Contemporary vs. Traditional

I'm a little blue today after seeing the Rodgers Electronic Organ at my church Sunday, not only shoved into a corner but with its pedalboard disconnected and standing against the wall so the console could be FURTHER shoved into the corner for more pew space. My dream is one pictured at the link below. I, the retired organist/choirmistress, am sad. Are we throwing out the baby with the bathwater in trying to do the new, contemporary stuff? Are we getting away from 300+ years of traditional hymns just because they're old? Discuss amongst yourselves; I'm getting verklempt.


http://www.richardsfowkes.com/index.shtml

Wayne Rapier has moved on

Sad news--this lovely gentleman came to the town in which I taught double reeds in the 90's to do a master class with my junior high and high school oboists at the invitation of a local phenomenal oboe teacher. What a gracious man he was to come all the way from Boston to S. Texas to share his gifts! He was the rare individual who was not only an amazing performer but also a gifted teacher. That combination is NOT a given for professional musicians. What a loss, not only to the music world, but to his family and friends who have lost a lovely man. May God grant rest to his soul, and may light perpetual shine on him forever. AMEN. His obit from the Boston Globe is reprinted below.



Wayne Rapier; BSO oboist founded record company; 75
By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff October 15, 2005
Wayne Rapier, who played oboe in the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, died yesterday in Dana-Faber Cancer Institute. He was 75 and died after a battle with cancer.
Born in Tyler, Texas, Mr. Rapier studied at the Eastman School of Music and privately in Philadelphia with the legendary principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Marcel Tabuteau.
At 19 Mr. Rapier began his orchestral career as principal oboist of the Indianapolis Symphony, and later played in the orchestras of Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Baltimore and at the Santa Fe Opera prior to joining the Boston Symphony in 1970. He taught at New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, and several other schools. He was also a commercial pilot and certified flight instrument instructor.
After his retirement from the BSO a decade ago, Mr. Rapier continued to perform, but concentrated his energies on the record company he had founded, Boston Records, which he ran out of his home in Duxbury. Its catalogue grew to more than 80 compact discs of solo and chamber-music performances by major orchestral players of the past and the present, including such BSO colleagues as clarinetist Harold Wright, bassoonist Sherman Walt, oboist Alfred Genovese, bassist Edwin Barker, flutist Jacques Zoon and harpist Ann Hobson Pilot.
There are also three very beautiful records by Mr. Rapier himself; he knew the soul of his instrument.
Mr. Rapier was a congenial fellow, a Southern gentleman who never lost his Texas accent and generous style of going about his business. His longtime BSO colleague, former principal oboist Ralph Gomberg, said yesterday: ''Wayne was very talented, a solid musician who worked very hard. He understood the difficulty of maintaining a good sound on the oboe, but he could do it, and he played with spirit and sensitivity. He loved music, the Boston Symphony, and his many friends in the orchestra."
One of Mr. Rapier's postretirement engagements was to play the ''Vaughan Williams Concerto for Oboe" with the Plymouth Philharmonic; his daughter, Bonnie Rapier Harlow of Plympton, is a longtime member of the orchestra in the cello section, and his wife, Toni, a member of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, also frequently plays in Plymouth.
Music director Steven Karidoyanes said yesterday: ''The way he played that piece was luscious. In the dancing sections, he was sprightly and light on his feet, and when it needed to be long and plaintive, it was just that. He humanized the part. He knew this meant not playing with the most gorgeous tones all the time. He was always asking what the music was trying to say, and his response was always 'Let's get at it.' That was a great lesson."
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Rapier leaves two sons, Christopher of Mentor, Ohio, and David of Mansfield; and four grandchildren.
There will be a wake Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Shepherd Funeral Home in Kingston. A memorial service is scheduled for Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. in Pilgrim Church in Duxbury.
© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Home

HOME......it's good to be home. I feel as though I've lived out of a suitcase and in my car since August! Actually, I was gone 10 days in August, then bugged out from Hurricane Rita for about 8 days in September. Exactly a week later, I left for the mountains of New Mexico, then came back to my sister's in Houston--was gone another week. Travel, plus the altitude change this last trip, just takes everything out of me. (Going from my house, which is at about 11 feet above sea level, to Red River, which is at about 9,000 ft, then back home over 5 days, is more than this tired ol' body wants to take!) I loved getting out of the 100-degree temps each time; We came home from Red River with snow falling in the town as we left!

Traveling can be fun, and I've enjoyed my trips (except the hurricane one). I just wanna stay home for awhile......to rest......to unpack.....to do laundry......to clean house......to play with my doggies and kitties......to sleep......zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dodged a bullet--Hurricane Rita

All of you in the midst of clean-up and relocation after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita remain in my prayers!

I evacuated my S. Texas home on Wednesday, the 21st, at 4:30 am, when our area was predicted to be on the "clean side" of Rita. I tethered my trash cans, brought my lawn furniture inside, grabbed some clothes, a laptop, my oboe and English horn, and my 2 doggies, and set out for Tomball--which was, at that point, on the "dirty" side of the oncoming storm. OK, not very smart, I grant you, but my sis lives there, and Tomball was far enough north of I-10 that I thought we would weather the storm better there together. As I traveled north at dark-thirty, I encountered only minor traffic going my direction. I have a photo I took on I-10 in which there is NO traffic between me and the horizon on our east-bound side, but there is a steady stream of bumper-to-bumper traffic heading westward. I began to feel like my fireman friends, those guys who run INTO the burning building when everyone else is running out!

Anyway, by the time I finished my 5-hour trip, the mandatory evacuation notice in my area had been lifted, turned into a voluntary one because Rita had begun to shift back to the east. We in Tomball experienced only some gusty winds and some scattered power outages; No major damage other than yards and driveways littered with branches and pinecones. The NBC affiliate in Houston stopped all of its network programming (in a week of premieres, no less) to go 24/7 on the hurricane that Wednesday and for several days following. I don't think I want to get that much media coverage on any topic ever again; It did nothing but keep my stomach churned up the whole time, first in concern for US, and then in grieving for those in Rita's path, shown up close and personal in live video coverage.

Then, the de-evacuation began. Is that a word? I wanted to come home on the following Sunday, but there was NO FUEL available in our area. I had 1/2 tank from my trip up, but that wasn't enough to get back home, with no clue as to where I'd find gas along the way. I was saved from that dilemma by having a car window go bonkers; it rolled down and would NOT roll back up. That kept me from trying to leave on my trip until the window was repaired. So, I finally came home last Tuesday--plenty of gasoline, normal amounts of traffic coming and going. The only thing I noticed was that there were more vehicles abandoned alongside I-1o than I had ever seen. I sent up prayers for the occupants who had fled, that they had gotten to safety.

I returned home to find that we had not only avoided the hurricane but had not even gotten any rain to end our drought out of it! Everything was as I left it, and my feral kitties showed up by the second day home. I am, of course,extremely grateful to have dodged this bullet, but it has made think seriously about what I would value enough to take with me if I had to bug out again. We are, after all not through with hurricane season yet!