Summer is supposed to be a little more relaxed. Back in the day when I relied quite a bit on freelance income from my musical pursuits, it was. And with all that extra time to do things, I didn’t have the disposable income to do them!

I’m not doing as much freelance these days, but I find I’m actually busier. This past weekend, I played at two different churches, neither one where I normally serve. On Saturday I played keyboard for St. Bridget’s Church, an Episcopal start-up in Rio Vista (roughly halfway between the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento). It was a small but valiant congregation (less than 20 in attendance). They hold one weekend service a month, in between having weekday services, small groups, social and outreach activities. A fun group to visit.

I also played at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek, where I learned to play organ and played my first services as a young musician. It was satisfying for different reasons than Rio Vista. St. Paul’s is quite established, although they, too, are trying to grow (a congregation of over 200). I played a Harrison & Harrison tracker in the chapel (it replaced the reed organ I played as a teenager), and a good-sized two manual Schlicker in the main church.

Whether new or established, both churches are dealing with issues of identity, building on Episcopal tradition while looking towards the future. Meanwhile, at John Knox Presbyterian in Dublin CA (where I serve as Director of Music), the children and adults who participated in last week’s Vacation Bible School led the service.

JKPC, roughly the same size as St. Paul’s, is also dealing with the same issues of identity and growth. Where St. Paul’s has a strong traditional service, JKPC blends contemporary and traditional elements, both in service structure and in its music: Praise Band and Chancel Choir usually share the chancel, with children’s groups and adult handbells regularly enriching the mix.

I got onto this because my quiet summer hasn’t been quiet, but rather filled with variety and offer opportunities for growth. In my previous post, I mentioned Amy Beach’s Mass in E-flat, which we perform in less than a month. That has offered the San Francisco Lyric Chorus some of the same opportunities for reflection on identity and growth as the churches I mentioned above. And then our daughter Delara and her husband are moving from London to L.A.; and our son Jeremy and his spouse are moving from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania.

So maybe there’s a time for growth.

That is definitely music to my ears…

I don’t know where the time went! I’ve written and performed some new pieces, continued directing the handbell choir at church (not to mention the Chancel Choir and our contemporary ensemble), become assistant director of San Francisco Lyric Chorus, and otherwise filled up time in a number of interesting ways…but not said anything here since December.

Oh, yeah: And it’s past time to celebrate the publication of I Come with Joy, a collection of my liturgical piano pieces published in March 2007 by Augsburg Fortress. I’m quite pleased by the set.

In succeeding entries I want to look at some of my compositions, including the piano pieces, comment on a blog or two I’ve been enjoying lately, and look at a couple of pieces I’m going to be playing soon: Herbert Howells’ Partita and Amy Beach’s Grand Mass in E-flat. Right now, I’m off to practice (26 days left before the Howells goes public…).

For now, that’s music to my ears.

Little by little things get done. Another day and the formerly-hidden oak floors return to their original glory. As soon as workers return from a (well-deserved for some) holiday break, we’ll be able to live in more than one bedroom and the kitchen, with an occasional sojourn in a semi-working bathroom…

On the musical front, it’s a combination of getting ready for Christmas Eve services (one morning, 3 evening) and posting a bunch of my compositions on New Music Jukebox (run by American Music Center). I’ve had some modest success selling my music; it’s time to promote better.

poco a poco: a little bit each day. But my fingers are getting itchy to write–the last composition of 2006? the first of 2007? Before I can do that, I need to burn a CD with my Christmas Eve postlude (so I can be in two places at once…).

Whether fast or slow (and moving slowly, even poco a poco on the way from one dynamic state to another, is not my natural state), it’s music to my ears.

Well, my life has been anything but quiet…but I’ve managed to take a five month break without even trying. In my last post (July 22) I spoke about putting together some info on Songs of Prophecy. I’ve done that, but just not taken the time to post it. Five months later, I’m in the afterglow of a pretty nice presentation of the piece two days ago.

The piece went well, and even exceeded my expectations. It was the first time I’ve written an extended work with handbells (the piece includes handbells, choir and string quartet), so it was, for me, a bit experimental. The handbell writing worked, although I tended to write the part a little thin. We ended up adding notes to fill out chords (handbells are more homophonic than linear, imho, although my linear parts fit nicely with the strings and voices).

We’re in the middle of a big house remodel (we moved in with my Dad almost 2 years ago)–roof and windows done first (last summer, just about the time I stopped writing here). Currently we’re in the midst of walls, floors, bathrooms–it’ll be great when it’s done (did I mention kitchen next?).

I’ll post the info on Songs of Prophecy soon, as well as update on some of my other musical activities. I need to put some quality time into updating my my composition list on New Music Jukebox before the end of the year (they are putting together a compilation for an upcoming Chamber Music America conference–it’d be nice to have some of my recent chamber works included).

Even though I have to leave the house these days to hear it (unless I want to write an homage to Varese, or an update of The Anvil Chorus)–

it’s music to my ears.

