Monday, November 30, 2009

Stuck on you


So we're vesting the Lord's house for Advent last Saturday. All of a sudden Ginny S. and Shannon K. are missing. No sooner than that and we get word they are stuck on the elevator. Alice P., efficient as ever noticed what was going, and with amazing presence of mind got the camera and lined up a photographer (Caroline P.) and then called for the fire department!

Everyone is fine; my colleagues were only stuck on board about 10 minutes. The repair guys are on the way. The firefighters did their job with efficiency and a high level of discretion and a minimum of snickering. But for the rest of us it was very exciting and just a little funny.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Choir Director's Beatitudes

.... And, seeing the long Church Year before them, and knowing the awesome role that music must play in the worship services that lay ahead, the Choir Director called together the singers and spake to them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who are willing to blend their voices into a harmonious ensemble, for theirs is the music of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn when forced to miss rehearsal, but call to inform the Director of their anticipated absence, for in these faithful few shall the Director find comfort.

Blessed are the meek, who submit themselves to following the Director, for they shall merit great worth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after rehearsals are concluded, bringing with them neither gum nor goodies, for they shall be filled with music.

Blessed are the merciful, who take pity on the music's composer, careful to read the original notes, follow the original time, proclaim resoundingly the original message, for they shall obtain mercy from discriminating critics.

Blessed are the pure in pitch, in tone, in enunciation, for their voices shall blend in moving harmonies, enabling others to envision God.

Blessed are the music-makers, for they shall be called the heralders of God.

Blessed are ye singers when the Director shall seem to persecute you for the sake of the final rendition; be patient and rejoice, for of such perfection is the music of heaven.

Blessed are ye when other choirs shall revile you, and turn their ears from you, and say all manner of evil against you jealously.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heavenly satisfaction that you have sung faithfully and well - for so disparaged they the great singers who were before you ... perhaps even that Bethlehem choir of Angel voices!


John Clayton, a retired Presbyterian minister and former concert singer wrote the Beatitudes for a newsletter for some "pre-ordained" and just plain ordained Presbyterians, but found others were interested in them also. They have been reproduced many times. Thanks to K. Knowles for sending them to me.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Coming in December

In December the Chancel Choir will be singing Don Pearson's "An Advent Processional." He wrote this piece to sound like a medieval dance tune, using a familiar refrain, "O come, O come, Emmanuel..."

His instrumentation reflects the medieval influence, lots of pitched and un-pitched percussion. Of special note is the call for a hurdy-gurdy. We won't be using one, I don't think, for our performance. But they are still made by a select few historic instrument makers. I found this one recently. You can see a video of a man playing it here.

Wouldn't this be fun!??! And you thought no one made these things anymore!

Music for 112209

FirstLight
Gathering Song(s)
Cherokee morning song
All hail the power of Jesus’ name

Opening Song
Did you feel the mountains tremble

Confession
King of kings

Scripture/Proclamation
We will glorify the King of kings (STF 2087.1, 2)

Creed
Canedo, Jesus Christ is Lord

Offertory
The church’s one foundation

Doxology
Give thanks

Closing Song
Shout to the north

11AM
Hymns
150, Come, Christians, join to sing (MADRID)
155, Rejoice, the Lord is King (DARWELL’S 148TH)
551, Come, ye thankful people, come (ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR)

Introit
Jesus comes with clouds descending

Confession
579, Glory be to the Father (GLORIA PATRI)

Anthem
Craig Courtney, Coronation
Chancel Choir, Corey McClintock, French horn

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow (with Alleluias)
Lasst uns erfreuen

Benediction
Yes, Amen, let all adore you

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Lübeck, Prelude in E
Offertory: Campbell, Air
Postlude: Buxtehude, Fugue in C

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Copyright Can of Worms

The increased level of interest in our recordings of worship services at BMPCNC caused me just a little bit angst. When we were making 3 cassette tapes of our worship for shut-in members, I wasn't too concerned. But with the advent of digital recording, and the advent of our new preacher interest in CD recordings of our worship services has sky-rocketed. We continued to make 3 CDs for our shut-ins, but we had many requests for recordings for folks absent from worship for any number of reasons, and for extended family members and similar requests. And the increase got me nervous.

