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Get to Know the Team: Jeff O'Donnell

July 13, 2015 — Posted by Carolyn Pierson '06

07-JeffEmmy-150Have you ever wondered who is on the Sing For Joy team? Besides Pastor Bruce Benson, the program host, there are a few others working behind the scenes to bring the program to your ears every week. For starters, there's Jeff O'Donnell, executive producer, who was kind enough to sit down for a short interview. We hope you will enjoy getting to know Jeff, and come back soon to meet the rest of the team.

How long have you been involved with Sing For Joy?
13 Years

What is your current role at Sing For Joy?
I'm the Executive Producer and Music Director, which means that I choose all of the music for each program, in consultation with our Music Adviser John Ferguson, by requesting and auditioning new recordings of sacred choral music and seeking out new material.

I record all of the voiceover sessions with Bruce Benson, and then edit and assemble each program. This entails balancing the volume of the musical works with Bruce's voice, making sure each program runs exactly 28:30, and creating the promos.

I'm also in charge of making sure we keep very strictly to our budgets in everything we do, both in our expenses and in the money we need to raise each year. When Sing For Joy goes on the road to conventions, I represent the program and the college in the exhibit hall - we collaborate with St. Olaf College Admissions and St. Olaf Records to have a booth. It's always great to meet listeners at these events!

If someone peeked in your office, what would they find sitting on your desk?
When I'm working on Sing For Joy, my desk becomes filled with the lectionary for the set of shows I'm working on, and calendar of the liturgical year so I make sure I know all of the various feast days that we wish to commemorate. I have copies of previous playlists and scripts that I can reference, as well as piles of new CDs that I scan for texts and recordings that may apply to the lessons of the Sunday I am working on. I also have hymnals, hymnal companions, scriptural indexes, and several other worship planning guides.

For my primary work as Director of Broadcast / Media Services at St. Olaf you'll find budget spreadsheets, equipment specifications, design schematics, concert programs, legal release forms, copyright agreements and random bits of technical gear. I do try to keep a pretty clean desk, though.

What is your favorite "season" of the church year?
I love Advent. So much great music, so many evocative texts. The faith filled anticipation is inspiring.

What is one of your all-time favorite hymns?
I have many favorite hymns (they all kind of move around as to which one is most "favorite" based on my mood), but one that comes to mind is "Christ Mighty Savior" - a Mozarabic text with a melodic, interesting tune by Richard Dirksen. I am perhaps influenced in liking this by the accompaniment that John Ferguson has written for it, which weaves the words of the text with the rising and falling of the hymn tune. As an evening hymn it's pretty magical. Come hear for yourself on this archived Sing For Joy program.

Tell me about one of your favorite Sing For Joy memories:
I have two very fond memories, both involving our Sing For Joy hymn festivals. When we held our first one in 2003 at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis, there were so many people in attendance that we filled rafters and had standing room only. The congregational singing was so overwhelming that Ferg merely set the stage and the group singing basically led the way. I also remember Rev. Alvin Rueter (the program's founder and first host) memorably read the Gospel lesson.

Another fantastic memory was our Hymn Festival as part of the 2011 ACDA National Convention in Rockefeller Chapel in Chicago. That was another case of an enormous crowd signing great hymns at the top of their lungs!

What do you love most about your job and being part of the Sing For Joy team?
I enjoy hearing excellent music and finding the connections between the lessons each week and the inspiring words of hymn and text writers and composers. I also enjoy my work with Bruce Benson, John Ferguson, Carolyn Pierson, and Joshua Wyatt. We make a great team.

What is something our readers don't know about you?
I won a Regional Emmy award as Audio Producer for the "St. Olaf Christmas in Norway" PBS television program in 2013.