Did I say that it was hot today? As I write this at 9:45 in the evening, it is still 95 degrees F. outside. That’s hot, even for this part of California, where a little heat in the summer is a worthwhile price to pay for generally quite temperate weather.

I’m working on several posts that I hope will come to completion over the next week.

• An index of my compositions that I have mentioned here. As part of that I hope to provide some missing but promised mp3s.
• A fuller description of Songs of Prophecy. I’m in the process of compiling pdfs and jpegs (but before I can, I need to proofread the score; that’ll probably take as much time as the initial writing of the piece!).
• A comparison of my use of the text with Jennens’ Messiah libretto. His work was masterful. My deconstruction and rearrangement is…I guess we’ll wait and see.

There will be more. I read through parts of a couple of Mozart 4-hand Sonatas tonight: I hope our hosts for the evening don’t have too much trouble cleaning up all the misused and abused notes we left lying around. Somewhere between Mozart and Adams…

it’s music to my ears…

In my last post, andante down the lazy river I mentioned that I was starting a Christmas Cantata. It’s basically done, and I’m rather pleased by the results. Of course, if I didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be done, or wouldn’t see the light of day! The reason it took so long (5 days) was that I did have to eat and sleep…not to mention make some music at church, teach an organ lesson, and do those pesky chores that just mount up and make the environs miserable until you pay attention to them…

The piece is called Songs of Prophecy. It uses 8 of the texts that Jennens, the librettist of Handel’s Messiah included in what we know as the Christmas portion. I’ve long wanted to make my own work on the whole set of Messiah texts, but wisely set a less lofty goal for this piece.

Jennens generally has a very nice recitative, song, chorus form that focuses and organizes things very well. I totally ignored that form, although roughly speaking solo or soli voice alternates with chorus–but no real recitative.

I know, you’d like examples, and I don’t have time right now. OK, here’s one score excerpt:
And it sounds roughly like this mp3 without any editing or real balancing of voices (the first violin is a bit shrill on my computer).

My intent was to write a piece we could use in worship, so I wanted it under 20 minutes (I’m at about 16 and a half). In addition to satb chorus, I wrote for string quartet and handbells. I was fascinated how that altered my usual textures. I tended to opt for repeated peals, open harmonies, and a good degree of pentatonic writing.

This was just plain fun to write. I couldn’t wait to get up and start writing to see how the next movement was going to come out. It has its derivative elements: African choral music, minimalism, Orff, and I also hear Adams (this Adams, that is), particularly from my Needham Psalter. The combination of chorus, strings and handbells is wonderful.

I’ll post more soon on this project. I’m preparing a table comparing the use of the texts in Handel’s piece and mine; I’d like to say something about each movement and how I felt the text flowed from movement to movement. And so on. And, as you would expect:

It’s music to my ears…

Well, it is summer. And it’s been more weeks than I like since I posted. No good reason. Oh yeah–there were the various tasks and projects I mentioned in my last post. We refinanced Dad’s house, moved his IRA, and will have new windows in the house in a couple of weeks. I’ve written some music (surprise!) and will be posting about a couple of new pieces soon.

I’ve also started a project I’ve been resisting, because it means focusing on something besides writing new music. With Jeremy’s able assistance, I’m starting a major revision of my website. I’m working on a master list of all my compositions (well, those worth seeing the light of day!) with accompanying information pages, and score and audio excerpts. I’ve been resisting for months, but finally gave in. If you want to check out the work in progress, click here.

By the time I’m done, I hope to have all my scores and recordings on a couple of DVDs, as well as a pretty full website. I’m also going to make sure that full scores and information get posted on the American Music Center’s New Music Jukebox.

The rest of the month should be full

• I’m starting a Christmas cantata for satb chorus, string quartet, and handbells.
• I’ve developed the concept for a children’s musical for church. The book will need much work before I can actually put in music.
• I just set my current church’s mission statement to music; it’s upbeat and about as pop contemporary as I get these days. I look forward to putting it to work.
• Developed a second sequence on Nicea (“Holy, Holy, Holy”). It’ll be the prelude this Sunday.
• On the non-musical front, there’s a lot of cleanup, both at Dad’s house and ours, particularly if we decide to move back to our place while the windows are put in

A little golf, work around the Yarn Boutique, nagging Dad to get some exercise rather than just sitting around the house all day (and coincidentally reminding Marianne and me to do the same!), and other important family and friends things fill up my dance card.

Summertime in California (as long as the wildfires keep their distance) is delightful music to my ears…

I’ve made some good progress this past week on the list I posted last week, and also had a couple of neat creative experiences. First, the list:

• Dad’s finances: while it never ends, we are about to close on a loan which will allow us to fix up Dad’s house
• Beginning stages of fixup work on Dad’s house: windows are ordered; final preliminary plans for other needed work should be done this week
• 2005 ASCAPlus list: done and submitted (as prep for next year, I’m updating a sadly out-of-date “What’s New” section of my website that really makes putting the list together much easier)
• Making an SATB version of a recent men’s piece: rehearsals are going well; the piece is scheduled for the end of June
• Did I mention Dad’s finances?
• Still looking into some additional sources of income: A couple of part- or short-term teaching slots I was looking into didn’t pan out
• Dealt with an overbooking at the Kauai condo: a financial loss for us, but I think our guests will be pleased
• Have I brought up Dad’s finances?

