IU organist places 1st in annual competition on Saturday

When sophomore Mason Copeland performed in his first local organ competition Feb. 28, he not only won, but advanced to the regional level of the competition as well.

The Competition for Young Organists, put on by the American Guild of Organists, took place at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Indianapolis. The local part of the competition takes place once a year and is held for players to gain performing experience, meet colleagues and build careers as performers, said Michael Messina, the competition coordinator.

“It felt really great to win,” Copeland said. “It was very humbling on many different levels.”

As a student of Janette Fishell in the Jacobs School of Music, Copeland played three pieces he had studied for about a year.

“A teacher is always happy when students place first in a competition,” Fishell said. “Mason is gifted and a hard worker, which is a winning combination in any field.”

Copeland, a self-taught pianist, has only been playing the organ for three years. He said he grew up around organs in church.

He became interested in the organ while studying at Interlochen Center for the Arts’ summer arts camp, where a new organ was being installed. He decided to pursue and study organ performance more seriously during his senior year of high school.

Before the competition, organists were able to choose their repertoire based on certain categories, such as a Bach prelude, a piece by a composer born between 1800 and 1880, a piece composed after 1930 and four hymns.

Competitors had to adjust to new instruments for the contest. Fishell said there is limited time to practice on the actual organ used in competition.

“Taking music on the road and encountering new organs that have to be understood in one brief practice session is a huge learning experience,” Fishell said.

Copeland received a cash prize of $1,000 and will advance to the regional competition, which will take place in June in Detroit. According to the American Guild of Organists, the cash award was made possible by a grant from Michael Quimby, the president of Quimby Pipe Organs Inc.

Copeland said once he was in the church, he was not able to see who the judges or the other competitors were: While he faced the organ in the back of the church, the judges sat forward on the pews below.

Messina said blind judging helps keep the focus on music-making rather than the competitor’s appearance.

Copeland said he liked the anonymity.

“I think it makes it more fair,” Copeland said. “These days politics find their way into everything, so it was better in that way.”

The blind judging eliminated the visual connections between the player and the judges, which presented different issues for Copeland.

“It gets your nerves going because you don’t know who will be there or who the judges will be,” Copeland said. “Overall, it makes it stressful, but it keeps it fun.”

He said he doesn’t know what he did to stand out, but his critique read that he had a good sense of playing and that he seemed well-poised during his performance.

“I am excited (when my) students take the initiative to want to grow,” Fishell said, “because they gain so much from it, whatever the outcome.”