And a race to the finish! That pretty much typifies the last week before a trip… but this week things seem particularly frantic.

Within the past few days, along with baritone Keane Ishii and Early Music Hawaii President, Ian Capps, we gave a demonstration of early music to over 60 first graders at Pearl City Highlands Elementary School. That meant removing the legs and schlepping my little harpsichord into the elevator for its 35-story ride into the back of Ian’s SUV. The harpsichord is not overly heavy but it’s bulky, making it awkward to handle.

The music we performed included “Greensleeves,” composed by none other than Henry VIII of England, five hundred years ago; John Dowland (1563-1626) “Come again, sweet love,” “L’homme armé,” and two baroque dances on harpsichord.

Here’s tenor William Ferguson (tenor) and David Leisner (guitarist) performing the Dowland.

I was supposed to play the recorder on the second verse of the Dowland in our performance but I’m afraid I didn’t play as well as I had hoped and practiced. It meant that I had to quickly pick up the recorder after playing the harpsichord on the first verse with Keane singing, and unfortunately I didn’t get my right hand in position over the fingerholes correctly at first. (Squawk! eek!)

Besides the harpsichord and recorder, Keane brought his guitar, and the Early Music Hawaii’s lute. I wanted to prove to the kids that these old instruments could play modern music as well, and by far the biggest hit of the morning was my rendition of “Let it Go,” from the Disney movie, “Frozen.” Playing this piece on harpsichord was a little strange, but at least I made the point—and, most importantly, the kids recognized the tune!

Yesterday, my organ student Daniel Welch, came over to Oahu for a change instead of me flying over to Kauai. I picked him up from the airport, and gave half his lesson on the 4-manual Aeolian-Skinner organ at Central Union Church, and the other half on the 2-manual Beckerath tracker organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. I took Daniel to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church where a large collection of organ music resides, donated by either people who don’t play anymore, or who have died. It was somewhat sad to see so many names of people I recognized as those who have moved through our Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists.

Music formerly owned by John McCreary, Donald Matsumori and Samuel Lam.

This week, I have of course continued my online Spanish classes and chat, had my monthly eye injection for macular degeneration, but also took leadership (for the umpteenth year in a row!) for our condo’s annual Christmas party, meeting with the Christmas party committee and designing the invitation flyer, writing the newsletter, designing the tickets, and updating the website for people to sign up. I also called around for caterers for food choices. It’s a huge operation — and we usually expect over 350 people!

But that’s not all! I’ve also had to design a postcard and flyers for the next Early Music Hawaii concert where we will be most fortunate to present the fantastic baroque ensemble, “Quicksilver,” called the “rock stars” of early music! The preparations also included formatting the program, updating the EMH website and setting up the ticket orders since I’ll be coming back to Honolulu only two days before the concert.

PLUS — I am also hosting violinist Julie Andrijeski for a homestay. I’ve just made up the guest room with clean sheets and supplied clean towels in the guest bathroom. The problem is that Julie will actually arrive in Honolulu before I do! So i’m making up a bunch of instructions (with pictures!) on how to turn on the air conditioning, the TV, etc.

It will be a miracle for me to get on the plane tomorrow and not have forgotten anything! It will be a long trip — I fly first to Maui, then San Francisco, then Burbank, where I’ll stay one night to see my grandson. The next day my sister Margo and I will fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Newark, where we will meet up with my other sister, Doris, organist friend Jieun Kim Newland, and local buddy, Bill Potter. The five of us will then fly from Newark to Lisbon on the same flight where we’ll have a six hour layover. Then a quick hop to Toulouse, France where we’ll meet the other two members of our group, Jo Ann Condry and Barbara Adler.

See you again when we arrive in France!