A burst of techno language

Plug the VGA cable into the VGA port unless you are using a DVD than use either the video out vga port, S-video cable or the RGB cable.

On the internet connection plug the CAT-5E cable into the ethernet port on the laptop and the wall port. For wireless, insert your wireless 802-11b or 802-11g card (i.e. using IEEE 802.11 standards) into your pci slot. Enter your WEP key password and check for proper DNS settings and any proxy server information you may need.

And while I am on the subject. The blogger editor enters some annoying HTML code in that makes it difficult to display the post properly. This is more pronounced if the entry is copied from Microsoft Word which enters extra code items such as class=MSO and so forth.

Any Comments? ;)

As an addition to the previous choir list, I am included the music list from Christmas in 2005. I believe it is the final one that was actually used since certain pieces originally planned were dropped due to time. The hymns used during the service are not included since the Pastor chooses them.

7:00 Service

Anthem - Children's Chorus - "Away in a manger".
Offertory - organ - Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - Flor Peeters
Postlude - Rigaudon - André Campra

Pre-service music starting at around 6:40

• Organ - "He whom shepherds once came praising" - Healey Willan
• Organ - "I saw three ships" - Robert Powell
• Carol - "The first Nowell the angel did say"
• Organ - Offertory on "Oh little town of Bethlehem" - Dennis Janzer
• Organ - In dulci jubilo - Marcel Dupre
• Carol - "Hark! the herald angels sing"
• Organ - Est ist ein Ros' entsprungen - Johannes Brahms

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11:00 Service

Anthem - Adult Choir - "Gentle Mary, Tender Mary" - Jay Althouse
Offertory - solo Jennifer Alderson, with choir - "O Holy Night" - Adolphe Adam
Postlude - "Rigaudon" - André Campra

Pre-service music starting at 10:30

• Choir - "Once in royal David's city" - H.J. Gauntlett
• Organ - "He whom shepherds once came praising" - Healey Willan
• Choir - Quem Pastores - German Carol - harm. Vaughan Williams
• Organ - "I saw three ships - Robert Powell
• Carol - "The first Nowell the angel did say"
• Organ - Est ist ein Ros' entsprungen - Johannes Brahms
• Choir - Es ist ein' Ros entsprungen - harm. Michael Praetorius
• Carol - "Hark! the herald angels sing"
• Organ - Offertory on "Oh little town of Bethlehem" - Dennis Janzer
• Organ - In dulci jubilo - Marcel Dupre

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On Sunday, December 25.

Anthem - Adult Choir - "Gentle Mary, Tender Mary" - Jay Althouse
Offertory – "Who would think that wat was needed" - words by John Bell and Graham Maule
Postlude – “Von Himmel Hoch”

Preludes to include

• Organ - In dulci jubilo - Marcel Dupre
• Organ - Organ - I Saw Three Ships - Robert Powell
• Organ - Est ist ein Ros' entsprungen - Johannes Brahms
• Organ – Prelude on “Joy to the World” Carl Schalk

Choir Anthems Thus Far

I have decided to list out some of the choral music I have used thus far at Immanuel United Church of Christ. Many of the musical choices have been directed by the lectionary, available music since we currently lack funds, and most importantly, who is singing on any given Sunday. Most members are present every Sunday but with only 7-11 people, one person missing can change quite a bit. Abdominal issues such as appendicitis and pregnancy can also tend to get in the way of vocal performance. I rarely had to deal with the pregnancy one when I was teacher (rarely is the term, it does happen).

So, here is the basic list. It is not comprehensive and in some places composers our missing because I am doing this by memory without the church's choral library.

Summer of 2005:

• Come, Share, Rejoice - Allen Pote
  
• Michael W. Smith's Agnus Dei with Twila Paris' Lamb Of God! (combined work)
• Happy Land - Leonard P. Breedlove from Southern Harmony ed. Whaley
• I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light - Kathleen Thomerson arr. Harlan
• Seek Ye First - Karen Lafferty arr. Wagner (Seek ye first with the Pachabel Canon)
  
• Taize' music in memory of Br. Roger
• Great is the Lord - Michael W. Smith
• I have decided to follow Jesus/Kum ba yah
  
