Joliet woman on a mission to keep ‘king of the instruments’ alive

Eight days isn’t a long time to rehome six organs.

But that was Sarah Randolph’s dilemma when she retired from Milne-Kelvin Grove School District 91 after teaching music for 25 years and developing an organ program there. Randolph said District 91 was the “only school in the nation” that had such a program for younger students.

“I really had hoped the new teacher would continue it,” Randolph said. “But she did not have organ training and decided not to continue it. … I had eight days to find good homes for all those six organs.”

Randolph was unable to rehome all the organs. But she did rehome a few, she said. One went to Raquel Caneva, 25, a former Lockport resident who now lives in Chicago.

Caneva said she plays the organ at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Lockport during the summer, a role she’s able to fulfill partly because of her organ training under Randolph, starting when Caneva was in the “fifth or sixth grade.”

The donated organ is “fairly decent size” and it’s an electronic organ, too, which means it has an electronic keyboard, which Caneva likes, she said.

“It’s nice and convenient, but it still sounds like an organ,” Caneva said. “I love it.”

Keeping the art of organ playing alive

Another organ went to Randolph’s home church, First Presbyterian Church of Joliet, where Randolph now gives free organ lessons as her schedule permits. Crystal Del Rio of Joliet said her two children Michael, 17, and Samantha, 11, are taking lessons.

Del Rio said the family learned about the lessons through another music teacher and Michael jumped on board, Del Rio said. After Michael had the opportunity to play the Barton Grande Theatre Pipe Organ at the Rialto Square Theatre during a monthly meeting of The Joliet Area Theater Organ Enthusiasts, Samantha wanted to take lessons, too, Del Rio said.

The Del Rio family does not own an organ and does not belong to First Presbyterian Church of Joliet, so Randolph ensures Michael and Samantha have access to the church organ for practice, Del Rio said.

“She’s been great in her enthusiasm. It just makes everyone excited to hear the organ,” Del Rio said. “It really is an educational experience that I don’t think we’d ever come across if we had not run into Sarah.”

Bo Mircea, associated pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Joliet, said the donated organ sits in the church’s fellowship hall “where everybody can see it and use it.”

And people are definitely using it.

“We have adults that always wanted to play the organ. So we made arrangements for me to show them how to do it,” Randolph said “They come in and put the head set on. They can practice and no one hears them.”

But why is Randolph giving free lessons, too?

“Well, God has blessed me with a wonderful family, and I’ve had a good job and I’m on retirement,” Randolph said. “I don’t do it for the money. I want the love of organs to spread to everybody.”

Unique instrument, passionate teacher

Randolph said both her parents played the organ when she was growing up. Randolph herself was just 16 when she drove 90 minutes one way to Eastern Illinois University for organ lessons, she said.

She later earned her Bachelor of Music Education at Illinois Wesleyan University and Master of Science degree in administration and music supervision-at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Randolph taught music for 44 years in various capacities and amassed numerous awards and certifications. During her years at District 91, Randolph worked with JATOE for opportunities for students to play the Barton Grande Theatre Pipe Organ at the Rialto.

One year, Milne-Kelvin Grove District 91 held its annual holiday concert at the Rialto after the school’s gym, where the concert is usually held, unexpectedly flooded, Randolph said.

Part of that program included nine students performing on the Barton Grande Theatre Pipe Organ, she said.

Mircea is thrilled Randolph offered both the organ and her service.

“It’s a good opportunity for somebody like her, a teacher, to serve the greater community,” Mircea said. “I always look at First Presbyterian as being a church that is open to the greater community, and not just the members. Music, arts, all these things have a way to help the community. … Sarah is able to offer her time for the greater community and I think that is one of the greatest services that someone can do.”

Lee Maloney, president of Allen Organs of Chicago/Indianapolis in Bolingbrook, said he’d donated “four or five” organs to Randolph’s program at District 91 over the years just to “keep the art of organ playing alive.”

Maloney said he began playing the organ when he was 11.

“So that’s 54 years,” Maloney said. “I hate to see it fall away.”

During the 1960s, many people had organs in their homes, more so than the piano, he said. But then keyboards and synthesizers became popular “and that was the end of the organ,” Maloney said.

“Anything to keep it alive is a good thing,” Maloney said. “No other instrument can produce the entire range of sounds that a real organ can produce, from the lowest to the highest. And that it can all be controlled by one person is a unique thing.”

Maloney said a pianist simply presses a key harder for a louder sound. But an organist must use the volume pedal or the expression pedal or use different stops (“The little buttons on the organ are called stops,” Maloney said) to alter the sound an organ produces.

He said “in the old days” of silent films one organist could play all the sounds a band or orchestra could make to accompany the film. He praised Randolph’s efforts for promoting the organ.

“It’s a shame we don’t have more people around like her,” Maloney said.

But Randolph shrugged off any praise.

“My goal is to encourage people to love the king of instruments,” Randolph said. “You don’t have to play the organ; just love the organ.”

Randolph said she’s also helping to train organists for “down the road.”

“[COVID-19] shut everything down,” Randolph said. “Churches shut down. Theaters shut down. Kids majoring in organ changed their majors. After two years, not a lot of kids are majoring in organ now. The ones that majored in organ already have church jobs. So we need more organists to play these million dollar instruments at the Rialto, at our churches.”