Jan Kraybill, principal organist for Community of Christ, at the Auditorium organ following her annual Super Bowl Sunday recital.

Super Bowl X: More than Football

“I can’t believe it’s been ten years!” Variations of that comment were heard often February 1 as Jan Kraybill prepared to play her annual Super Bowl Sunday recital.

The tradition began in 1999. Jan was seeking an open date for her first recital as the newly hired principal organist for Community of Christ. In checking the church calendar, she found the first Sunday in February had no other activities scheduled. She reserved it and announced the date, only to hear her sports-loving brother-in-law ask, “Do you know what you’ve done?”

Because the normal organ-demonstration recitals were scheduled for 3:00 p.m., Jan decided to schedule the Super Bowl recital for that same time. This served a dual purpose: People already were used to coming at that time, and sports fans still would be able to get home before the game.

Jan thought Super Bowl Sunday Recital I probably would be the final Super Bowl Sunday recital. She figured attendance would consist of her husband, her mother, and the electronic-media workers who would need to be there. Instead, she tapped into an audience of organ enthusiasts.
So the tradition has continued.

Jan has used these recitals as an opportunity to invite listeners to become comfortable with the organ. Alternating between the Casavant organ in the Temple and the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Auditorium, she has presented music from several traditions.

At Super Bowl Sunday Recital IX, Jan said that her recital in 2009 would consist of pieces suggested by audience members. So what were this year’s selections, and the criteria used for choosing them?

• “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” by J.S. Bach was requested most. This 300-year-old piece is among the best-known in the organ repertoire, partly because of its close association with horror movies.
• “I’m a Jayhawk” (KU fight song) by George “Dumpy” Bowles was selected in honor of the brother-in-law who made Jan aware of the significance of her choice of dates.
• Paul Halley’s “Outer Hebrides: A Fantasia on Three Traditional Celtic Melodies” was the request of a good friend in the last stages of ALS.
• “Amazing Grace” by William Bolcom followed as the most-requested hymn and as a way of playing something to honor the Kansas City area’s long jazz tradition.
• Marcel Dupré’s “Prelude and Fugue in G Minor” was the most-requested piece from Jan’s organist friends.
• A medley of songs from the High School Musicals, chosen at the request of the youngest audience member at the 2008 concert, was the piece that attracted young people this year.
• The final piece—the “Overture to William Tell” by Gioachino Rossino and transcribed by Edwin Lemare—was requested by Jan’s husband, providing a way of cutting loose on the Auditorium organ.

For Jan, organ music should be accessible to everyone. The Super Bowl Sunday concerts, regular half-hour demonstration recitals by staff organists, and guest-artist concerts help connect old and young, musicians and non-musicians, and members of the church and fine-arts communities.

—Pam Robison reporting