42 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst Year in Review 2020 Mr John Hogan Diocesan living treasure retires after forty years of service It is not a stretch to consider Mr John Hogan as a ‘diocesan living treasure’, he is a keeper of the knowledge and skills required to perform and re-create unique aspects of our intangible cultural heritage; the transposition of our senses through music in to worship and prayer. Born in Leongatha, John moved to Kyabram when he was five years old. His first lessons in music were with the Brigidine Sisters at St Augustine’s Primary School when he learned to play the most humble of instruments, the recorder; back in the days when John thought all priests had Irish accents. John’s interest in music continued and he studied piano with Ms Miriam McKenzie who was a “very fine piano teacher and great fun,” said John. “To improve my sight-reading, she would give me a book marked with pieces to play, and I would go through the whole book,” he said. “My parents bought a phonograph which came with a free 45 rpm record; one side was Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, I was in riveted … then one day at high school, someone played Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto over the loud-speakers and again, I was riveted, I thought, ‘hey that is something!’” And thus began John’s liturgical music journey. Surprisingly, after finishing Year 12 in Kyabram, John studied economics at Monash University in Melbourne then entered the public service. While working, he studied for diplomas in music, and eventually became a music teacher. His first job as a teacher was at Tottenham Technical College in Melbourne, which was known to be a tough gig. John started a brass band. “They were basically good honest kids and they got a real sense of achievement from the brass band,” said John noting he also enjoyed the experience himself. While in Melbourne John studied with some of the best liturgical musicians in Melbourne; pipe organ with Maestro Sergio de Pieri, orchestral conducting with gifted Romanian conductor Robert Rosen and choral conducting with Sir David Willcocks of Kings College fame. Prior to starting at Sacred Heart Cathedral, John was assistant organist at St Carthage’s, Parkville, then assistant organist at St Joseph’s South Yarra, then organist at Sacred Heart (St George’s), Carlton where the Parish Priest was the renowned musician Rev. Dr Percy Jones. John was both organist and choirmaster at Our Lady of Victories, Camberwell, and was also assistant to Maestro Sergio de Pieri, (his pipe organ teacher), at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne. During this time John was also Principal Study Organ Teacher at the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music. He also played piano, organ and keyboard with the Australia Felix ensemble, which regularly recorded for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and workshopped music with local composers. John’s first Mass as organist and choirmaster at Sacred Heart Cathedral, was on Trinity Sunday, 1 June 1980. “I was very happy it went well” said John, “especially, since we needed extra people in the choir for Fr Andrew Fewings’ ordination which was to be six weeks after. Fortunately, quite a few joined us and many stayed on with the choir afterwards.” When John started at the Cathedral, the choir had seventeen members and they were not used to turning up regularly. “Being a teacher, I said to them — if you don’t turn up to practice you can’t come and sing on Sunday. So, I was worried nobody would turn up, but they all did. It meant I could plan the music for Mass knowing what voices we’ve got on what Sunday and I think the choir members were proud to be part of a more committed group and actually enjoyed taking things more seriously,” said John. “When I first came here, people would say “that wasn’t bad for a kids Liturgy” or “you’re doing a good job for a country choir.” I thought, why does it have to be a lesser standard here than in Melbourne? We are people, we can do exactly the same, why can’t we do as good as anywhere else? So we aimed to be as good as we possibly could. Every week we did something different … For me personally, to consistently have every Sunday Mass go well and every Sunday be different, all in sync with beautiful interludes is a real achievement.” said John. “Over the years, I got to the point where, as an organist, I could improvise in the French tradition. If you go to Mass at Notre Dame, the choir sings to the music sheet, but the organist always improvises. That for me is a personal achievement.” said John. “When I was young trying to do new Liturgies, and following the books, I was very anxious about it. Now, after forty years, I’m still a bit on edge, but I know where I’m going,” smiled John, adding once when a procession was running very late, a member of the clergy told asked him to “improvise in F# minor”. Like all genres of music, liturgical music evolves over time, beyond the standard repertoire of Gregorian chants. “Music at Mass needs to be congregationally friendly, so people can join in,” said John. “Sometimes we need to over play when the congregation isn’t singing, at other times play less, to almost coerce them to join in. We need to get the balance right. When the congregation sings, the choir can add richness with harmonies and descants, but not enough to put the congregation off; it’s a cat and mouse game in a way,” said John. “At Bishop Shane’s Installation Mass we didn’t need to do any of that, because the congregation just joined in,” said John. Writing Mass Settings and Motets for the choir has given John a great sense of achievement; one of the Mass Settings was commissioned for the Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy. He wrote others for Masses such as the Feast of Saint Augustine and the Feast of the Sacred Heart. “There’s a lot of satisfaction when you write a Mass setting for a choir which then learns, practises and performs it and it sounds great below,” said John. John thinks that over the years, the congregation has become Mr John Hogan, seventh Cathedral organist, ninth Director of the Choir, our first Organist and Director of Music and our first lay Diocesan Director of Sacred Music at Sacred Heart Cathedral, has retired after forty years of dedicated service. Mr Hogan’s last official Mass was held on 22 November 2020, a date specifically chosen by him as it was the Feast of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. IDENTITY & COMMUNITY
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