Extraordinary. That’s the only way I can describe this whirlwind weekend with 24-year-old concert organist, Nathan Laube, here in Hawaii on spring break from his studies at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Germany. From the time we picked Nathan up from his flight from Boston, where he had just given a concert at Harvard Memorial Chapel,… Read More Extraordinary
wun·der·kind (vndr-knd, wn-) n. pl. wun·der·kin·der (-kndr) 1. A child prodigy. 2. A person of remarkable talent or ability who achieves great success or acclaim at an early age. [German : Wunder, wonder, prodigy (from Middle High German, from Old High German wuntar) A wunderkind is coming to Honolulu in the person of Nathan Laube, concert… Read More Wunderkind
When we found out that a Lei Shower and reception were going to be held on my last Sunday, needless to say our biggest disappointment was that my husband, Carl, would not be there because of his commitment to sing with the St. Andrew’s Cathedral choir. So you can imagine my delight and surprise when… Read More The best surprise
In many ways, yesterday’s 10:30 am service was just an ordinary Sunday at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. It being the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the service was preceded by our Sunday School children’s presentation of the Jesse Tree, which are lessons about the preparation of Christ’s coming, interspersed with a musical refrain. Allen Bauchle… Read More ‘An ordinary Sunday service’
With the church organist shortage situation reaching critical mass, I guess it was just a matter of time before someone would come up with a technological solution. When I was sick with stomach flu a couple of weeks ago, apparently a few people went into panic mode. I wonder if they would feel better had… Read More Replaced by technology?
The low numbers of students learning to play the organ has been a hot topic of discussion on the pipe organ LISTSERV to which I subscribe. Although I am more of a “lurker” rather than a contributor, I thought I’d weigh in on the discussion. It all started when the following statement was made: People… Read More Why there are no more organists
Former organ student, Joey Fala, has been at home for Christmas break from college, and he and I were talking about Toccata in D minor by Max Reger (1873-1916) which he has been learning. I was telling him, it was “a heck of a lot easier to play when you have a crescendo pedal,” but of course,… Read More No crescendo pedal!
Last Sunday, I felt a tremendous sense of relief as I finished up the last notes of the postlude, which was Bach’s Fugue on the Magnificat. That was because it was my last service before I get on the plane to spend Christmas in California! However, I still played this afternoon’s rehearsal with the soloists,… Read More BC and secco recitative
When Carl Crosier retired as Cantor from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu after 38 years, he decided that his first Christmas out of church music would be spent with our family on the mainland — which meant that I would need to find a substitute organist for the Christmas services. Thankfully, my former organ student… Read More Zounds! the zimbelstern
At last night’s Worship and Music committee meeting, we were reviewing last Sunday’s Children’s Sabbath, and the fact that one of my organ students played most of the liturgical music plus the postlude. “Another student from the Hawaii School for Organ Playing,” Miguel Felipe joked. Even though I’ve been teaching organ since 1973, it’s only… Read More Hawaii School for Organ Playing