She
Spreads Harmony Around GlobeBy MARILYN ANOBILE - Photos by Carolyn Collazo Tribune Chronicle, Warren, Ohio July 22, 1995
WARREN -- Every week in some part of the United States or abroad, Susan Maehre is the organist-pianist for at least 500 churches. This weekend. her hymns would be playing in the sanctuary of many rural churches in America or in Australia, New Guinea, Puerto Rico, England, South Africa, or Italy.
Thanks to high-tech musical instruments. Maehre has recorded more than 700 hymns on compact discs that are used at Seventh-Day Adventist churches and homes world wide and other denominational churches as well.
Her work was honored June 17, 1995 in Mount Vernon, where the Ohio Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists named Maehre a "Woman of the Year." The award was given to her for "outstanding achievement." Hymns Alive" is a collection of 33 discs containing songs from the hymnal books used at most Seventh-Day Advehtist Churches. Each disc contains 20 songs recorded on organ and piano. 'It's like having a lifetime organist-pianist." said Pastor Robert Maehre, pastor of Seventh- day Adventist Church, of his wife's work.
"Hymns Alive" can be a God-send to a church that can't find a full-time organist or a church whose organist is on vacation or sick leave. Or even just for the Wednesday evening Prayer Meeting. Maehre said "Hymns Alive" is not restricted to Seventh-Day Adventist churches. Most of the hymns in the denomination's hymnal are loved and used by most Christian denominations. The hymnal contains such popular Christian hymns as "Amazing Grace" and "Faith of Our Fathers.
Susan
began recording the songs on disc, in the order they appear in
the hymnal, in 1990. At the time. she was the organist at First
United Methodist Church in Niles, Ohio which had a high-tech organ.
She recorded and programmed her music through a keyboard into a portable computer. Each song was recorded with piano and organ instrumemtation. Some songs also feature string or brass accompaniment such as "Lift Up the Trumpet."
Each CD of "Hymns Alive" contains a list of songs with the track number. With the touch of a button Maehre's music can be played in any sanctuary that has a CD player. Since the CD's were recorded with the organ on the right channel and the piano on the left one can choose to listen to either or both.
The last CD -- No. 33 -- was completed in 1992. But sales of the CDs began shortly after the first three were made in 1990, Maehre said. Many many churches bought the succeeding CDs.
Churches can purchase the entire set for $359 or individual CDs, such as a CD containing songs for a certain liturgical season, such as Christmas or Easter.
The CDs are advertised in Seventh-Day Adventist publications. [and now on the Web] They also were promoted at the denomination's recent world-wide conference in the Netherlands. The completion of "Hymns Alive" three years ago was not the end of recording sacred music on CDs. The Maehres now have a studio in their Howland home. Maehre, who has a degree in voice performance, is working on a CD package of children's songs.
Maehre, who grew up as a daughter of a Seventh-Day Adventist pastor, also is a song-writer. She and her husband give seminars on family issues, which are some of the sources of her songs.
"Listen With Your Heart" stresses the importance of good communication by distinguishing feelings from facts; "Let Them Go" focuses on the need for parents to "let go" of their grown children; and 'The Valley of Waiting" is about single people and the loneliness they feel at times. Maehre has written about 25 songs, some of which which are performed at the seminars.
Some of her songs come from her personal life or the lives of loved ones or friends. "Those are the best songs," Maehre said. "You earn the right to talk about them (life issues). "Music is a mystery. It's very powerful," Maehre said. "Music speaks to the soul."
By Maraline Kubik
The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio Sept. 1995
Filling a niche market with music is proving successful for a Howland couple whose home-based business serves customers around the world.
Organists are hard to find, Pastor Bob Maehre explains; some churches don't even have an organ. Relying on his wife Susan's talent, the couple set out to fill that void. They founded PAVEternity Records, a music production company, in 1990 to produce recorded music suitable for use during worship services.
To date, P.A.V.E. Records has produced 33 compact discs [now 34 with Sabbath Songs for Tiny Tots and more to come] containing more than 700 hymns and responses. The set, Hymns Alive, includes the entire SDA Hymnal plus a few of Susan's original compositions.
Although the company's primary market is the 4,000 plus Seventh-day Adventist churches in North America, Bob says the Cds could be used in any Christian ministry, home, or church.
"My son used it to accompany him for a trumpet solo, "reports Vera H___, a Franklinton, N.C. grandmother who purchased the entire set to practice with in the hopes that she will eventually be proficient enough to play for church. "I enjoy listening to them while I'm working. I enjoy singing with the. I've enjoyed them a lot and my family too." she says. "I guess that's why they talk about Heaven being a place where there's a lot of singing. It just lifts you up so much. You get an emotional and spiritual boost from the music. I think it's a blessing for anybody to hear."
It took two years to complete the project, which was recorded using a $60,000 Allen organ at the Niles United Methodist Church, where Susan served as music director and organist. The organ and piano are recorded on separate tracks so listeners can choose one or both.
After the music was recorded, Bob continues, "We orchestrated some of the hymns with brass and strings." Hymns were also arranged in numerical order, 20 per disc, to ensure the collection would be "user friendly," he says.
The CD's retail for $12 each in sets of three or $359 for the entire collection.
This fall, the couple's next project will be available - a CD featuring Susan's original compositions pertaining to family issues. Long-range plans include developing a series of Cds for children preschool through juniors, Susan elaborates, as well as a children's collection suitable for Sunday school use. The music production company's parent firm, Pro Audio Visuals for Eternity, which Bob founded 20 years ago, will also expand its line of Biblical visual aids used during religious lectures.
Return to our Home Page to hear samples of Hymns Alive and our other projects.
