Days to go: 980 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 20: At this moment (10:39 am) Duo Majoya is setting up for their last concert in the series, which starts at 11:15. "Break a leg," as they say in the theatre world. Hey, Reader, you still have 36 minutes to catch the concert. Get going!!!

I just sent a card to John McIntosh to see if he would like to hear the Bach P&F when it is finished. It would be great to see him and Diane, and to visit Goderich, the "prettiest little town," I think their motto is.

Headed for Bowmanville in a few minutes, where we will celebrate my sister Cathy's birthday. I went to pick up some sweet corn at the Markham farmers' market to add to the feast.

Happy long weekend, everyone!

Days to go: 981 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 19: What a pleasure to hear Marnie and Joachim today in Stratford! They played so well, as always -- a light, sparkly lunchtime program. (I heard the car horn but not the dog barking in the Hakim.) They haven't aged a day, and looked great in their matching purple-themed outfits. Tomorrow it will be red-and-white, for Kobie Kloppers' "Musical Memoirs of A Canadian Organist" among other Canadian works.

Go if you can! You will really enjoy Duo Majoya. Let's see: Ma = Marnie, Jo = Joachim, and then there's Ya. Hmmmm...for fun, I guess, because then you have the word "joy" -- !

http://www.majoya.com/upcoming events

We went out for lunch afterwards with Paul Chappel and his dad. So nice to feel part of the organ biz again. Marnie thinks I need some lighter works to go along with all the big heavy pieces listed on this blog. She suggested one of the Bach concertos. Would be fun! Especially the entire G major, which I remember Chris New playing faster than humanly possible years ago in Edmonton. It was exciting! Like going down a steep hill with no brakes! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Stopped by the church on the way home and learned another line of Bach, but I was THINKING "Ragtime," you can bet.

Days to go: 982 -- Pieces to go:10

Day 18: Well, I guess I'll have to buy a new metronome after all because the ceiling fan over the organ console doesn't skritch anymore. Spent a peaceful session learning another line of Bach. (Unsteadily, haha! NOT!)

Since this was the last day of the course I will be able to practice in the mornings from now on -- except for tomorrow morning, when I go to to hear Marnie and Joachim, who are playing organ duets as part of the lunchtime summer music concert series in Stratford. It will be fun to see them again.

Nothing too unexpected at the 'Brook today. I didn't see Dr. Nam; he sent one of his minions instead. She was a nice minion, though, and answered all my questions. Discussion about surgery will be put off until October, after the results of the radiation treatments are known.

CA still sux.

Days to go: 983 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 17: The church was really busy today so I came home, jacked up the AC, and will practice in comfort at my grand piano. After Star Trek.

With piano practice you can add weight to the touch and drive the notes into those fingers all the more powerfully, especially if you start at quarter tempo. Well, this has worked for me in the past, anyway, especially with Messiaen.

Today the wiki for our class was up and operational. It is quite fascinating. All our presentations will soon be on it. You can see for yourself at:

http://www.guidanceaq-2010.wikispaces.com

Try to identify which quotation I put up, haha!

If I make a wiki for Larry Cortner, people from all over will be able to type in their tributes and memories, and it will be on the www forever! More on that later...

Something new in the medical department. One of my doctors wants a PET scan, so my radiation treatment, scheduled to begin next week, may be delayed. I've never had a PET scan, but Dr. Ackerman is so sweet and caring that whatever she wants to do is fine with me!

Days to go: 984 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 16: Yay! I passed my skills test today and we didn't even have to do open-ended questions!

We did have to do a "reflecting" statement (a paraphrase) though. "Sooooooooooooooo, you feel frustrated because you studied open-ended questions and they weren't on the assessment...".

I must say the food for this course has been outstanding. Did you know that you can make a fruit dip out of cream cheese and marshmallow fluff and it is AMAZING?

Completed another line of Bach today -- am almost a third through the fugue now. I started learning from the end of the piece to make sure the last bit could play itself, so to speak, if I were to get tired come performance time.

I remember the first surprising time I ever got tired during a performance situation. It was at the end of an Easter Vigil and luckily for me the conductor decided to do an encore of one of the choral hymn arrangements as a postlude instead of the organ piece I had prepared. I was certainly glad of the church hall coffee that night. (Wished I'd had it a bit sooner, like around the time of the homily.)

Why don't we have Starbucks like those megachurches in the States? Then again, up here, in the Great White North, it would more likely be Timmies! :-)

Days to go: 985 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 15: Finished another line of Bach and found out more about the mystery of Mary at the church today. Also ran into Kay, who was organizing the choir music and getting it prepared for use in September. She is so meticulous about this sometimes overwhelming task.

Tomorrow we have an evaluation of counselling skills at the course, which, BTW, is almost finished -- three days to go. My nemesis, the open ended question:
"Soooooooooo, how's THAT workin' for ya?"

