Meet Lindsey Johnson of Tempe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Johnson.

Hi Lindsey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi there, thank you for reaching out! My name is Lindsey and I’m an organist, currently earning a Master’s degree in music performance. Music has always played an important role in my life which is somewhat surprising because, etc…Music has always played an important role in my life which is somewhat surprising because, although they enjoy music, neither of my parents is a musician. My father was born and raised in the mountains of British Columbia, and my mother was on the beaches of Puerto Rico. They met at college in Texas and chose to stay there to start a family. From a young age, it was clear that I had a natural gift for music, and my parents encouraged me to develop those skills to contribute to our faith community. I began taking piano lessons at age 4 and quickly fell in love with studying and sharing music. I participated in handbell and children choirs, played piano for children’s classes, and church youth groups, and did my best to be involved everywhere I could! I picked up a few instruments over the next few years, including cello, guitar, and flute.

After high school, I received a music scholarship to attend a small liberal arts college, Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, TX. I began majoring in Biology with plans to attend Medical School after graduation, and however, by my second year of study, I decided to switch my major to Organ Performance and complete the med school prerequisites on my own. At the time, I knew I could balance my love for music and my pursuit of medicine. I quickly became very busy, participating as a cellist in the Southwestern Symphony Orchestra, singing in the auditioned University Singers traveling choir, and working a slew of odd jobs, including teaching piano lessons, playing Sunday services, and working in a hospital. The music-making in this small department was incredible. I worked hard and studied harder. I was fortunate to travel and perform with the University Singers Choir throughout the United States and abroad, including in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal, and Mexico.

I was very involved with the music department. However, I remained focused and determined to pursue medical school. I graduated just 2 months after Covid and was set to take the MCAT in late May 2020. However, I canceled the test for nearly two months as the world shut down. When I was finally able to take the test, several modifications impacted my focus, and unfortunately, I didn’t score as well as I had intended. By April 2021, after 3 interviews, I was sitting on two waitlists. When I received a rejection letter from the final school I had interviewed with, I decided to continue my education through a Master’s degree in Music at Arizona State University. I had heard of an incredible female organ professor, Dr. Kimberly Marshall, who I was eager to study with and ready to experience a new corner of the world.

I moved to Tempe in August 2021 and began my Masters’s in Organ Performance. I had planned for this to be a one-year study, just as I prepared and anticipated an acceptance to medical school. I retook the MCAT, submitted my med school applications and secondaries, and began interviews. As the year went on, I had not received a medical school acceptance yet and was again on four waitlists. However, I was thriving in my music program. I enjoyed research and history, my lesson and performance preparation was going well, and my creative spirit was excelling. I began contemplating a future in music instead of medicine. As the year continued and I learned more about myself and what I wanted in the future, I realized that creativity and freedom were important to me, that I enjoyed historic musical research, and that I had a lot to offer to the world of music.

Over the next several months, I struggled with indecision. Fearing I was not good enough to have a successful career in music and simultaneously worrying medicine would not lead to a fulfilling life created a stalemate in my mind. It wasn’t until April 2022, a year after I decided to take a “gap year” to continue studying music that I fully committed to pursuing music for the rest of my life. With this decision, I began to focus on my future in music – completing my Master’s degree, pursuing research opportunities, and continuing to higher education.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As I mentioned earlier, I struggled with choosing between two very different career paths. It was a mental tug-o-war: Music or Medicine. I wrote many pros and cons lists. I spoke with countless individuals who faced the same question I was facing. I prayed and questioned and doubted. This was stress unlike I had ever known before, a fork in a path I had thought was straight. The longer I battled between the two, the more challenging the decision became. Some days, I would wake up and say, “If I get accepted to medical school, there’s no way I’ll say no!” On other days, I would say, “music is the only thing I want to do forever!” — I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster with the drops getting steeper every day. As the weeks of struggle and doubt turned to months, I wished to be removed from having to make a decision. I told God that I would gladly put my career, life, and future in His hands so that He could make the decision for me, but for all the ways I tried to surrender myself and the decision, I was seemingly stuck in the same spot – indecision.

Some friends recommended seeing an ASU counselor due to these thoughts and anxieties. I was not suicidal. I was just struggling, hurting, and stressed. The counselor pointed out that the hardest decisions in life are between two good options. Choices equally balanced are hard to make because there are few cons, and neither of the options fully outweighs the other. The decision-making process becomes infinitely more difficult if the result is good, no matter what is decided.

By April 2022, I felt more strongly convicted to pursue music. I started to take more serious steps to solidify this decision, talking with my professors and colleagues about what a music career would look like for me. However, as I became more confident in my decision for music, I began receiving offers to medical schools for which I had been wait listed. While I was deeply honored and proud of these accomplishments, I still wanted to stay in music. Turning down an offer is very hard, especially after years of study and effort finally paid off, but I felt I was meant to be on a different path.

I left the offers unanswered and took a few days to think. “Maybe I should take this offer, earn another degree and see if I enjoy the medical career,” I thought, “then I can decide to come back to music.” I realized that all the scenarios I created in my head ended with “ and then I’ll come back to music.” If it was important enough to return to it, why leave it in the first place?

I began to shift my life and focus toward that of someone pursuing a career in music. I informed my parents of my decision, designed a personal website, and began scheming and dreaming of all my future opportunities in music. In my medical school personal statement, I wrote: “The time and dedication I have given to studying music have shown me that when pursuing a passion, the challenges are often the greatest reward of the process. I am excited to face challenges whose rewards lead to a fulfilling life of caring for others and improving their lives.” While it may be different from what I had intended in the original context, it is still a true statement.

