The number of organists has dwindled so much that when I wear this T-shirt through airport security, I get comments! Yup, I was wearing this shirt when I went to Kauai last month, and the lady at TSA asked me, “Are you an organist?” (DUH!) “Yes,” I answered. “My brother is an organist.” I didn’t… Read More Remembering Ruth
The following is a speech I gave at the Oahu Choral Society’s Vivace! fundraising dinner as the 2018 Dale Noble Award Honoree. Thank you. When I was first called about this award, my first reaction was “ you have got to be kidding! I mean, is this a mistake?” I’m not a person who is… Read More Aw, shucks!
https://youtu.be/0YW-uv3Ibm8 Since I grew up without television, I had never watched the show, “Queen for a Day,” which began as a radio show in 1945 then ran on NBC Television from 1956-1960 and on ABC from 1960-1964. Every show began with the question, “Would YOU like to be Queen for a day?” A number of… Read More Queen for a Day
By this time Sunday, May 7th, I will have sat on six different organ benches (and maybe even seven!) in the course of my week. Oh, not all of them are large pipe organs, but it just goes to show you that within the course of a week, I play musical benches! Last Sunday, I was… Read More Musical benches
It worked! Ironing my music for the Fauré Requiem did the trick! (See my previous post “Desperate measures needed” for enlightenment on this comment.) Everything yesterday afternoon at the second performance of the Hawaii Masterworks Festival went extremely well — my music stayed flat, the choir, orchestra and soloists sounded fantastic and I asked Eric… Read More Redeemed!
Last Saturday night, I attended the Oahu Choral Society’s 20th Annual “Vivace” fundraiser and was I ever surprised to find myself seated at the head table! To my immediate right was Karen Kennedy, a choral directing legend in this town, and next to her was Wanda Gereben, and next to her was Nola Nahulu of… Read More In with the bigwigs
Talk about choral music in Hawaii, and I bet the first name that comes to mind is Wanda Gereben, who was honored at last night’s gala 50th anniversary celebration of the Honolulu Chorale. I wrote about Wanda a couple of years ago (“50 Years of Choral Music in Hawaii.”) as the person who organized “The Big… Read More It’s a Wanda-ful World
All over town, events were being cancelled because of the threat of Hurricane Ana to the Hawaiian Islands. But the planners of the BIG SING event for the local chapter of the American Choral Directors Association decided to go ahead as scheduled. A gentle rain was falling as many entered historic Kawaiaha’o Church, and what a… Read More BIG SING is Big Success!
This past weekend, I’ve been mostly holed up in my condo, working on my computer on a program booklet for the Hawaii Chapter, American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). I know, I know, I’m not even a member of this organization (!) so why am I doing this? You’ll recall that in July of this year, Carl and… Read More The Big Sing
Say the word, “Choral Music” and “Hawaii” in the same sentence, and inevitably, you will bring up the name Wanda Gereben, whom I met some 40 years ago when I was her accompanist at St. Andrew’s Priory School and Hawaii Children’s Opera Chorus (Egad! that was EONS ago!) Wanda was the founder and executive director of the… Read More 50 Years of Choral Music in Hawaii