A message from the Southeast Professional Development Coordinator

To all my fellow AGO members,

Greetings! I am excited to begin my two-year term as your Region IV Coordinator for Professional Development this Fall. Serving its members' professional development needs is one of the AGO's major goals, and I'm here to help coordinate those efforts within our region. Since many of you probably don't know me, though, please let me first share with you a bit about myself.

I was born and raised in the small town of Thomasville, Georgia. I know and love the South, and have lived here for most of my life. I began studying the piano at age 5 and the organ at age 15. My first organ teacher was Rick Carlson, long-time organist at First Presbyterian Church of Thomasville and alumnus of both Hope College and Northwestern. I earned both a Bachelor of Music and Doctor of Music in Organ in performance from Florida State University in Tallahassee, where I was a student of Michael Corzine. My Master's Degree in Sacred Music (theology major) is from the University of Notre Dame, where I studied organ with Craig Cramer. I also hold the Colleague and Choirmaster Certificates of the AGO, and became a “Rising Star” after winning the RCYO in Atlanta in 2007. I have studied choral conducting with Kevin Fenton, Nancy Menk, and Andre Thomas. I currently serve full time at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and Day School (ELCA) in Tampa, Florida. I am part of a religious order called the Order of Saint Luke (www.saint-luke.net), which informs all aspects of my life, but at present I'm also going through the candidacy process to become a Lutheran deacon. I have been happily married to my wonderful wife Kelly for ten years and have two small children.

In my time as your Regional Coordinator, I'd like to serve both as a personal resource to you and also as true coordinator for our region's membership on all matters non-musical. I will be contacting each of your chapter deans and your district conveners individually with this same message, which I hope you'll take to heart: The difficult part of our job as musicians, whether in churches/synagogues, educational institutions, or other venues, often has little to do with music, and more to do with working relationships, questions of ethics, and questions about the standards of our profession/vocation.

Bearing that in mind, please contact me if you:

• Want to know more about what “professional development” means in the first place!
• Just want to talk to somebody about what's going on in your professional life.
• Have an ethics or professional standards question.
• Want to know more about the unique polity or history of the church/synagogue you serve.
• Are need of a particular print or personal resource, from AGO headquarters or elsewhere.
• Need help determining if there exists a resource that will help meet your professional needs.
• Want to know who to contact at the regional or national level about an issue.

You are free to reach me on my cell phone, by email, Facebook, or on Twitter. My complete contact information is below. I look forward to meeting many of you over these next two years. Until then, peace.

Jonathan Hehn, OSL

AGO Region IV Coordinator for Professional Development
850-980-2812 (cell)
813-877-3105 (office)
E-mail: jonathan.hehn@gmail.com
Facebook /jonathanjakobhehn
Twitter @JonathanHehn