Suz says to finish the blog right now and go to bed. So I will, and I will leave you with this little gem, which I hereby dedicate to Dianne, AQ instructor par excellence! Here goes--

"I have a room full of mirrors in my house. Sometimes I go there to reflect." (Kevin Bartini) HAHAHAHAHA!

Days to go: 986 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 14

THE CALL

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
And such a Life, as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart;
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joyes in love.

(George Herbert)
set by Ralph Vaughan Williams
in "Five Mystical Songs"

Days to go: 987 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 13: We were talking today about this coming April being the fifth anniversary of Larry Cortner's death. A memorial concert/get-together in Studio 18 at UWO would be a good way for his former students to celebrate his life.

I know what I would play: the Franck Priere, one of LLC's signature pieces. I have his own score with his own markings. I can think of lots of people who might attend -- not only old students, but people from his church and some of the faculty.

Denise, for sure, and Pam. I wonder if Trish and Terry would come? And Jeanette? Where are Corinne and Nancy? Paul would go for this. Maybe JSM and Dianne would come. And Derek, too.

It is not very long ago that we were so proud of LLC for winning St. Albans. And the fun we had making jokes about "Larry Who?", 'way back in the Silverwood Building.

Good times.

Days to go: 988 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 12: One step at a time for the Bach. Today I noticed that I was playing in time to the constant skritch, skritch, skritch of the ceiling fan just above the console. Well, I can't find any of my metronomes anyway, so this will make a good substitute.

Susan was away so I talked with Lois about Mary. Lois (pastoral associate) made some good points and we'll follow up on it next week.

In order to get the 10 pieces learned in 1000 days I am going to have to accomplish more each day. More "butt on the bench" time, as we used to say when I was an undergraduate. I put the score of the Durufle on the piano at home so that I could at least work out fingering and maybe do some of the manual reps.

I'm afraid that I will be competing with Yvonne's mom next door, who likes to listen to Elvis CDs. Yow! It's like having The King right there in the same room with you. And it's always, "Blue Hawaii..."

Days to go: 989 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 11: A strange thing happened today. I was happily packing up after some productive (mostly silent) work on the Bach and the lady who had been praying over by the Tabernacle met up with me at the door. She asked me for a ride home, since she was feeling very tired -- too tired to walk home.

I suggested she sit on the little bench just outside the front door and I went to my car and threw about a month's worth of Tim Horton's wrappers and coffee cups into the back seat so she would have a place to sit. (Yeah, I know, ewww!)

On the way to her house she told me that she was very very sad and she would have to move away from her big empty house and she was all alone and very lonely. She has a son in Stouffville but she doesn't drive. Her name is Mary.

After I dropped her off I went back to the church office to see if Susan Tuck knew anything about Mary's situation, but Susan had left for the day. I will talk to her tomorrow when I go in to practice. I think the church has an organized ministry to the elderly --or, at least, I think it did at one time.

I got home in time to watch the end of one of my favourite Star Trek Voyager eps, "Equinox, Pt.1". Wasn't concentrating on it much, though.

WWJD?

(What Would Janeway Do?)

Days to go: 990 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 10: Got a lot done on the Bach today AND did the group presentation this morning for the course, so I feel like it is the last day of school. Five more days for the course and it will be! Tomorrow we are working on campus at the OISE computer lab, so it wil be different. Cooler, I hope.

The Bach is just lovely -- we will hold off on the "glorious" until I can play it up to tempo with the proper registration. After yet another intense day at the course it was soothing and quite relaxing to practice on the quietest of 8' flutes. NOT a day that would win the "Excellence in Innovative Practicing" award, though! I just did the reps, made some changes in fingering, and varied the rhythms a bit. When the course is finished I'll start practicing in the morning and see if that jazzes things up a little in the energy department.

Susan asked me tonight if I really had to go back to school in September. It was such an unexpected question that it totally threw me. I had been so set on returning full time that it was a big deal for me to agree to part time yesterday at the doctor's office. I hadn't even considered staying off entirely.

By September I will be over halfway through radiation treatments.

As the students would say, "CA sux!" OMG, they are right!

Days to go: 991 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 9: Back from the 'Brook and haven't quite made it to the church. I'm at Suz's once again. We have just had some tea and little wafer cookies. More later.

Hi, I'm back. Didn't make it to the church. This makes 3 days now that I haven't practiced, and I'm not really making much progress. A friend of mine says that research has shown that when you train, you should train alternating strenuous workouts with gentler sessions. You should not miss more than 2 consecutive days or you will lose the benefits of what you have built up.

This means I MUST practice tomorrow. STRENUOUSLY!

