When one steps inside St. Mark’s Cathedral Seattle and attends a worship service, one is immediately struck by the fact that … “this is a sacred and holy space; something mystical and magical happens here.” It is the huge space, the magnificent Flentrop Organ, it is the rolling acoustics that make music so extraordinary in this… Read More Mysticism and the sense of the sacred
The following speech was given by Karl Bachman at the Oahu Choral Society’s Vivace! fundraising dinner at the Bishop Museum, March 3, 2018. We are here to honor Katherine Crosier this evening, but I would like to begin by thanking the Oahu Choral Society for asking me to speak a word on her behalf. In… Read More “Cain’t say, No!”
The call from the church administrator came about 6 pm on Thursday night. As soon as the caller ID showed up, I knew I was going to be asked to play the organ: Kathy, I know it’s late, but can you play for a Tongan funeral tomorrow at 1 pm? In case you don’t know,… Read More A Tongan funeral
Karen Sender shared this article from the Oakland Tribune about our colleague and friend, John Renke, bringing Blue Christmas to Oakland. We surely do miss John! Blue Christmas aims to soothe those hurting during the holidays John Renke, Pastoral Associate for Divine Workshop & Operations for the Oakland Diocese, stands inside Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the… Read More People send me news …
Perhaps you saw the recent 60 Minutes segment about Alma Deutscher, the 12-year old musical prodigy, who was just bursting with music in her head. Just this afternoon, I decided to take a break from folding 300 napkins for my condo’s upcoming Christmas party, and turned on my Apple TV. I’m used to watching 60 Minutes… Read More How can music be so beautiful?
If you read my last post, “The kids did it!” you know that over the weekend, my younger students gave a concert, after which they assembled a two rank pipe organ kit, called Orgelkids. If you read further back, when our local chapter of the American Guild of Organists was considering getting one of these… Read More The organ world is SO SMALL!
One of the most thrilling emotions an organist can experience is playing on full organ — that is, playing with the loud stops drawn. You can be a very small person and can make a big sound with little effort, simply by pulling out the stops, playing a chord and holding on for dear life. There is… Read More The most powerful organ sounds
Lately my Sunday morning routine is to do my usual 2 mile walk, and then return home to watch a livestream of Evensong from Duke University Chapel where former student Joey Fala is the Organ Scholar.Today’s anthem was Benjamin Britten’s “Rejoice in the Lamb,” considered one of the “warhorses” of the choral repertoire and one with… Read More The Lamb “warhorse”
I am now in Sacramento, California, where I have been with my siblings and nieces to celebrate the marriage of my niece, Nancy Au to Matthew LePage. It was an outdoor wedding where the weather could not have been more perfect. Not too hot and not too cool. So it was some excitement that during… Read More Wow! Small world!
The last couple weeks have seemed like one disaster after another, wouldn’t you agree? While I was still in Italy, Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, was overcome by Hurricane Harvey and massive amounts of rain, resulting in devastating flooding. One of the participants from the Historic Organ Study Tour was from… Read More Good Lord, deliver us!