Today I was scheduled to play the Walker organ and conduct the choir at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Kailua, on the windward side of the island. My music bag was packed with my organ music and shoes and I put on a long-sleeved blouse, a full-length jacket and dress slacks. As I got dressed, I believed I was arming myself for battle … against the mosquitoes!

You see, many churches in Hawaii are open to the elements, with open doorways and large windows, to allow for “natural” air conditioning through cooling trade winds. Hah! It also means that when you play the organ at church, whether you are practicing in the room by yourself or playing a service for the congregation, you are subject to mosquito bites, and some people, like myself, are apparently more tasty and prone to bites more than others.

Hey, I have received mosquito bites at a number of churches, including Holy Nativity, St. Clement’s, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, and Punahou School Thurston Chapel.

During a particularly bad time during construction at Iolani School, I would get a dozen mosquito bites on my ankles every single day during the chapel services.

I would even get bitten in an air-conditioned church like the Lutheran Church of Honolulu! I remember a particular incident when I got about 50 bites when I was giving an organ lesson at LCH, and my body reacted by getting hives on top of it.

The absolute worst thing is when you are in the middle of playing a piece and you see mosquitoes alight on your fingers and hands. You can’t brush them off because then you risk spoiling the music.

So when I went to St. Christopher’s earlier in the week to practice for today’s service, sure enough I came back with a mosquito bite. The doors had been left open and I was a tasty subject.

Imagine my surprise when after the service a parishioner pointed out that the building is now air conditioned, and has new glass doors.

I also noticed a brand new sign in front.

Brand new exterior sign

I realized too late that I forgot to use the zimbelstern during the Sanctus (as I was instructed to do because of the Christmas-Epiphany season) so I pulled it on during the last phrase of the postlude, which was Bach’s “In dir ist Freude,” — hey, it worked!

Afterwards I was pleased to greet Beth Barry, a teacher now retired from Iolani School, and was able to share the happy news about the engagement of our former student, Joey Fala, to Sarah Jones.

The couple actually got engaged over Christmas and Joey texted me a few days afterwards with the exhortation that it was a secret. So I’ve had to keep the news quiet until today when Joey announced it on Facebook, so it’s now public knowledge. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Tonight I just came back from a fantastic Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra concert featuring Ignace “Iggy” Jang, concertmaster, playing the Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor by Henry Vieuxtemps. Iggy’s performance was just electrifying, with perfect intonation and stunning virtuosity. He played two seductive but rhythmic tangos by Piazolla as an encore, convincing me that we are indeed lucky to have this orchestra with these world-class musicians in this town.