https://youtu.be/DECcjYlO5gY That’s how far away Honolulu is from Warsaw, where I’m sitting in my hotel room now. In terms of time, we are 12 hours ahead of my home in Honolulu, where my former student, Joey Fala, gave the rededicatory recital at Kawaiaha’o Church last night. Already though, several video clips have been sent to… Read More From 7,351 miles away
This weekend is the recital of my former student, Joey Fala, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kula, Maui on July 8 at 6:30 pm. This is Joey’s second recital appearance there and you won’t want to miss his concert as he weaves his magic. I say “magic,” because one needs a lot of creativity… Read More Meanwhile, back home …
Thanks to the miracle of the Internet and Facebook, I was able to catch a glimpse of my former student, Joey Fala, at the Yale commencement ceremonies held last week as he was granted a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance. I had the same feelings as when my husband and I held our… Read More We did this!
Have you ever met someone for the first time and within a few minutes felt as though you had known them forever? And that you could talk for hours on end, and never run out of things to say? Or that you felt so comfortable with each other that you could talk about anything and… Read More Instant connection
By this time Sunday, May 7th, I will have sat on six different organ benches (and maybe even seven!) in the course of my week. Oh, not all of them are large pipe organs, but it just goes to show you that within the course of a week, I play musical benches! Last Sunday, I was… Read More Musical benches
If you live in Hawaii, maybe you’ve attended concerts at the Doris Duke Theater at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Or perhaps you’ve visited Shangri-La, Doris Duke’s home in Hawaii which is now a museum of Islamic art. Check out Wikipedia to read: “Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American heiress, socialite, horticulturalist,… Read More The Duke connection
This afternoon was my turn at Hawaii Public Radio’s semi-annual fund drive, and I deliberately chose a time at which I would normally be listening: Fred Child’s Performance Today. Seems that in my busy schedule, I always seem to be driving around at that hour, and am able to enjoy the live performances which are featured.… Read More What a coincidence!
Fifteen years ago, I was absolutely blown away by a ten-year-old boy who had taught himself how to play the organ—he had downloaded Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” from the Internet, and played the pedals with both feet. All that before he had had any formal organ lessons! I discovered he had an… Read More Raw musical talent
It’s been three days since Joey Fala’s triumphant concert last Sunday, and people are still commenting and raving about his performance to me. Last Friday, Karl Bachman, the Dean of the local Hawaii Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, arranged for Joey to be interviewed by Gene Schiller of Hawaii Public Radio. Joey certainly… Read More Organist on the radio!
That’s what Iolani School teacher Lisa Preston posted about Joey Fala’s concert last night. “It was positively glorious! What a treat to hear this; if you’re not a fan of organ music, he’d convert you for sure. I was his class adviser for six years, and now he’s all grown up and the rock star… Read More The rock star of the organ world!