For several weeks now, I’ve been working on preparing the scores for my next concert, March 21, 2022, Bach’s 337th birthday. I always seem to make things hard on myself, because I simply can’t buy the music from a music store or find the sheet music online—in many instances, I am pretty sure it’s just… Read More Paper engineering
This photo which I posted on Facebook yesterday has already gotten over a hundred likes! The Hawaii Chapter AGO will be presenting a Mini Organ Festival from March 12-21, 2022. Featured will be Alcée Chriss and Katelyn Emerson playing the Rosales Organ at All Saints Kapa’a and the Aeolian-Skinner Organ at Central Union Church. In… Read More Mini Organ Festival
This morning Jieun Newland and I got up early in order to drive to her church job at Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, some 50 miles away. Because of the pandemic, I guessed that there were only about 40 people in attendance, even though the service is live-streamed as well. People who… Read More Reformation at Peace
This morning Ben and Jieun Newland took me to see Organ Mountains, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, declared a national Park only in 2014. Also called La Sierra de los Órganos, the rugged mountain range was so named because someone thought that the jagged peaks looked like organ pipes??? To us organists we couldn’t see… Read More Organ Mountains?
“My heart is full…There is no greater experience than making music with other musicians.” (Jieun Kim Newland) So wrote Jieun Kim Newland on her Facebook page after last night’s faculty recital at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Soprano Diana Esparza and countertenor/baritone Phillip Hill presented a joint recital in three parts. The… Read More “My heart is full…”
Now I know why my mother, after she retired at age 83, bought a second grand piano. To play duets! Being a pianist or organist can be somewhat lonely, as you really don’t need other people to create music. However when you have the opportunity to make music with others, it’s SOOOO much fun! Hence,… Read More Four hands, four feet
Last Sunday I celebrated my birthday with my family in California. This is the second row in a year that I’ve decided to indulge myself for my birthday, so I flew to San Francisco a week ago on my way to the Burbank airport, which is only 15 minutes away from my son’s home. Alas,… Read More Indulgences
For some reason, I felt like saying this in Latin, “de profundis.” I feel like I’ve been to the abyss and back. However, it’s not because of any “sorrow or anguish” on my part. Why? On Tuesday I had my Covid booster shot and although I had been warned that some people were more deeply… Read More De profundis
You probably know that I’ve been struggling to learn Spanish over the last three years, spending two hours per day with Duolingo, listening to Spanish podcasts, attending online classes, having daily Zoom tutoring sessions and watching Spanish telenovelas every night. And yet … I consider myself an intermediate student with only a moderate fluency. Sure,… Read More It’s not fair!
Imagine my relief when I opened this morning’s newspaper to read the headline: “TIER 3 ON THURSDAY,” saying that Oahu residents will be able to have larger gatherings starting on Thursday, due to the drop in coronavirus cases. The latest 7-day average of new cases has remained below 50 for two weeks and under a… Read More Turning point