Finding buried treasure, and the pleasures of aitch ee double ell.

This is not my news, but it ought to be shared: Recently, a friend of mine was poking around in the crawl space under an organ. The only things down there are two tremulants and the conduits for the cables between console and relay. Or so he thought. He crawled further into the space, all the way to the darkest corners, where he discovered a bunch of “brown paper packages tied up with string.” As it turns out, those were “a few of our favorite things,” namely, the pouchboards and primaries for the original action of the organ. So I helped him take it all out and take inventory (only two pouchboards are missing!), and we marveled at the good shape everything is in. He is now planning a ‘retro’-re-build. Too exciting!

This truly is the semester from the Hot Place: seven organ majors, one secondary student, Sacred Music Literature and Materials, Organ Literature and Pedagogy, Service Playing, Chorale accompanying, an organ performance of the orchestra part of the Tchaikovsky first piano Concerto, four recitals of three programs, a program of “Bell and Brass,” and directing the music for a musical being produced by the ASU Department of Theatre & Dance. My students are in similar situations, with upper-level courses, lots of projects, and lots of real-world stimulation. But we have all agreed to slog through it together, keeping careful track of our time, and we will all meet at the exam in one piece. And when it's all over, I am quite sure I will have the widest smile of all at Commencement. Then I will eat a leisurely lunch, take a nap, and move on to two summer recitals, a choral tour, a convention, and three fall recitals.

Honestly? I thrive under a constant flow of deadlines. So come on up and enjoy the show! There's no telling where you'll find me or what I'll be doing this semester.