The first event of the morning for me was Choral Matins in Grace Cathedral. You must know that this whole convention was about choices — in addition to Matins, you could also elect to go to an African-American worship service in a Baptist church or an organ and violin concert by a Chinese organist. There simply was no way to take in all the activities, concerts, and workshops of the convention.

Mary Beth Bennett gave us a masterclass in liturgical improvisation as she was the designated organist for the service. After I have attended four workshops on this art form this week, she ticked all the boxes in improvising a major prelude and postlude at the service.

Later, when on the bus, my seatmate told me she had taken a single private lesson with Ms. Bennett and that it helped her tremendously to get over her fears.

The Choral Matins service reminded me of home at St. Mark’s — it’s the first worship service I’ve attended at the convention. I missed the opening service because I couldn’t get a substitute to cover any of my services in Honolulu, so I had to fly out after Vespers and Benediction.

We then boarded the buses to Palo Alto where I made the choice to attend the recital by Monica Czausz Berney. Monica was scheduled to play three concerts in Hawaii in March 2020 — and you remember what happened then?! She played the first concert at Central Union Church in Honolulu then had to go home because of the pandemic. Today Monica played a wonderful concert of the music by Marcel Dupré, S. Andrew Lloyd, Percy Whitlock, J. S. Bach and Olivier Messiaen. I especially enjoyed her clean and exquisite performance of “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 664” and two movements from Messiaen’s “Ascension,” both of which I play. Wow, both pieces were absolutely fantastic.

Our next stop was the campus of Stanford University, where we were outdoors to hear a carillon concert. By this time the heat wave was starting to catch up with us and I was anxious to find shade to stand in. When we entered Stanford Chapel to hear a concert by Kimberly Marshall, on both the Murray Harris and Fisk organs it was quite hot and uncomfortable. The closing piece was Bach’s “Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor,” well-played but frankly it simply was too hot and there were too many people crowded in to really enjoy her excellent performance.

All in all, it’s been a GREAT convention with memorable performances and many opportunities to meet people. Take, for example, when I sat next to Paul Rutz on the bus. He told me he got married at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kailua and that the Rev. Bruce Craft was the officiant! Small world — Bruce was my next door neighbor when I lived in Kaneohe.

I also met Erin Scheessele, (rhymes with “Nestlé” or “Presley”) who founded and serves as the volunteer Executive Director of Orgelkids USA. They had a special display of an Orgelkids powered by a bicycle!

I’ll fly home this morning (Friday) only to teach an organ lesson one hour after my arrival in Honolulu, then two lessons on Saturday morning, and I’ll play my usual three services on Sunday!

It’s been a GREAT week!