Music's powers

Juliet Chung has an interesting article in WSJ from Saturday on the more obscure powers of music. Researchers believe hearing music increases brain activity and may help restore brain function after a stroke. You can read the whole there here. Thanks to Fred B. for giving me a hard copy of the article.

Welcome the Child carol concert

This coming Sunday the music ministry will present a carol service we are calling Welcome the Child. The title is drawn from a modern Christmas carol by Marty Haugen that will be part of the program. In fact Haugen wrote and arranged an additional 12 or so carols to constitute his own carol service using the same title. I performed that entire program some years ago in Richmond. I've used several of the carols in various settings over the years. This year I am using several, but not all, of Haugen's arrangements for this carol service.

Our Chancel Choir will sing "Welcome the child," "Pat-a-pan," "Good Christian friends, rejoice," "A stable lamp is lighted," "Twas in the moon of winter-time" (all by Haugen), plus Andre Thomas' "African noel." The Prophets of Praise will sing two additional Haugen arrangements: a new carol called "Hodie Christus natus est" ("Christ is born today") and a medley of "Infant holy, infant lowly" and "Silent night, holy night."

Our children's choirs, the Aerie Singers and the Carol Choir will sing Haugen's "Carol at the Manger."

The Tune Weavers will sing a setting of "Lo, how a rose e'er-blooming" and will be the TB voices in an SATB setting of "While shepherds watched their flocks by night," to the tune SHERBORNE in a new arrangement by Winges from OCP. We'll have four SA choir singers to fill out the octet format we'll use for this performance.

The Adult Handbell choir will ring a setting of "In the bleak mid-winter." The youth ringers, Aaron's Bells, will ring a setting of "Good King Wenceslas." We will have a piano/organ duet setting of "Joy to the world."

It will be a great program! It will begin at 7PM and child care will be available. Please join us, and support the hard work and dedication of our church's musicians, and hear some wonderful Christmas music!

By the way, the adult bell ringers and the Tune Weavers will be the musical diversion at an open house at the Presbyterian Heritage Center in Montreat, this Wednesday afternoon from 3PM. Drop by, see the center, nosh, and hear some nice carols sung and rung by some friendly folks!

La posada or Las posadas

The weekday school (preschool) here at BMPCNC has for several years held a reenactment of the search by Mary and Joseph for a place of shelter before the birth of the Messiah, Jesus. Based on a Mexican festival, the preschool's version is very cute, pleasingly multi-cultural and a much beloved part of their year.

However, I made the mistake of poking my nose in about the title of the event. The culture here uses "la posada." For years I have used "las posadas." I raised the difference with Jennifer R. who has striven to find the diplomatic middle way. Alice P. has her sources; Phil C. studied Spanish in school, and I have my precedents. We all have cited our sources and invoked our authorities, to the end that we don't know quite what to call this festival!

I did a bit of research and found a pretty even split. This is the text of an email I circulated today to try to explain the differences and seek peace amongst the church staff!

"It looks like the jury will have to remain deadlocked. After a little bit of research I have found authoritative references using both la posada and las posadas. Not knowing Spanish myself, it seems that the difference is merely a matter of grammar: singular or plural. Shelter or shelters, inn or inns.

It seems to me that because the nine-day festival moves from place to place, including several stops, “shelters” would be more reasonable; but on the other hand, the characters stop at one potential “shelter” per night, making that a reasonable option.

Here are the sites I investigated:

http://www.santas.net/mexicanchristmas.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Posadas

http://www.cinnamonhearts.com/LasPosadas.htm

http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/worldxmas/mexico.htm

Ultimately, if you are willing to concede that I am not insane, I am willing to do that same with you! Go with what you know and/or have become familiar and comfortable with. Just know that as with so many things, there’s more than one way to skin a cat."

I threw that last metaphor in just for kicks and to muddy the issue just a wee bit more!

