SOPP508: Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra on Improvisation, Carillon, Composing, and Marginalized Voices

Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast

Welcome to episode 508 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast! Today's guest is an American organist, carillonneur, improviser and composer Dr. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra from Ann Arbor, MI. She was a guest on the podcast several times before and in episode 3 she talked about improvisation in the Bach style. In episode 15 she was back on the show and shared her perspectives about creativity and musing with children, and in episode 120 she talked about her Bach style improvisation treatise. Most recently I met her a year ago in Poland, at the Paslek International Organ Music Festival where she performed a splendid recital on the 1719 Hildebrandt organ and gave a lecture about Bach and improvisation for listeners who came to the event. It was amazing for me to reconnect with her, and this event was a pinnacle of the fall of 2018 for me. Today she will be sharing her insights about improvisation as the key of playing any instrument, carillon playing and composing as well as lifting up marginalized voices by music. You can find out more about Dr. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra and her work by visiting her website at ​https://www.pamelaruiterfeenstra.com/