We all know that death and taxes are inevitable, but when we hear of the sudden deaths of celebrities or of people we know, it seems all the more shocking. This morning when I checked my Facebook notifications, I was taken aback by the news of organist Jane Parker-Smith. From her website, her bio reads:… Read More Sudden death
A couple of weeks ago I joined in a Zoom meeting of Deans in the American Guild of Organists. The Dean of the AGO Chapter is like the local president, and I am completing my second year. I think this is at least my third, and maybe even my fourth (!) stint as Dean of… Read More Just called to say ‘Hello’
Today is April 2nd, and before the coronavirus crisis was upon us, I would have been packing my suitcase and getting ready to get on an airplane to Atlanta, and then to St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. Now, my tour has been rescheduled to 2021, and I’m trying hard not to feel badly about spending… Read More Grounded!
Organist Monica Czausz is in Hawaii this weekend (and is my delightful houseguest!) and when she arrived at the airport, she was greeted not only with a flower lei but also a comprehensive schedule of her time here, accounting for all of her practice time but also who was taking and picking her up from… Read More “That’s what we do”
The decision has been made, and I no longer have to wonder about how to manage not getting coronavirus while on a plane. Today I logged onto the website of my travel agent where I saw this message: Owing to the evolving COVID-19 situation and government travel advisories and restrictions, Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Costsaver, Brendan… Read More Out of my hands
Lately it seems that my life is nothing but hosting one houseguest after another—my niece and nephew from Virginia are with me this weekend to attend a wedding in Honolulu. Already they represent (can you believe it!) my fourth set of houseguests since the 15th of January, and in a couple of weeks I’ll welcome… Read More Monica Czausz, concert organist
”You mean, you would play your concert for only one or two people?” Indeed we would, and in fact, Jieun Kim Newland and I actually gave the Dueling Bach concert a total of five times (!) and luckily it has gotten easier each time. We did two run-throughs (in front of a few people) before… Read More Bach—the second time around
While I was in Europe a month ago, I was contacted about the organ music library of long-time Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists member, Donald Matsumori who died on May 17, 2019. His family was trying to clear his house and some people suggested that I might have students who could make use of the organ… Read More Passing it on
When I was at the Orange County American Guild of Organists convention, I was intrigued by how my former student Joey Fala had pasted his copies of music into a large artist’s sketch pad. It was then possible to perform the entire concert without a page turner. By reducing the size of the music slightly,… Read More Paper engineering
I left Los Angeles on the Fourth of July, just missing the first of two earthquakes by less than an hour! My shuttle picked me up at 5:45 am, and my flight took off at 9:00 am from LAX—and the first earthquake struck at 9:36 am. I understand from Fred Merchant that there was pandemonium… Read More Out in the nick of time!