It would appear that the days of School of Music Commencement on School of Music stage are over. I didn't see that one coming, but it does pose a few solutions, however draconian, to my aches and pains in this series of posts. Since 1990, my school of music had held its own Commencement ceremonies in its own auditorium, with the organ serving as the processional vessel of choice, played by yours truly. No canned Pomp & Circumstance. No assembling an overworked brass quintet or full band or orchestra. Just me. All other units across the campus held their exercises in larger venues. T ..read more

This is the tenth installment in a series on my take on playing the complete works of Charles-Marie Widor. See the first post in the series for an introduction and my philosophies behind this blog series. And as always, refer to John Near’s edition for important corrections in the scores that I might not necessarily mention. Bach’s Memento is up today. Visit my program notes on the piece. And of course, feel free to order my recording. I feel these pieces are the hardest Widor wrote – not only because the notes are difficult at times but also b ..read more

This is the ninth installment in my series on my take on playing the complete works of Charles-Marie Widor. See the first post in the series for an introduction and my philosophies behind this blog series. And as always, refer to John Near’s edition for important corrections in the scores that I might not necessarily mention. Symphonie gothique and Symphonie romane are up today. Visit my program notes on the pieces. And of course, feel free to order the recordings. ------------------------------- Symphonie gothique is an epic piece I ..read more

  I’m a wedding know-it-all. Weddings are where my service playing philosophies came into focus over the years. But I’ll confess the sins of my youth here: When I became able to play love songs on the piano well enough to play weddings, I did so. The preludes to weddings in North Carolina in those days included tunes like “Ice Castles,” the theme from “Ryan’s Hope,” the theme from “The Young & the Restless,” the theme from “Exodus,” “We’ve only just begun,” “A time for us,” “Evergreen.” “Close to you,” “If,” “Endless Love,” “Sunrise, sunset,” and so forth. I like to listen to 70s and ..read more

  I am currently involved in a most interesting, unique project. Picture it: 1990s: Pianist Dale Tsang and I are classmates at Rice. 2020: Dale's fiancé, Bay Area-based composer David Garner, has written seven fugues for organ. Dale remembers me and asks me to premiere them! 2020: I marvel at the high quality of these pieces and thoroughly enjoy learning them. Maestro Garner has written for the art and not for the market. These pieces are not easy! But they are masterful and a delight to play. I hope they will go far. There is a soothing one "on" D (Garner prefers "on" to "in"), a pompous ..read more

  I miss organist conventions. Year after year, at just the time when I think I am all alone in the fight against mediocrity, the bureaucracy of teaching, and my own regrets, I attend an organist convention and am nearly instantly encouraged by kindred spirits in kindred situations (or worse). Truly, I am blessed. Covid has destroyed our ability to get together as large groups for quite some time to come. But recently I was able to have what I call a mini-convention, with another professor several states away. He and I acknowledged our current plights and briefly discussed what we do as t ..read more

  I thought I was finished grousing about Commencement, but there’s more. I do love Commencement, honestly. I love the ceremony. I love the intimacy of the School of Music holding its own ceremony on its own stage, using its own organ and organist. But I have blogged in this little set of posts about some elements of it that gnaw at my patience. When the very nature of ceremony begins to be threatened, I begin to pace like a caged tiger. My displeasure at all that is identical to my displeasure with the ongoing bastardization of liturgy at every turn in every denomination for th ..read more

The musicians in a church tend to have to leave Sunday School early to get to choir warmup, or they have to miss some midweek services for choir rehearsal. As the organist, I would love to have attended (or even led) some Sunday morning classes, but alas. However, I was certainly "getting some church" each week. The choirs were my Sunday School. The music was my food. The paycheck wasn't the only thing getting me to church each week. I always felt a responsibility to the choir members and to the congregation. Since the choir was likely having to miss something else to participate in music, the ..read more

  I deeply regret what COVID has done to our public gatherings, and I sympathize with those students who didn't get to 'walk' during Commencement ceremonies last May and likely won't this coming May. Our Commencement exercises for the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State are intimate and enjoyable. I always enjoy being part of a smaller exercise than with the cattle call for the other units across campus. Every large college unit at this university holds its own Commencement ceremonies in the large multi-purpose arena across campus. There are therefore seven separate ceremonies acro ..read more

This is the eleventh and final installment in my series on my take on playing the complete works of Charles-Marie Widor. See the first post in the series for an introduction and my philosophies behind this blog series. And as always, refer to John Near’s edition for important corrections in the scores that I might not necessarily mention. The Suite latine and Trois Nouvelles Pièces are up today. Visit my program notes on the pieces. And of course, feel free to order the recording. ------------------------------- The Suite latine ..read more