I may as well titled this post, “Changing Hats.” Or how about “Juggling Balls.” Or try this one, “The Ultimate Multitasker!” It’s been quite a week! Last Saturday I was cheering on my former student, Sophia Stark, as she starred in a Disney-themed concert with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra concert at the Waikiki Shell. Sophia… Read More Switching gears
There has been a murder at the Maison de la radio in a musical instrument.– That’s it.– By the way, there was a mistake. You wrote “in a musical instrument”, you should have written “with a musical instrument”. No, that was it. In a musical instrument. The above was translated dialogue from the television show,… Read More Murder in a musical instrument
From time to time, I’ve mentioned that I’m a “paper” person, meaning that I read sheet music from paper rather than from a tablet. When I took the St. Mark’s organist job, I was asked which format I preferred, and I answered, “Definitely paper.” I know I’m in the minority, here, as it seems to… Read More Drowning in paper
Honestly, I don’t know whether “The Week That Was” refers to last week, while I was on my birthday trip to California — or this week, where between October 29 and November 6, I will have played seven church services, and a Friday night choir rehearsal YOWSERS! I arrived home on Saturday night completely exhausted.… Read More The Week That Was
While my colleagues at the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) were meeting this week for their biennual conference in Philadelphia, look what popped up in my Facebook feed! It was a picture of my husband, Carl, and me with my sister, Doris Au MacDonald and her duet partner, Sharon Dennis (aka The Braeded Chord)… Read More Across the pond(s)
This morning organist Katelyn Emerson posted her performance of Jeanne Demessieux’s “Te Deum” on Facebook, and what I immediately zoned into were the shoes that Katelyn was wearing: stilettos! Katelyn writes: A little video on the 101st birthday of Jeanne Demessieux: her complete Te deum, a portion of which I had a privilege to record… Read More Organists in stilettos
Today is May 30, 2021. That means it has been exactly 50 years since French virtuoso, Marcel Dupré, played his last Sunday service at Saint-Sulpice, went to his beloved home in Meudon for lunch and died peacefully about 7 pm that evening. I know that I recently wrote a post about my former teacher, “Time… Read More Celebrating Marcel Dupré
A few people commented that the service I played last week on May 20, Ascension Day at St. Andrew’s Priory, actually occurred one week past the official date of Ascension Day in the rest of the world, which was May 13, 2021. To be honest, I hadn’t even given it a second thought. I’m presuming… Read More Time warp
This afternoon I was very happy to hear that Adam Pajan opened the Inaugural Concert of the Rosales Organ (the Sloggett/Wilcox Ohana Organ) with Marcel Dupré’s Cortège et litanie, a piece I learned as a teenager with Dupré himself. Adam said that the piece was a great one to showcase the many colors of an… Read More Rosales puts Kaua‘i on the map!
Of all the questions people have asked me, “Do you still play the organ?” is one of the most remarkable that I can remember. We had just arrived in Paris and immediately set off to find the house of my former teacher, Marcel Dupré. The house is now owned by another family, but the owner… Read More Do you still play the organ?