In the north land...

You know you're a true UpNorth Michigander... (thanks to St. Paul's, Muskegon and St. Philip's Beulah with some additions from myself)

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through eighteen inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping the food will swim by....

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from October to May...

You see people wearing camouflage at social events (or Hunter Orange)...

You know several people who have hit a deer more than once...

A neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole barn...

A brat is something you eat...

You misplaced your house keys years ago and haven't noticed...

In deer season you use sugar beets as bait, in tourist season, fudge and antiques...

You have one more holiday than everyone else, opening day (Nov. 15)...

You can get a haircut and purchase a hunting rifle, at the same store...

Heavy traffic is 3 cars in a row...

post of four

Well, I have avoided this till now, so here we go. (Thanks to AKMA)

Four Jobs I’ve Had

• Church Music Director (organist and/or choir director)
• High School/Middle School Choir Director
• Boy Scout Camp Program Director
• Computer support geek

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over

• Godfather (all three)
• Star Trek 2,6,8,10 (That is 4 right there)

Four Places I have Lived

• Portage, Michigan
• Kalamazoo, Michigan
• Frankfort, Michigan
• Evanston, Illinois

Four Television Shows I Love to Watch

• M*A*S*H
• Mythbusters
• Star Trek (any version)
• Babylon 5 (well it is gone but I still have some tapes)

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation

• Colorado (Denver, Este Park)
• Attwood, Kansas
• Beulah, Michigan (now that I don't live there)
• Northern Wisconsin/UP of Michigan

Four of My Favourite Dishes

• Oyster Stew
• Steak & Eggs
• Onion Bagels with Cream Cheese
• Deviled Eggs

Four Websites I Visit Daily

• My Yahoo!
• Weather Underground
• Traverse City Record-Eagle
• Yahoo! News

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now

• Northwest Lower Michigan
• Colorado (or anywhere up the Northern Rockies)
• Well, I suppose, Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, etc.
• Upper Penninsula

Being Prepared

I remember while taking Use of the Voice, our professor suggested copying the parts we needed for officiating from the Prayer Book and Hymnal and putting them in a notebook so we wouldn't need to bounce around the various books. This was a wonderful suggestion and many students do just that. Of course, I was not one of them. I would just use a generous amount of Post-it notes to tell me where I would need to go next, such as one which said "LFF then green." This would tell me to use the collect I marked in Lesser Fasts as Feasts and then turn to the green ribbon in my prayer book/hymnal. The largest problem ensued when I would run out of ribbons and thus either use Post-it notes to mark pages or just give a brief line of what I needed to do next.

While considering how to layout the book for tonight with a collects from both the Evening Prayer section and the Collect section, I was struck with a brief moment of clarity. Why not use the Rite Stuff program? It works great because everything, save for the Psalm, can be created in one document and not require moving from the Hymnal to the Prayer Book. By this point, I really do not need the music for things like the Preces, Suffrages or Dismissal but it is always wise to have them available just in case my brain takes leave of me at the most inappropriate moment.

Arvo Pärt - Triodion

The newest addition to my music collection is Arvo Pärt: Triodion (click here for a review from BBC). It contains recently composed music (1997-2002). Though I originally purchased it after hearing a clip of the Nunc Dimittis, which is stunning, I found other interesting items. The Salve Regina, though using his typical austere harmonies, at times it sounds as if it were Brahms due to the long flowing lines. For me, it is like a two for one sale. I like Brahms and I like Pärt.

Admittedly, I found "...Which was the son of...", the setting of the geneology of Jesus as found in Luke, a little different for a composition but maybe I will grow to appreciate it.

How to annoy an organist. Tip #3899

Thou shalt not remove the pencils from the organ, for if thou doest, thou shalt be struck down with a 32 foot Bourdon pipe and forced to spend eternity playing the Wagner Bridal Chorus. So there.

Dropping pencils thru the pedal board is acceptable as always. I am well on my way to mastering that discipline.

