For the next two Sundays, I am playing the organ for Karl Bachman at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) while he is visiting family on the mainland. As I began practicing the music for the liturgy, I got a real sense of déjà vu. That is because the music that is being sung for the Ordinary… Read More Lutheran déjà vu
If you live in Hawaii, maybe you’ve attended concerts at the Doris Duke Theater at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Or perhaps you’ve visited Shangri-La, Doris Duke’s home in Hawaii which is now a museum of Islamic art. Check out Wikipedia to read: “Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American heiress, socialite, horticulturalist,… Read More The Duke connection
This afternoon was my turn at Hawaii Public Radio’s semi-annual fund drive, and I deliberately chose a time at which I would normally be listening: Fred Child’s Performance Today. Seems that in my busy schedule, I always seem to be driving around at that hour, and am able to enjoy the live performances which are featured.… Read More What a coincidence!
I’ve just come home after the “Motets and Cantatas” concert by the Oahu Choral Society Chamber Choir, and I must say that I heard some fantastic singing tonight. Tonight was the Chamber Choir’s debut, consisting of only 22 singers out of the larger OCS ensemble. The tone of the choir was light and agile, the… Read More A weekend of incredible singing
Operation Babylift. If you are as old as I am (ahem!), you probably have heard the term “Operation Babylift.” But if you’re still a spring chicken, and aren’t old enough to know what it was, I can tell you that it was the name of a mass evacuation of children at the end of the Vietnam War in… Read More Operation Babylift
For me, it wasn’t Easter until I was able to play the Easter hymn, “Jesus Christ is risen today,” which didn’t happen until Easter Tuesday when I played the Easter Eucharist for the St. Andrew’s Schools. I sang the hymn when I attended Easter Day mass at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church to hear my organ student,… Read More Easter Tuesday
Quick study Bach. There’s an oxymoron for you. Why, just recently I heard myself saying to a student, “You cannot cram Bach! It just doesn’t work!” That is, when I’ve heard people try to learn a work of Bach on short notice, more often than not, they panic and the performance falls apart. Believe me, unfortunately… Read More Quick study Bach
2017 would have been one of those years—when Tax Day collides with Easter. This year Easter is April 16th, and the deadline for filing 2016 tax returns is April 18. Which brings up the question “Why is Tax Day April 18?” instead of the traditional deadline of April 15th? The regular tax return filing deadline… Read More One of those years
In spite of the fact that the Oahu Choral Society scheduled its performance of the Verdi Requiem on a Thursday night, (and the Thursday before Palm Sunday at that!), there was certainly a decent audience. (Don’t they know that God made Thursdays for choir practice!) I invited my organist colleague, Elizabeth Wong, to share a… Read More Verdi Requiem
A few years ago, Karl Bachman of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists took visiting organist Nathan Laube to dinner in a local Honolulu restaurant. When the waiter asked why he was here, Nathan answered that he was here to play a concert on the pipe organ. You got it, the waiter had no clue what… Read More Orgelkids coming to Hawaii!