Far back in 1998 Garrison Keillor had this to say about the singing of “Shenandoah“… … And there ought to be a law against the singing of “Shenandoah” by any choir, and the penalty ought to be prison time. No probation. The singing of “Shenandoah” is a main cause of the unpopularity of choral singing … Read More “Death by “Shenandoah”” »
Category: Music
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Some years ago I considered myself a purist when it came to taste in Christmas music. All I wanted to listen to were the classics, anything that came out of the Oxford Book of Carols, or anything written and arranged by David Willcocks or John Rutter. Basically, stuff from the British school and Lessons and … Read More “Annoying Christmas Music” »
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. For those of us who refuse to live by the commercial calendar, it’s the start of the Christmas season. Well, not really that even, but the preparation for the Christmas season. I’ve mentioned before that one church where I worked, the minister would not allow any Christmas music … Read More “Gloria” »
This is the song I composed for my parents 60th anniversary. It was performed for my parents by a choir made up of my brothers and sisters, their spouses and children. It hadn’t occurred to me to write a song for them until Thursday night, as I was already gathering the other requested music. I … Read More ““A Delightful Inheritance” – the music” »
As part of Fall for Greenville, the 1970’s group Kansas was giving a free concert Saturday evening. Kansas has been one of my favorite bands. As a high schooler playing keyboards in a band, they were my idols because of their keyboard-heavy arrangements. “Carry on My Wayward Son” is still one of my favorite songs. … Read More “Kansas on a Stick” »
Local Greenville blogger Eric Rogers stumbled across one of my posts about tilt-shift photography and thought he’d give it a try. Eric is a filmmaker, so he took things a step further and tried to tilt-shift a video clip. The results are quite good. Here’s a link to his finished product in Quicktime .MOV format… … Read More “Tilt-Shift Video” »
Sounds like a prizefight – kind of like the "Thrilla in Manilla." In a sense, that’s not a bad description. Most of Mahler’s Second Symphony is a struggle, between despair and hope, musical motifs, and extreme dynamic ranges. I left early to make the drive up and over the mountains to Brevard. I was unsure … Read More “Mahler in Brevard” »
I think I can safely say, without giving away any spoilers, that the overriding theme of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows deals with Harry’s coming to terms with his own mortality. Those lessons have hit home in numerous ways this week. First there are the subtle, constant reminders of the unrelenting passage of time … Read More “Bereite dich zu leben!” »
The photograph above is part of a display we keep in our house from our year in Arizona. I carved the fake kokopelli petroglyph as well as the Native American Flute. The year was 1991. Laura was on sabbatical from Furman and had an opportunity to do research at the University of Arizona. I quit … Read More “Native American Flutes” »
The entire weekend was tied up with our performance of Carmen. Rehearsals Friday night and Saturday morning, with performances Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Even with sections cut from it, the piece was 2 hours and 45 minutes, including half-time. The weekend took on the tone of perform-collapse-perform-collapse. Friday night was our first time hearing … Read More “Carmen, The Post Game Show” »