After that last post about getting discombobulated over the page turns in Bach’s Great Eighteen Chorales, some people suggested that I just memorize the music. Dear People, do you know that it is going to take two concerts to play all of this music? That is because I think it would just be too much… Read More Memorization
My last post generated a lot of discussion about the whole notion of poor pay being the reason for the organist shortage, especially considering the amount of preparation time required to play a church service. I suppose if you go back to my ten years of private organ lessons, four years of college with courses… Read More How much prep?
This Sunday, the LCH Choir will be singing two anthems by McNeil Robinson, an acclaimed New York organist and improvisateur. We first met Neil when he came to Honolulu to dedicate the Beckerath organ at LCH in 1975. At that time I was fortunate to spend about 20 hours in organ study with him and… Read More McNeil Robinson, musician extraordinaire
Today, November 1st, is All Saints Day, but at LCH we will move the feast to Sunday, November 6th, making it All Saints Sunday. Last week, Miguel Felipe and I did a switcheroo for the 8 am service. When I would have normally played the Hymn Mass for Reformation, Miguel played piano for the Alleluia… Read More Wood, Dupré and Bach for All Saints
Today is Reformation and assistant choirmaster Allen Bauchle was honored at all services, 8:00 am, 10:30 am and tonight’s Vespers. Miguel Felipe said that in the two months that he’s been on board, Allen has been an invaluable asset behind the scenes — talented and hard-working in so many respects — but also had great… Read More Allen’s Day
For the last couple of weeks we have been working on music for the next Bach Vespers, which will take place on Sunday, October 30th, at 7:30 pm, the eve of Reformation. The two major choral works include Bach Cantata Nr 9, Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (Salvation has come to us) and Heinrich… Read More Reformation Bach
Over the weekend, Joey Fala and I have been working on the repertoire which will be performed at the July 9th PipeWorks, the educational outreach program of the American Guild of Organists, which introduces the pipe organ to young people. Joey asked me to play something “flashy,” so I have decided to play Marcel Dupré’s… Read More Marcel Dupré and his house organ
The last few days we have had a delightful houseguest, Isabelle Demers, concert organist, who is billed as a “diminutive dynamo” because of her small stature but virtuosic organ playing. She will give an organ recital tomorrow night, June 10th, 7 pm at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. What’s really interesting is to learn her story of… Read More Isabelle Demers, diminutive dynamo
When I was seventeen, I had the great fortune of going to Paris and studying with the French virtuoso, Marcel Dupré. Of course, at the time, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to have this experience, and even though I thought I was pretty good at the time, I really knew NOTHING much about… Read More Marcel Dupré, organist extraordinaire
After being held hostage in the body of a Boeing 767 for twenty hours, Carl and I finally arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport at 6:45 am. We had arranged to have a shuttle take us to our hotel and that went off without a hitch. Thinking that we wouldn’t be able to check-in so… Read More Return to Meudon