— Organists and Organ Playing —

“That’s what we do”

March 14, 2020

Organist Monica Czausz is in Hawaii this weekend (and is my delightful houseguest!) and when she arrived at the airport, she was greeted not only with a flower lei but also a comprehensive schedule of her time here, accounting for all of her practice time but also who was taking and picking her up from the church every day. Every breakfast, lunch and dinner was also hosted by a different board member. As our Concert Chair Karl Bachman explained, “It’s what we do.” It’s part of the aloha spirit that we show to our visiting artists, which I think may be unique to our part of the world.

Last night I hosted a “meet and greet” for the American Guild of Organists board members, and cancelled all my afternoon lessons to work on the food. I put together the menu but asked board members to bring some of the side dishes.

After my morning organ lessons, I put together a spinach and mushroom pasta with goat cheese, cut up fruit for a tropical fruit salad, made praline pecans and blueberry pecan shortcake bars.

Spinach and mushroom pasta with goat cheese
Praline pecans
Blueberry and pecan shortbread bars
Tropical fruit bowls
Paul Lillie was unable to attend but sent along a shrimp tray
Karl Bachman made meatballs.
Elizabeth Wong brought a cheese and cracker tray.
Miki Yamamoto brought a sushi tray.
Steven Severin baked a poppy seed bread.
In spite of the coronavirus fears, we had a wonderful evening, full of laughter and fun—and I promise you, there was no shaking hands or hugging! Back row: Steven Severin, Monica Czausz, Karl Bachman; Front row: Elizabeth Wong, Miki Yamamoto, and myself. We missed Jieun Kim Newland (sick) and The Rev. Paul Lillie, who had a previous commitment. Wyatt Nagao took the photo, which unfortunately did not show Margaret Lloyd who arrived late.

I asked Monica when she started organ lessons and she said it was when she was a freshman in high school. Her local AGO chapter was sponsoring a Pipe Organ Encounter (POE), a week for teenagers to introduce them to the organ, and they were desperate for pianists to register. Even though her piano skills were not strong, she signed up and then she got hooked (!), getting up at 4 am every day to practice on this magical box, the King of Instruments! Now she has a wildly successful concert career as an organist.

Tomorrow afternoon’s concert (2:00 pm) at Central Union Church is a GO and Monica is looking forward to sharing her music with us! Unfortunately we have had to cancel this Friday’s concert at Church of the Holy Apostles in Hilo, but as of today, her Maui concert at Makawao Union Church (Tuesday, March 17, 7:00 pm) is going ahead as planned.