A Conversation with David von Behren: Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at The Memorial Church at Harvard University
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Welcome to Classically Minded
David von Behren, Organist
(Transcript of video above)
Garrett John Law: Welcome to Classically Minded, where we examine what it means to be an artist in today's changing world. I'm your host Garrett Law. Joining us on today's episode is organist and, dear friend of mine, David von Behren.
David has performed as a concert organist across the United States and abroad, and he's now under management from the Concert Artist Collective.
He's a consummate church musician, serving as Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He's also pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University.
David has been committed to music education for a long time. He's served on various organ faculties, such as the American Guild of Organists Pipe Organ Encounter. And he even founded his own summer program called the little stars Summer Program, which introduces classical music to children ages 3 to 11.
In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and running half marathons costumed as various superheroes. Welcome, David.
David von Behren: Hey, thanks so much, Garrett. It's such a joy to get to see you and get to chat a little bit today.
Garrett: I'm so excited to have you on the show. For our readers, we went to the Cleveland Institute of music together. And I have to say, I'm really grateful that we ended up being in the same class together, it would have been a very different experience if we weren't the only two organists in the same class.
David: Those were some fun years.
Garrett: We graduated in 2017. What have you been up to since then?
David: So after undergrad, I went to Yale School of Music Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ performance. While at Yale, I also served worked at Trinity Church On The Green with Walden Moore. It was a wonderful experience to be one of the two Organ Scholars for those two years.
Then I took the position as Assistant University Organist and Choir Master at the Memorial Church of Harvard University. I accompany the Harvard Glee Club there as well.
I'm also doing my Doctor of Musical Arts degree, studying with Peter Sykes at Boston University College of Fine Arts.
Garrett: I think a lot of our listeners are maybe classical musicians, maybe not necessarily organists. So going back to the Church on the Green, maybe you could tell us a little bit, you know, what being a church organist is really like.
David: You know, there's a phrase that we learned there, and I'm sure you relate to this too. "Other duties as assigned" being the phrase. Because your day to day job, especially as an assistant or as a scholar is always changing, especially with working with kids and the Choir of Men and Boys, and then the Girls Choir as well. There were a lot of jobs and tasks that you weren't always expecting to be doing. You know, rounding up sheet music, you know, teaching novices, in addition to things like accompanying.
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Garrett: Maybe we could talk about how you got started in music. You know, you're from Nebraska, right?
David von Behren: Yes. So I started piano lessons when I was four years old, and my mom was my piano teacher. But it's difficult studying with your parents, so I ended up studying with another teacher. And then a year later, when I was five, I started violin.
I didn't really get into the organ until I was 13. And I didn't really start taking that seriously till I was older. Probably my junior year of high school.
I really enjoyed growing up in the Midwest where you're kind of the only one who plays the organ. So it makes you a little different and unique in its own right. But also, I guess the other side of the of the coin is that there aren't necessarily other people like you.
Garrett: I think I had a similar experience also growing up in the Midwest, Ohio, of course. I didn't know too many other young organists. So like I said, it's just such a joy to have been able to spend those undergrad years with you.
David: Oh, gosh, we had quite a blast.
Garrett: Yeah. So now here we are. And it's 2021. And we've, we've been living through this pandemic. So how has this affected you at Harvard Memorial Church and your doctorate degree at Boston University?
David von Behren: That's a great question. So Memorial Church has been closed, basically since things hit in March. So essentially, after two and a half months from the beginning of the pandemic, I actually came back to Nebraska.
So I've been residing in Nebraska, you know, due to the graciousness of Tom Trenney, the Minister of music at first Plymouth church in Lincoln, Nebraska. I've been driving there from this little town called Falls City where I'm currently residing with my parents.
I've been remotely recording preludes and postludes, service music, and accompaniments for bigger events at Memorial Church where we've been doing things as a radio broadcast. Essentially, I'll go and make recordings, and then send them off in a Google Drive folder for the services on Sundays.
Also, my work with a Harvard Glee Club as accompanist has now kind of shifted into this new zoom world with virtual choir recordings and more teaching fellow duties.
David: As far as my doctoral work at Boston University, I've been so grateful for the flexibility of my incredible teacher, Peter Sykes, who has helped me navigate this remotely. I've been able to take a lot of academic classes remotely.
For my organ lessons, I'll go and record excerpts of the pieces that I'm working on for recitals, and then we will listen to them together over zoom. We'll both have the scores and we talk about things that I can consider and do differently. And then I'll go rerecord excerpts. That's helped me to prepare for recitals in this time.
I know we've talked about this a little bit Garrett, that whole idea of learning how to listen to oneself without being overly critical. That was an obstacle I had to overcome. But it's also helped me become a better musician in the process as well.
Garrett: When all this happened, everybody started putting stuff online. Nobody could give a recital so people musicians performed over Facebook Live or YouTube streams. And that's, that's been really awesome.
But, I think artists and musicians especially can be so self critical. There's the sense of competition and perfectionism. But not everything you put out is going to be 100% perfect all the time. That's just not a realistic goal for yourself.
