budafulmusic

I’m making head way on my recital. Today I sent out what I’m hoping will be the final parts that my players will use. Of coarse we will change things here and there but I hoping the majority of changes will be behind me. There are only 4 more rehearsals until the recital date, I figure that few changes as possible are a good thing for consistency sake of the ensemble. It’s also getting to sound better too as people begin to see what it is I’m after.

I’ve updated my works page, it now holds things up to my compositions for my recital.

Today I passed my composition recital check. I am so relieved and tired after the event. It was thrilling to hear the music come together after all of the work my ensemble and I put into. Amid all the problems, mistakes and blunders the committee was very encouraging and I will be taking a close look at the comments that they made and considering some modifications to the recital. But all that aside, the check is over and now on to the recital which is now exactly 28 days from now!

It was strange, I walked into WMC (the same place my recital will be) for a recital later this evening and just enjoyed myself. I think that now with this behind me I can enjoy life a little more.

But only a little. Now my “extra” time can be filled with my neglected school work.

WOW! What a treat I just had. This past night I enjoyed a two and a half hour choral concert performed by the St. Olaf Choir. They just made music and all <ALL> from memory. It is difficult to listen to anything else at the moment. I loved the program, from Durufle’s Ubi caritas to some Eric Whitacre and spirituals, the program was breath taking. Of special note was Penderecki’s Agnus Dei, for which the conductor, Mr. Armstrong, gave a brief explanation and helped the audience through the dissonant section. Very powerful. I remember jerking at the sound of the dissonant chord cluster. It was really moving.

As a fellow collegiate choir member myself, this experience pushes me to aspire to be more than I am. The level of musicianship displayed at the concert was a combined effort of each and every choir member. The conductor had done all the hard work before hand, they hardly needed him. They were all like strong links of a chain. Speaking of links, they held hands the entire time. I think that that had something to do with the sound as well. They were all connected, both phisically and aurally. What a connection.

I left loving choral music even more than I did when I came.

Today is John Williams’ 77th Birthday. Happy Birthday Maestro!

Last semester I had the privilege to arrange a song for a new recording put out by Scott Aniol of Religious Affections Ministries. The CD is called “God Himself Is With Us“. It is a good recording of newly set hymns. The website for the CD is quite nice. The track that I had a part in is the song “Let Us Give The Lord Our Praise,” a new hymn written by Scott Aniol. Samples of each track can be heard at the site, as well as lyrics and hymn sheet music.

My friend ERP, over at pumpkinankles.edublogs.org (see blogroll to the right), recently posted a hilarious happening about game that a group of friends and I got together and played recently. The game is called story, where you write your fragments of a few sentences on several different pieces of paper with your friends (She explains it better and more entertainingly on her site, along with some of the best of the results). We played the game this past week and it was a blast. I look forward to many good times ahead with that inexpensive and mind challenging game. I also learned (and mastered) the art of making CC cookies exclusively out of eggs.

Lots of things have been happening lately, mainly being back home in WI and starting a new semester…wait, starting my last semester in grad school. Wow, that felt strange writing that.

One main thing of importance is that my recital has been transported from my mind onto paper. Yes, now I begin the long (but not too long) stage of editing and practicing the music for performance in March. I’ll be sending parts to my performers soon, of course, my music is almost guaranteed to change after the first couple rehearsals but that is a given.

Other things of interest are that I am composing music for a short film for a senior project. I am genuinely  exited about this as I get to delve into my favorite type of music in the soundtrack genre: soft drama.

Also on the to do list is a cello choir arrangement that I am putting together for performance at BJ’s own Bible Conference. I am arranging the old hymn tune: EVENTIDE (Abide with me)

Such a round number. 100, a number which here translates into the amount of days left until my recital on March 21. One hundred days from now. I have written the music and now am feverishly perfecting it and trying to find people to perform it, which is turning out to be more of a headache than I anticipated. People don’t seem to be as worried about it as I am. I’m just glad to have the initial stage of composition done. There’s still a long way to go though…

As the recital date draws closer and as things become more set in stone I’ll reveal more information about various aspects of the recital. Here’s a part of what I have planned:

A part of the recital will be centered around the topic of death, I’ve set several secular poems that have various philosophical viewpoints about death (ie, hopelessness, despair, uncertainty, grief, and solace). The recital will be book-ended with two sacred choral anthems, one of which is, “It is not Death to Die” which reminds us as Christians of our hope of eternal rest; where we”ll “reign with Him on high”. This poetry struck me the moment that I saw it, which doesn’t usually happen to me. The text is available on www.cyberhymnal.org or you can read it here:

I actually wrote this several days but haven’t posted until now. Today, Dec. 5, I’ll be accompanying on the piano for the Help @ Home live show hosted by BJ Distance Learning, making this my 3rd (technically 2nd) appearance on the show. It takes place at the same time as the BJU lighting ceremony on the front of campus, so I’ll have to miss that event.

I’ll be accompanying a soprano called Kera O’Bryon who is traveling to Greenville from Washington D.C. Her father will also be speaking for the bulk of the show. Kera will be singing O Holy Night as well as a medley of Christmas songs arranged by myself: O Come, O Come Emmanuel, I Wonder as I Wander, and Away In A Manger. We practiced this morning and I was impressed by her beautiful voice. I’m playing by ear, so who knows, one day it might end up in a future arrangement that I compose.

Looking forward to the show. It starts in 2 hours…

This past winter/spring, I had the privilege of composing the music for a video put out by ShowForth videos. I’ve posted an audio file from the score in a previous post. I wrote 23.5 minutes of music for the documentary which has a timing of approximately 35 minutes. It would be a fine video to show in a school class room, in church for sunday school, or even for home viewing.

The Great Awakening: Spiritual Revival in Colonial America was release on 11/20 and the BJU Collegian that same week wrote an article about the video. I’m glad that it is finale released. I have already heard good comments from the producers and even received my own complimentary copy of the DVD.

You can watch a video trailer on the BJU Press website which also features music written for the video.