The Right Pipes

Name: Robert ParkinsPosition: University organist; professor of the practice of musicYears at Duke: 36

What I do at Duke: I teach organ, harpsichord and music theory, and then during the academic year when the students are here, I play for the Chapel services on Sunday morning.

My first ever job: An organist job. When I was 16, I played at a Baptist church in Louisville, Kentucky, and it was my home church, actually. I had to play for at least three services a week and two choir rehearsals, and I received the grand sum of $60 a month.

My dream job: I like the job I have right now. I've worked 9 to 5 jobs, and some of them were tough, like working on a labor gang at a rayon plant when I was younger, and it just gave me some perspective and made me appreciate what I do now.

If someone wanted to start a conversation with me, they should ask me about: Beer. I'm a big craft beer enthusiast and I have been since the mid-80s when the craft beer revolution started up. It's like a hobby. (One of his favorite breweries: Unibroue near Montreal, and his favorite beer of theirs is La Fin du Monde.)

The best advice I ever received: When you're 65, you've gotten a lot of advice over the years, most of which I've ignored. I had at least one or two (elementary school teachers) who would say from time to time, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

What I love about Duke: The Chapel and the organs. There's no other university in this country that has a situation like that, this beautiful neo-Gothic chapel with the appropriate amount of reverberation. This is the ideal room. Then you've got three world-class organs, each of which does a different thing, and another little organ that moves around. You just can't touch that.

Something most people don't know about me: When I was in college, at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, I was kicked out of the music history class for sleeping.

An interesting/memorable day at Duke: I'd have to say when the big Flentrop organ came into the Chapel in 1976. I was invited to come over to the Chapel with the organ builder and the university organist and a couple of other people at night, and the room was empty. I heard the university organist launch into a big French romantic piece and I thought, I can't imagine what I'm hearing, that this organ can play this music so well. I was totally bowled over, and I've loved it ever since. That's the organ I play every Sunday.

A pet peeve: Noise pollution. There's just so much unnecessary noise, including electronic beeps in the grocery store. I don't even know if most people notice it, but it drives me crazy.