But there were also some nice creative moments this week…

I received a copy of the concert program that flautist Dawn Grapes and organist Joe McConathy presented in Fort Collins on April 30, 2006. They performed two of my works on Jesus Loves Me. The accompanying CD was quite nice. It was a fun program. If I can get permission, I’ll post their performance of my pieces, either here or at New Music Jukebox (a site maintained by the American Music Center where I have a few works posted–I really need to make sure it duplicates my own site).

I composed my postlude for last Sunday: an electronic arrangement of Nicaea (better known as Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty). I basically used a big band setup: lots of saxes, trumpets and trombones, with some guitar and piano assistance. Eventually I hope to have a CD’s worth of pieces (this is number 2). You can hear it here. I’d intended to use a sequencer, but got started with Finale. I added more dynamics and articulation detail than I might have done for acoustic performers.

The main reason I composed Nicaea was so that I wouldn’t have to play a postlude after the service, since, in addition to my usual musical duties, I was preaching the sermon. I had a wonderful time. I was somewhat nervous before getting to the podium, but calmed down as soon as the choir and I started presenting the old testament lesson. I’ve spent a good bit of time over the last two weeks on the sermon–not much different than the sort of time I spend on a new composition, where I am both writing and performing the work.

So it’s been a good week. I hope to have another post in a few days. Until then, it’s all

…music to my ears.

Well, I’ve not exactly been setting the blogosphere on fire! Life seems to have been pretty full, although there always seems to be a list of things I still have to do. Main sources of time-passing (some more fruitful than others):

• Dad’s finances
• Beginning stages of fixup work on Dad’s house (roof, with walls, electrical, windows, plumbing and painting still to come)
• Getting my 2005 ASCAPlus list done and submitted
• Making an SATB version of a recent men’s piece (I tried it with the choir last night; it looks to be very successful)
• Did I mention Dad’s finances?
• Looking into some additional sources of income, including a couple of part- or short-term teaching slots (but either they’re slow or I’m not in the running!)
• Dealing with an overbooking at the Kauai condo (communication is REAL important)
• Have I brought up Dad’s finances?

It seems like music is getting slighted. But I have some thoughts on a couple of upcoming projects…

Project 1

A couple of weeks ago the children presented a musical as part of worship (Sermon on the Mound). It was cute. The kids clearly enjoyed themselves, and had a number of strong moments. The adults who assisted and guided the project also did wonderfully. The song Out in Right Field, recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, is featured–it’s a great moment.

So I started thinking…is it time to write a musical for the kids myself? I’d have a good six months to work on it. I noticed some areas in this work that could be improved upon:

• The vocal range is too great for kids (at least a 10th, I think). It should be kept within an octave, and not higher than c5 (an octave above middle c).
• Through-composed or complicated melodies should be minimized (“Right Field” worked–a great example of story-telling in song–but it was sung by an adult). While one doesn’t want the piece reduced to a set of simple choruses, simplicity is important.
• There’s an almost glib use of bible verses, reflecting the evangelical focus of the author and composer, I sure. Less would be more, I think.

Project 2

I’m playing organ and/or piano for a wedding the first weekend in August (the organ isn’t much). The bride is the daughter of a good friend of high school vintage. I may play more piano than organ, and so I’m thinking of writing a postlude. Probably along the lines of a trumpet voluntary, but for piano rather than organ. Could be a fun challenge.

…and I thought of a project that is still in progress that I’d like to say a few things about: a setting of Isaiah 6:1-8, originally written for chorus and organ, but arranged for chorus, organ and cello. I’m thinking of some comments on the process of transcribing for different resources–both in my music and in some interesting works for violin and organ I purchased recently.

As usual, it’s music to my ears…

…or maybe it’s the flautists who rule. I’m starting to get a steady trickle of interest in my music at my website www.adamsworks.com: an occasional instrumentalist here, a conductor there, but more than any other category–flautists.

Actually, I’ve always found flautists to be interested in pushing the musical envelope. My high school sweetheart played flute: just spending time with me was already taking a risk! Much of my recent flute and keyboard music was written for her niece, just to keep things in the family.

One recent visitor, Sue Agnew, played (it was actually a premiere) my Variations on a French Carol” on Easter at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Tucson, Arizona. Another, Dawn Grapes, will be playing Meditation on Jesus
Loves Me and Jesus Loves Me Variations as a set on a recital at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Collins on Sunday, April 30. I’m looking forward to that, even if in absentia.

It’s nice to know that something that’s music to my ears moves others–especially those intrepid flautists–to share that music with other ears.

On a non-musical note, Dad and I return to California later today. I’ll comment more on the trip in an upcoming post. Let’s just say that I have a more intimate understanding of how a toilet works…