S02E17 - Udo Zimmermann

Udo Zimmermann, Church Musician, started at age 15 playing the
organ in his local church and then made his way to Studium der
Kirchenmusik in Rottenburg am Neckar, Germany and later to
Frankfurt am Main University becoming a church musician which
means studying singing, organ and conducting. He is now head of
Church Music (organist) at Pfarrei St. Peter and Paul in Zurich
Switzerland. We talked about the path in Germany/Switzerland for
a church musician, what they study and the skills they need for
their positions. Udo is the Head of Church Music at the
Hochschule of Music in Luzern where he teaches liturgical singing
and organ playing and the practice of a church musician such as
creating music for the mass. We talked about; his own skills of
singing, conducting, how he teaches students improvisation at the
organ, pipe organs, historical pipe organs, the value of the
church tradition in Europe, the choice of traditional and
contemporary church music and the hymn tradition of four part
singing vs. one line song singing.