Perhaps you saw the article a few days ago, titled “Music professor retires after record-breaking 67 years.” The person who had the honor of serving the longest in the University of Michigan history was organist Marilyn Mason, who just retired after teaching there for 67 years. She apparently joined the faculty while still a student, and… Read More Longevity
Ordinarily what I’m going to write about today I wouldn’t consider within the confines of this blog. That is to say, in this particular blog I mostly restrict myself to writing about music, my travels as they relate to music, and musical events. But when I ended my nearly 35-year tenure as Organist of the… Read More Guilty pleasure
Lately, a number of people have come up to us with the question, “How is retirement?” And I have to tell people that both my husband Carl and I are still performing music, but the big difference is that we are not in charge anymore! That means we don’t need to do any planning, organizing,… Read More Still performing music, but —
Along with playing for services, organists are frequently called to accompany choirs. I myself started accompanying choirs when I was fifteen and got my first church job at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Burbank, CA. (I was paid $66.67 a month which included two weekly choir rehearsals plus a Sunday morning service and warmup!) When I entered… Read More Accompanying the choir
We have been back in Hawaii not quite two days and I have been hitting the ground running in the ramp-up to my Bach concerts on August 18 and 25. I have not yet been able to get to the organ yet since I had my monthly eye injection yesterday. But now the real work… Read More Hitting the ground running
St. Theresa . . . St. Christopher . . . St. Clement . . . St. Andrew. No, I’m not reciting a random list of saints — this is the list of churches for which I have been asked to substitute as organist since “retiring” last Christmas. Someone once said, “Organists never die; they just… Read More A litany of saints
I asked my Iolani School colleague, John Alexander, if he wouldn’t mind sharing his brilliant eulogy for John McCreary, and he was happy to oblige. So here it is in its entirety: HENH!!! That’s one of the things I’m going to miss most about John: that quirky way he had of greeting those he knew… Read More Sesquipedalian circumlocution
If a bomb had struck at St. Andrew’s Cathedral April 27th at 11:00 am, there would be no more church music in Honolulu! That is because every church musician in town was there to celebrate the life of Canon Organist Emeritus John McCreary. People were already starting to gather when I arrived at St. Andrew’s… Read More Celebration John McCreary
Today we laid Canon Organist Emeritus John McCreary to rest. The other day when I brought dinner to Betsy, his widow, she invited our houseguest, John Graham, and Carl and myself to the viewing and burial. (John was buried with a martini glass and an organ pipe!) John Graham, who is here to attend McCreary’s… Read More Pie Jesu
It was just about ten days ago that I found out that I was one of four organists who were asked to play the prelude for John McCreary’s funeral service. To say that I was flattered and honored is an understatement! John Renke, the Cathedral organist, asked what each of us wanted to play, and I… Read More Guessing . . . and groping