It’s been awhile since I bought an iPad to substitute for all the paper I’m burning through as an organist at two different churches, but as of now, I’ve been too afraid to use the iPad in the service. Instead, I’ve relied on all my paper copies of the sheet music, being that I don’t… Read More Christmas Eve iPad debut!
I guess you could call me a “working stiff” — meaning, that I’m back in the work force, after ten years of relative retirement. Here are some of the synonyms for “working stiff” from Dictionary.com: I’m a working stiff organist! My last post, “Too many notes … too much!” described the quantity of music I… Read More Working stiff
If indeed the period between Halloween and Christmas is called the season of excess, I’ve got it in spades! As you may have learned, I have two completely different church positions, taking up much of my waking hours. Let me share with you what parts of the service I play on the organ: Nu‘uanu Congregational… Read More Too many notes … too much!
Well, maybe it’s not entirely life-changing, but at least it’s going to change my life at leisure. I can say with certainty that my life of “retirement” is over, and it’s all because of a phone call I got last Sunday afternoon from the Rev. Paul Lillie, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. You may… Read More Life-changing phone call
And in the “Adventures as a Church Organist, episode 813 …” I found an article recently, written by Ashley Danyew, on the skills needed to be a church musician. The skills included: The complete article may be found here: “8 Skills that set you apart as a church musician.”) Let me expound on number 2,… Read More Church organist adventures
If you go back and read my post “Double duty,” you’ll remember that today was the day that I had very little time to travel from the 9:00 am service at Nuuanu Congregational Church in order to arrive at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church to play their 10:30 am service. Even though typically the Nuuanu service… Read More You know you’re late …
Will they or won’t they? What I’m talking about is my Easter Day postlude this year—I will be playing an arrangement of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus for organ and three trumpets, no choir. Tradition has it that people stand for the Hallelujah Chorus, because “it’s tradition.” At the end of the service, the pastor gives the… Read More Will they? Or won’t they?
It’s been forty years (gasp!) since I wrote my first annual Christmas letter, The Crosier Chronicle, a yearly recap of my family’s adventures. The reason I know it’s been forty years since that first Chronicle is that 1982 was the year my son, Stephen, was born and this past November, he celebrated his 40th birthday… Read More Forty years!
People probably don’t know that I was once a Major League Baseball fan in my childhood and I faithfully listened to all the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games with broadcaster Vin Scully who recently passed away. In baseball, a doubleheader is a set of two games played between the same two teams on the same day. Historically,… Read More Double or triple doubleheader?
I learned a new word today: Deux-olingo, which describes someone who is trying to learn two languages at once. I learned the word from one of the latest blogs on the Duolingo app, https://blog.duolingo.com/how-to-learn-multiple-languages/. Go ahead and click the link, you’ll find it most interesting! It’s only been about three weeks now, but I’ve spent… Read More Deux-olingo