Quite a milestone

from the United Methodist News Service:

EXELAND, Wis. (UMNS)--First United Methodist Church celebrated the 100th birthday of organist Helen Aspseter on July 12. Aspseter was playing the prelude, accompanying the hymns, and providing worship music throughout the service, just as she has done virtually every Sunday and holy day for the past 74 years. Her tenure began shortly after she married Andy Aspseter, a Great Lakes seaman, and he brought her home to Exeland. He left her in the house across the street from the church while he went to start the fire to warm their new home. The pastor appeared and asked if she would play for the Christmas Eve service that evening. She did, and she's been at it ever since. On July 12, the church was overflowing with well-wishers at the morning worship and later at a musical program in her honor. From youth to grandparents, the program featured performers of all ages, many of whom had been her students.

Worship Music 072609

Hymns
430, Come sing, O church, in joy (DARWELL’S 148TH)
514, Let us talents and tongues employ (LINSTEAD)

Confession
Patterson, Alleluia, alleluia

Anthem
Selections from The Prodigal Son, a gospel oratorio
I. Young man (Lamar Williamson)
II. Jesus spake (Libby Barker)
III. A certain man (Choir)
IV. And the younger man said
(Libby Barker, Wade Talbot, Ken Scott, Jr.)
V. There comes a time (Lamar Williamson and Choir)

Doxology
591 Old Hundredth

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Arr. Bastien, Holy Spirit Rag
Nick Murphy, piano
Offertory: Robert Ray, Acclamation: Hallelujah, let us praise
the Lord, from Gospel Mass
Postlude: JS Bach, Little Prelude and Fugue in E Minor

New Carpet

We are replacing carpet in some key areas of the facility this week. The narthex, the office suite and the lower floor of the education building are getting new reddish-rust carpeting. Thankfully no changes in the sanctuary (we're holding out for wood flooring for the entire chancel area in the next few years.)

The smell is minimal (basically "new carpet" smell) and the dust has been minimal. It's amazing how much space is in the narthex when all the "stuff" is out of the way!

The church office will be closed on TH while the crew takes a whack at the office suite (so sad).

Here's a link to some pics of the project.

New Music

In past couple of weeks I have spent more time than usual in the car. That has meant I've had more time than usual to listen to demo CDs of new choral and instrumental music for worship. Aside from the usual sense of "I can't believe someone thinks that's great music" I have developed a new pet peeve.

It's the use of the word "choral" as a noun. As in, "here's a new choral by composer so-and-so." Or "this new sacred choral is sure to inspire." Where I come from "choral" is an adjective." Always has been and always will be. No matter how much publishers try to convince me otherwise by misuse. It's right up there with converting the word "gift" to a verb. As in, "God has gifted us..." That still drives me nuts, even though it's been around for several years.

I'm all for our language growing, evolving and developing. Further, I know I mess up grammatically (and in many other ways) regularly. These two examples, however, are going to be my line in the sand. I'm not going to name names, but you folks who use "choral" as a noun know who you are. I'll listen if you want to try to convince me it's an okay thing to do, but you'll have to do some fast talking.

Her other life

"Chef Anna McClintock" has a nice ring to it. While we know her best as our in-house trumpet player, Anna has been steadily honing her cooking craft in the department of culinary arts and hospitality at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Anna is part of a four-person team that recently (last April) won a regional competition which landed them a place in the national "final four," with an upcoming cook-off in Orlando. A-B Tech's team placed second in the finals in 2006, won it all in 2007, missed the finals by 0.06 points in 2008. They are ready to win this year.

I recently spoke to Anna about an upcoming music gig and quickly realized her mind is truly focused on cooking these days. Once the competition is over she plans to dive into seeking a chef job, perhaps in Raleigh. But even job-hunting is playing second fiddle to preparing for the Orlando competition, where the A-B Tech team will be up against the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute (Pittsburgh Chapter); Schoolcraft College (Livonia, MI); and Kapi-olani Community College from Honolulu, HI.

The competition is set for July 13. Teams have 3 hours 20 minutes to work their magic in preparation and cooking, 40 minutes to plate the 24 (yes, twenty-four) servings of their appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts, plus 30 minutes to set their mis en plas and 30 minutes to clean up.

We know Anna as a phenomenal trumpet players, with a clear tone, accuracy in pitch and excellent skills at learning the part on her own and showing up to rehearsal fully prepared. I have known only a little about her cooking "self." What a delight to know she excels at cooking the same way she does at music.

Please have a good thought for Anna McC. and her team next week as they travel and compete. The team is still trying to raise the last few of the $10,000 travel cost. Visit the team's site and make a pledge if you can!

Thanks to Mountain Xpress for carrying information about the A-B Tech team and the upcoming competition.

