Carol Otto ('75, MMus) is a woman who is as passionate about making music as she is about nurturing new talent. Following a life spent performing as an organist, Otto made the decision to donate an organ she had owned for 30 years to the Department of Music.
The instrument, which is made up of almost 400 pipes, will be used by students who need to compose, practice or take additional lessons.
"It's a beautiful instrument, so beautifully voiced…it has everything you need to practice," says Marnie Giesbrecht, professor in organ performance.
Giesbrecht found a new home for the organ in her office in the Fine Arts Building. After spending the last 23 years teaching at the U of A, she is familiar with the obstacles that many of the organ students encounter with only two organs on campus. Now that a third organ is so accessible, Giesbrecht is able to offer more lessons and provide her students with more time to practice.
"Sometimes, in classes, when she needs to demonstrate something, we can just come here to the office and she can demonstrate, which is very helpful when you are trying to put things together and you have no idea what it sounds like or what it looks like," says Wendy Nieuwenhuis, second year student in the Master of Music in organ performance program.
Nieuwenhuis is at the same stage of education Otto was when she made the decision to purchase the organ, which she did in 1978, shortly after completing her Master of Music degree. Married with three children, Otto was eager to be able to practice her music in the comfort of her own home.
Otto admits that she was sad to part with the organ but she is thrilled that students for years to come will make good use of the instrument that she can no longer play.
"I got to the point where I couldn't be playing any keyboard instrument," says Otto, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday. "My eyes are doing crazy things with me and I am becoming more arthritic, my fingers just don't want to work for me anymore."
Despite the bitter-sweet emotions that come with any big changes in life, Otto was all smiles when she was celebrated at a private ceremony on September 26, where she was presented with a certificate of appreciation and serenaded with performances on her beloved organ by current students.
Otto's beginnings in music began when she was five-years-old and her mother taught her and her sister how to play the piano. Once she moved to Edmonton to raise her family in 1969, she eventually became known in the local organ community. Otto is the former president of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (Edmonton chapter) and was the organist at St. Joseph's Basilica.
Giesbrecht estimates that the Department of Music would have expected to pay anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000 for a comparable organ.