What I've been up to...

Well, my readers, you haven't heard much from me in quite awhile. The photo tells part of the story: I've been busy with copyright licensing and other paperwork for the new CD. In addition, the design, layout and content for the liner notes and traycard (back of the CD case) had to be written, revised, edited and submitted to the manufacturer.

In red on a paper in the photo to the left you see "Book 1st Pres".  The biggest highlights of my musical career have been at First Presbyterian Church here in Winnipeg.  I gave my grad recital there on April 2, 1981 on the wonderful Beckerath pipe organ. Twenty-five years later, on April 2, 2006 I released my first CD, Notes of Faith. The launch celebration concert was also at First Church.  Once again I'll be playing in this lovely space to launch my new CD. The details are below.

How I arrived at the recording studio

I hinted in my last post that I'd write a little about what happened prior to recording last week.  As you might guess, a lot of the preparation (not counting practising) was done long before April 30.  Two pieces that will be on the CD are from a book I purchased nearly 25 years ago.  Another pair of carols are in a book bought only in February of this year.  The others fall somewhere in between those extremes and more than one book was what I call a 'fluke' purchase - a book I wasn't specifically looking for at the time, but stumbled across and bought on a bit of a whim.  Two of my books were on a clearance table in Feb. 2011 for, if I recall correctly, 70% off so might have cost me $5 each!

Narrowing down my choices was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  There are so many good carols out there, and many good arrangers too - where to draw the line?  I tried very hard to keep a balance between well-known songs and lesser known ones.  Carols seem to fall into the 'mellow' category too (or is that just my bias showing?) and I wasn't trying to make a CD to put listeners to sleep, so I had to be careful to balance mood and tempo as well.  I made a list of possibilities, then narrowed it down until I was fairly happy with my choices.  Then came the challenge of deciding on an order for the tracks.

Advent selections came first - just makes sense to me to 'prepare' before I 'celebrate'.  That wasn't too difficult as there are fewer of them.  But putting the Christmas carols in order - well, that was more time consuming.  When I had a first draft, I went to the piano, played all the arrangements in order, and wrote down the key each song began in and ended in.  When I finished and looked at my list I was overwhelmed with how well one followed another!  I truly had the sense that the Holy Spirit was leading me in the creation of this project.

The actual recording is completed now and pictures will soon follow.  I'll also write a little about the whole studio experience - a new one for me; my first CD was recorded at home.

The time is coming...

There are any number of ways to complete the title of this post.  For me, right now, the end of this sentence is, "...to head to the studio to record."  The actual date for that is April 30th.  At this time last week, I felt a little like I did just before my son was born - I'm finished with preparing and ready to deliver.  What a difference a week can make!  Today I feel as if I'll never really be ready, and what was I thinking anyway?  I'm in what I call 'panic mode' and, thankfully, I've been there before, survived it, and come out the other side just fine.  Survival requires not giving in to panic - not letting it paralyze me into inaction, or more accurately, not practising. 

There have been many other steps of preparation for this project.  Some of them are:  accumulating music, choosing repertoire and setting the order of the pieces.  Maybe when the actual recording process is done, I'll write about those things but for now - I'd better get back to practising!

Planning ahead

It's been about a week and a half since I posted this entry over at the Presbyterian Record.  You might find it helpful to read it before reading the newest entry found above.

The things you find!

This post will be, quite literally, about notes of faith - as in, my adventures in sorting and packing St. Andrew's music library this week. The above cantata book contained a bulletin from 1954 when this cantata was presented. More about that in another post. Then there are the various copies of music that have migrated from, well, I'll let the pictures tell you.

St. Vital United was a few blocks down the street.

These two churches are about 1,200 miles away! How did the music get to Winnipeg?

This piece migrated at least twice. If you look carefully under the Riverdale stamp, you can see "Property of First Avenue Baptist Church" - which could be just about anywhere!

Lastly, we have detailed instructions on using file folders. Judging by the typeface on the company logo, I'm guessing these came from the 1920's or so. The music in the file folder would confirm that!


Here's the logo in detail:


So now you know some of the things I found. They gave me a few laughs along the way, and that was a good thing this week.

Advent 3 - Joy!

I am obviously a little behind here... someday I'll learn how to write ahead and have Blogger put up my post on a certain day. So, how am I doing in the 'joy department'? I've come to realize that the third week of Advent is generally my 'panic' week - the week during which I fret that nothing will be ready on time, that I've bitten off more than I can chew, etc. Joy seems to sprout wings and fly off to some other, less busy, less frantic home! Or does it? What is (or should be) the Christian believer's definition of joy? I'm open to comments and suggestions, my readers...

