Organ performance makes Halloween 'Spooktacular'

A few IU students are pulling out all the stops this Halloween -- literally.\nToday will mark the fourth year anniversary for the Pipes Spooktacular -- an organ concert co-sponsored by the IU School of Music organ department and the Bloomington chapter of American Guild of Organists. The student performers, all in costume, will perform scary music for Halloween at 9 p.m. tonight at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3800 E. Third St. \nIt might seem more like a scene from "Phantom of the Opera" than a normal concert, but the Spooktacular is not a totally new event for IU. \nBack in the 1960s, organ student at the School of Music Dennis James, now a famous theater organist, used to play the organ in the old IU Auditorium to accompany scary silent movies on Halloween.\n"They would sell admission and popcorn and such, and he managed to raise almost $20,000 that went to the Bloomington chapter of the AGO," said Larry Smith, chair of the organ department. "It's actually because of that money that our chapter is so well off today."\nThe AGO is an organization designed to promote the education and certification of church musicians. It has chapters all over the country, including a particularly active branch here in Bloomington. \n"Joining the AGO is one of the main avenues within your career (as an organist)," Smith said. "It creates a solid community."\nAlthough the Guild isn't associated with any university, most of the members in the Bloomington chapter are students. The leadership positions are elected, and this year's dean is graduate student Patrick Pope.\n"Basically I coordinate all the other officers," Pope said. "I'm the one they come to so everything works together."\nPope joined the AGO before he even got to college. \n"I joined not long after I started taking lessons in high school." Pope said. "It's hard to be an organist and not at least know about the AGO."\nThe AGO is particularly difficult to avoid here at IU, which has one of the largest organ departments in the country. The large number of students in the chapter makes for a less formal atmosphere than official events in chapters in New York or Boston might be, Smith said.\n"The main thing we want to do with all our events is to get young people interested in the organ in a way that's fun and exciting," Pope said. \nConcerts like the Pipes Spooktacular are ways AGO chapters can make the organ fun and exciting.\nSenior Vince Carr, student coordinator for the event, said things have gotten pretty interesting in the past. Last year, one of the male performers dressed as a nun and decided to play excerpts from the "Sound of Music" instead of his part of the planned program.\nCarr said he is particularly looking forward to this year's concert.\n"It's our most eclectic program yet," said Carr, who is also an IDS employee. "Everything from the famous (Bach) Toccata and Fugue to an organ duet with synthesizer to a piece for organ and tape."\nThe concert has been successful the last few years, especially since it became free. The addition of door prizes have also made the event popular, Carr said.\n-- Contact staff writer Claire Blaustein at cblauste@indiana.edu.