A busman’s holiday is simply a vacation or a day off from work where the person still engages in activities similar to what they do at their regular job. In other words, it’s like a bus driver taking a holiday only to spend it driving a bus.

Technically, I’m not on a busman’s holiday, because I haven’t played any church services; I’ve only attended services here in Seattle. In my case, I went to two services in two different churches — just like at home! It was on the recommendation of Scott Fikse that I took an Uber to Epiphany Episcopal Church this morning. I arrived early enough to catch the last part of the choir’s warmup in an empty church and I thought, “WOW, this is great!” Not only did the choir sound fabulous on its rehearsal of Thomas Morley’s “Agnus Dei” but in these reverberant acoustics it was fantastic.

The livestream of today’s service is here. The Agnus Dei which I had heard the choir rehearse earlier starts about 58:28 if you want to skip ahead.

I looked on the church’s website to find out about the organ, and learned that it was a Fritz Noack, built in 1997, with mechanical action. Organ nerds can see the stoplist here. There apparently is a Martin Pasi organ in the chapel, but I didn’t go there.

The Director of Music, Zachary Hemenway, played well, but I was a little surprised at how big the organ sounded. Zach had no hesitation in pulling out all the reeds and mixtures and the organ sounded huge — Am I the only organist who gives up mixtures for Lent ?! (Don’t laugh!)

However, I was most disappointed that the congregation talked loudly all throughout both the prelude (Georg Boehm, “Vater unser im Himmelreich”) and especially, during the postlude (Dietrich Buxtehude, “Praeludium in D minor,” BuxWV 140). Yet they all clapped loudly afterwards, as though they had been listening quietly! I have been so spoiled at both Nuuanu Congregational and St. Mark’s Episcopal Kapahulu where I play that the congregation sits quietly and listens.

I then took another Uber to Saint Mark’s Cathedral for the 11:00 am service and really enjoyed hearing Michael Kleinschmidt‘s improvisations and hymn-playing. As a postlude, he played one of my favorite Bach pieces, the final Kyrie from the Clavierübung — and the organ sounded HUGE, figuratively “pulling out all the stops.” What a big difference to what we do at St. Mark’s in Honolulu, in that we eliminate postludes during Lent! But — people talked during the postlude here, too. A couple who was sitting behind me introduced themselves and told me they recognized me from previous visits. The man even remembered that I was an organist when I told him my husband and I had been business partners with Peter Hallock.

And — this will make the people at St. Mark’s in Honolulu smile — I missed hearing the bells during the Sanctus and consecration!

No sooner had the service ended, and I got a text from Maria Coldwell — a parishioner of St. Mark’s Cathedral who happens to be in Honolulu right now, and she caught seeing me on the livestream!

Peace, Kathy. I saw you on the screen at St. Mark’s. Hope all is going well in Seattle.

This afternoon is the second performance of the concert I heard last night, and I go home early tomorrow morning.