I did some investigating, using a book I've had for some time, "The Church Guide to Copyright Law" by attorney and CPA Richard R. Hammar, published by Christian Ministry Resources in 1990. I had for years believed that limited distribution of free recordings to shut-in members of a church was permitted under the broad category of "fair use" of copyrighted material. I've learned that I was wrong. Granted, these days some publishers give such permission with the purchase of music (so indicated by a note to that effect somewhere on the music), but not everyone is doing that, and it absolutely does not appear on older pieces of music.

So here's the gist: BMPCNC will now distribute to our shut-ins, and anyone else interested, only the Bible readings and the sermon from worship. Our dissemination of this same material on the Internet via our website will not be altered.

Now, I'll share some further detail on the matter. Churches that wish to distribute recordings of worship have several options. (These are related on page 114 of the book cited above.) They can get advance permission from all the copyright holders of material that will be in a worship service for the material to be included in the service-recording. They can avoid the use of any copyrighted material. They can simply record only the non-protected portions of the service. They might even choose to "splice in" public domain music in place of the copyrighted material. A church may choose to do nothing (which is what BMPCNC has been doing for some time). A church may finally enter into blanket license agreements with copyright holders, along the lines of a "compulsory license" (a specific means of gaining permission after the fact for utilizing copyright material).

In a typical worship service there may be as many as a dozen copyright musical and liturgical elements, which could mean as many as 12 publishers to deal with for a single service, plus 12 royalty payments according to those various publishers' policies. So as you can see either securing permission beforehand or afterward would entail a vast amount of new work for someone; and that someone would have to have very specialized knowledge of the law and the publishers of church music.

So, why not just continue to "do nothing?" Cases of legal enforcement of the law have escalated in recent history. Well-publicized cases that involved Nabster and similar Internet music sites got our attention a few years ago; the case this year of a graduate student in Boston is highly indicative (see our post on that case). A negative judgment against the church for mechanical reproduction of worship services would cripple the church's ministry to the point of forcing closure, most likely. As the closetest thing we have to an expert on these matters, I see it as my responsibility to help keep us in compliance with the law, and not simply let us continue to do nothing,

Copyright law deals with three broad areas of concern: print reproduction, mechanical reproduction (recordings), and broadcast reproduction (via television, radio or Internet). The good news is that our current standards for print and broadcast reproduction are safely within compliance with the law.

The sad news is that we will have to curtail our mechanical reproduction program in order to continue to safely operate as a church here in the valley.

Some will ask: "what about church's that broadcast over television or radio?" A specific case I can use as an example is a church whose service is recorded by a local television station, aired by the station, and then placed on the station's website. A large corporation like a television or radio station will have blanket licenses for copyright materials they air with all of the three largest copyright agencies, SESAC, BMI and ASCAP. These licenses are very expensive, however, and not within the scope of our budget provisions (to date). We currently hold blanket licenses for print materials (two of them) and pay about $400 per year. Without going into specifics (which I don't have), gaining mechanical reproduction licenses (it would probably entail gaining all three) could easily quadruple that amount. If this aspect of our ministry proves important enough to us, we may wish to consider exploring getting our own mechanical reproductions licenses for our worship services. But we're not there yet, I don't think. And we would still have the issue of reporting usage (a vast amount of paperwork).

Please post a comment if you want to know more or have specific questions.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Dinner Theater

BMPCNC will present a Christmas dinner theater on Sunday evening December 13 at 5PM or 7PM in the fellowship hall of the church. A cast including youth and adults will present John Carter's "In Bethlehem Inn," a you-are-there telling of the Christmas story. Persons attending the show are guests at the inn in Bethlehem on the night of Jesus birth. During a shared meal we learn of a young couple looking for shelter, here from local shepherds who have heard amazing things, and finally venture outside to a living nativity scene, to see for ourselves the wonderful thing that has come to pass.

