These are three little words I said to one of my newest students a couple of weeks ago. I did not plan what I was going to say … these words just popped out of my mouth. But apparently they made a huge difference in the life of James Myers, who is the latest of my students to receive a scholarship from the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists to learn how to play the organ. The timing is a little unusual, because normally scholarship applications are taken in the late summer with auditions in September. But with the encouragement of the rector, The Rev. Paul Lillie, himself a member of the American Guild of Organists, we made a special appeal to the Hawaii AGO Scholarship Committee to consider James’ application at this time.

When I took on the position of organist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, they took me on knowing that I already had a number of travel plans in the works. We talked about who might cover the services in my absence—and one name that came up was James’ because he was already a member of St. Mark’s choir, and he apparently had keyboard skills. It turns out that he was self-taught on the organ but probably only needed to a little encouragement to brush up on technical skills.

That’s when I offered my services as an organ teacher for James, and when I told him, “I need you.” He even wrote about it on Facebook:

A few weeks ago, the organist at my church looked me square in the eye and said, ‘James, I need you.’ Wow. She’ll be out in April, and as organists are few and far between on this island, I’m her choice substitute. In the presence of my choirmaster, I couldn’t say no. To the contrary, I was thrilled! Things unfolded rapidly after that. I awoke to an email just days later informing me that I’d receive ten organ lessons, all expenses paid. I’d also receive a key to the choir loft, where the organ sits. I had my first organ lesson that week: just wow. Last Thursday, I had my second organ lesson. Dude, with instruction, I’m growing so much. It may look like a piano, but a piano, it is not!  And then, during my choir rehearsal, my choir mate handed me a sealed envelope: the key! I got to use that key on Friday: I get to tinker at my pleasure. Wooohooo!🥳  So now, after a year of flirting with the organ, I’m fully empowered, able to practice at my leisure, and more motivated than I’ve ever been. 😉 and I will soon join the AGO: the American Guild of Organists. Can’t imagine there are too many guilds left in America. 

The moral of the story: put yourself out there, stay open to opportunity, and seize the moment when it comes.

Last weekend was James’ audition with the Scholarship Committee, and he wowed them with his rendition of Chopin and Mozart on the piano. Although I did not sit in on the audition, I did see his statement to the AGO: I want to receive this scholarship in order to better serve my church community. I am currently a singer and a self-taught organist with a background in piano. Multiple times in the past year, I have been called upon to serve as the organist at both Kawaiaha‘o and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. I’ve always said yes, but I have lacked the skills and confidence to really excel. That said, I love playing the organ and have a hunger to learn and grow. Now, I have a new opportunity to play the organ for my congregation and the structured support of my community to do so. This scholarship will allow me to focus more of my time and energy to becoming the organ player my church needs me to be.

Just wow — what a motivated student! We’ve had three lessons so far, and I can confidently say that James has already made significant progress as an organist.

In the same week that I started James on lessons, I have taken on two additional new students, so I would classify my life as impossibly busy right now! Not only with planning, practicing, and playing for three church services every week, this Friday I’ll be playing a mass for Candlemas (Feb. 2), and of course, Ash Wednesday is on Feb. 14, all of which need organ voluntaries, mass accompaniments and lots of hymns.

In January I have also spent many hours finishing up my neighbor’s songbook (“Overheard“) which means that it’s going on my second year of this project of transcribing, harmonizing, and typesetting the music for 152 (!) songs. Bonnie Moore has a conference in March in which she’ll present a compilation of 38 of her songs, so I created a special booklet, requiring tweaks to the layouts of each song to accommodate the song order and to eliminate awkward page turns. I can’t believe it, but I have spent well over 200 hours on this project! Yowzers!

I also worked on a postcard for our upcoming visiting artist, organist James Kealey, who will be staying with me in early March. More on this as the time draws nearer.

So I’ve been super busy and that’s why you haven’t heard much on this blog lately.

But hey, I just received notification that I’ve been accepted as a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians! I had to ask three of my colleagues for letters of recommendation so it must have worked!