Advent 2 - Peace?

Advent is a time of preparation and waiting for the coming of Christ. This time of year for a church musician brings extra preparation (at least it feels like 'extra') for St. Andrew's Christmas Eve service and all the glorious music of the season! I'll be the first to admit, it wouldn't seem like Christmas without the music. Still, that brings its own stress and weariness and over the weekend, I got the worst sore throat I've had in awhile. Good thing I'm not a singer...

St. Andrew's is in its own season of preparation and waiting as well. On January 8, 2012 we will have our last service at our current location before we move into a partnership with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Many decisions have been made and still need to be made before this actually takes place. I think it's safe to say that the biggest decisions are behind us and what remains is a lot of little decisions - not sure which is more tiring! Both require a great deal of prayer, thought and planning and God's hand is evident as we take steps on this journey.

By now you may be asking, "What does all this have to do with peace?" I think sometimes we casually define personal peace as being relaxed, in a blissful state, without a care in the world. May I propose something different? I believe God's peace is an underlying sense of reliance on Him, and that God's plan and purpose are being worked out, sometimes/often in ways we cannot see or understand. During this busy season, I rely on that.

On the other side of Easter

Now that Easter has come, but not quite gone, (we're still in the church season of Easter) I can focus on upcoming events. The next thing on the calendar is wrapping up the choir season at St. Andrew's. With Easter being so late this year, (I think nearly as late as it can possibly be) there are only 3 Sundays left before the Victoria Day weekend which is when we end choir for the summer. I generally feel like we're coasting downhill to the finish line and that's okay. There is a time and season to everything under the sun.

The second event on the horizon is a pair of concerts in southern Ontario in 3 weeks' time. While I'm down, I will also be able to spend precious time with my Mom and other family members, and attend the first ever national women's conference for the Presbyterian Church in Canada. All these are exciting things for me to do. Guess I'd better go practise!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011
7:30 p.m.
St. John's United Church
13 Spring St., Flesherton, ON
Suggested Donation: $5-$10

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Church of the Nazarene
347 Fairview Drive, Brantford, ON
Suggested Donation: $5-$10

Go Down, Moses!

These March days are full of preparations for an upcoming concert (details above) and once again, I found myself dreaming the music last night. You guessed it - the piece was "Go Down, Moses!" This is one of the selections I am collaborating with Encore Vocal Quartet to perform in 2 weeks' time. In my dream, I seemed to be playing the song from finish to start - a technique sometimes recommended to really know your stuff. To make things even stranger, the music was laid out on a long banquet table...? I didn't think I went to bed hungry, but then dreams come from weird places sometimes.

All dreaming aside, the evening promises to provide great entertainment and hopefully some inspiration to get us through the rest of our long, cold, windy winter in Winnipeg. (Temperature at 8 a.m. today was -27C.) Good thing one of the solo songs I'm playing is "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"!

Advent 1 - Actively waiting

Yesterday we began a new year in the church calendar. As hectic as the season is (for many different reasons) it is a season I love! I'm talking about Advent - the 4 weeks of preparing and waiting for Christ's coming. The Book of Praise (1997) has a great variety of Advent hymns and at St. Andrew's we now know enough of them to sing different ones each Sunday of the season. The ones we sang yesterday were: "Come, thou long-expected Jesus" (HYFRYDOL), "People in darkness are looking for light" and "Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding". The last is one I always associate with the Advent Lessons and Carols service I used to attend annually at All Saints' Anglican here in downtown Winnipeg. In my mind's ear I hear the men and boys' choir and the resounding pipe organ proclaiming "Christ is nigh!"

The title of my post comes from the theme of yesterday's sermon which encouraged us to wait and prepare during Advent, but not in a "sit and twiddle your thumbs" kind of way. In some ways, as a musician, it is easy for me to actively prepare. The Christmas Eve service would be less than wonderful if the choir and I did not rehearse, if I did not give the trumpeter any music, etc. Even with all those things to do, I think there's more to my active waiting than that. I must find/make time to ponder what Christ's coming means in my life, in my actions, in my words as well as in my music!

Advent - Christ is coming!

Excitement's in the Air!

