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ORGANIST OF THE MONTH: Melody R. GreeneMusic Director: Faith United Church of Christ in Richmond Heights Education: BFA in Music, Notre Dame College of Ohio. (They only awarded a handful of music degrees early in the college history. I have the last one.) Came From: Kent, Ohio Going to: Hell, in the end. (My ashes will be scattered in Hell, Michigan.) [No reason given for this choice.] My Epitaph Will Read: Melody is gone, but the tune lingers on. Current Residence: Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland, within the sound of the bells of Our Lady of Good Counsel. House Mate: Weiner Stewart Ferren, an advanced being disguised as a cat. Born to: Make Noise! Greatest Joy: Musically collaborating with best friend, cellist Joel Ferren. Worst Turnoff: Appliances impersonating musical instruments. Instrument: M.P. Moller, Opus #10028 (at church) and 1896 Grotrian Steinweg grand (at home.) Secret Vices: Good 'n' Plenty candy and playing Wagner on the Accordion My Neighbors Wish: That I wouldn't play ANYTHING on the accordion. Music began to interest me: Immediately. My mother was a flutist and violinist. All kinds of string and wind ensembles met at our house. As a child, I would sit at the top of the stairs (after I had been put to bed) and listen. I was always sorry when the musicians went home. Music and mathematics have always been the most meaningful things in my life. Everything else is ancillary. When I was four, I knew that I would be a composer, that it would be a lonely and difficult existence, and that was OK, because I would hear and know things that would be hidden from other people. I became an organist because: there is no greater thrill than dissolving and reassembling my soul in the most glorious sound in the world. Playing the organ is where my heart talks to God. I started playing organ when: I was twelve and our church organist, who was pregnant, went into labor at the beginning of a service. She told me to "take over." I did. Later, when I was in college, playing the organ paid more than singing in the choir and was infinitely better than waitressing. After a year, I was hooked and have never really wanted to do anything else. |
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