I’ve been following a new blog, well new to me, anyway, called “Secrets of Organ Playing: down to earth tips, advice and training” written by Dr. Vidas Pinkevicius. (N.B. I’m not so sure that one can learn how to play the organ without some human-to-human contact!) One of his latest posts was called “How can… Read More Don’t wash the car!
Say the word, “Choral Music” and “Hawaii” in the same sentence, and inevitably, you will bring up the name Wanda Gereben, whom I met some 40 years ago when I was her accompanist at St. Andrew’s Priory School and Hawaii Children’s Opera Chorus (Egad! that was EONS ago!) Wanda was the founder and executive director of the… Read More 50 Years of Choral Music in Hawaii
Chances are, you probably have never heard the acronym BRQ before. It was part of the title of a festival we just bought tickets for, as in BRQ Vantaa. Yes! You guessed it, my husband Carl’s doctor has given him the go-ahead to rebook our European trip, and since we look first for musical events to… Read More What is BRQ?
While my husband, Carl, was in the hospital last week, we took the opportunity to update our wills. Our attorney even came to the hospital room with a witness and a notary! So it seemed only coincidental that last week on the FaceBook Organists Association, there was an advertisement for the “XS Organ Pipes Infinite… Read More For Organists, of course
On FaceBook the other day, several of my friends passed around “11 Things You Should Know About Your Musician Friends” and I didn’t think most of them would apply to church musicians. Orenda Fink opens with: Musicians can be a lot of fun to hang out with, but sometimes we can make for challenging friends. Here’s a… Read More Still working ahead
As organists, we always have to be prepared with a Plan B, in case Plan A doesn’t pan out. I have written about arriving at the church and having to make last-minute substitutions of stops for when a note is dead or stuck, or having to use a different manual. Or, in the case of… Read More Plan B, revisited
We’re home for just a short nine days before taking off again across the pond. And on our “to-do” list is a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s beloved Requiem for the memorial service of our long-time friend, choral conductor Dale Noble who died on March 22. Go back and read my post “Aloha, Dale” for information about Dale’s… Read More Upcoming Fauré Requiem
Well, this has been an incredible week, and you must know that we only scratched the surface of all the events and activities that were presented here in Boston at the American Guild of Organists national convention. Altogether there were 38 unique concerts, and 8 varied worship services, 140 workshops and scholarly research programs, more… Read More Saving the best for last
On our last afternoon at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, we returned to the beautiful nave at St. Cecilia’s for a recital of eclectic and most enjoyable music performed by Chelsea Chen. I first met Chelsea many years ago when she was one of the winners of the Region IX competition, and… Read More Already a superstar
On this last day of the AGO convention, we spent the morning in Wellesley, some 17 miles away from Boston, and went right to Houghton Chapel on the Wellesley College campus. On the Wellesley College website, you can read that: The organ built by the late Charles Brenton Fisk (1925-1983) for Houghton Chapel at Wellesley College is… Read More Morning in Wellesley