Sometimes you just have to shut the world out.

Just as I was leaving last night to play the Bach and Prayer service came the notice that Russia had invaded Ukraine. My words to myself were “Just think CALM. Focus on the music.” I hated to admit it, but my pulse was starting to race, and I was NOT calm!

I arrived at the church about 6:15 pm, well ahead of the start time of 7:00 pm, and Pastor Jeff and his wife Jean were already inside, setting up the video equipment.

About ten days ago, I decided to add the zimbelstern to the last four measures of “Komm, heiliger Geist,” my closing piece. The zimbelstern is the rotating star in the center of the organ façade, and adding it to full organ adds a bit of sparkle to the ensemble. As you may recall from previous posts, the zimbelstern on the church’s Beckerath organ was the first one the company built (!) according to organbuilder Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh. It is operated by a reversible toestud and is a little tricky to operate. You have to hit it DEAD CENTER or it won’t turn on, and it being located on the far right side of the pedal board makes the operation risky. I can’t tell you how many times I have punched it … and nothing happened, because I didn’t hit it dead center.

When I got to the church, the first thing I practiced was hitting that zimbelstern and making sure I could get it on in the midst of playing zillions of sixteenth notes.

The action starts at 3:08 if you want to skip ahead on the video. At 27.23 you can see my right leg extend to reach for the zimbelstern button.

BUT, BUT, BUT …

I forgot to turn it off! Usually I practice turning it off a split second before the cutoff, because it takes a moment for the wheel to stop spinning. But I forgot about it, until about two seconds after the piece had ended! (Groan!)

Oh well!

And, by the way, I’m “Kathy with a K” not “Cathy with a C”! (The video title was wrong).

The worldwide tension over Ukraine was not forgotten, as the prayers began:

(Presider) In the waning hours of the day O Loving Creator, we dare to lift our voices in prayer,
For those who live on the razors edge of war, especially the people of Ukraine, Russia, and all of Eastern Europe. Lord in your mercy,

(People) Hear our prayer.

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Here are some of the nice comments people texted or called me. I’m afraid I left my phone at home and couldn’t respond until I got home.

Bravo!! 👏🏻 I didn’t want it to end! That was such an inspiring performance! I loved all of them, and was only familiar with the first piece so thank you for introducing me to some new ones. Thank you for sharing the link. I hope you have an enjoyable rest of your evening. (Daniel Welch)

Lovely to hear you play this evening. (Sue Haas)

The organ sounded so beautiful. (Mark Russell)

Aloha, Kathy. Sublime is the word that comes to mind. Thank you for bringing peace and joy to this evening. (Janet Sharp)

Some people even wrote me in Spanish!

¡Hiciste un excelente trabajo tocando el órgano esta noche Kathy!  Eres muy talentoso.  Gracias por compartir tu talento. (You did an excellent job playing the organ tonight, Kathy! You are very talented. Thank you for sharing your talent. -Marsha Walker)

¡Bravo, Kathy! ¡Fue un concierto muy lindo!  Y usaste la estrellita (se me olvidó el nombre de la estrellita en alemán.) Me encanta la estrellita. (Bravo, Kathy! It was a very nice concert. And you used the little star [I forgot the name of the little star in German] I love the little star! -Cindy Scheinert)