A few days ago, I received an email from my friend and former organist duet partner, Jieun Kim Newland. Hi Kathy, A good friend of mine, Russell Weismann is visiting Honolulu. He and I studied together at ISM (Institute of Sacred Music). He is a fabulous organist and is teaching at Georgetown University. Russ is also… Read More Distinguished visitor
I saw a tall tree, but when organbuilder Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh saw it, he said, “I can build a 16′ Bourdon out of it!” Some people see trees, other people see organ pipes! We decided to forego seeing any organs today and instead took the train to downtown Hamburg to take a harbor cruise. Here we… Read More Some people see trees …
Today Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh and I took the train to downtown Hamburg, about a 35-minute ride away. It’s super convenient to take the train from his house—only two houses away from the station! By taking the train, we won’t have to hassle with trying to find a parking space, which is always a challenge. Our first… Read More An organ to love
Today Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh and I traveled to Lübeck, about 80 km from Hamburg. Our first stop was at a music conservatory (Musikhochschule) which has a Beckerath organ in a see-through case. That is to say that there is plexiglass everywhere so you can see inside—even plexiglass swell shades! This, I assume, is for teaching purposes—what… Read More Plexiglass in the organ!
Today Hans took me on a tour of pipe organs and churches in Hamburg. We call it an “organ crawl” which can refer to our climbing through the organ chambers to more closely examine the insides of the pipe organ. Our first stop was in Blankenese, where Hans and Christiane attend at the Blankeneser Kirche… Read More Hamburg organ crawl
In spite of only coming back to Hawaii on Tuesday, I’ve had to hit the ground running and will be playing several different organs within the week. Next weekend will especially be busy because of a Friday night rehearsal and Sunday concert at St. John Vianney, playing the prelude for Pastor Fritz Fritschel‘s funeral service… Read More Planning ahead for a busy week
After all the hoopla of the past weekend, it was back to laying out programs, and I just finished the one for Ciaramella, the early music group which is coming to Hawaii with a boatload of interesting and unusual instruments. Just look at this list: shawm, recorder, bagpipe, dulcian, viol, hurdy-gurdy, cornamuse, vihuela, guitar and… Read More Ciaramella return visit
Four concerts in one weekend? Is that a little bit much or what? Two of the concerts I’m attending are by choral groups led by musical colleagues, another is one in which two of my students are performing, and the last is one in which I’ll be playing. Friday night, I’ll be attending the Spring concert of… Read More A four-concert weekend
Operation Babylift. If you are as old as I am (ahem!), you probably have heard the term “Operation Babylift.” But if you’re still a spring chicken, and aren’t old enough to know what it was, I can tell you that it was the name of a mass evacuation of children at the end of the Vietnam War in… Read More Operation Babylift
From time to time, I have written posts about organists being a dying breed—we are few and far between, and going the way of the dodo bird. Fewer students learn how to play the organ, and it’s just not possible to pick up the instrument “in ten easy lessons”—it takes years of commitment and practice.… Read More The real unsung heroes