I am excited and simultaneously nervous, motivated, and inspired about my future in music. I was intentional in my decision-making process and feel I made the best choice for myself and my future.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a young female organist, I am very much in my career’s learning and growing phase. However, I am very passionate about sharing music composed by women, a genre that is often underrepresented. Early in my organ education, I was drawn to female-composed music almost accidentally. I was looking for a fun piece of organ music and discovered “Fiesta” by Emma Lou Diemer. I immediately fell in love with the piece and began looking for the score everywhere, to no avail! My professor encouraged me to email the then 90-year-old composer in hopes she might know where I could find the music. Then a few hours later, she responded with a PDF of the attached score and expressed her thanks for my interest in her music. Direct communication with a female composer excited to share her music energized me to find even more female composers! From this came my first solo recital in 2019, titled “Femenissimo: A Tribute to the Women that Came Before Me,” which was comprised entirely of music by female composers. Since then, I have intentionally programmed at least one work by a female composer in each of my recitals and encouraged my colleagues and studio mates to do the same. I believe this is only a small step in the large scheme of sharing this incredible genre of music.

From this project, I became involved with the Boulanger Initiative, a non-profit organization based out of Washington, D.C, whose mission is to promote music composed by women through performance, education, and commissions. They work toward greater inclusivity and enrich the collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be. I worked as a marketing intern and helped manage the Boulanger Initiative nationwide calendar, organizing email campaigns for promotional events, designing posters for concerts, editing videos, and other projects as needed. To be involved in encouraging women’s work was exciting and motivated me to continue pursuing this niche.

After moving to Tempe, I became involved with the Arizona Women’s Collaborative, a group that promotes collaborative composition by female and non-binary artists. Since its conception in 2017, the AWC has produced four concerts premiering 22 new works, spanning a multitude of subject matters, but all concerning perspectives of the woman collective. Participating in this project to premiere a work titled “Phoenix” by Alicia Castillo was incredible, and the premiere concert showcased several wonderful pieces, including one for a women’s choir. I had already been dabbling with the idea of forming a girl’s choir for some time, but seeing the work and fruition of this women’s choir encouraged me to take steps to manifest this project. I began working on this girls’ choir, Bravada, a few months ago and am excited for all the upcoming events and projects the next few months will bring to this group.

As I mentioned earlier, I am also considered young in my field. The larger population of organists is often older. For this reason, the American Guild of Organists, the international organization of academic, church, and concert organists, has created a branch for organists under 30 titled AGO Young Organists. Its mission is to connect young organists and provide online resources and in-person events so that young organists can begin to establish networking opportunities and generate innovative web-based programming. I have found this branch to be important to the future of the organ world. A week-long organ intensive for early organists ages 13-18 to study with senior organists, connect with young organists in their region, and experience new and unique instruments they might not otherwise have the opportunity to play. I am currently serving a two-year term on the national board, which has allowed me to travel across the country to assist in a Pipe Organ Encounter.

As my niche begins to take shape, I hope to continue working with young organists and sharing the incredible works of female composers in the present and past.

What changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The organ is an instrument that is centuries old. It has survived wars, natural disasters, and even the Reformation! However, in recent years, there has been a rumor that the organ is a dying instrument, which is not the case! The idea stems from the organ and the church being synonymous in recent history. As the modern church shifts towards contemporary styles, the misbelief is that this also means away from the organ. While I admit that it takes intentional effort to include the organ in contemporary worship, it utilizes many other avenues to stay relevant. For example, there has been a resurgence in pipe organs found in major concert halls worldwide, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, and the Renée and the Philharmonie de Paris in France.

Organ design and architecture have become modernized; innovative aspects of traditional organ building techniques have created a conglomerate and unique instrument. Phoenix is a hot spot for some of these incredible innovative-traditional organs. The collaborative effort of artist Frank Gehry and organ builder Manuel Rosales on the visual design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ produced a superb and incredible facade, not soon forgotten by any visitor and nicknamed the “French Fry” organ. Rosales, the organ mentioned above, partnered with a prolific German builder, Glatter-Götz, to build one of these instruments, located in Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City West, AZ. Other amazing organs are the stunning Richards, Fowkes, & Co. organ, housed at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, and the magnificent Peragallo organ at the Cathedral of Ss. Simon & Jude in Phoenix.

Modernizing traditional building styles and techniques is one way the organ has remained relevant in these modern times. However, digital and electronic instruments have also begun to modernize! Hauptwerk organ technology is a new and very cool software that utilizes a MIDI interface. Hauptwerk is a database of recording samples made of famous and popular organs worldwide, in churches, concert halls, and theaters. Each sample is recorded pipe by pipe, in three or four locations; very close to the pipe, in a middle position in the room, and furthest point in the space. This allows for the most accurate digital recording sample of a pipe organ we’ve ever had. These recording samples are designed to function as fully functioning digital organs using a MIDI keyboard and pedalboard, a computer with Hauptwerk installed, and an audio system – amplifier and speakers. Furthermore, I believe Hauptwerk technology will function as a wonderful supplemental system to existing organs and as an incredible teaching tool to help students easily “travel” to experience the hundreds of unique sounds and spaces of organs around the globe.

The organ is a unique and versatile instrument that has and will continue to thrive. I’m excited about the role I will play in continuing the legacy of this instrument!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lindseycamille.org/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lindseycamilleorganist/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lindseycamilleorganist/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/lindseyorganist
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCVZQeOQD4OLzeCTS2X2TR-w

Image Credits:
Credits to Karen Savignon Photography for image “KSavignon_credits”