Music for 11/02/2014 All Saints

FirstLight
Gathering Song(s)
Forever

Opening Song
We fall down
Holy, holy, holy (NICEA)

Prayer of Praise Response/Confession
Surely it is God who saves me

Offertory
Give thanks

Communion
Responses: Kriewald
Distribution: On Jordan’s stormy banks (Promised land)

Closing Song
Wade in the water

11AM
Hymns   
65, Guide me o thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)
694, Great God of every blessing (AURELIA)

Confession Response
71, refrain Surely it is God who saves me (FIRST SONG)

Doxology
In Gratitude and Humble Trust (FOREST GREEN)

Communion
Responses: Eslinger (images)
Distribution: Jesus, Priceless Treasure (JESU MEINE FREUDE)
Jesu, Meine Freude, Organ setting by Michael Burkhart
GtG 830, Stanza 1
Jesu, Meine Freude, Organ setting by Johann Gottfried Walther
GtG 830, Stanza 2
Jesu, Meine Freude, Organ setting by JS Bach
GtG 830, Stanza 3
Jesu, Meine Freude, Organ setting by JS Bach

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Singing GtG 375, Shall we gather at the river (HANSON PLACE) Libby Barker, flute

Offertory: Jason McCoy, Come, ye thankful people, come
Text by Henry Alford and Anna Barbauld
Karen Boyd, piano
Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home. All the blessings of the field, all the stores the garden yields, all the fruits in full supply ripened ‘neath the summer sky, all that spring with bounteous hand scatters o'er the smiling land, all that liberal autumn pours from its rich o'erflowing stores. These, to thee, O God, we owe, Source whence all blessings flow; and for these our souls shall raise grateful vows and solemn praise. Come, then, thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home! Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

Postlude: William Mathias, Fanfare

Music for 10/19/14

FirstLight
Gathering Song(s)
I will call upon the Lord

Opening Song
Bless the Lord, O my soul (Ten-thousand reasons)

Prayer of Praise Response/Confession
Halle, halle, hallelujah

Prayer for Illumination
Listen to the word that God has spoken

Offertory
Here is our King   

Closing Song
Seek ye first

11AM

Hymns   
611, Joyful, joyful, we adore thee (HYMN TO JOY)
716, God whose giving knows no ending (BEACH SPRING)

Confession Response
591, Halle, halle,hallelujah (HALLE, HALLE)

Peace
Arr. Sharon Elery Rogers, Peace like a river (HB)

Prayer for Illumination
455, Listen to the word that God has spoken

Doxology 712.3
In Gratitude and Humble Trust (FOREST GREEN)
In gratitude and humble trust, we bring our best today,
To serve your cause and share your love with all along life’s way.
O God who gave yourself to us in Jesus Christ your Son,
Help us to give ourselves each day until life’s work is done.

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: (Singing) I will call upon the Lord (GtG 621)
Offertory: Douglas E. Wagner, Tallis Canon (HB)
Postlude: Michael Barker, Grand March

PipeScreams, the untold story

When I was in divinity school in Washington, DC I attended an American Guild of Organists event at the Kennedy Center with friends. It was billed as Pipe Screams and involved several prominent organists in the area sharing the program. I don't remember too much more about it, other than my reaction being that if I were going to ever be involved in church music again, one of my goals would be to do a concert like that.

Fast forward 5 years or so and I had indeed left ordained ministry and was back in church music. It took a couple more years, but when I was in Ashland, VA I did my own PipeScreams concert. I strove to target the children and youth in our congregation as attendees and got a handful of older students to help with set-up and decorations. The second year I borrowed a fog machine from my wife's work (Richmond Ballet); the kids hung all kinds of spooky decorations in the organ chambers. We all had a blast with it.

When I landed in Black Mountain, NC 8 years ago, I began PipeScreams again, in my third year. It's been a big hit. A couple of years in I got a church member to construct a couple of home-made fog machines. We invite everyone to come in costume; plenty of folks of all ages do. We have tried getting flyers in the hands of school students to encourage them to attend. We've tried newspaper and radio publicity. But the biggest thing that has drawn folks has been word of mouth, as the event has held steady over the years.