• God's Eye Is on the Sparrow - Charles Gabriel/Civilla Martin

Fall and Winter of 2005

• Be Not Afraid (9-11 memorial)
• Teach Me O Lord - Thomas Attwood, Christian Education Sunday
• Every time I feel the Spirit - arr. Johnson
  
• A Mighty Fortress is our God - Franz Tunder - Reformation Sunday
  
• Jesu Joy of Our Desiring - J.S. Bach (yes I changed Man's to Our)
  
• O Wie Selig - Bach Chorale with organ interludes by Brahms and Reger. Sung in German on Totenfest
• Lo He comes with clouds descending - Thomas Arne, arr. Vaughan Williams
• A Voice Cries Out, Prepare the Way of the Lord - Lloyd Larsen

2006

• January 8 - Baptism of Jesus - Wade in the Water
• January 22 - I do not remember what was here
  
• January 29 - There's a wideness in God's Mercy - Hampton
  
• February 5 - On Eagle's Wings - Michael Joncas (Isaiah 40 plus Scout Sunday)
  
• February 19 - Come thou fount of every blessing - Keith Christopher
  
• February 26 - We Saw his Glory - Mauersberger
  
• March 1 - Ash Wednesday - Create in Me - John Leavitt
• March 5 - Lent 1 - Come Share God's Gift - Don Besig/Nancy Price (also communion Sunday)
  
• March 19 - Lent 3 - Ave Verum Corpus - Mozart
  
• March 26 - Lent 4 - God So Loved the World - Stainer

Gettin busy with lent

Traditionally, some people have given up something for lent as a way of focusing on God. Apparently, I have added something, though not entirely my own choosing. I realized recently that I am playing a few more services than usual. Besides my normal Sunday morning Immanuel service and Monday Seabury Eucharist and Evensong services, I have added Tuesday's Deans Mass and Thursday Matins for a few weeks. Added to this is a Wednesday night service at Immanuel starting on Ash Wednesday. Thay makes six services in five days. Friday and Saturday seem to be free of service playing though I was asked if I wanted to play a Saturday evening service at a Lutheran church in Barlett. It is probably a good thing I turned it down.

It is a good thing that I enjoy playing services.

Surprise

Well, when you think you have your congregation figured out, they spring something new. I was informed this morning that the church council has decided to try something new. On the first Sunday of the month, which has been traditionally Communion Sunday (remember, I work for a UCC church), we will have the service in the Fellowship Hall to allow those who can not climb the steps at the entrance to attend church AND receive communion. This seems to be a wonderful inclusive act, though I hope that in time they will work toward making the main church accessible. Their current health at this times keeps this from happening. I will need to pick up some more piano music for use as preludes, postludes and such.

The really suppressing step was to make the 3rd Sunday of the month also a communion Sunday. This was done to allow for those who feel they need communion in a "Church like" setting to still be able to receive communion. They did also mention that there is no biblical reason for only once a month communion and that it may be spiritually helpful for some to receive more often though they did say if you are not quite there yet, you need not actually receive at the service.

Though arranged for practical reasons, this reformed tradition congregation has taken one more step to a weekly service of Word AND Sacrament. Good for them.

Now onto Ash Wednesday WITH Imposition of Ashes. They surprise me again. Do I smell incense in the future? I think not.

Teacher criminal history

As a former Michigan teacher I have kept an eye on the latest flap over the new procedure over background checks of current teachers (new teachers have been required to be fingerprinted for over ten years). It appears the list released to the schools was rife with errors including some teachers being listed as committing felonies when they would have been 4 years old or not even born. This obviously created much tension, causing teachers to have to work to clear there name (so much for presumtion of innocence) and some teachers were even fired before given a chance to clear their name. In response to a request from the Detroit Free Press to publicly release the list the Michigan Education Association (teachers union) went to court to prevent the release until a correct list was available.

The judge did seal the list and just recently the Department of Education recalled the list (read here), but in the run up to all this, there were some, including the State House Speaker, who stated they would bring up legislation to force disclosure. The new disclosure law contains a 14 day period to allow the school to check for accuracy and insists on a correct list. This appears to be a good direction but, in there press release, they used this as an opportunity to bash the union for protecting criminal teachers (read here).

