The people standing, the Celebrant says Arrrgh! Alleluia, Christ, he be risen! People Arrrgh! The Lord, he be risen indeed. Alleluia! The Celebrant says to the people The Lord be with ye. People And also with ye. Celebrant Let us pray. The Celebrant says the Collect. (use the Pirate Translator) People Aye, aye. Among some… Read More The Pirate Eucharist
Over two years ago when I came to play an all-Bach recital at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, their music director and organist, George Emblom, reluctantly showed me his office. My reaction to the chaos was, “But George, how do you get any work done in there?!” Another thing I remember telling him was that the… Read More Transformation
On my way to the Cathedral of the Christ of Light, I got a text from John Renke: The cathedral Rector had a massive heart attack after the Saturday evening mass and died last night. You’re coming to a very interesting Sunday here! I heard more of the story at the announcement to the parish… Read More A day at the Cathedral
I can’t say enough how much I fell in love with the Letourneau organ at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland. Over and over, as John Renke demonstrated the various stops, I couldn’t stop saying, “absolutely gorgeous!” The principals, flutes, strings, and reeds were all separately beautiful and the ensemble was well blended,… Read More Pure deliciousness!
I have just come from the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA, where I had the great fortune of playing the Letourneau organ … and I have to say it is absolutely one of the greatest and most thrilling experiences of my life! Oh, I have played many beautiful organs in beautiful… Read More Absolutely the greatest … !
This morning I attended the 10:00 am service at St. Mark’s Episcopal in Berkeley, CA where I am helping to organize the music director’s office. George Emblom introduced me to the choir after the warmup and related the conversation I had with him on my visit here two years ago. In looking at the state… Read More Free for the taking
As you know, yesterday was Bach’s birthday (March 21) and Google created an artificial intelligence-powered Google doodle that lets you compose your own music in the style of J. S. Bach. Did you try it? You could put in a single line melody and the Google doodle would harmonize it in four parts, in the… Read More Bach on BART
Last week I was copied on an email message from a woman who is a former graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. It so happens that she is a former student of Adam Pajan, who stayed with me as my houseguest while he is on a 3-island Hawaii concert tour. She was trying to… Read More I knew I had it somewhere!
One constant in our Hawai’i Chapter American Guild of Organist concerts is the “spiel” given by Karl Bachman at intermission to encourage people to give offerings. I always look forward to hearing these little “sermonettes” — filled with humor, and sometimes I’ve gotten a shout-out. Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s concert with Adam Pajan:… Read More A HUGE leap of faith!
Do you know what a “palindrome” is? It’s a word or phrase that reads the same backwards or forwards. Some single word examples are redivider, deified, civic, radar, level, rotor, kayak, reviver, racecar, redder, madam, and refer. Here are some famous palindromic phrases: Eva, Can I Stab Bats In A Cave? A Man, A Plan,… Read More Madam, I’m Adam