Forty-four years ago, while still a graduate student of music, Lawrence Doebler began work on the Bach “Mass in B Minor” from the perspective of one day preparing the piece for presentation by choral students.

“The [Mass] was on my bucket list of things to do,” the professor and director of choral activities at the renowned Ithaca College School of Music said. “The challenge for me was how to teach it in 44 years or less.”