Tamara Still, new music associate at Trinity Cathedral, consults with Canon John Strege, director of cathedral music

  When Tamara Still was in high school in Kansas City, Missouri, she practiced the organ five hours a day, sang in a choir, and played the French horn. She was enthralled by music. Her mother was not as enchanted with her daughter’s musical obsession. “She thought I was trying to get out of doing chores,” says the new music associate at Trinity Cathedral. “I didn’t come from a musical family,” she deadpans.

In her bright-red raw silk dress, high heels, dangling gold earrings, and heavy gold-braided necklace, Still looks like she might be a fashion designer rather than a musician. She began her position in June, following decades of experience performing liturgical music and earning a doctorate in musical arts in organ performance from the University of Washington.

In this newly created position, Still will be the assistant organist, involved with liturgy and recitals in collaboration with Canon John Strege, director of cathedral music. In January, she will be responsible for musically articulating a new program of the cathedral’s invention called “New American Liturgy.” While it is still evolving, the goal of the New American Liturgy is to make Anglican musical tradition acceptable to cradle Episcopalians while remaining accessible to seekers new to the tradition. The program strives for this balance through the creative interplay of repertoire (a body of music) and instrumentation (use of various instruments) to enhance and expand an already rich tradition of sacred music. The New American Liturgy is scheduled for the fourth Sunday of the month beginning in 2006. Still will also serve during a children’s musical liturgy on first Sundays.

“Tamara brings a great affinity for Episcopal music and a wonderful artistry as an organist to this position,” says Strege. “She has a great energy and love for church music. She’s a marvelous addition to our music program.”

Still's love of music began early. One day, her father brought home a transistor radio for her, which she strapped to her bicycle and listened to as she rode around town with the other kids after school. At 11, she started playing the organ. Her undergraduate degree was in music education, and she taught “hundreds” of children to play instruments when she worked as an elementary school teacher.

Still's husband, James Denman, is also an organist. He begins as organist for St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukie, this month. The couple has a son, Alex, age six, who attends the French American School, and each has an adult daughter from a previous marriage. Before joining the cathedral staff, Still was a music professor at Seattle Pacific University and was the organist at Epiphany Episcopal Parish in Seattle.