I noticed tonight when getting into my pj's that I have little red Sharpie marks all over my trunk from the radiation sim today where they did the tiny tattoos.

No, the tattoos don't say, "Trude loves sushi" in Japanese.

But those little red Sharpie marks. It is as if a (very odd) teacher has snuck in and evaluated my body. So now I have rubrics on my skin, haha!

Tomorrow, Bach and Durufle. And it will be glorious!

Days to go: 992 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 8: Happy Monday to all. A short post today. No playing -- the shoes and the scores stayed in the car. I am at Suz's using her wonderful computer to clean up an assignment for class. I think my computer is sick, and I hope it is not affecting anyone else's!

My nurse refused to change my tubing tonight -- she thinks there is big time infection. So that is another thing to check out at the 'Brook tomorrow. Interventional Radiology, here I come! Ick. They will want to change the site of the stent. Double ick!

Then it is off to radiation planning to take pictures and tattoo me once again. I asked for a rose last time and got some teeny little dots. This time I'll ask for some obscure Japanese symbol -- hey, why not? I love sushi. That's what it will say in beautiful, flowing calligraphy: "Trude loves sushi!"

I miss my Bach. And I have to get home to bed as soon as possible. Goodnight, Moon!

Days to go: 993 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 7:

THE HOMECOMING

The spirit, newly freed from earth,
is all amazed at the surprise
of her belonging: suddenly
as native to eternity
to see herself, to realize
the heritage that lets her be
at home where all this glory lies.

By naught foretold could she have guessed
such welcome home: the robe, the ring,
music and endless banqueting;
these people hers; this place of rest
known, as of long remembering
herself a child of God and pressed
with warm endearments to His breast.

(Jessica Powers)

Days to go: 994 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 6: Today was silent fugue day again! A lady came over to the organ as she was leaving the church and we had a brief talk about her recent trip to Great Britain, where she and her husband had visited many cathedrals and listened to many Sung Evensongs. (I wanted to tell her all about my studies at the Royal School of Church Music in Croydon, but this didn't seem to be the time). She had a lot to say, and I was delighted -- especially when she said to me, "Well, whenever you see ME in here, please keep playing and don't turn the sound off. We all need a little Bach in our lives." :-)

I showed the priest the little organ log book that Ron Blackmore asked me to put in the drawer on the right-hand side of the console to help the organ service person. I am pretty sure this organ service person is the Leslie Smith who was at UWO during my 4th year. It would be good to catch up with him, and also ask him the million or so questions I have about the Letourneau.

Dear Reg, the custodian, came in to chat, noticed the dust on the console, and went off to get his swiffer. He dusted the entire console right then and there. We talked about the best way to clean the dirt off the keys and get the fingerprint smears off the music rack. No Windex allowed! I'll ask Leslie when he comes to service the organ.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I will not practice. But I will post a lovely poem by a mystic!

Days to go: 995 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 5: First day without practicing. I really miss it, after only 4 days of consistent work. I would go downstairs to the piano, but it is almost 11 pm and I wouldn't want to disturb the neighbours. Maybe I should get a digital keyboard and put it in the basement where it is cool...

Today was a very sleepy day and I am having a little trouble with my kidney stent. My nurse said that if it doesn't clear by tomorrow, it's "the 'Brook" for me (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre). I am ok with that, but it sure is going to cut into my practice time.

A friend suggested I download the organ works onto my iPod so that I can learn them faster. That is an excellent idea and I will get my own personal computer guru right on it. Daryl Sutton, student violinist extraordinaire, loaded it last time, with the most wonderful music. How did he know that I love ABBA? Especially, "No-no-no-no-no-no-Knowing Me, No-no-no-no-Knowing You," for all you Dibley fans!

We had a fun Christmas in July at Tara & Dany's earlier this evening. There were 7 very little, very happy children there. Santa Claus even came! It was so cute, and EVERYONE was taking pictures. Soon I will find out how to post pictures on this blog. Then you will be sorry! Merry Christmas in July!

Days to go: 996 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 4: Oooooh, so hot and so tired! We had a very intense day of classes today, and it took me THREE HOURS!!! to get home. The joys of driving across Toronto downtown at evening rush hour. At least now it looks like it is going to rain -- I really enjoy the rain, sometimes.

Played the Bach, manuals only, home on the piano. And soon I will go to bed.

I am really wondering about that fermata. It just cries out for a cadenza, and I know just the man to write it: the undisputed King of Improv, Joachim Segger! I think I may have heard a cadenza there before, maybe when Marnie played the work?

Interesting conundrum. My interpretation will likely sound both conservative and Romantic, and I am tempted to make up a cadenza that will please the property manager at St. Pat's, Ron Blackmore. He wants to hear Phantom of the Opera. I can see just playing the top chromatic line a little -- not the open fifths, that would be too obvious!

