As you may recall from my last post, last week I played for 5 church services. This week I have 5 evening rehearsals (4 for Early Music Hawaii and 1 for St. Mark’s). Tonight was the instrumental rehearsal for Early Music Hawaii. I am scheduled to teach 5 organ lessons this week. I will play… Read More Magic number 5!
In case you’ve never heard of “Winterreise.” according to Britannica.com , “Winterreise, (German: “Winter Journey”) (is a) cycle of 24 songs for male voice and piano composed in 1827 by Austrian composer Franz Schubert, with words by German poet Wilhelm Müller. Schubert was reviewing the publisher’s proofs of the cycle in the weeks before his… Read More Winterreise “tour de force”
My Advent Organ Chorales concert was over just about an hour ago, and I have breathed a HUGE sigh of relief that there were no disasters! Being that it was a Facebook Live event, it means that there was no stopping allowed, no do overs, no “Wait, can we try that again.” I have to… Read More Whew! No disasters!
“Touch the light through the voice.” That’s the objective of Vox Luminis—a Belgian early music vocal ensemble of 8 singers, to introduce people to early vocal music. They were joined last night by members of Quicksilver, an outstanding instrumental ensemble which toured Hawaii a few years ago. I described them as being cheered as “rock… Read More Vox Luminis
You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh during a classical concert, but a lot of people couldn’t help themselves last Saturday night at the “Think Outside the Bach” concert. It came during Michal Nowicki‘s reading of PDQ Bach’s biography (in his beautifully accented English), who is described by PDQ’s creator, Peter Schickele as “the son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna… Read More You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh …
I may have mentioned once or twice (!) that I come from a musical family. My mother won a piano in a music competition when she was in high school and had to make the hard decision to choose between music or going to medical school (she became a pediatrician but went back to playing… Read More Music runs in families
At 12:15 am this morning, I was at my computer typing, “How to get rid of a musical earworm,” and I found the following answers: 1. Chewing gum could be good way to get rid of earworms. 2. Engage with the song: Many people report that actually listening to the earworm song all the way… Read More Imaginary chewing gum
If someone flies the coop, they leave the situation that they are in, often because they want to have more freedom or want to do something different—so says the dictionary. It just happens that in the Honolulu musical community, we have a number of key people “flying the coop” — leaving Hawaii for greener pastures… Read More Flying the coop
It must be Spring Concert Season! [DISCLAIMER] I am only personally involved in three of these concerts and this is by no means a comprehensive list of concerts in Hawaii! For example, it does not include the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra concerts even though I have season tickets and will most probably be in the audience,… Read More If it’s May …
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