attended the 2011 Boston Advanced Pipe Organ Encounter, as well as the Oberlin Summer Academy for High School Organists and the Kansas State University Keyboard Camp in 2012, the Oberlin Summer Academy for Advanced Organists in 2014 and the McGill Summer Organ Academy in 2015, where he studied with John Grew and Olivier Latry. In this conversation Matthew shares his insights about overcoming his 3 main challenges - not giving up on a difficult repertoire, managing work and life and communicating with his team members. Enjoy and share your comments below. ​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends. And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful. Thanks for caring! Related Links: Matthew Buller on Facebook and LinkedIn: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.j.buller.1 https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-buller-a5284978/