To say that I have survived a big weekend is an understatement! I got up at 4:45 am on Friday morning to catch an early Hawaiian Airlines flight to Lihue, Kauai, where I was met at the airport by my student, Daniel Welch. We drove straight to All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapaa, where I… Read More Big weekend!
That’s how I would describe tonight’s Kauai Chorale concert—never has there ever been a sing-along concert on the island of Kauai where a sold-out audience sang so loudly and enthusiastically, accompanied by a real pipe organ. And did they ever raise the rafters and sing their hearts out! The concert opened with Dan Forrest’s celebratory… Read More We raised the rafters!
It was 2:55 am and I heard a rooster crow from the cottage where I am staying on the grounds of All Saints Episcopal Church. “Welcome to Kauai,” my student had warned me earlier. If you don’t know it already, all the Hawaiian islands, but especially Kauai, have massive colonies of feral chickens. Here is… Read More “No paltry amount of poultry”
Today marks the one week countdown until my concert at All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i with the Kauai Chorale, directed by Shane Morris Wise. First, however, I have to get through a weekend with four services beginning tonight with a Procession and Solemn Mass for the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary… Read More A maiden most gentle
I guess you could call me a “working stiff” — meaning, that I’m back in the work force, after ten years of relative retirement. Here are some of the synonyms for “working stiff” from Dictionary.com: I’m a working stiff organist! My last post, “Too many notes … too much!” described the quantity of music I… Read More Working stiff
If indeed the period between Halloween and Christmas is called the season of excess, I’ve got it in spades! As you may have learned, I have two completely different church positions, taking up much of my waking hours. Let me share with you what parts of the service I play on the organ: Nu‘uanu Congregational… Read More Too many notes … too much!
In our Cada Dia Spanish class last week, one of our new vocabulary words was «inexplicable», which looks exactly like the English word but of course, is pronounced differently. Basically, though, it has the same meaning: something impossible to explain, incapable of being explained, interpreted, or accounted for. We were then asked to give some… Read More The obake moth
I’ve just come from the Early Music Hawaii concert by Les Délices and to say it was outstanding is an understatement —it was medieval perfection! There were only four people in the ensemble but two of them played several instruments: Debra Nagy (recorders, douçaine, harp and voice); Scott Metcalfe (vielle and gothic harp); Sophie Michaux… Read More 14th Century Avant-Garde perfection
It’s a world of laughterA world of tearsIt’s a world of hopesAnd a world of fearsThere’s so much that we shareThat it’s time we’re awareIt’s a small town after all. (Sorry, I altered the words slightly for this post!) I always tell people that the city of Honolulu is really a small town, even though… Read More Small town, indeed!
From time to time, I’ve mentioned that I’m a “paper” person, meaning that I read sheet music from paper rather than from a tablet. When I took the St. Mark’s organist job, I was asked which format I preferred, and I answered, “Definitely paper.” I know I’m in the minority, here, as it seems to… Read More Drowning in paper