When I turned on public radio yesterday, I heard host Gene Schiller introduce the next piece of music as “the most terrifying ever written” — and not to my surprise, he played an orchestral transcription of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. For many, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Halloween go… Read More The most terrifying music
This has been a week of parties — on Tuesday we were at St. Andrew’s Priory for the “Big Reveal,” as after nearly 150 years of educating only girls, they are now re-branding the school as St. Andrew’s Schools with three schools, one of them being St. Andrew’s Prep for boys only, St. Andrew’s Priory… Read More Retirement contrafacta
I met a new student yesterday, and it confirmed for me why I teach organ. I could absolutely see “the lights come on” when I had her hold down a chord and I pulled the stops one by one until she was playing on full organ. It’s all about the “wow” factor — when you… Read More Why I teach organ
Last week, the New York Times published an opinion piece titled, “Is Music the Key to Success?” and noted that some well-known and successful people had one thing in common: they all took music lessons. The author of the piece, Joanne Lipman, cited Condoleezza Rice (former Secretary of State), Alan Greenspan (former Chairman of the… Read More Changing the world through music training
This weekend I am off to Burbank, California for my high school reunion, and as I read on another blog, it takes guts to attend a reunion. Why? Because physically we’ll all look different — we either have gray or (in the case of men, no hair!), maybe we’ve put on a few extra pounds,… Read More The school alma mater
The following 44 requirements for being a church organist were posted by Alexandra Fol on her blog: A church organist has to: 1) Function properly at 8 am 2) Be prepared to play in case the choir conductor and the choir do not show up. 3) Know to take initiative if the choir conductor begins… Read More So you want to be a church organist?
Just two days ago, I was contacted about playing the organ at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Kailua this Sunday because their organist/choirmaster had resigned unexpectedly. But not only will I play their tracker organ — I was asked if I would conduct their choir too. Yes, I told Mother Giovan King, forty years ago… Read More The art of head bobbing
As I have written in previous blog posts, it was the music of Peter Hallock and the repertoire he performed at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, which was Carl Crosier’s inspiration for the music program at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu for many years. In 1987 we formed a publishing company, Ionian Arts, primarily to… Read More An interview with Peter Hallock
The emails have continued to pour in for the Early Music Hawaii concert on Friday night. When I was at the chamber music concert on Sunday afternoon, the people in front of me were talking about what a fantastic concert it was (and I was just eavesdropping!) That was a wonderful concert! Such great voices… Read More More kudos for ‘Oratorio’
Last Friday night, Early Music Hawaii presented a concert called “Oratorio,” 17th century sacred drama from Rome to Handel, in the reverberant acoustics of St. Theresa’s Co-Cathedral. Some of the town’s very best early musicians participated — and the dress rehearsal with choir and orchestra was held on Thursday night. The personnel for whom this… Read More Double, triple, quadruple!