The Hymnal - online or print

While discussing a few new hymnals that have been produced, a professor of mine noted that very soon, we may no longer be producing book-style hymnal. With the growth in CD and online hymnals such as GIA's HymnPrint and Church Publishing's The Rite Song, along with the ease of securing and paying for copyright permissions at places like OneLicense.net and CCLI, using electronic versions for projection on a screen or printing in an bulletin has become increasingly easy. It also allows a greater flexibility and choice in selecting music than is available in most hymnals short of acquiring suppliments and then attempting to find a place to put them in an increasingly crowded pew rack.

I would tend to agree with this assesment, but there are other considerations. I am reminded of the term lex orandi, lex credendi (in short - the way we pray shows what we believe) which is often used to describe the Book of Common Prayer. As Episcopalians do not have the large amount of confessions and catechisms that the Presbyterians and Lutherans have, the Book of Common Prayer tends to tell others what we believe through our prayers. Hymnals act in the same fasion. In the hymnal, a congregations belief and theology is laid out for people to see. Removal of a print hymnal takes that document and statement of belief away.

Given this, it would thus be necessary to be extremely careful when selecting a hymnal, but that is a subject for another post.

Long ago I decided that, in terms of keyboard instruments, I am the worst page turner. I can turn pages for others but when I try to turn pages for myself I find new and interesting ways to launch the music accross the room or, for those big heavy books, knock them onto the keyboard (my Bach now sounds like Cage). There is even the fun of having a page turner when conducting a choir from the piano. Is that a nod for a page turn or a cutoff nod?

The computer geek in me once imagined a computer music pad which would help correct this problem and of course, give me a new toy. I even considered creating one on my own. Well, lo and behold:

MusicPad Pro

Forget Steve Jobs new announcements at Macworld. This is what I want.

I suppose I should watch that covet thing.

An Episcopalian in Presbyterian land

Tomorrow I begin my two week intensive course, Worship in the Reformed Tradition at McCormick Theological Seminary in Hyde Park. I look forward to seeing how our sister and brother Presbyterians view worship and to learn more about what the “reformed tradition” means today. I also hope that this class may give me some insights into the worship at Immanuel UCC as it is also in the "reformed tradition." At one time, I was a member of a UCC church but did not know hardly anything of liturgy and worship.

After reading a brief book written for the laity, perusing the Book of Common Worship and reading the Directory of Worship in the Book of Order, I have found some themes developing.

• Order is important. Worship is to be done with a sense of order.
• The Word and Sacrament are linked together much closer than what they once were.
• Both the Directory and the Book of Common Worship seem to be rather wordy, at least in my experience with Episcopal and UCC material. This is not a criticism but an observation in use of language.

I must confess to being pleased when a Reformed book mentions incense, oil, and kneeling as options.

And so it begins..

With a little trepidation, I have entered into the world of the blog. Why might I have taken this step? After spending time reading other blogs and reflecting on my current course work, I felt that some type of journal might be beneficial to my own work and, providing anybody actually reads this, may create comments that our helpful. So here we go.

I believe introductions are in order. I am currently working on a Masters of Theological Studies (MTS) in music and liturgy at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Yes, another Seabury blogger, though this one is not on the ordination track. Instead, in terms of the church, I have been benched (organ benched actually). I also am the Director of Music for Immanuel United Church of Christ in Bartlett, Illinois. Previously, I was Director of Choirs for eight years at Benzie Central Middle/High School in Benzonia, Michigan. Where is that? Look at your hand with your thumb to the right. Benzie County is just above the top knuckle on your pinky finger.

So, what might you find here?

1. Various thoughts and ideas on my MTS recital/lecture project, “The effect of the Oxford Movement on music written for the English Church through examples from 1800 and 1900.”
2. Other discussions of music, especially church music with a choral emphasis.
3. Liturgy
4. An occasional discussion of theology.
5. Sometimes you may catch a comment on music education. It is hard to turn off the music educator in me.
6. And, of course, various posts on no particular subject whatsoever.

A few caveats:

I do not consider myself a writer. If you are looking for elegantly constructed prose, might I suggest, AKMA? He is a very good writer. I am not.

I tend to drift amongst subjects and at times change my mind. The opinions found herein represent my current mind at the time. They are subject to change for various whims.

Comments are appreciated but please, keep it helpful, friendly, courteous, and kind.

And away we go…