When I talk about music on hold, I am not talking about being on the telephone and having to wait until someone can speak to you. Although this practice can get pretty annoying, hearing the same music play over and over again, repeating in an endless loop can put you in a terrible frame of… Read More Music on hold
You may recall that when I retired from the organist position at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu that one of the things I would miss most was accompanying congregational singing. There’s something thrilling about pulling out all the stops and “letting it rip,” while supporting the exhilarating sound of people singing. Oh, I’ve accompanied plenty… Read More Will we ever sing together again?
I spent the morning looking for a post office and took these pictures of churches along the way. Yesterday was cold and rainy and today is a beautiful day in Boston! The courtyard at First Lutheran. Yesterday it was pouring buckets here. After spending about six hours yesterday attending three organ recitals at First Lutheran… Read More Another day at First Lutheran
I spent Friday at the North Carolina Museum of Art and by far, the most captivating experience was “Forty Part Motet” at a special exhibition called “You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences.” It was a room full of 40 speakers—apparently every single singer had been miked individually in Thomas Tallis’ Spem in alium for eight 5-part… Read More Forty part motet
You remember the legend of Sisyphus, don’t you?Sisyphus was a bad king whose punishment for his deceitfulness was to push a huge boulder up a hill, only to see it roll back to the bottom again. I had recalled this Greek myth in a prior post about playing Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary over and over and over… Read More Bridging the Centuries
This Sunday at the 10:30 am service, the LCH choir will be singing two works by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585): “Blessed be the undefiled” and “If ye love me.” You can hear this last anthem as sung by the Cambridge Singers in the video embedded below. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6RgaPTo4hE&w=420&h=315] As the choir was rehearsing “If ye love… Read More Surround-sound Tallis
One of my all-time favorite anthems will be sung this week at the communion: “O sacrum convivium,” by the English Renaissance composer, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585). O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur: recolitur memoria passionis ejus: mens impletur gratia: et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur. Alleluia. Translation: O sacred banquet! in which Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the… Read More O sacrum convivium