John Blackburn

Office Hours by appointment

Fall 2013 Schedule

TR 2:00-3:20 Music Appreciation

Vita

John L. Blackburn is the Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church of Beeville, having previously served as Director of Music Ministries at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church and Organist for Temple Rodef Shalom, both in Waco.  Currently, Blackburn is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Coastal Bend College, Beeville Campus.  Mr. Blackburn is a graduate of Baylor University, receiving his Bachelor degree in Church Music with Organ Emphasis and a Master of Music in Church Music degree from Baylor. He is a member of the American Guild of Organist, Organ Historical Society, Pi Kappa Lamba, The Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, and The Royal School of Church Musicians.

Mr. Blackburn has also participated in the Doctorate of Musical Arts program from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Judith and Gerre Hancock.

During his undergraduate years at Baylor University, John served two seasons as Organist for the Baylor University Concert Choir as well as organist for several different University events.

While Mr. Blackburn was Director of Music at Saint Paul’s, he conducted concerts of several major works, including Haydn’s Missa in tempore Belli, as well as several premieres of new works by Robert Young, Richard Webster, and Sterling Proctor.  In 2008, Baylor University invited the Choir of Saint Paul’s to sing at the University’s historic Armstrong Browning Library to welcome visiting professors from Oxford University.  This was the first performance by a non-university based choir in that venue.

As a musician for sacred service, Blackburn has excelled at the Art of Improvisation.  He is also the founder of Music in the Nave, a concert series in Beeville, Texas, which brings noted musicians and ensembles from around the world to a smaller community.  John currently sits as a board member for Baylor University’s Center for Christian Music Studies,.  As a hymn writer, Blackburn’s hymns have been sung around Texas and the Southeast, including at a National Convention of the Organ Historical Society in Washington, D.C. in July of 2011.

In 2013, Mr. Blackburn co-founded a new professional ensemble; The Texas Baroque Ensemble, based primarily in San Antonio, Texas.  The ensemble is formed of professional musicians from across the State of Texas, including orchestral musicians and choral personnel.  The repertoire performed by this ensemble is diverse, ranging from period works of Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Early Romantic as well as 20^th century chamber works and both orchestral solo pieces and choral solo pieces.

He has also serve the American Guild of Organists by serving the Central Texas Chapter first as Dean, and later as Secretary and has served on the board of Schola Cantorum of Texas, a professional choir based in Fort Worth.  He has served as a lecturer, teacher and performer for several Pipe Organ Encounters, a national effort to teach both youth and adults how to play the organ.

Mr. Blackburn is active in the community and surrounding areas near his home.  He is a member of Rotary International, serves of the school board of Saint Philip’s Episcopal School in Beeville, and aids various organizations through charity concerts including Habitat for Humanity, the Beeville Vineyard, The Texas Water Mission and Rotary International’s “End Polio Now” Campaign.