Conductors, Pipes, and the Sea ("C")

October was a mighty month. A surreal month. A beautiful month.

And it gave me an honor that will make me smile for quite some time: playing the organ with the Pacific Symphony in their “Halloween Spooktacular” children/family concert at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center.

This splendid hall just finished installing a 3.1 million-dollar pipe organ by C. B. Fisk Organ Builders – the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ. Four manuals, tracker action, 4,322 pipes arranged four stories high. It is a beautiful beast. My little paws had such a delightful adventure prancing across its keys.

The Spooktacular was a program with a little play and music excerpts. I played a music teacher who gives a lesson to a boy on Halloween. I somehow have a whole orchestra in my house to demonstrate different instruments to him and at times I am under the spell of “the Phantom of the Concert Organ” who “commands” me to play as the boy and the conductor try to break the “musical spell.”

It was also fun to teach the audience a little bit about the organ and demonstrate it’s incomparable range of pitches. I heard gasps as I played the 2-foot flute as high as it could go (almost like a dog whistle), and chuckles of disbelief as I played the rumbling 32-foot reeds in the pedal slowly down to low C.

Rehearsals were a kick. Sometimes I was smiling and laughing so hard that my cheek muscles ached. And guess what – I’ve been “branded” by a new friend.

As I parked my car at rehearsal and got out, Maxim Eshkenazy, the new assistant conductor of the Pacific Symphony, pulled up on his motorcycle. Now, something to know about me is that I am a puppy dog. I love car rides, bike rides, boat rides, train rides – they stir up my brain chemicals and make my tail wag. Maxim must have noted something like that when I eyed his bike, for he immediately asked if I wanted a ride.

Oh YES!!! I didn’t even take a second to put down my purse or car keys. I hopped on and … psssssssss … something felt very hot on my right leg. I forgot that exhaust pipes on motorcycles are burning hot. Maxim felt so badly, but really, my excitement didn’t give him enough time to warn me. Off we went anyway – oh it was so much fun. I don’t know why fun, little rides make me laugh my head off, but it sure pumped me up for rehearsal. What a brain high.

We teased him about being a “hot conductor.” He conducted two different sets of pipes this month. Ah, it was great to work with him and I feel I’ve made a lasting friend.

The Pacific Symphony was very gracious in letting me sell my CD after the two concerts. About 100 sold there and I hope they are making trick-or-treaters of all ages happy.

Another highlight of October was going for a stroll on a couple of evenings at Downtown Disney with my parents and getting a caramel apple at their confectionary shop. This shop also sells wonderfully huge cookies. Huge. Chewy. Full of love. These cookies – oh man – what a story each one is. The perfect balance of doughy and bake-y. For me, texture is half the pleasurable experience of a good cookie. And the caramel apples – it’s like biting into autumn. (Like the same caliber of when I lived in Vienna for a semester of college and I bit into a hot sausage I bought on the street – I bit into Vienna. I felt the history, art, music, architecture, and culture swirl around in my brain with that simple sausage. Silly? Profound? I don’t know.)

My catwoman costume (á la Michelle Pfeiffer) made it out this year for a pre-Halloween party. Thank you to my friend Jana Hill-Dyble for creating it – such a talented seamstress! Certain costumes really are extensions of our personality and it feels so right to wear them. Well, such it is with catwoman. It feels so right. Purryeah.

I became sick the day before Halloween, but my dear old boyfriend, Sam, invited me to go surfing with him on Halloween day and, fie on sickness, I went. (Sam teaches surfing lessons and brought me along!) It was a lovely way to spend Halloween, like costuming as a surfer chick. I only got up for a few seconds and did a lot of “knee surfing,” but I’ll conquer it yet. The clouds, sun, and water did some very pretty things. I think what I like most about surfing – at least at this point in my skills – is sitting out on the board, waiting for the waves. It is so beautiful right there, bobbing and floating (I was hoping the sharks wouldn’t consider it the reverse of “bobbing for apples”). I love the salty, fresh smell. I love how my lungs and brain feel as I take it all in.

As for my “Halloween Carols” project, I’m taking a bite at a time. I’m very fortunate to have a New York contact to some big publishing houses, so I hope I get a bite there. People have already asked if they can buy the sheet music, and so I hope that a good publishing company will see the ready demand and market for my idea.

I hope that all of you had a magical Halloween with lots of chocolate and candlelight!