I have been working hard on church stuff. This morning my brother called and we had a long conversation about his new musician. I ended up emailing him an article called “Looking at Hymn-tunes: The Objective Factors” by John Wilson.
Yesterday I bit the bullet and started preparing anthems for my church choir even though it’s not clear what form this group will actually take this year. Several members disagree strongly with my request that they skip services if they miss rehearsals. I am considering dropping the weekly rehearsal. It doesn’t seem fair to me that people opt out of it so much. There’s the little problem of the quorum in a small group. In a group of about ten singers, there is much more impact when one or two people are missing than in a group of twenty or more singers. Not mention silly things like developing a blend.
Anyway I have a two-track strategy ready (three counting dropping the choir altogether for a while…): One track is the usual series of SATB anthems. The second would be instant anthems. These would be clever unison 2-part settings or even hymns.
I have a staff meeting today at which we meet and talk to the consultant our church has hired to help with strategic planning. I am dreading this. My boss is happy with this guy, so I feel like as a team player I should dampen my own misgivings about business theology and stay quiet.
In the meantime, if you are (god forbid) curious about what I’ve been doing, here’s some links and stuff.
FINAL VERSION OF THE ORGAN PIECE I WROTE AND THEN PERFORMED THIS SUNDAY: pdf
FALL CHOIR Schedule of stuff at Grace Episcopal Church, Holland Michigan
week of 9/10 1st choir rehearsal
9/20 – Song of the Shepherd Boy SATB pdf by J.F. Brown 1989
*10/4 Youth Choir only Anthem TBA
10/11 O Vos Omnes SATB Croce pdf or De Victoria setting pdf
*10/18 Youth Choir only Anthem TBA
10/25 I have longed for Thy saving Health by William Byrd pdf
11/1 And Lo, A Great Multitude SATB and organ by Stanford
11/8 Give Alms of Thy Goods by Christopher Tye pdf
11/15 *Ah how weary, ah how fleeting (Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig) BWV 26 pdf J.S.Bach Jenkins arr pdf
Wierd. Suddenly my software would not let me cut and paste a paragraph, so I had to construct the stuff at the top a line at a time. Time to quit.