The Life and Legacy of Arthur Poister

David Pickering

Tuesday, June 21, 8:30 AM

This paper will acquaint participants with the life and legacy of famed American organist and pedagogue Arthur Poister (1898-1980). While this workshop will highlight the well-known tenure of Poister as a master teacher at Oberlin Conservatory and Syracuse University, a myriad of details about Poister’s earlier life and career will be discussed, including his humble beginnings and early musical instruction in Galion, Ohio, his first musical career as a high school band and choir director in Sioux City, Iowa, his studies with Marcel Dupré in Paris and Karl Straube in Leipzig, his early teaching career at the University of Redlands and the University of Minnesota, inspiration he received from mentor figures Ernest Skinner, Palmer Christian, and Walter Holtkamp, Sr., specific pedagogical attributes that caused his teaching to be held in such high esteem, and his views on organbuilding that shaped the views of successive generations of students.

Active recitalist, recording artist, scholar and author David Pickering is Associate Professor of Music at Kansas State University. His students have excelled in competition and as church organists in a variety of denominational settings. Pickering’s multifaceted research has been chronicled through solo recordings focusing on the organ music of Daniel Gawthrop, Alice Jordan, and Leroy Robertson. A proponent for new music, Pickering has premiered new works by Daniel Gawthrop and Tyler White. His books are published by the Organ Historical Society Press and Wayne Leupold Editions, and articles and reviews appear in The American Organist and The Diapason.   

You can find the handout for this workshop here.