Rebecca te Velde

author of Hymn Miniatures - 28 Practical Settings for the Church's Year

November 4, 2015

In addition to her position as organist of First Presbyterian Church, Stillwater (since 1991), Ms. te Velde has taught Introduction to Music at OSU since 1999. She is an active recitalist and clinician for workshops pertaining to service playing, performance, and composition. te Velde's undergraduate organ, composition, and church music studies were with her father, Lester H. Groom, at Seattle Pacific University. She earned the M.Mus. degree in organ literature and performance from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, studying organ with Hugh McLean and composition with Jack Behrens. Post-graduate organ studies followed with Flor Peeters in Belgium, Michael Schneider at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany, and Dr. Gerald Frank at OSU. While studying on a DAAD grant in Germany, she examined the manuscript of J.S. Bach's Eighteen Chorales for her master's thesis on ornamentation in those works.

Rebecca has performed in many states as well as in Germany, Switzerland, England and Canada, and has published articles with The Musical Times and The American Organist. Her organ and choral compositions are published by Oxford University Press, Darcey Press, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing. She is Co-Director for the national American Guild of Organists (AGO) Committee on Educational Resources, and is secretary of the Cimarron AGO Chapter. She and husband, John (professor of German at OSU) have two children.

This is a collection of very short settings of well-known hymn tunes. The book's purpose is two-fold: music for worship services with many possible applications, and pedagogical material for organ teachers to use with students at various levels of technical development. Further, the large variety of styles among the 28 pieces allow and encourage exploration of and experimentation with the varied tonal colors available in any given instrument.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2009-honorees/rebecca-te-velde

Last Updated: 14 January 2022