— Organists and Organ Playing —

Musical benches

May 3, 2017
Interior of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Honolulu.
Interior of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Honolulu.

By this time Sunday, May 7th, I will have sat on six different organ benches (and maybe even seven!) in the course of my week. Oh, not all of them are large pipe organs, but it just goes to show you that within the course of a week, I play musical benches!

  1. Last Sunday, I was at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, subbing for Karl Bachman. I stopped by there again this morning to practice the music coming up for this Sunday, which happens to be Good Shepherd Sunday.
From the view of the console at Punahou School.
From the view of the console at Punahou School.

2. Starting Monday, and in fact every day this week, I have played for a service at Thurston Memorial Chapel at Punahou School, and today I happened to play two services, at 8:15 am and 10:45 am.

3. Monday afternoon I spent practicing on the baby pipe organ in my condo. (Sorry, I’ve never come up with a name for him/her!)

 

The baby pipe organ in my condo.
The baby pipe organ in my condo.
The Aeolian-Skinner organ at St. Andrew's Cathedral.
The Aeolian-Skinner organ at St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

4. On Tuesday, I was at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, playing for the chapel service for the St. Andrew’s Schools on the four-manual Aeolian-Skinner organ.

5. Today, and for the next three days, I will spend my afternoons teaching students at the Beckerath organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. For some reason, I always start out in a chair next to the organ bench, but inevitably, and with every student, I sit on the bench next to them at some point in the lesson, most likely to demonstrate a musical passage, turn the page, or pull stops.

The Beckerath Organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.
The Beckerath Organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

6. On Sunday afternoon, after a morning at Our Redeemer Lutheran, I will be in the Chorus Room of Iolani School, playing on the two manual organ there in rehearsal for their spring concert on May 12th at St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

7. Today I forwarded a notice from Dan Werning at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Kailua, announcing the Re-Dedication Concert of the J. W. Walker organ on May 21st at 4:00 pm. I REALLY should go practice there this weekend since I will be playing half of the program! The organ has been masterfully restored, refurbished, and revoiced by Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh of Hamburg, Germany. I’ll be playing works by Bach, Dan Locklair and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, along with a hymn concerto by John Rutter on “All creatures of our God and king” (LASST UNS ERFREUEN).

The J. W. Walker & Sons pipe organ, St. Christopher's Episcopal, Kailua
The J. W. Walker & Sons pipe organ, St. Christopher’s Episcopal, Kailua. A new zimbelstern has been added!

Mark Wong will be playing the other half of the concert. He, along with Wanda Gereben, was responsible for the original purchase and installation of the organ in 1983 and was organist at St. Christopher’s for many years before succeeding me at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

Dan Werning sent along a note today announcing Joey Fala’s concert at St. Christopher’s on July 23, 2017 at 4:00 pm. Mark your calendars!

As you can tell, I’m running all over this town like crazy and along with playing for daily chapel services at Punahou and Tuesdays at St. Andrew’s Priory, plus Ascension Day, Baccalaureate and Graduation at the Priory, plus a concert at St. Christopher’s, plus the Iolani chorus concert, plus all my organ students, my work is cut out for me before I leave for California on June 6th to meet a new grandson!

(Yes, the first grandchild on both sides of the family!)