St. Olaf College was graced last Sunday by the satirical lore of Garrison Keillor and his program"The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra." In his typical style, Keillor warmed the audience with his soothing timbre and reminiscent tales about family, music and religion.

Previous performances of "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra" have included ensembles such as the Royal Philharmonic of London and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The performance at St. Olaf, however, was presented in conjunction with the St. Olaf Orchestra and Choir. It marks the first time Keillor has performed the satire with an undergraduate ensemble.

Keillor's own undergraduate experience was a unique one, to say the least. Having attended the University of Minnesota, Keillor described himself as being an extremely active person: "I remember being very, very happy and very, very busy," he recalled.

His time at the University took a turn when he "sort of neglected to go to class for a year." Keillor explained this lapse in judgement as what "happens to people when they get interested in other things."

After dropping his extracurricular activities which included working on several publications associated with the University, Keillor began to concentrate upon his studies for the remainder of his college career. "I'm so glad I had that [time]," Keillor recollected, "I really had been kind of skating around, and I remember so many of the courses that I had in that last year and a half."

Keillor remembered his days of being an English major with fondness and mentioned that he thought "it is such a good thing for a writer to start out writing journalism … too often do English majors launch right into trying to write erudite papers about Shakespeare and Chaucer."

Looking back on his college experience, Keillor reminisced that he did not think he had enough fun. "My wild oats were sowed so carefully when I was young, and then I tried sowing them in my late-forties … which is not a good idea," he remarked with a smile. "You really want to be bold when you're young."

The St. Olaf Orchestra, conducted by internationally renowned conductor and St. Olaf regent, Philip Brunelle, accompanied all three of Keillor's orations.

The first piece was titled "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra." A witty comment on the characteristics of each instrument in the orchestra, Keillor aptly portrayed the connotations he felt each musical instrument of the ensemble possessed. "If our Lord was Lutheran, which instrument would He have played?" began Keillor.

When asked how he felt about performing a parody about Lutherans in a predominately Lutheran setting, Keillor replied that "it's a test of comedy if you can do it in front of the people whom you are satirizing."

Nearly every instrument was covered, from bassoons to harp. Of the violists, Keillor joked that "the rest of the orchestra watch them play in amazement … like they're watching blind people shoot baskets." First violinists, Keillor said, are "proud people," who "hardly ever look at the conductor." Keillor explained this supposed characteristic by asking "they know [the conductor] takes his tempo from them anyway, so what's to look at?" The audience responded with laughter as each section of the ensemble fell under Keillor's unique style of verbal satire.

Keillor's second discourse described the hardships felt by Johann Sebastian Bach from the Lutherans of Leipzig, Germany. Keillor introduced his story by mentioning the "congregation of sleepy Lutherans that Johann Sebastian Bach served for the last 25 years of his life, and for whom he wrote some of his best work." Unlike his previous comedic piece, Keillor's reflections on Bach's life included the sad story of how these Lutheran patrons "watched him like a hawk" because "they had always done it that way … and why should they expect to make an exception for him."

For many in attendance, the piece proved to be an interesting interpretation of Lutheran ideals as it managed to poke fun at Lutheran traditions. "Lutherans," Keillor said "never cry or wave their hands during church or speak out loud. Even if the Holy Spirit told them to do it, they would not … they would figure it was a wrong number."

When asked about the performance later, Keillor described it as "a little blow on behalf of church musicians, and musicians in general."

Keillor's third performance of the night dealt with his love for an aunt who had since passed away. Intertwined with his reminiscing of his aunt's eccentricities, is the story of how she was "not quite right in the head," and his inevitable discovery of this truth and its impact upon their relationship. "I was so sorry that I ever found out," Keillor lamented, "I wish that it didn't matter to me … but it did." The narrative ended with Keillor's explaining his inability to return for her funeral.

As the night progressed, Keillor used his uncanny style of oration to make the audience laugh and enjoy themselves just as he was able to make them reflect upon their own heritage and family relationships.

Of his own style, Keillor reflected that "it is in slow motion - people have a lot of time to think. You have to leave pauses in there. You learn this after a while: not to rush, leave out more and more - leave a little silence for people."