If you have an informed opinion, please weigh in using the comment button. I'd love to hear your information/sources, and any experiences you have had with this Christmas festival in your community or church. Feliz navidad!

Music for Worship November 23, 2008

This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, a day at the end of the church year when we affirm and celebrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all creation. This is also the last of a series of centennial celebration Sundays. Bobbi White, executive presbyter of the Western North Carolina Presbytery, and a daughter of this church will be the preacher. It’s also the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so worship music will have that as an additional theme.

FirstLight worship will begin with a set including “King of kings and Lord of lords,” “He is exalted,” “We will glorify the King of kings,” and “Made me glad.” We will use the song “You are my king (Amazing Love)” for the confession. We will sing Graham Kendrick’s “Go forth in his name” at the end of worship. The Prophets will sing “Thank you Lord” by Dave Jernigan at the offering, with Jimmy Owens’ setting of the Doxology to follow.

Worship at 11AM will include the hymns “Now thank we all our God” (NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT); “Lord, you give the great commission” (ABBOT’S LEIGH); and Come, ye thankful people, come” (ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR). The Aerie Singers will sing “Jubilate Everybody" as the introit, complete with choreography. We’ll use WESTMINSTER ABBEY at the confession, and “Let all things now living” (THE ASH GROVE) at the benediction. The choir anthem is Allen Pote’s setting of Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength.” We will welcome trumpeters Anna McC. And Will S. to help with the performance. Anna is also going to play the Bach setting of NUN DANKET at the prelude. The will be an improvisation on KELVINGROVE at the offering and Paul Manz’ setting of NUN DANKET for the postlude.

Carol Singing

The January 2009 issue of British Heritage magazine has a nice article on carol singing in Britain. It discusses the development of carols and carol singing, their repression under Puritan rule and restoration after 1700. Also discussed are some favorite secular and sacred carols. The article reveals some historical tidbits: the word "waits" associated with carolers is the early word for the town watchmen. Wassail come from two old Anglo-Saxon words, waes hael, meaning "be healthy." The articles of the issue are not yet on-line, but likely will be in a few weeks here. Thanks for Mary V. for sharing the magazine. She wouldn't be satisfied unless I also mentioned that there is an article on John Rutter which includes a picture of the maestro holding a cat, of all things! Choral singers especially will find both article interesting.

Obama's Music

An interesting article about what music President-elect Obama might bring to the White House. Howard Reich suggests that Barack Obama might set a positive tone for the arts and jazz in particular were he to bring a jazz event to the White House following his inauguration. The author makes mention of a famous jazz event during Carter's presidency, and a similar event during Clinton's tenure. Obama's Chicago connection makes the jazz tie-in obvious, but a similar event in support of choral singing would also be most welcome by many.

What a day

From Telemann to Ed Lojeski, and from Buxtehude to Michael Burkhardt. Not every music music program can span the ages and musical spectrum like we did at 11AM this morning. We even managed to have Caribbean and Korean music represented to make it a global celebration. At FirstLight, our rendition of Ken Canedo's "Jesus Christ is Lord" was absolutely mesmerizing. Andy broke in his new drum (what do you call it, Andy?) in fine fashion. We introduced a new (to them) song to someone who had not heard it before and made a profound impart on their faith (Keith Getty's and Stuart Townend's In Christ Alone). The message of the scripture, to put absolute trust in Jesus and to trust in his sovereignty over all things, was manifest in many musical elements in worship. Perrin put his nerves on the shelf and the frozen chosen experienced a significant thaw. Wade set the pace on the choir anthem and everyone of the Tune Weavers soared. We had everything from recorder to double bass, with a little tambourine thrown in for good measure!

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite children's musicals for church (Terry Kirkland's Through the Roof) is, "it was a great day!" That's a most appropriate summary for the music today, and for the entire worship experience at both services. Thanks, everyone, for the hard work and commitment to musical excellence and heartfelt communication of the gospel. Our Lord was honored and the worshiping community blessed by your efforts.