Dr. Grant D. Venerable, II on Biography, Life in Music and Organ Recital:
Grant
Delbert Venerable II is native to Los Angeles, California. His
father Grant D. Venerable (1904-1986), mathematician-civil engineer,
was a cornetist and tenor vocalist and his mother Thelma Scott
Venerable (1916-1950) was an accomplished organist and homemaker.
Young
Venerable was trained on the piano by Mmes. Dovie Steward and
Harriette Williamson (childhood and teen years) and introduced to the
organ by William Grant Carter and Ivy Lee Beard (1960s). He attended
UCLA (B.S., Chemistry) and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., Physical
Chemistry). He taught chemistry at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and
the University of California at Santa Cruz (1970s) and worked in
Silicon Valley industry (1980s) before being called to the College of
Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University to teach the history
and philosophy of science from the ancient Nile Valley to modern
times (1990s).
Grant
Venerable was organist for Congregational-UCC churches in northern
California (1980s-1990s) and concertized in his unique
improvisational style accented by rich tone colorings. From 1996
until his retirement in 2011, he was a senior academic officer at
Chicago State University, Morris Brown College (Atlanta), and Lincoln
University of Pennsylvania (as provost and senior vice president).
In Chicago he was affiliated with the First Unitarian Church and his
family's Episcopal Church of St. Edmund and served on the Boards of
CityQuest and Brent House, the Episcopal Chaplain's Center at The
University of Chicago.
This
CD may be ordered at Tel 928 526-9355 or at website
www.WiliamGrantStill.com
or by email at ventwo@aol.com
This
recital entitled, “Bach, Rhythm and Soul – Celebrating the
Journey with Kith and Kin,” offers a musical portrait of formative
moments in my life. The prelude piece, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep
Silence, was intended not only to warm up the fingers, but also to
display the range of the organ's impressive tonal resources – from
soft celestial strings and majestic trumpets to its brilliant full
organ sound. The W.G. Still piece recalls my meeting Judith Anne
Still in 7th grade and her parents William Grant and Verna
Arvey Still in their LA home where Reverie was composed.
The
various sacred pieces were staples of my childhood upbringing in my
family's African Methodist Episcopal (AME), Presbyterian, and Baptist
heritage. I learned the Boellmann Toccata during my early years of
teaching chemistry at Cal Poly. I have long relied on my musical
performance as a tool for keeping mental, emotional, and spiritual
balance. It is how I dissipate excess levels of stress. Music
affords me entry to deep inside my soul even as it lets me stand
outside of myself to achieve inspiration and insight.
Preparing
for the recital enabled my discovery of long-hidden aspects of my
inner self, perhaps the most important being the source of my life
energy as a musical artist. Even in doing science, I felt like an
artist seeking unity in his creations. The October 6th
recital was symbolic of the meaning of life experienced in the pieces
played. Along with the sacred melodies, two pieces stand out: 1) The
nearly haunting beauty of Reverie for organ by “Dean of African
American composers” William Grant Still and 2) the symphonic-scale
Chorale No. 3 in A Minor by Belgian-born Frenchman Cesar Franck. The
whole meaning of life attached to the Still and Franck works shine
like a bright star. The recital gave me a euphoric sense of
completing one journey and beginning the next.
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