For me, personally, it's helped me come to terms with you know, being happy with consistent excellent work. Versus being too afraid to put anything out there because I won't settle for anything less than perfection. I think that's been a really important lesson for me.
David: I agree, 100%. I think a silver lining in this time has been to break down those self critical walls so that we aren't frozen by this need to have everything be perfect. In this time, there's a lot of forgiveness. We have the service and this calling to be ministers of music in our own right, that also means producing things, even if they aren't perfect, but still excellent.
Garrett: Agreed. I think music has gotten a lot of people through all of this. But you know, just being able to keep yourself mentally healthy is so important. So I'd like to backup to the beginning of the pandemic. My initial reaction was packing up my office not knowing the next time I was going to be back. What was your reaction? How did you cope?
David: For me, it happened more in waves. The first thing was, we aren't going to continue morning prayers. We're only going to be doing what I kind of call the "apocalyptic broadcasts" where there's just 6 or 7 people in the same room doing live broadcast on the radio.
So for me, it was just kind of a slow process. I found myself trying to find ways to continue to create and to just feel like I was doing something. I think the hardest thing for me, especially for the first two or three weeks, was going 600 miles an hour to zero. And that whiplash, was really tricky because all of a sudden, I felt super useless. I went through so many Netflix shows at the beginning to just to kind of keep my mind off of all of it.
Garrett: Important question, did you watch Tiger King?
David: Yeah, that was like one of the first shows.
Garrett: I also watched, like these apocalyptic pandemic shows.
David: I think there's actually a movie called Pandemic that I watched. Ot didn't end well. So that was like, not a good choice... I finished it and I was like, I think I need a comedy, because that was really dark.
Garrett: So I wonder, are you still playing violin and organ at the same time? I don't think many people have seen this before. You will actually be playing the violin while playing the pedals of the organ at the same time.
David: I have been, yes. I'm playing a private recital on Sunday in Kansas City where I'm going to play one of those pieces that I had arranged for violin and organ at the same time. I think it was our last year at CIM that I was just getting started with that.
Garrett Law: I feel like the organ is already such an athletic instrument. Then you hold the violin, which takes a lot of just technique and balance. To me it's very precarious, you need to be very athletic to play it.
David von Behren: I think so. I think there's more of that core strength so that you feel grounded or rooted. And sometimes before I play, I do a stretch both ways so that I can feel ready to play.
Garrett Law: That reminds me of Cameron Carpenter. I once saw a video of him doing push ups before he went out to go play a concert just to get warmed up to play.
David von Behren: I've done that before, but like, probably not as many as him. It's more to wake up the brain. Like, okay, you've got to play now. Do you have any rituals that you do before performing?
Garrett: Yes I do. I drink tea and eat have a banana to calm the nerves. I do agree that getting some motion and some activity can help you relax and just feel ready. So you've had the opportunity to travel abroad and play organs across Europe. I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about those trips. And maybe, if you're willing, pick your favorite organ.
David: I think one of my favorite trips was my UK tour. I organized solo recitals at Hereford Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Swiss Church in London, and Hexham Abbey. My favorite place to play was Westminster Abbey.
As far as my favorite organ abroad, it has to be Notre Dame in Paris, just because I'm love French organ music and like those snarly reeds. To hear those enchamades right in your ear is really exciting.
Garrett: That sounds incredible. I'm so happy you've had that opportunity. I hope we can all travel again soon and perform more.
David: Absolutely. I hope that we'll be able to play the organ again at Notre Dame again because of the fire.
I wanted to ask you a really quick question. Do you remember in studio class when we had a conversation about the timing in which one should eat the bananas prior to performance for them to do the maximum good? Do you remember that?
Garrett: I remember a lot of discussions about bananas, but not this particular one.
David: I think it like Dan parks and all of us having this really long conversation about when you should consume the first and second banana before a performance to reap the most benefits of beta blockers?
Garrett: This sounds so typical of us, though, doesn't it?
David: I feel like we carried on for a really long time. I just remember bananas and eating bananas before performance became a really hot topic. Then we would be talking about when do you have too many bananas? Where do you draw the line? Will you die of an overdose? If you have like 12 bananas like that?
Garrett: Surely 12 is too many.
David: I think you will die if you have too many bananas.
Garrett: Speaking of the number 12. Remember when we went to Sokolowski's Polish Restaurant in Cleveland, which sadly, is now closed? You did the pierogi challenge which entailed eating 12 pierogies. You finished them all and I was just amazed.
David: Thank you. I remember the next day was not a good day. But I was happy to have been able to do it. It was just a lot of butter.
Garrett: You're very humble. It's really an accomplishment.
David: Thank you. To be a little less humble, I have to say that's probably one of my proudest moments; eating a dozen perogies in an hour.
Garrett: Well, David, I gotta let you go. I have to say it's so good to catch up and just hear what you've been up to. I look forward to hearing more from you. Thank you so much for being here.
David: Well, thank you so much for having me, Garrett. And, you know, congratulations on all the amazing things that you're doing in this time. I mean, it's just incredible to see all of your recordings and, you know, this initiative and all that you're doing with courses. It's just super inspiring to me. So thank you, Garrett.
