It was another full day at the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians conference here in Portland which started with a Morning Prayer service, followed by a plenary session. It’s the plenary sessions at ALCM which differentiate these conferences from AGO (American Guild of Organists) conventions. Our plenary speaker for these three days is The Rev.… Read More Day Three at ALCM Portland
Tonight was the convention banquet, and if you have been to as many convention banquets that I’ve had, they’re nothing to write home about. Tonight, though, was a tour de force by the local church ladies, and at the time, I savored every morsel but forgot to take pictures. Luckily, one of the convention-goers (and composer of… Read More The convention banquet
One of the unique and most enjoyable activities of Association of Lutheran Church Musician (ALCM) conferences are the meaningful worship services, and this morning’s service was certainly on a par with other conference services. That meant hearing the thrilling sound of a whole congregation of organists and choirmasters singing to creative hymn playing, an inspired homily… Read More ALCM Opening Eucharist
No, silly, we didn’t hear Bach on a dinner cruise — the first day at the Region 4 conference of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) started with a Bach Cantata vespers at St. James Lutheran Church in downtown Portland, followed by a dinner cruise on the Willamette River. We registered at St. Michael’s… Read More Bach and a Dinner Cruise
We are in Portland, OR for the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians regional conference and today is Trinity Sunday. Where else would we spend Trinity Sunday but at Trinity Cathedral (Episcopal) here in Portland? And it just wouldn’t be Trinity Sunday without the “St. Anne,” Bach’s monumental Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, which organist Michael Kleinschmidt… Read More Trinity at Trinity
Would you believe that there’s a Wikipedia entry for “Say cheese,” the phrase that is uttered to make one smile for the camera? What’s more interesting, though, is what is said in other countries. Here are some of my favorites: In China, the word used is 茄子 (qie2zi), meaning “eggplant“. The pronunciation of this word is… Read More Say “Cheese”!
Okay, I admit it. I love looking at print ads, the design and content. When I was a senior in high school, I wrote a paper on the psychology of advertising and showed it to my then-boyfriend to look at it. What I found out later was that he copied it word-for-word and submitted under… Read More Wanted: Organists
From time to time, people ask me about my former organ student, Joey Fala, and I’m always happy to report that he’s doing fine and still playing the organ. If you click Joey Fala on the tag cloud to the right (and the size of the type indicates about how many posts I’ve written!), you’ll see… Read More The circles of life
This past weekend I played the Baccalaureate service at Iolani School, as I have done for the last 20 years. And every time I do, I can’t help but think back to my own high school baccalaureate which I played forty-six years ago. I’m sure that no one except me remembers it! Because, you see,… Read More Sisyphus
Perhaps you saw the article a few days ago, titled “Music professor retires after record-breaking 67 years.” The person who had the honor of serving the longest in the University of Michigan history was organist Marilyn Mason, who just retired after teaching there for 67 years. She apparently joined the faculty while still a student, and… Read More Longevity