2023 Carl Schalk Scholarship Recipient Interview

Lutheran Summer Music is pleased to present the recipient of the 2023 Carl Schalk Scholarship Award: Eliana from Kirkwood, Missouri. LSM has established the Dr. Carl Schalk Scholarship Endowment fund to honor Dr. Schalk’s legacy not only in name, but in the promise that the future of music and the Church which he served so faithfully will be preserved through the training and nurturing of young people.

Students awarded the Dr. Carl Schalk Scholarship are identified by their own pursuit of church music, and by their desires to use their musical gifts to the service of the church and to proclaim Christ.

Eliana, an organ and clarinet student, returned to LSM for her second summer in 2023. In addition to receiving funds through the Carl Schalk scholarship, her home congregation (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Peres, MO) also financially supported her attendance to LSM.

We asked Eliana some questions about her study of church music and her LSM experience:

How do you pursue church music in your home congregation?

I play postludes, preludes, interludes, and take organ lessons at my church. I pursue church music here at home by applying the techniques I have learned through my organ lessons and through the other courses I took at LSM.

How did you pursue church music at LSM 2023?

Through organ lessons at LSM, I learned how to play along and lead a congregation. I used this on Cantata Sunday at LSM, when I played the Agnus Dei in a service. This was my first time leading a congregation, which was easier because I was playing in front of musicians who knew the pressure of playing in front of people. I also pursued church music by singing in the choir. As a church musician in the future, I need to know different areas of what I will be doing.

What is important to you about the music of the church?

The importance of church music is that what we are playing and what we are singing is to the glory of God and not to the glory of ourselves. Also, it gives grounding in the theology of the church and helps make the theology more accessible. I was able to participate in worship through the liturgy before I could even read. As I heard in a sermon once, "You don't hum a sermon, but you do hum a hymn.” Granted, this sermon was for the retirement of a church musician. This may be funny, but it's also true. You may not remember a sermon from your childhood, but you remember the message of the childhood hymns. This is why I think church music is so important to me. 

Congratulations to Eliana, and thank you to all who have contributed toward the Dr. Carl Schalk Scholarship Endowment.

Check the “Dedicate my donation in honor or in memory of someone” box and enter Dr. Carl Schalk.