I have tried different gimmicks along the way. One year a young attendee was so struck by the fog that she draw a picture of the organ with "smoke" coming out of it. The next year, I used that image on the cover of the program. Three different years I have had piano students of mine play one of their "spooky" sounding pieces on the organ as part of the program. Most years I do a short introduction to the organ about halfway through the event: I explain some basics about the instrument, let a couple of kids blow a pipe; that sort of thing. The repertoire has held steady over the years with some perennial favorites. I have introduced different music and rotate through those titles over the course of several years. If you're interested you can view my working repertoire document here.

 PipeScreams is one of three organ events I do during the year. I do a child-friendly Christmas concert in December. I also do a more formal "sacred concert" for Good Friday most years. I feel that PipeScreams and JinglePipes lay the groundwork for a child or older student to experience the Good Friday concert. I haven't had this pattern in place long enough to really see folks (children) making that connection and making the transition from the "fun" concerts to the more "serious" one. But I am hopeful that I'll see that soon.

We've begun our publicity for PipeScreams this year, but I could use some help with a title. Read below for the previous year's names. Drop a note in the comments if you have an idea.

PipeScreams

PipeScreams II, Scream Louder

PipeScreams III, Nightmare on Montreat Road

PipeScreams IV, Smokin' Pipes

PipeScreams V, Mikey's Back

PIpeScreams VI, ????

Choir Anthem Connection: Fall, 2014

The choir is learning a fairly new setting of "O God our help in ages past" by Rhonda Woodward. It's a really nice a capella setting in D major, with a flatted seventh. Altos begin, followed by tenors and sopranos and finally basses. The piece is in two large sections with fairly closely-related thematic material. Both sections have that flatted seventh thing going on. Last night at rehearsal, one of the singers remarked that it reminded her of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." It does indeed have that similar folk-y sound, characterized by the flatted seventh, without the rhythmic drive of the popular song. The Woodward setting is remarkable for how it works with a very confined musical theme, but does so much with it. While I can't really call it a perfect piece of choral music, a distinct category in my imagination, it really is commendable. Woodward's setting has been recorded by the BYU choir in 2003. Luckily the publisher provided a demo recording of the complete arrangement at the time of publication, which I still have. (Don't tell anyone, but I dubbed it onto my personal "great choral music" compilation!) Woodward herself, according to the bio on the musical score lives nearby in SC; I don't know if she is still there. So here are some links to listen to and compare and contrast.

Woodward, "O God our Help in Ages Past" (excerpt), Brigham Young University Choir ("The Road Home")
(scroll down the playlist and click on the title to hear the excerpt)
Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

Music for 100514

FirstLight
Gathering Song(s)
Made me glad

Opening Song
Shine, Jesus, shine

Prayer of Praise Response/Confession
Glory to God whose goodness

Communion
Responses: Leon Roberts Great thanksgiving
Distribution: Jesus Messiah

Offertory   
The church’s one foundation

Closing Song
Refiner’s fire
            
11AM
Hymns
321, The church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
516, For the bread which you have broken (KINGDOM)

Confession Response
582, Glory to God whose goodness (GLORY TO GOD)

Doxology 712.3
In Gratitude and Humble Trust (FOREST GREEN)

Communion
Responses 556, 557, 558
Distribution: 515, 529

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Voluntary on Kingdom
Offertory: Mark Miller, I believe  
The story goes that these words were found scratched on the walls of a church basement in Koln, Germany during the Holocaust, having been written by Jewish people trying to escape to safety. It lies in the same category of texts as those assembled by Charles Davidson into his children's cantata, "I never saw another butterfly." More precise determinations of the origins of the poem are impossible, and probably not necessary.
"I believe in the sun, even when it's not shining
I believe in love, even when I don't feel it.
I believe in God, even when God is silent."
Postlude: Michael Camidge, Gavotte in G Minor