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Paul Westermeyer came to Luther
Seminary in 1990 to teach church music, implement the master of sacred
music program and serve as cantor for the Seminary. He had been at
Elmhurst (Ill.) College since 1968, where he was professor of music,
chair of the department, director of the choir and oratorio chorus, and
organist.
He was visiting professor of church music at the Yale University
Institute of Sacred Music in 1989-90. Westermeyer served as cantor
(choirmaster-organist) of Ascension Lutheran Church, Riverside, Ill., in
1982-90, and was assistant pastor from 1986 to 1990. He was ordained in
1986.
He was choirmaster-organist for The Church of Our Savior (Episcopal), in
Elmhurst (1969-71); St. Luke Lutheran Church, Silver Spring, Md.
(1966-68); Calvary Lutheran Church, Leonia, N.J. (1965-66); St. John's
Episcopal Church, Lancaster, Pa. (1962-65); and Zion United Church of
Christ, Chicago (1961-62). He was choirmaster at Grace Lutheran Church,
Villa Park, Ill. (1971-82) and Bethel United Church of Christ, Elmhurst
(1958-61).
He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association; the
American Guild of Organists for whom he served as national chaplain for
two terms (1991-1998); the American Society of Church History; the
Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society; the Hymn Society of America
for which he has been Editor (1985-1990) and President (1998-2000); the
Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Hymnologie; the Liturgical
Conference, the Mercersburg Society, and the North American Academy of
Liturgy.
He has just completed serving on the board of the Leadership Programs
for Musicians Serving Small Congregations."
Westermeyer earned the B.A. degree from Elmhurst in 1962, and the B.D.
degree from Lancaster (Pa.) Theological Seminary in 1965. He received
the S.M.M. degree from the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological
Seminary in New York in 1966. Both the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees were
earned at the University of Chicago (1974 and 1978). Additional study
has been done at The Schola Cantorum, Concordia Theological Seminary
(1966); the liturgical studies program at Notre Dame (1969); and CPE at
Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill. (1983). He has had applied
study in violin, organ, piano, voice and conducting.
He has written The Church Musician (1988, rev. 1997); With Tongues of
Fire: Profiles in Twentieth-Century Hymn Writing (1995); Let Justice
Sing: Hymnody and Justice (1998); Te Deum: The Church and Music (1998);
The Heart of The Matter: Church Music As Praise, Prayer, Presentation,
Story, & Gift (2001); and Hymns for Lent (2003).
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