Category Archives: Music

Music For The Fourth: El Salón México, Old Dangerfield

Posted on 4 July 2018 by

One of the most recognizable American composers putting his mark on one of the Americas’ most recognizable cultures here. A summary from the wiki: The work contains three musical styles and goes through the series of three twice, starting each … Continue reading →

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It Was On Holy Wednesday

Posted on 28 March 2018 by

An English Christmas Carol, “All In the Morning” gives us this verse: It was on Holy Wednesday And all in the morning, That Judas Betrayed Our dear Heavenly King And was this not a woeful thing? And sweet Jesus we’ll … Continue reading →

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Mood Music

Posted on 28 December 2017 by

Mode, tempo, instrumentation. They make the difference between a piece of music that breathes and has life and one that qualifies as a dirge. I was looking over my Advent/Christmas repertoire some months ago, thinking of some addition of plainchant–something … Continue reading →

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How Composers Work

Posted on 30 June 2017 by

Home from retreat, and I see Liam’s link from a few days ago on composers at work. I don’t pay close attention to how others do it. I occasionally hear stories. One published composer once told of “how we did … Continue reading →

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Dual Role

Posted on 5 June 2017 by

I was lurking on another site and saw a piece of some interest, a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of playing a dual role as conductor and accompanist. It’s personally relevant because I bounce between these roles on occasion. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ministry, Music | 2 Comments

Music of the Trees 3: The Five Sacred Trees

Posted on 16 February 2017 by

John Williams is massively known for his massive body of film music. But one of my favorite modern works is his concerto The Five Sacred Trees. I have the disk of the London Symphony performance with Judith LeClair. It is … Continue reading →

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On My Bookshelf: Hamilton and Sondheim

Posted on 28 January 2017 by

For now, I live at least a half a continent away from the performances. As a consolation, the soundtrack is greatly enjoyable. And nearly so is this book, which arrived from Amazon last summer. Having a readable libretto is nice; some … Continue reading →

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