My musical brain is just full of great melodies these days. I have been practising up a storm because ... ta da! On the weekend, I'm travelling west to Calgary, Alberta to play twice. One is a solo concert (Friday evening at Grace Presbyterian Church) and the other will be during the Sunday morning celebration service at Trinity Church of the Nazarene. I am so looking forward to connecting with old friends and making some new ones, as well as playing the music which reaches deep down to my soul and speaks to me. I know that it also speaks to those who listen because some of you have told me of your personal experiences. Thank you so much for that. To God be the glory!

Prepare the Way - Advent 3

I recently (Dec. 6th) presented a solo concert of Advent and Christmas music. Basically, I have two goals in preparing for such a concert. First - to give information about the music or words to make them more meaningful to the audience; second - to introduce lesser known works to expand musical horizons. My favourite new-to-me Christmas song is the Wexford Carol. I included it in the program as part of the second goal. I discovered it in a book of arrangements by Phillip Keveren called, appropriately enough, Celtic Christmas. Here is a most wonderful version I found on YouTube.

Prepare the Way - Advent 2

The darkness of December deepens; the light of Advent grows! There is so much wonderful music for this time of year that it was difficult to choose what to include in Sunday evening's concert program. Due to time constraints, this piece was not included.

Of the Father's Love Begotten

Of the Father's love begotten
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega
He the Source, the Ending He
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore.

O ye heights of heaven, adore Him!
Angel-hosts, His praises sing!
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
And extol your God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert ring.
Evermore and evermore.

Words by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
- based on the Latin hymn Corde Natus ex Parentis
Music derived from 13th Century Plainsong

The Latin hymn on which these words are based was written in the early Fifth Century by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius whose professions include being a lawyer, head bodyguard to a Roman Emperor and, later in life, a monk. These are only 2 of 10 English verses translated first by John Mason Neale and later revised by Henry W. Baker, both in the 1800's. The 13th Century plainsong melody is hauntingly beautiful and creates just the right mystical atmosphere of awe as we try to put into words the divine mystery of Christ's coming to earth.

Prepare the Way - Advent 1

The church year has rolled around and, once again, we are celebrating the first Sunday of Advent. Today I am struck by the discipline of waiting and preparing.

Christmas music is definitely some of my favourite. It fascinates me that many carols we sing have been sung for several centuries already. We only sing them for a short time each year, yet we know and love them and look forward to singing them every season. The discipline part comes for me in not using carols (in worship) that speak of Jesus' birth before Christmas Eve. We are still preparing for His arrival. We sing the words of the prophets. Christ will be our Dayspring from on high, the Key of David, Emmanuel - God with us! We wait and anticipate Christ's coming. Will you wait with me this Advent?

So Much Music, So Little Time

I have had many ideas recently of things I could write about here. Unfortunately, as the title says, there doesn't seem to be enough time - and there's too much music. Music to learn; music to perform. Many musicians find Christmas to be the "feast" time. January will come soon enough and then it will be "famine"!

I wanted to post on November 1st, All Saints' Day, about my favourite appropriate hymn "For All the Saints" and I haven't been able to get a line of the words out of my head since. So even though I think this deserves a longer blog, let me just say that I can really identify with the line, "We feebly struggle, they in glory shine." I do feel feeble these days, not in a physical sense, but more in the sense that our efforts here on earth are always less than perfect in our attempts to praise God and give our life's work to God. As I said, there's much more that could be said, but I'll leave it there and maybe one of my readers will add to the thought.

Dreaming in Music... Again

I was dreaming in music again on Saturday night. It wasn't the choir anthem running through my dreams this time, but a piece from a workshop I attended almost a year ago. I got the music package out the other day to refresh my memory on some of the songs we went through and "I Love to Praise Your Name" by Noel Robinson has been firmly (re)planted in my brain! Now, there were other pieces I remember from that workshop, so that led me to wondering why this one seemed unique to me. I think some of it is the chord structure. The song is in G+ but in the second bar there is a B7 chord. It's unexpected and quite enjoyable!

This year, I'll be accompanying at the workshop, New Songs for Worship IV, led by Christine Longhurst. I'm very excited about learning the new music and sharing my love for worship music with others. If you're in the Winnipeg area, consider attending; it will be worth your Saturday morning I am sure!

What are you giving up for Lent?

We are now in the season of the church year known as Lent. I find this the most difficult season to understand and it occurred to me yesterday that that is the reason why I have not been eager to post. What to say? How does Lent translate into my life, or the musical life of the church?