Review: Galli, Beyond smells and bells

I just finished reading Mark Galli's very approachable book, "Beyond smells and bells." With this book Galli is trying to provide a means for folks unfamiliar with the form and language of traditional liturgy a means to begin to understand it. The book is not for people of have lived with and who enjoy formal liturgy, but rather for those (new members or folks with questions perhaps) who find themselves wondering what all the liturgy is about. And in that narrow focus the book succeeds wonderfully. Galli makes reference to notions and language that Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans Methodists and Presbyterians use all the time. But he explains them in language that folks from non-liturgical traditions will find helpful.

For example, Galli includes a discussion of what we in liturgical churches understand happens when we gather, notions of assembly and community of faith, and the unique character that we take on as we gather to worship. Galli deals with the concept in 4-5 pages (which is the average length of all the chapters). Concurrently I am reading a book (Holy People) by Gordon Lathrop who takes 20 pages (and ultimately the entire book) to lay out the same concept. Geared for different markets, both are helpful in their niche.

I would recommend Galli's book for folks who are curious about the meaning imparted to elements of our liturgy, in language for folks not accustomed to such topics. It would be a good resource for a new member of a church that engages in such liturgical practices, but who comes from a non-liturgical tradition, say as part of a bibliography for new members. It's not really for musicians, let alone musicians in traditional-liturgical congregations. But it would be a good go-to book when such a musician is asked about the liturgy by someone who is earnestly curious about what we do and why. I would suggest that every (liturgical) church library have a copy on hand. I would give it more pluses if it were more targeted toward this blog's usual audience, but it's for a different crowd I think. It's a fine book for its target audience. ++

W&M Friday

Today Mark Sedio did an anthem reading session. Most of the music was "global" in nature, with a heavy dose of his own stuff. (I realized I need to get on the mailing list for Concordia Publishing to get information about their new releases).

Paul Huh talked about baptism in his session today and didn't flinch as the conversation circled about to re-baptism and re-affirmation of baptismal vows.

David Eicher talked about the Presbyterian hymnal project, now officially called the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (PCOCS, pronounced "peacocks"). He shared in written form the committee's statement on theological framework and foundation. It's a very nice statement that reveals that the guiding framework for the new congregational song resources will be the construct "history of salvation." It will be interesting to see how that is fleshed out in hymns and liturgy in the new resources.

Summer Music at BMPCNC

For our 6-week summer series of a single worship service weekly, we are featuring unique offerings of special music All of these persons/groups have a special relationship to our congregation and we are delighted they will be sharing their musical talent with us in "out of the ordinary" ways for the next few weeks. We'll have more details as they are developed, but go ahead and plan to be present for:

July 5: Lauren Patton and Caroline Patton singing John Newton's text "The music of thy name"

July 12: Tune Weavers
Singing: an art song by Anton Dvorak, "Wade in the water;" "Just a closer walk with thee;"
and "It is well with my soul."

July 19: Craig Bannerman's bluegrass band AppalachiaSong
visit: http://www.appalachiasong.com/

July 26: Chancel Choir singing excerpts from Mike Barker's "The Prodigal Son, a gospel oratorio" and Roland Bass' "Gospel Mass" (We will celebrate communion on this day.))

August 2 and August 9: between these two dates we are planning on an ad hoc traditional band, led by Andy Gwynn and other BMPCNC musicians, and KGB (Andy Banzhoff, Scott Roy, Kurt Shaffer and Dave Bell).

Music for 070509

This week we begin our 6-week series of a single service at 930AM.

Hymns
479, Praise, my soul, the God of heaven (LAUDA ANIMA)
435, We are all one in mission (ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVOGELEIN)
423, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun (DUKE STREET)

Confession
Hopson, We are forgiven

Anthem
Courtney, The music of thy name
Lauren Patton, Caroline Patton

Doxology
592 Old Hundredth

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Charles Wesley, Pastorale in G
Offertory: Jonathan Battishill, Air in D Major
Postlude: John Alcock, Voluntary: Grave in E Minor

We welcome Guest Organist: Noah W. Allen, III this Sunday.

W&M Wednesday

Work responsibilities curtailed my participation today somewhat, but here's a brief run-down.

Mark Sedio worked some more on Latin rhythms in the Global Music seminar. Seeing a clearly delineated description of various rhythms was very helpful. I was struck by how much work the new Lutheran hymnal resources have contributed to Hispanic music for worship.

This afternoon I attended the Caring for Creation seminar, which was trying to make connection between our conference theme, "Come to the Waters," and ecological concerns and a renewed interest in the stewardship of creation. This session was pretty exclusively devoted to ecological facts, with some theology added in. I've heard from sources that other sessions have been a bit more balanced. It was an interesting 50 minutes.

Bob Hobby spoke about hymn introductions and registration this afternoon. Lots of stuff I already know and practice, but it was gratifying to hear someone else discuss the theory and the practical applications.

I hope to attend the hymn festival service tonight, but we'll have to see how things are on thehome front.