I’ve often written about the magical power of the organ — and no matter what your age or stature, the sense of might and power you feel when you play a chord on full organ. I’m sure it was the magnificent richness of sound which turned me on to the organ when I began playing in… Read More The power of the organ(ist)
In yesterday’s post, I described only the daytime of my first day of “retirement” — I didn’t tell you about my activity last night when I spent several hours creating a “playbook” for this weekend’s services at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Back in the days when I was the organist at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu,… Read More The playbook
So while the weekend has not quite arrived yet, it is the beginning of two crazy, busy weekends where I will play NINE services in just TWO weekends! As I write this, I’m in fact on the way to Honolulu International Airport to pick up Maui organist Clayton Logue who will be my houseguest and… Read More Nine services in two weekends!
On Sunday night, Pastor Jeff Lilley acknowledged the congregation of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu for having the vision and then supporting the vision of a fine music program with a quality tracker organ. And in a Facebook conversation, someone marveled at the sight of the 40-year-old Beckerath — still looking fresh and new and having… Read More The Beckerath B.C. (Before Carl)
Gone but not forgotten … forever in our hearts … in loving memory … rest in peace — these are some of the most popular headstone epitaphs. The challenge is, how do you sum up a person’s life in just a few words? You could even consult the internet, and today I discovered www.yourtribute.com which has sections on… Read More Gone but not forgotten
This morning I attended the 11:00 am service at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, CA where I came to hear organist Hyunju Hwang play the organ. You may remember that it was a year ago last summer that I heard her stunning playing at the Bakersfield AGO convention (see my post “The power of music”… Read More The exit hymn
From time to time, my late husband, Carl Crosier, used what I deemed “quaint” or “old-fashioned” American expressions. For example, he used to refer to our undeveloped basement in Kaneohe as “the back forty.” When something was not quite right, or askew, he would say that it was “cattywampus.” (In Hawaii, you would say that… Read More Visiting firemen
As you can guess, I’ve been pretty busy the last few weeks, with my husband’s illness and hospitalization, his death, the funeral, and the aftermath. So it is only now that I’m able to share my excitement about the New York City American Guild of Organists opening concert which took place on September 8, 2014. I… Read More A spectacular doublebill!
Psalm 23 from the Ionian Psalter, conducted by Carl Crosier Since Peter Hallock‘s death last Sunday, the tributes have been pouring in for this extraordinary church musician and mystic. Especially poignant and touching was the Office of Compline for April 27, 2014, which was sung at St. Mark’s Cathedral on the very night that Peter… Read More Tributes pour in
One of the things I’ve enjoyed since retiring from church music are my Thursday nights — no more Thursday night rehearsals! And one of our favorite programs we’ve enjoyed watching on Thursday nights is a local public television show called “HIKI NŌ — Can Do,” the nation’s first statewide student news network. According to the… Read More HIKI NŌ — Can Do!