The dinner-theater is free, but donations for the cost of the meal are much-needed. Reservations are required. Be prepared to specify which seating you prefer, 5PM or 7PM, and how many persons will be in your party (we will be seated at table groupings of 8). While we are taking reservations, seating is by general admission.

Thanks to everyone who is taking part in presenting this production, especially the actors and food preparation crew. Please have a good thought for them all as we venture into a new and exciting ministry event.

Contact the church office by phone or email to make reservations.

Colleagues of mine and members of a couple of my former employers will recognize this event. I became enchanted with this drama and the whole production while at Bon Air UMC in Richmond and mounted the production three years there, and three more times at Crestwood PC(USA). Everyone here is very excited and full of ideas. I've told them that this is a show that grows over the years. This time fairly low-key. Camels and palanquins next year!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Amazing bass player

Adam Benezra puts his instrument through its paces in the video. Nicely edited, and a really complete workout for the instrument. But the best part is the cat walking ON the bass! Thanks to Arts Journal Daily for posting this video.

Music for worship

FirstLight
Gathering Song(s)
He knows my name
I sing praises to your name
My life is in you, Lord

Opening Song
Great is the Lord

Confession
Halle, halle, hallelujah

Offertory
With all of my heart

Doxology
Owens, praise God from whom all blessings flow

New Members
Bind us together

Closing Song
The Summons


11AM
Hymns
466, O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)
2130, The Summons (KELVINGROVE)

Introit
Cameroon, Praise the Lord

Confession
Hopson, We are forgiven

Doxology
591, OLD HUNDREDTH

New Members
438, Blest be the tie that binds (DENNIS)

Benediction
2279, You shall go out with joy (TREES OF THE FIELD)

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Arr. Kathy Moklebust, Be Still My Soul
Adult Handbells
Offertory: Wesley, Lead Me, Lord
Psalm 5.8 and Psalm 4.8
Postlude: William Selby, Voluntary in A

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Postludes and hospitality

The issue of the postlude has arisen again in our congregation. My "both-and" opinion on the matter is well-documented. The suggestion being talked about right now is that during the upcoming holy season of Advent we (church leaders) urge the congregation by word and example to remain for the conclusion of worship.

As if on cue, I found this article on the matter. Writing from a Catholic perspective provides a unique viewpoint. I have been in enough Catholic churches over the years to know the image of folks returning to their seats after communing, and kneeling in prayer, and remaining knelt in prayer for the concluding words of worship and remaining knelt in prayer through the organ postlude. I wonder if kneeling were part of our tradition if we might find more people remaining for the conclusion of worship. For a few, no doubt, once they got down in a kneeling position, getting back up would take most of the time that is the length of the average postlude!

Catholic theology has a keen awareness of the sacred nature of the assembled body, the congregation. The theology is honed to such a degree that when part of the body leaves before it is time, the implication is that the rest of the body is injured. We Presbyterians would do well to re-examine our understanding of ourselves as a gathered community and the change in our nature which takes place as we become the body of Christ gathered for worship. (Gordon Lathrop's book, Holy People goes a giant step in helping Protestants discover this theological truth.) It's heady stuff but it could lead to a development of an understanding of what happens even at the end of worship as we leave.

I'm all for fellowship and hospitality. But can it not wait just a few moments while Christ's body, the church, puts a little bit of closure on the worship experience? I will gladly commit to playing very, very short postludes in order to help us move in a direction that sees the postlude as part of the service (no applause needed, please), and that sees these last few moments as the perfect time for a last few moments of prayer reflecting on the Word read and proclaimed or in preparation for the week ahead.

Friday, November 6, 2009

The idyllic life of the church musician

A couple of weeks ago news of a salary and stress survey made its way through the Methodist Musicians news list. The reason: church musicians placed 5th in a list of stressful jobs that pay poorly. Top of the list (the most stressful job that pays poorly) was "social worker." Next came "special events coordinator," "parole officer" and "news reporter." Next was church musician. The survey was done by PayScale.com and reported by CNNMoney.

