We eagerly awaited the premiere of Downton Abbey which was on PBS last night, and I was especially interested to see what was used for the music for Mary and Matthew’s wedding. It was John Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary in D. This is a piece which I have played countless times, both as a solo organist and… Read More Music for Downton Abbey wedding
Over the years I have learned that so often it is a matter of finding the “right” piece of music — for that wedding, for that funeral, for that special service, for whatever occasion you need to find music to enhance the whole experience. Of course, if you work in a liturgical church, you look… Read More Finding the right piece
What do you call a group of organists? Tonight we are hosting a potluck dinner for the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) — and you might say that we are a herd of dinosaurs! (I didn’t know what you call a group of dinosaurs and had to look it up!) We are… Read More A herd of dinosaurs?
Yesterday was New Year’s Day, and Carl Crosier and I attended the German Vespers service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. People were genuinely surprised to see us — for we had just said goodbye on Christmas Day. I must admit it was pretty strange seeing and hearing the service from a completely different vantage… Read More A different vantage point
Last night I got a report from WordPress.com which sends a summary of statistics on the blog, Another Year of Insanity: 4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 41,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 9 Film Festivals. In 2012, there were 149 new posts, growing the… Read More 131 Countries!
I am on vacation in California, unfortunately recovering from food poisoning (not from Carl’s cooking!) and I got an email message from John Renke: Hi Kathy, What are those two little levers in the picture? John Ah, this is a gadget on the Beckerath organ that even long-time organists don’t know about! These are adjustable… Read More Adjustable tremulants
On Christmas Eve at the late night service, you may have noticed mezzo-soprano, Laurie Rubin, being led by the other soloists whenever she got up to sing. That is because Laurie has been blind from birth but it hasn’t stopped her from pursuing a musical career. A fascinating article about Laurie recently appeared in The… Read More Do you dream in color?
Certainly another highlight of this last Christmas was the multi-talented Stark family with its rendition of Katherine K. Davis’ popular “Carol of the Drum,” also known as “Little Drummer Boy.” They performed this piece as the Call to Worship at the 5 pm Christmas Eve service and the star, of course, was the Starks’ drum… Read More Little Drummer Boy
Some of life’s best moments are unscripted — if you tried to plan these things in real life, they wouldn’t have worked out so well or with such great timing. Such a moment happened during the Christmas Day service, my last as Organist at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Pastor Jeff, who normally has his… Read More Unscripted
This day is finally here . . . Christmas Day at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu and my final service as Organist. A week ago, I emailed Miguel Felipe to let him know I would be changing the postlude I had previously submitted — because it was too long! You see, as soon as the… Read More No long goodbyes