Budafulmusic

Over this past summer, I took on another project with Majesty Music. This time I helped edit and arrange about 30 songs written by Ron Hamilton. These songs, as the title suggests, are not just any of his songs but what could be considered to be classic Ron Hamilton. It is the first of at least 2 volumes, the second due some time early next year (something which here means: whenever we get to it) .

The songs are all arranged very simply by design and include a vocal line, piano accompaniment and guitar chords. A late beginning pianist could practice these songs up with relatively little difficulty and an intermediate pianist could play these pieces well. I sent a copy each to my parents and Aunt and they all loved the book and could both play through the whole thing. One thing I am grateful for is the page in the back that explains the inspiration for writing some of the songs that Ron Hamilton is best known for.

Songs range from his earliest compositions (Come to the Cross and Christ is Coming) to his most recent songs including Beautiful Hands. There need to be more collections like this from other publishers…hmmm, The best of SoundForth.

Shadow of the Cross

This past May I had the privilege to work with Ron and Shelly Hamilton to put together some new music for a new choral project they were doing. It was a short ride in a fast couple of weeks but I thoroughly enjoyed it. After getting the arrangements done they were sent off to the orchestrators and were speedily recorded and mixed at Air Borne Studios in the middle of June, just in time for the annual Majesty Musicollege seminar that was held this past week up in PA and IN. Looking back, I wonder how we got it all done in so little time.

Shadow of the Cross is a new sacred choral book featuring a new Easter musical entitled Lift Him Up. There is much variety in this collection, from the stirring piece called “Through the Eyes of Christ” to the majestic Irish sounds of “Higher Ground” and “Shadow of the Cross” to the more meditative feel of “Beautiful Hands.”  Get a copy of the book and CD here.

Here are two samples from the recording:

Beautiful Hands

Search Me, O God

Well, the big day is finally almost here. I find myself more relaxed than I expected I would be. Rehearsals have gone really well and all that is left is the technical which will be held tomorrow night at 7. Here is the complete text of the program this Saturday night at 7 in WMC:

Elegy: A Song Cycle for Baritone and Piano

1. O Captain! My Captain! text, Walt Whitman
2. Requiem text, Robert Louis Stevenson
3. Not Waving but Drowning text, Stevie Smith
4. Crossing the Bar text, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Troy Castle, baritone
Brian Buda, piano

The Holy War

1. Mansoul
2. Diabolus
3. Emmanuel

The curtain of John Bunyan’s allegory The Holy War rises on the town
of Mansoul, a beautiful, flourishing city. Originally a servant to King
Shaddai and his son Emmanuel, it eventually became enslaved to
Diabolus, an enemy of the King. Emmanuel then regained the town
through an epic battle and eventually restored it. Diabolus escaped
during the battle, however, and attempted yet another siege against the
town. Only with the help of Emmanuel did the attack fail, and
Diabolus continually seeks to return and destroy the good town of
Mansoul.
The musical landscape of The Holy War portrays the main characters in
the story. After the introduction, a fugal tour through Mansoul allows
us to absorb its intended innocence and beauty. The sinister music of
the second movement then portrays Diabolus’s attempt to seduce and
destroy the town. Emmanuel’s sweeping theme appears in the first and
second movements as well, but receives its fullest treatment in the third
movement, as He wars against Diabolus and eventually triumphs over
him. Even at the very end, we are reminded of Diabolus’s continual
schemes against Mansoul and of Emmanuel’s future ultimate victory.

It Is Not Death to Die
text, H. A. César Malan
trans. George W. Bethune, alt.

Well, the show went well. It was very thrilling to be a part of a live satellite broadcast. I’ll detail what went on tonight:

First, the Help at Home Live (H@HL) started with Gary Moore, the H@HL show host, interviewing Craig Hartman of Shalom Ministries. Dr. Hartman, a frequent Bible Conference speaker here in Greenville, brought many interesting religious Jewish pieces of clothing and had fun dressing Gary up with them as he explained the various purposes of the clothing. He also brought a large rams horn and Gary blew it, pretty well, I might add.

After a brief commercial break, it was my turn and I played on the piano two Rumanian Folk Dances by Béla Bartók. They were:

After I played, a short collection of intro’s and videos that I worked on were shown, and I got an opportunity to talk with Gary for a few minutes about them and about my work here at BJ Distance Learning. I had a good time but I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t nervous. I’ve posted several of the audio clips in a previous post, feel free to listen to them.

