Mini-Choir Vacation Itʻs Thursday night as I write this … and surprise, surprise! Iʻm not at choir rehearsal tonight because the St. Markʻs Choir is having a break following a most busy Triduum and Easter. Weʻll be having only a cantor for the next two Sundays so tonight and next Thursday Iʻm at home! I… Read More Unexpected respite
Ask any church musician or priest what is the busiest week of the year, and hands down, I bet they all would say Holy Week, or as my late husband used to affectionately call it, Holy H*** Week! Even Father Paul Lillie called it “The Week of All Weeks” in his sermon tonight! Between my… Read More The week of all weeks!
It’s Holy Week — the busiest week of the year for church musicians. My late husband, Carl Crosier, used to call this “Holy H— Week,” because in addition to conducting nine services of music during the week, typing a complicated bulletin containing all the services and music of the Triduum, rehearsing the brass and choir… Read More The Holy Week marathon begins
It’s Day 10 after returning from Iceland, and I’ve been so incredibly busy that I can hardly keep up with myself! This is Concert Week — on Saturday, there’s an Early Music Hawaii concert called “The Musical Journey: From New England to Honolulu,” with director Scott Fikse conducting music described as: The Early Music Hawaii… Read More Hitting the ground running!
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!
Last week, I was tasked with trying to find an image for Early Music Hawaii’s last concert of the season, “From Venice to Dresden,” which will feature the music of Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672). Here was the text I was given by Ian Capps, President: Heinrich Schütz was the most prominent of many German composers who… Read More From Venice to Dresden
I usually get a draft of the service order a few weeks ahead where I find out what the hymns and other musical parts of the service are going to be. I submit titles of my organ voluntaries for the prelude, introit and postlude on Mondays for the following Sundays. I then get a draft… Read More Like catching fastballs
The following post in the Facebook Organists Association page elicited many responses: Anthony Williams wrote: I have a question for the church musicians. Are you using brass for Easter? Usually, we have a brass quartet, however, with the pandemic we are deciding tonight whether or not to use brass. Any thoughts or suggestions would be… Read More Brass on Easter?
Today is February 14, Valentine’s Day, but in my mind it’s already Lent, even though Ash Wednesday is this coming Wednesday, February 17. Huh? Did I miss something? I thought Lent BEGINS with Ash Wednesday? Well, yes it does, but for me, I have already recorded the organ music for February 21, the first Sunday… Read More It’s Lent, already!