A high school senior recital is a culminating solo concert where a graduating student performs an extended set of music—usually on an instrument or in voice—to celebrate years of private training. It typically lasts 30 to 60 minutes and acts as a capstone event before the student heads to college. In my organ teaching career I’ve… Read More Senior Recital!
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was moved by the sound of 350 church musicians singing their hearts out at the Association of Anglican Musicians conference in Atlanta. My Facebook feed has been filled with reels and videos of the incredible singing that we experienced in the last week. In an earlier post, I… Read More A congregation of musicians
My friend, Jieun Kim Newland, told me she had been looking forward to the presentation by The Right Rev. Michael Curry at the Association of Anglican Musicians conference because she had read his book — twice — in addition to listening to the audio book version. She found it to be most inspiring and encouraged people… Read More Fangirl!
I admit that I wasn’t too excited to see that the Association of Anglican Musicians had programmed a hymn festival at 9:30 in the morning. At least for me, I generally don’t feel like singing that early in the morning. However, my skepticism turned to pure joy when I found out who was going to… Read More Robert McCormick, brilliant improvisateur
On Tuesday, nearly the entire day was focused on civil rights, starting with a Morning Prayer service with readings by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi. Susan B. Anthony, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr. Hymns included spirituals such as “No harm have I done you on my knees”; “Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel”; “Come… Read More Focus on justice and human rights
When I saw the roster of artists performing on the Association of Anglican Musicians conference program, I was very excited to see the name of Caroline Robinson. It was in 2023 that she was contracted by the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists to present a series of concerts in Honolulu and Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i, and… Read More Caroline – WOW WOW WOW!
If there’s one thing I take away from all the church music conferences and conventions, it’s the greatest thrill and extraordinary experience to be in a cathedral full of fellow choir directors and organists and hearing them lustily sing the hymns. We were told that this is the largest Association of Anglican Musicians conference ever,… Read More The greatest thrill of all …
I finally made it to Atlanta after a redeye flight to Los Angeles, a few days with my son’s family, and then another redeye to Atlanta, where tonight is the opening Vespers service of the Association of Anglican Musicians. The greatest thing about attending conferences like this one is the opportunity to compare notes and… Read More On the way to AAM Atlanta
I was feeling so confident in using my new Flic buttons to turn the pages on my iPad that last Sunday at St. Mark’s, I put 95% of the service music on it, and created a Setlist, putting all the music in order. Things were going along swimmingly until we got to the communion hymn.… Read More Authentic human moment!
In my last post, I discussed my purchase of a Flic button as a means of turning pages on my iPad, and my first challenge was going to be at the Ascension Day service with the hymn, “Hail thee, festival day.” Some people were confused when I said the hymn now had 13 pages, and… Read More Nailed it!