There is one more or less obvious answer, musically speaking, to the question which is the title of this post. When we hear, "What are you giving up for Lent?" often the response is something like: sugar, chocolate, coffee, etc. As a church musician, my response is, "I'm giving up Alleluias for Lent." The word 'alleluia' (from Greek) or 'hallelujah' (from Hebrew) literally means 'praise Yahweh'. Some say that the angels in heaven use alleluia as their refrain of praise around God's throne. Maybe a reader can think of scripture that backs this up. In a way, it's the ultimate word of praise and as such is considered inappropriate during Lent, a season of reflection and penitence.

I think there are other good reasons to refrain from singing alleluia for a few weeks. It is good spiritual discipline. Denial is part of our Christian walk. When we 'do without' for awhile, we appreciate all the more when Easter morning comes, and we can again sing out with great joy, "Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia!"

Hanging on until...

The two photos above were taken about a week apart on Jan. 6/09 and Jan. 12/09. The snow continued to drift and the overhang got even bigger until I really began to wonder how long it would hang on. It eventually fell off on Friday when the temperature here in Winnipeg got above 0 (C). It struck me the other day that I was feeling a little like that drift... hanging on over the edge and looking down at the ground!

January became a very busy month for me. Part of the reason for that was the house concert I gave last evening. For the past couple of weeks, my head has been full of the music I was preparing, and the program notes I was writing, or at least thinking through in my head. One of the joys for me of performing is digging into the history behind the hymns and songs I am playing. I thought for this post, I'd share one of my favourite tidbits of insight from the program.

"Be Thou My Vision" - I love this hymn! The arrangement I play is by Teresa Wilhelmi and it is wonderful in its simplicity in places, and awesome in its power in others. A couple times in the words we find the phrase "High King of heaven". While reading The Fields of Bannockburn by Donna Fletcher Crow awhile back, I learned that the ancient Celts had many kings of small kingdoms. These kings would meet together and elect one of them to be the "High King" - the king of all kings. Singing "Be Thou My Vision" has taken on a new dimension for me ever since.

Advent: Preparing for Christmas (4)

You may find it strange to learn that, even though I'm a musician, I don't have music playing in my house all the time. Oh, there are times when the house is full of music because my family members play, and because I have students coming in 3 days a week. I have noticed though, especially over the last few years, that the busier I am with my own music-making, or that of my choir and congregation, the less I listen to the music of others! I guess there just isn't room in my head for all the music I'd like to enjoy at this time of year, as well as all the music I'm trying to prepare or help others prepare. And let's not forget, we are still in Advent, that season of waiting for our Messiah, of preparing for His coming. If you are like me, there are still many preparations to be made...

Last year, about this time, I headed off to the grocery store one morning. I was feeling overwhelmed with all that yet needed to be done, (kind of like today!) and getting the groceries seemed to be just one more thing on the lengthy 'to-do' list. It was one of the rare occasions when I did have the radio on in the car and as I pulled in to the parking lot and parked the car, over the radio waves came the familiar strains of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. I sat and listened to the whole piece and by the end the tears were streaming down my cheeks. God spoke to me through that beautiful music and reminded me of the reason for all our preparations. Our Messiah is coming! He will be crowned King of Kings, and Lord of Lords! And He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah!

Advent: Preparing for Christmas (3)

Our time of waiting is more than half over. Christmas draws near! This morning during worship we lit the third candle of our Advent wreath. Here's what was in today's bulletin.


"Here at St. Andrew's we have been lighting one candle each week during Advent (the 4 Sundays preceding Christmas). There are many symbols associated with this tradition. The wreath, an unending circle, has long represented eternal life. Gerry Bowler suggests in The World Encyclopedia of Christmas that it may also foreshadow Christ's crown of thorns. You will notice that 3 candles are purple - the liturgical colour for Advent. They represent Hope, Peace and Love. This week we'll light the one pink candle - the liturgical colour for Joy. As the darkness of December deepens, the candlelight grows until Christmas Eve when we will light the white Christ candle. God has sent us the Light of lights!"

Symbols and visual aids are useful in worship. They help us 'see' our faith in new ways. However, if the symbol is to stay meaningful, we must know the history behind it. This is why I feel it is so important to keep teaching others, and learning things myself, about worship, how and why we do what we do. I'm sure at some point this thought alone will provide material for a post or two!

The days are still getting shorter; the darkness grows longer. Look ahead, my friend, your redemption draws nigh!