I happened to be sitting next to Hyunju Hwang, the virtuoso Korean organist, at the post-convention recital by Dorothy Young Riess, and when I told her Dorothy was 81, she said, “No! She looks like she’s maybe 60!”
Dorothy played a most ambitious program at Olive Drive Church, another mega-church complex here in Bakersfield, and she included music by Howells, Bach, Liszt, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, and her own transcription of “Five O’Clock Foxtrot” of Maurice Ravel. We were told that the church was built especially for the organ!
On Wednesday at Dorothy’s workshop, we all sang a special version of My Favorite Things, a take-off from the Sound of Music
Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Cadillacs and cataracts and hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Chorus
When the pipes leak,
When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things
Back pains, confused brains, and no need for sinnin’,
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin’
And we won’t mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.
Chorus
When the joints ache,
When the hips break,
And the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I’ve had,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
You know what is my favorite thing about going to AGO Conventions? Meeting new friends and catching up with old friends — as Carl just said to me as I arrived back in Ventura, “You’ve been in hog heaven!”