Last on of all, but definitely not least, Randy Miller, or the Critter Keeper, came on for the duration of the show and talked about and showed some very interesting insects and reptiles. My favorite was the foot long, 1 inch thick centipede. I still find it hard to believe that they grow to be that big. I’m glad they don’t grow that size here in the US.

I could kick myself for not knowing this before but those of you who don’t have BJLINC satellite could have watched it live as well on sermonaudio.com. It was a live video feed broadcast online. The show will be rebroadcast several more times over satellite according the the H@HL website but unfortunately, not online.

Next Friday is a special time at BJU Press/Distance Learning, where I work. The TV show HELP at Home Live will be aired and I am one of the interviewees. Gary Moore, the shows host, will interview me and we’ll talk about the varios things I do at BJU Press/Distance Learning. They will also be showing several little video clips that I was involved with composing the music for. Below is a link that details information about the show. I’m looking forward to this exiting event.

HELP at Home Live

In anticipation for a extremely busy semester, including choir, piano and percussion lessons, I’ve been composing music for my recital this summer. At this point, I am thinking that it will be divided into 3 sections, one of which I’m just finishing up writing.

While working on precomposition aspects of a different part of the recital I had an idea for a song cycle for baritone voice and piano. In case you aren’t aware, a song cycle is a grouping of several individual songs intended to be sung together as a whole, unified by a poet or as in my case, a topic or theme.

It is now nearly finished while the my other idea is still within the far reaches of my brain. Precomposition is now almost complete and it is time to write out what I have been thinking of for almost 2 years. School is looming ahead and there isn’t much time.

I recently (Okay, not really that recently) accompanied for a wedding ceremony here in Greenville SC. The couple that got married was my good friends, Lincoln and Abby Mullen on May 6. I was the pianist for the prelude, the wedding ceremony, as well as the postlude. I was able to play several of my own arrangements some of which already existed and others which were inspiration for several new hymn arrangements that I wrote down after the event. Abby commissioned me to compose music for a text that she wrote. It was used for the lighting of the unity candle. It is called “Wedding Prayer,” written for two voices, piano, and violin.

Here’s a picture of me at the wedding; that’s me in the background with the violinist, Meg.

Looks different than when you last visited, huh? yeah, well, I had to change my theme so that I could post several pages of content. I’m keeping my eyes open for a better one but for now we’re stuck with this “Light” theme.

I’ve just added some new pages, basic stuff for now, that will eventually grow. I still have far to go in getting this site more functional.

Wow, the upcoming school year is fast approaching. One thing that I will be posting quite frequently is my composition recital for which the set dat is March 21, 2009. I have been mulling over several ideas this summer and have also written a few pieces that are possible entries into said recital. I’ll try and document my work as time permits. This next semester, I’ll be finishing up the writing of my recital (whether I want to or not) and will then begin the laborious process of gathering people to perform my work and rehearsing with them. It will be an exiting year.

I love listening to music. Listening again and again to other composers’ music is what gives me that “next great idea” for my own compositions. In this post I’d like to showcase some of my personal favorites. There are many great recordings out there and my personal tastes will most likely change and mature over time but as of now I would like to share some of what I think are some of the best recordings available today and I’ll limit myself to 10. It could easily rise to 40.

Yes, I listen to a large variety of music but these recordings here are what I come back to and appreciate even more each time for their aesthetic beauty and masterful craftsmanship.

1. (Conducted by Robert Shaw) One word: Incredibly awesome! Anything more would fail to do these two masterpieces justice. Glorious!

2. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (Composer John Williams) This odd addition of a soundtrack may seem out of place here but in terms of being enjoyable and wonderful music, it is one of the finest in the world of soundtracks. There are some very fine moments all throughout the score, especially in the finale.

Read the rest of this entry »

or Google Reader, as it is officially known as, is a wonderful and useful tool. It is part of the growing amount of free online applications made available from Google. I’ve been using it for the past month and a half now and it has proven to be very useful in helping me stay on top of all the sites I frequent; especially my friend’s blogs and news sites which are regularly updated. It functions very much like an RSS feed reader. I even have the ability to share content that I mark with other people that have a Google account and use Greader. However, a Google account is not necessary to simply view my shared items. A link to my shared items is in the blogroll to the right. In it are things that I found interesting and, well, sometimes disturbing.

If your interested in finding more about Greader, check out Google’s site and find out more for yourself. At best, it can be a great asset to your use of your time while online. My advice would be not to get carried away by adding every site you think of, thus frustrating yourself and effectively creating a dislike for the tool.