But, then again, a crisp Baroque cadenza on a tracker organ would be super, especially if I played the Pass. and Fugue REALLY FAST! It might be exciting. Then again, it might not be, just as karaoke music is lots of fun -- for the singer, that is!

Tomorrow is "Christmas in July" at Tara and Dany's. If this were truly Christmas Eve I would be up to my armpits in Willcocks choral settings and chorales from the Christmas Oratorio . Those were the days!

Days to go: 997 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 3: Trude and the Holy Ones, Part 3: I was working on the Durufle and pushed "cancel" as a man came into the church. Soon I heard a large, friendly voice from 'way over by the Tabernacle: "You aren't stopping on MY account, are you?" Why, yes, as a matter of fact...

Later we had a lovely conversation in the lobby. "Jake the Snake," from Kenya, enjoys listening to the organ and is retired from Bell. In his words, he has been blessed with four children and now looks after his grandson. I hope he brings the toddler over to the church one day when I am practicing. (Have to start 'em early in the organ biz!) Jake is a sweet man and yes, IMHO, definitely one of the true Holy Ones.

Rick Vander Woude from Calgary suggested I practice early in the morning and late in the evening -- just like we used to do on the organ at Convocation Hall at the University of Alberta when we were both there as students in the 1990's. I remember darkness -- morning AND night -- and lots of snow. Rick played the Reger piece I will be learning, and is famous for his subtitle for Bach's Trio Sonata #6: "The Mother Of All Trio Sonatas." (You had to be there...).

Thanks for that neat pic of your family, Rick! You are one lucky man!

Hey, I have a gig thanks to this blog -- my first one! George Fung, of Holy Rosary (a Basilian parish in Toronto), will allow me to play the Bach as a postlude at his church this fall. Just the fugue, that is, as a kind of short-term goal for me, not to mention the pleasure of playing his beautiful Casavant in the gorgeous acoustic of that old church. When the "Pieces" counter, above, reaches 9.5, you'll know I've played it. We are looking at late September or early October and everyone's invited.

Thanks, George! How about if I play the postlude at all your Masses and then we can all go to lunch? I'm buying! McDonald's, anyone? :-)

Days to go: 998 -- Pieces to go: 10

Day 2: Today was "silent practice day" at St. Pat's. I didn't realize there would be so many holy people coming into the church to pray. That's great, of course, but pretty soon I stopped waiting for them to leave and simply practiced on silent keys and pedals. I got a lot accomplished on the Bach and the Durufle and I could "hear" it most of the time, anyway.

I must say, I enjoyed having those people come in. Some stopped by to chat, since the organ console is right by the entrance. And I found it comforting to see others faithfully at prayer. I hope they said one for me (but not like that hilarious country song, "I'll Pray For You," in which the angry singer prays for "a flowerpot to fall from the window sill and hit you on the head like I'd like to..."!)

At our course today (Guidance Pt. 1 AQ through OISE) we visited the Carpenters' Union Local 27 Training Centre in Woodbridge. Joe Ranieri, a proud Red Seal Carpenter, had this to say about his craft: "IN, on or ahead of schedule. Work productively with no wasted effort. Work with an eye for perfection. Work meticulously. Be tough and competitive. Aim to take pride in your work. Don't pander to the leniency factor. Be the top of the top."

Skilled trades, yes, indeedy. Surprise! My AQ course is showing me that I just love to acquire new skills. If I can combine Joe's work ethic with increased organ playing skill (but avoid becoming entrapped in my own all-too-familiar version of the leniency factor), perhaps... .

Right on, Joe -- you can build my deck anytime, and I'll play a trio sonata for you!

Days to go: 999 -- Pieces to go:10

Day 1: It has begun! I went to the church, sat at the Letourneau for the first time (a perfect fit!) , and played slowly through the Passacaglia and Fugue. It makes so much sense to start with Bach! "Ahh, Bach!" as Radar says on M*A*S*H* reruns.

My score is my 41-year-old Peters edition with fingerings originally taken from John S. McIntosh's copy. He played the Bach during a September 1969 recital at First. St. Andrew's United Church in London, Ontario. It was my first year at Western, and I fell in love... .

Half way through the fugue, a parishioner came in. What to do? Even though I was using 8' flutes, they have a lot of presence and some people might find the sound disturbing while they are trying to pray. So I stopped until the man left. Sigh!

I started again and another man came in. At this point I decided to go outside for a break. But this man came in BECAUSE of the organ playing and wanted to listen. Sigh!!

I began reading the Durufle and it sounded so lovely on that organ. I made a list of supplies needed: more pencils, metronome, timer, counters (I STILL believe in your 16 reps, Marcel Dupre!), a towel (for sitting on) and another list of music to order.

Can't remember the last time I was this happy!