Now, I am in complete agreement with the concept of background checks and do not necessarily have a problem with it being released if it were correct. The fact is that the MEA went to court to protect the reputation and employment of INNOCENT employees, not those who actually had records. Having false criminal information printed in the paper would make it very difficult for a teacher to work in the community and even if a retraction comes out later it will not always be accepted by those who are mad that their student have a teacher with a possible record. Protecting the children and keeping parents informed is good and proper but not at the expense of teachers who did NOTHING wrong. That is outright WRONG! Just because you are an employee of a public institution does not mean that you give up your rights to be considered innocent until you're proven guilty, or in this case, actually commit a crime.

I hope that the next attempt at this process will be far more correct and that the press, before jumping to publish to show how many teachers were "criminals," would check the accuracy of their source.

What I learned today.

While perusing "Roman Catholic Worship, Trent to Today" by James White, I found:

G.I.A. (that well known Roman Catholic hymnal publisher) was formerly called Gregorian Institute of America. The name changed soon after Vatican II.

Marty Haugen, that well known composer of Mass settings, hymns and psalms (Shepherd me, O God , Psalm 23 and the Mass of Creation being possibly the best known) which are found in great abundance through various Roman Catholic hymnals, is a Lutheran working in a United Church of Christ congregation. How ecumenical.

Other things learned today.

• Playing better with little warm-up time is hardly conducive to good practice discipline.
• When the cable is out, more class reading gets done.
• Teresa Berger's "Women's Ways of Worship" sets forth some interesting principles and is attempting to avoid broad generalizations (i.e. oppressive or patristic) or remove what is known but find what is unknown or absent. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
• Robert Garretson's "Choral Music, History, Style, and Performance Practice" is just plain awful filled with thin content using rather dated sources. It is supposedly recommended for College or Graduate classes. I would consider it may be useful for lay persons or High School but is to thin, inaccurate bordering on just plain wrong, and inconsistent for use in any College music course, especially since for historical information most students still use "A History of Western Music" by Grout and Palisca. When I Renaissance period in ten minutes, I sensed something was wrong. That covered history, composers, style and performance practice and an art all in thirty pages.
• It is difficult to study at home when there is construction first on the new deck and then the creation of a big giant hole in front of the building. No problem, I will go and read in Junkin Commons. It is usually quiet there. Today, were installing peepholes in the dorms. Ah well.
• Comcast's customer service is annoying me but aiding my study habits

Well, I should sleep so I can be up early to practice lest my lesson go badly.

This one gets an A (440)

A must for every musician:

OnlineTuningFork.com

...but is it singable?

I can appreciate the use of inclusive/expansive language but I have found in some ways (especially that of the New Century Hymnal), the singability of the hymn was ignored in favor of creating an inclusive hymn. Consider the following:

Crown him with many crowns,... redone as: Crown with your richest crowns,

Indeed, the male imagery was reduced but the revised version is much more difficult to sing given the location of various vowels and consonants.

Later verses have:
Crown Christ whose love has flowed;
Crown Christ the truth, the life;
of Christ who died for you; (in this case it is the 'for you' which does not roll as comfortably as 'for thee').

Now, most congregations are not interested in lips, tongue and jaw aerobics in church. Admittedly, it is hard enough on them just changing the words. To make the text difficult to physically sing would tend to cause people to stop singing. What have we accomplished then? It is no longer the congregation's prayer and praise.

This is an observation not a remedy.

Why I am not a writer

I have been reminded of why I am a musician and not a writer. While coming up with a short cyclical song to be used for receiving communion, I am at a loss for a useful text. The music, though bearing a slight resemblance to Taize's Ubi Caritas, is useful but I am not entirely pleased with the text.

Thank you Lord Jesus, for this wine and bread.
Praise be to Jesus, In him we are fed.

(the musical phrase emphasis is the bold part of Jesus)

In a style appropriate to the New Century Hymnal:

Thanks be to Jesus, for this wine and bread.
Praise be to Jesus, with Christ we are fed.

I am not pleased with either one but may find myself having to go with them for now as I would like to use it on the upcoming Communion Sunday.

Other unfinished possibilities are:

Bread down from heaven, lifts our hearts to God.
Wine for our salvation, ...?

Seek now the Bread of Life, Given now for you.
Seek now the Cup of Christ, Shed for me and you.

If anyone might have a better suggestion, I would be most pleased in hearing it. Of course, credit would be given.