Named in the article as one aspect of the job that provokes stress was providing music for worship services at critical times in peoples' lives: weddings and funerals. The article didn't name what I think is the obvious and most pervasive stress-inducer: the weekly challenge of selecting music for worship that appeals to the performers, suits the tastes of the congregation, is not too loud, is not too dissonant, is in a major key (see my earlier post).

The survey was conducted by PayScale.com. Here's their explanation of the scope of the survey:

(Payscale.com) defined high stress and low pay jobs: Starting from a database of over 2000 jobs, Payscale used data from over 36,000 respondents who ranked their jobs for quality of life factors, and chose those requiring a bachelor's degree or higher where the national median pay is less than $65,000. The survey was conducted between Aug 10, 2009 and Oct. 1, 2009.

I took a look at the PayScale.com site and took their rating survey. My salary ranked in the 45 percentile for my field. I think that means 55% of my colleagues earn more than me; and that my salary is 5 percentage points below the average salary reported for my field. I also discovered that persons holding my academic degree (Master of Divinity) have an average salary nearly $12,000 more than my current salary. I'm sure my career change plays into that in some way, but all the implications aren't clear to me.

Overall the survey was met with cries of "a-ha" from my list-reading colleagues. Those of us in the trenches, or on the bench as it were, know exactly what the survey is conveying.

Into the digital age

For years BMPCNC has been recording its 11AM worship service to cassette tape for distribution to our members not able to attend church. We kept a few copies on hand also for anyone who happened to be absent on a given Sunday and wanted to hear what went on. With the advent of new technology we began wondering some time ago about moving to digital recording. Finally when our recently dissolved Pastor Nominating Committee was doing its work they saved considerable time and expense by being able to hear potential candidates' sermons online in digital format. They got very excited about the possibilities of doing something similar with our worship. So these two streams merged into renewed interest in getting our services digitally recorded and online. Herewith: how we are doing it.

Some years ago the church placed two high-quality microphones on the rear wall of (west end) of the sanctuary for the express purpose of recording special music events. Concurrently they purchased a Tascam digital recording interface. This is the machine that takes the signal from the mics and converts it into digital signals that in turn are fed into a computer-based recording software. The church also had a pretty powerful laptop computer used for a variety of purposes including being the work station for the digital recording process. With the Tascam we got a piece of software known as Cubase, which is a fairly high-end and powerful recording and sound editing program. I don't know how the final product was used for those special music events. I haven't found any archived CDs nor files of music events recorded with this equipment. Once I arrived I was intrigued with the possibilities but didn't really take too much time to explore any of the components that much. Cubase has a pretty steep learning curve and I therefore let it slip off my radar most of the time.

However, with the arrival of our new pastor there was wide-spread interest and passion for getting on the digital wagon. We had almost all the equipment we needed. The only thing lacking was a speedy way to duplicate CDs for distribution as we envisioned it. So at the end of last summer I purchased a 3-CD duplicator along with a supply of CDs, labels and envelops. Now it was just a matter of stringing all the parts together and getting personnel in place to do the various chores.

First the computer crashed. Phil Cogbill built a new machine. It had a couple of kinks; he took care of them. The first install of the Cubase software was flawed, so we had to re-install that. In the midst of all that my dad died, Phil had H1N1 and we had the usual zaniness of church life during stewardship season. So everything took about a week longer than one might expect.

There are, of course, one-piece devices that do everything we wanted and were trying to do with 3-4 pieces of equipment. For $4000 you can get a digital recorder that will produce a master CD, make copies of that master and print a pretty label onto the CD. Sadly we didn't have that kind of money. And we did have these other components and a desire to be good stewards of what we had. We got the last piece of equipment and all the supplies for about $600. The desktop computer Phil assembled cost us nothing. (We did however, this week purchase a new laptop; we'll stick with the current set-up and keep the laptop free to move around the facility.)

