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The Care and Feeding of Young Organists
Presenter: Leslie Wolf Robb
There are a number of teachers across the country who have 5-10 students under 18 studying organ - join them and start growing some young organists yourself! In this fast-paced workshop, you'll learn how to determine readiness for organ lessons, how to get kids interested in studying the organ, what materials to use, how to motivate students to practice (and where to find the organs and organ shoes to make it possible!), how to use technology to teach, inspire, and challenge, how to structure lessons for various ages, and where to find resources that will help you nourish the next generation of organists.
Leslie Wolf Robb Leslie Wolf Robb

Leslie Wolf Robb received her B.A. in music from San Diego State University where she studied organ with John Kuzma and Kenneth Fall. She has done extensive graduate work in keyboard pedagogy there as well, studying piano with J. Mitzi Kolar. She earned her C.A.G.O. in 1978 and was awarded a D.H. Baldwin Fellowship in 1986.

Leslie served as Organist and Director of Music for First Christian Church of El Cajon from 1976 to 1985, and now serves as Director of Worship Music for St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School in San Diego, a position she has held since 1985. In addition to her church music position, Leslie teaches piano and organ to both children and adults, and currently has 12 organ students under age 18. Her students are frequent award winners in competitions and perform regularly in the San Diego area.

Because of her work with children's choirs, she is active in the local chapter of Choristers Guild and recently started a blog and Facebook page to enhance communication among chapter members. She is also active in the San Diego branch of Music Teachers Association of California, currently serving as Communications Secretary.

Leslie has served on the board of San Diego AGO in many capacities, was Dean from 2001-2003, and co-chaired the 2001 Regional Convention. Currently she chairs the San Diego AGO Education Committee, serves as editor for the chapter newsletter, and monitors the chapter's blog and the Organ Teachers' Forum blog. Along with her colleagues on the Education Committee, she was instrumental in the development of the Repertoire Guidelines and Scholarship Audition Program that have subsequently been the focus of workshops at several AGO conventions. Leslie has been involved in the planning and production of each of San Diego AGO's four Pipe Organ Encounters. In the summer of 2009 she led a planning session for San Diego AGO board members to create a 3-year plan for chapter programming and development.

Leslie served as director of National AGO's Committee on Regional Conventions from 2002 - 2005 and now serves as director of the Committee on Regional Competitions for Young Organists.

She has presented workshops on teaching young organists and San Diego AGO's scholarship program at the local, regional, and national levels. Her materials for organ instruction are published by Wayne Leupold Editions.