While my colleagues at the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) were meeting this week for their biennual conference in Philadelphia, look what popped up in my Facebook feed! It was a picture of my husband, Carl, and me with my sister, Doris Au MacDonald and her duet partner, Sharon Dennis (aka The Braeded Chord)… Read More Across the pond(s)
The following is reprinted from the current issue of In Tempo, the quarterly magazine of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. I actually wrote the article months ago, but it was not published until now. Fiasco!The worst musical debacles and lessons learned “Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer… Read More Fiasco! Lessons in Laughter
Matchmaker, Matchmaker,Make me a match,Find me a find,catch me a catchMatchmaker, MatchmakerLook through your book,And make me a perfect match. (From Fiddler on the Roof, by Michele Marsh, Neva Small, and Rosalind Harris) Out of all my activities as an organist and organ teacher in Hawaii, I think my part in playing “matchmaker” is definitely… Read More Matchmaker
This morning I was contacted by Linda Borecki, the editor of In Tempo, the quarterly journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. She asked if I might contribute an article in a new series called “Fiasco! The Worst Musical Debacles and Lessons Learned from Great Musicians.” Apparently she had found this blog and wrote:… Read More Fiasco!
While I am home for sixteen days between European trips, I have a long “to do” list besides the obvious—doing laundry and repacking my suitcase! I did tell you of my desktop computer debacle (“A glutton for punishment”) and at this moment, the restore process has taken four whole days! While the files were being… Read More A new role
The following speech was given by Karl Bachman at the Oahu Choral Society’s Vivace! fundraising dinner at the Bishop Museum, March 3, 2018. We are here to honor Katherine Crosier this evening, but I would like to begin by thanking the Oahu Choral Society for asking me to speak a word on her behalf. In… Read More “Cain’t say, No!”
At last night’s Advent Procession at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, certainly one of the most haunting selections was the anthem “Who is this?” by John Ferguson, which featured the “a cappella” choir with Anna Womack on viola. It begins with the viola playing “O sacred head now wounded.” The piece then alternates between the viola and the… Read More Who is this?
This has certainly been a week of parties — social events three days in a row with organists! Wednesday was the luncheon with my former organ students, then last night I had dinner with organist Bruce Bengtson from Madison, WI, then tonight was our Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists Dean’s Reception at the Pacific Club —… Read More My peeps!
It took 36 hours in transit to get from Honolulu all the way to Rome, Italy (by way of San Francisco, Newark and Montreal) but I’m finally here! A few mishaps along the way — like leaving my credit card in the United Airlines kiosk when printing out my boarding pass and baggage tickets… Read More Finally in Rome!
This was an admonition to us Portland ALCM conference-goers at the final plenary session by The Rev. Paul Hoffman. He told us about the three Bs of the traditional Church, and how this order has contributed to its free fall: Belief, Behave, and Belong. In this order, a baby is baptized into the faith, but… Read More The Church is dying!