So here's the process:
We turn on the recording computer and recording software
Sound is picked up by the mics and fed to the Tascam
The digital interface sends the sound to Cubase
With Cubase we create tracks of the service and edit the sound quality
Then we convert the tracks to WAV files
The WAV files are burned to a master CD
We duplicate the CD
We label the duplicate CDs and label them for distribution
We convert the sermon track to an MP3 file format and upload that to the church's website

A lot of folks remember the good old days of turning on a cassette recorder, hitting record and getting a tape of what you wanted. The digital format means superior sound quality but brings with it greater complexity in the recording process. These days its not a simple matter of recording a CD. That can be done; but we were tasked with doing this with no budget.

So while it sounds easy: "we have a CD recording of our worship service," it's been a long haul getting to this point. And there is a fair bit of work involved in producing the final product. This week I was especially grateful to Mark Banzhoff for helping get more familiar with Cubase. I still have plenty to learn but I think I have the basics.

Ultimately our goal is to spin this ministry off for interested lay folks. But we want first to be certain that everything works fluidly and that we can produce easily-to-follow and clearly-defined steps for the whole process. You can listen to sermons online at our website. Phil and Perry Sprawls added that functionality this week. That's where we are right now.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Major-Minor

A recent discussion on a musicians news-list got me thinking about major and minor tonality in worship.

As grade school students many of us were taught that major-keyed music was happy and joyful while minor tonalities were sad and slow. Aside from the wrongfulness of any sweeping generalization, I hope we all know this really is not true.

But the concept stuck at least for some. A colleague was writing that someone at their church was insistent that there be no minor-keyed music in worship because worship was supposed to be joyful and celebratory. And certainly the organ offertory couldn't be in a minor key, because that would lead to lower amounts in the collection plates.

So couple of things leap to mind. There is some incredibly joyous minor-keyed music for organ out there. And there are times when a little somber-ness is appropriate for worship. Finally I hope no one really thinks that the key signature of a piece of music is going to so powerfully sway someone that they cut back their offering to God based on what they hear coming from the organ. One's offering to God is a God-thing, not a music thing. Really.

I'll be playing a very sprightly and joyful prelude this week, in G minor. And I am not going to add a Picardy third to the end (that's changing the third tone of the chord to make it major instead of minor). I haven't encountered anyone in our congregation who has voiced opinions like those I mentioned above. I hope if these sort of views come up we can address them clearly with examples. And I hope to show by example that the simple major-minor paradigm doesn't go nearly far enough to describe the power of music to illicit feelings of joy or quiet introspection.

Choir Retreat


Members of our Chancel Choir took part in the Choir Music Weekend a few weeks ago at Lake Junaluska. In addition to a great weekend of music with some wonderful clinicians, it was peak weekend for fall colors. Many thanks to those who gave up several hours of a lovely weekend to work on music!

Music for Worship 110809

FirstLight

Piano Prelude
Sonatina
Hymn to Joy
Connor Watson, piano

Gathering Song(s)
Here I am to worship
I give you my heart

Opening Song
Come, now is the time to worship

Confession
Dayenu

Peace
Shalom Chaverim

Dedication of pledges
God whose giving knows no ending (BEACH SPRING)

Offertory
Lazarus dies again (Darrell Scott*)

Doxology
Owens, Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Closing Song
Give thanks

11AM
Hymns
478, Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (LAUDA ANIMA)
422, God, whose giving knows no ending (BEACH SPRING)
420, God of grace and God of glory (CWM RHONDDA)

Introit
Brazilian Folk Melody, O Sing to the Lord

Confession
579, Glory be to God the Father (GREATOREX)

Anthem
Handel, Shout the glad tidings

Doxology
592, OLD HUNDREDTH

Benediction
Kenneth M. Scott, Sr. May the grace of Christ our Savior

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Camidge, Gavotte in G Minor
Offertory: Herren, Arietta
Postlude: Handel, Allegro, Sonata in F

* Darrell Scott is a singer-songwriter from KY. This song is from his album Family Tree. Thanks to Andy G. for charting it out for us, and to SJK for suggesting it.