GERRE HANCOCK

Improvisation

Improvisation has long been a subject of consuming interest to Gerre Hancock, who was fortunate to have studied the subject with Nadia Boulanger, Jean Langlais and Searle Wright.

A large part of the organ music for the services at Saint Thomas Church (where Dr. Hancock was Organist and Master of Choristers for more than thirty years) includes improvisation on various themes presented within the course of each day’s liturgical and musical numbers. Mr. Hancock enjoys improvising in the various classical forms, with particular emphasis on contrapuntal forms, especially fugal.

Dr. Hancock teaches improvisation at The School of Music of The University of Texas at Austin. He has also taught this art at The Julliard School in New York City, The Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University in New Haven, and The Eastman School of Music in Rochester. He is frequently invited to give master classes or lecture-demonstrations for chapters of The American Guild of Organists and other groups on this subject. Dr. Hancock has also conducted workshops of a more extended nature in a number of leading universities in the United States, and at various Church Music Conferences.

On his recital programs he is frequently asked to improvise from themes presented just prior to this part of the program. His improvisations have been widely praised and on countless occasions have earned for him standing ovations.

A recording, Improvisation II, of several of Dr. Hancock’s improvisations on various hymn-tunes, is available from the Music Secretary, Saint Thomas Church, 1 West 53^rd Street, New York, New York 10019.

His textbook, Improvising: How to Master the Art, is published by Oxford University Press, New York.