It was my former student, Joey Fala, who first texted me this morning about the death of Edith Ho. “I just saw Edith Ho passed away.” He apparently had received the news from Walden Moore, (whom I met when I visited Joey at Yale) who wrote: So very sorry to hear of the passing of… Read More Tributes to Edith
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
Maybe you saw the Washington Post opinion piece today, “It’s hard to sell a piano these days. It’s even harder to contemplate junking one.” Author John Ficarra, who was the editor of Mad magazine from 1985-2018, was lucky and ended up using it as a trade-in for a new instrument. Ficarra wrote: It hasn’t been… Read More Rescuing the unwanted
If you have been reading this blog since November 2020, you may remember the post I wrote about my husband’s fortepiano, “The fortepiano returns!” You may recall that my husband, Carl, was the recipient of a Philip Belt fortepiano upon the death of his college piano teacher, Else Geissmar. Then when Carl died, he bequeathed… Read More A new home for Else!
If she had not told me, tonight might never have happened. What I am talking about was the conversation I had with Cynthia Scheinert in 2003, former fifth grade home room teacher of Joey Fala, who told me about his fascination, no, his obsession with the organ so much that every school assignment, whether it… Read More A kid who had a dream …
There was an extensive interview with my former student, Joey Fala, in the current issue of the Iolani Bulletin, the publication of Iolani School where I was the Chapel Organist for twenty years and where I met Joey when he was in fifth grade. Take a look at the Tag Cloud—either in the column to… Read More Still making news!
I opened the newspaper this morning to the headlines, VACCINE ACCESS EXPANDS, with the good news that people in my age group are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. My doctor’s office called me in the early afternoon to schedule a vaccine appointment which will take place on Tuesday, just four days from now. Yippee!… Read More Good news!
Yesterday I was pleased to read this announcement on Facebook: ICYMI: We had some good news hiding in this month’s issue of the Chimes – Joey Fala has been named our new Director of Music Ministry! While Joey has been with us since last summer, we are thrilled that he is now a permanent part… Read More It’s official!
With a twinkle in his eye and joy in his heart… that’s how I remember Sam Hammond, the longtime carillonneur of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who died at age 73 on Thursday. The notice of his death made the national news and was sent to me today, “Man who played Duke Chapel bells… Read More With a twinkle in his eye …
Until the year 2013, if it was the first Sunday in Advent, you could 100% count on hearing me play “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s transcription of the fourth movement of Cantata 140 for organ. It is also known as the opening piece in the collection known as the Schübler chorales.… Read More It’s Advent, already!