A Teacher Who Honored His Own

By Steven Brown, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Jul. 17–Time management must be James David Christie’s other talent. He teaches organ at two colleges that are hardly neighbors: Oberlin in Ohio and Holy Cross in Massachusetts. He leads a Baroque ensemble in Boston and plays with other ensembles in the city, including the Boston Symphony. Somehow, when he isn’t sitting in airplanes, rehearsals or lessons, he find time to practice for recitals of his own.

The Charlotte chapter of the American Guild of Organists brought Christie in last weekend. His concert doubled as an installment of its summer series — which runs through August — and the opening of its Pipe Organ Encounter for young people. The Encounter is one of a series of workshops the AGO sponsors nationwide in hopes of inspiring budding musicians to study the organ. The audience at the First Baptist Church included 20 students, ages 12 to 18.

Christie made a grade-A role model. He showed that even forgotten music from centuries ago could be colorful and fun. But the clincher came when he played a piece of his own. He wrote it, he told everyone, in honor of two of his teachers — including the nun who taught him piano when he was in grade school. Even during a couple of years when he lost interest in music, he said, she stuck with him.

Christie’s “Elegie” was his official homage. But the exuberant pieces that followed could have been a celebration of how things can blossom when someone gets over a slump. Students need to hear that. Actually, everyone does.

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