This week is my last of “regular” chapel services at Iolani School, and Chaplain Dan Leatherman surprised me yesterday at the 7th-8th grade chapel by calling me out and giving me a lei in front of the whole assembly. Part of the service was a dialogue — the students were asked which person they had most… Read More Ending of an era
In my last post, I told you that I’m playing in the Iolani School Spring Concert next Friday, and as such, I’m playing from the same musical scores that my predecessor, John McCreary, played from. For you non-musicians, we often make marks in the music to give ourselves “reminders” on playing the piece. Often it is as… Read More Marking the score
Last night, I was with “my peeps” — the members of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists. Our Dean, John Renke, hosted a New Year’s reception at the Pacific Club, and during the evening, a photo was taken of five of us, as shown here. All of the ladies above are organists, with the… Read More The Merry Widows
I finally got a chance to sit down and read the December 2014 issue of The American Organist (also known as TAO) and a few names jumped out at me. The first one which caught my eye was the picture of Barbara Adler, who is Treasurer/Councillor for Finance and Development. Many people don’t know how instrumental… Read More Organists I know in TAO
What could be more simple? Just turning the page from one to the next while someone else plays the music. Judging from the number of comments I received on my post about the Arvo Pärt piece I played last week for the University of Hawaii chorus concert, page-turning is not so simple and there is a… Read More The perils of page-turning
Over the last twenty years, I have worked with my colleague at Iolani School, choral conductor John Alexander. Up to last year, I accompanied only the Lower School Choir which sings for chapel every Friday, but last year I became the organ accompanist for the entire 150-voice school-wide chorus for their Christmas and Spring concerts. (I still play for the… Read More Honoring John Alexander
Two of the pieces I’m playing in tonight’s University of Hawaii chorus concert are old friends, but the third, “Credo” from Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica, is completely new and the most challenging for me. Tonight’s program will be held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 7:30 pm and will feature parts of the mass all composed by… Read More Tintinnabuli
Yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon with Betsy McCreary, whose late husband, John McCreary, was my immediate predecessor at Iolani School and our colleague at St. Andrew’s Cathedral for over thirty years. Betsy had invited me to peruse John’s huge inventory of organ music with the thought of giving some of it to my students. I gladly… Read More Anyone want organ music?
This past weekend, I’ve been mostly holed up in my condo, working on my computer on a program booklet for the Hawaii Chapter, American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). I know, I know, I’m not even a member of this organization (!) so why am I doing this? You’ll recall that in July of this year, Carl and… Read More The Big Sing
Say the word, “Choral Music” and “Hawaii” in the same sentence, and inevitably, you will bring up the name Wanda Gereben, whom I met some 40 years ago when I was her accompanist at St. Andrew’s Priory School and Hawaii Children’s Opera Chorus (Egad! that was EONS ago!) Wanda was the founder and executive director of the… Read More 50 Years of Choral Music in Hawaii