Christmas 2011

Four choral concerts, one recital, a Messiah Singalong, and one partridge in a pear tree later, my Christmas is ready. I'm now ready to hear some juries, post some grades, visit the family, play at the ol' stompin' grounds in Houston, attend some parties, and put 2800 more miles on my car. And practice like mad.

Advent/Christmas arguments aside, I recommend Sirius/XM channel 75 for nonstop Christmas music. Driving around in the mountains where I live, enjoying people's Christmas lights and decorations, and listening to professional (not pop) Christmas recordings on satellite radio -- it all puts me in the spirit. I'm ready to go shopping and keep Scrooge at bay for another year.

I wish you, dear Reader, a magnificent Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween

Tonight is the annual Halloween Monster Concert at Appalachian State University, a tradition I started in 2006. That's all the credit I can take, because the rest of it was inspired by the same annual tradition in Houston, started many years earlier by others.

Anyway, tonight at 8:00 Eastern, we will hear the Bach d minor, along with "accompaniment" by the audience reading cue cards with such commands as "scream," "applaud," "ooh, aah,""uh oh," "snort," and the like.

We will sing Pumpkin Carols such as "Deck the patch with poison ivy / Fa la la..." and "We three ghosts of Halloween are / scaring kids who wander too far." Classics, I know.

We will administer a Name-That-(scary)-Tune quiz, where the piano and organ will play tunes from horror movies and monster-themed TV shows. Also included in the "scary" category would be tunes that we hear far too often, such as Chopsticks, those *%&# Phantom chords, and You Light Up My Life.

We will hear the Boëllmann Toccata.

We will have various costume contests: scariest, funniest, cheesiest, best couple, and most original. Applause will be the judge.

This year, we are adding a silent movie, Thomas Edison's Frankensten, 1910.

And candy will be available at the end, as will open console.

If you're in the area, you ought to come up. Those of you outside the area ought to attend a similar event or just pine for this one. It really is a hoot, pun intended.

Come, labor on

What a Labor Day weekend it has been. One wedding rehearsal, two weddings and Tropical Storm Lee. Those two weddings are probably the last I shall ever play (reasons forthcoming later). Honestly, weddings are fun, but I have developed quite a hate/hate relationship with wedding rehearsals, which I will explain fully in a forthcoming blog post.

The weekend was lovely. The first wedding was for the very low-maintenance daughter of a tenor in the choir I most recently served in Lenoir, NC. (By the way, while that city’s name looks like it would be pronounced as French “luh-NWAR,” it is pronounced “luh-NOR.” Sorry.) Anyway, her music was nice, and she let me choose it pretty much myself. And it was a great reunion for me with that congregation.

The second wedding was for that same church’s choir director’s son. He and his new wife are both band directors in Asheville, and their music was wonderfully laden with brass choir and organ. And as it turns out, many of his brass players were VERY old college classmates of mine, and they were joined by some talented students of his. Old and young making wonderful music together. It was a thrilling hour of music for a lovely couple. I made the acquaintance of one of the groom’s horn students; she is thinking about involving the Horn in her career. You go, girl. And thank you, Corey Powell, Music Associate and Organist for the Central United Methodist Church, Asheville, for your hospitality in allowing this guest organist to play for that wedding.

Couple all this with a delicious buffet dinner after the wedding, plus brunch the next morning with old and new friends, and it was a great time. By then, Tropical Storm Lee was doing his thing in that area, so the drive home was wet but fortunately not heavily populated by bad drivers.

While I was away, three major deadlines presented themselves as looming and/or late. As of this post, I am now caught up on all that and am about to go stand in front of my sacred music class. We’re discussing, of all things, WEDDINGS this week. Perfect timing.

Then I have a cameo performance of the Gigue Fugue at ASU on September 13.

Then that progressive dinner/recital performance in Charlotte on September 16.

Then those full recitals on September 20 and 25.

Then those recording sessions in Nashville next month.

Meanwhile, disappointments abound, of the professional and personal varieties. The first variety shall pass, and the second shall be overcome. I am swamped in work and deadlines, but they are all of the musical variety, and I really cannot nor shall not complain. Everyone should be this lucky to do what he loves and is good at. Happy Fall to all, and to all a good night –er – semester.

When the party's over

Road Trip 2011 is over. Four thousand miles in two weeks, lots of organs to see, friends to visit, sister to play Scrabble with, and chocolate cake to eat. Now school planning begs for my attention, and it gets it. Practicing is still on schedule, barely, and the weather in Boone has cooled off after the heat wave. Life is quite good.

My childhood church, where I was bitten by the wanna-play-the-organ bug, is about to celebrate its 100th birthday. Those childhood places never grow old, and I am delighted to have been asked to play for the centenary celebration. That will be the last hurrah, and then school starts.

Well, that was short. If you need anything, I'll be practicing.

Road trip 2011

It's time for my annual pilgrimage to Houston to visit friends and family, eat authentic Mexican, play at the ol' stompin' grounds, roast alive in 95 degrees with 95% humidity, etc. Due to the amount of stuff I usually have to carry, plus the fact that one needs one's car in Houston, I drive to Houston more often than I fly there. Each year, I make several stops along the way to check out an instrument or visit a friend or visit my sister. This year may be the most schizophrenic yet:

It all starts with a short conference at Campbell University, which is in Eastern North Carolina (which is the opposite direction from Houston. I told you this was schizophrenic). From there to Macon, Ga., to make friends with an instrument I'm playing next March and to visit with Harold McManus, my predecessor at First Presbyterian, Houston. Harold is a prince, and his service playing will bring tears of joy every time. From there I'll overnight at my sister's in Dothan, AL. Next morning to Tuscaloosa to make friends with the organ at the University of Alabama, where I'm playing next January. From there to Atlanta to visit the organ at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, where I'm playing next February, then on to Houston.

In Houston, I'm looking forward to interviewing my mentor and teacher, Clyde Holloway, for The American Organist magazine. I'll also serve duty at a Board meeting for the Aeolian Manor Foundation, which my dear friend Glen Douglas set up to encourage young organists. (Once his house organ is finished, we'll be hearing more about all that.) Then play for First Presbyterian in Houston, then go play slot machines with my sister in Biloxi. Then back to Houston for the annual Richard Forrest Woods choir reunion, then head back home, perhaps checking out the Aeolian-Skinners in Longview and Kilgore, Tex, along the way.

This is only a two-week trip. Perhaps I'll practice during some of that time; perhaps I'll ride my bike through the hot, moist air. In any event, my belly will be filled with wonderful cuisine, and my soul will be renewed by a great city filled with great friends. If you'd like to come along, just let me know.