Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a joyful New Year!
Dona Nobis Pacem
Friday morning, I picked out a cute outfit and fixed my hair, hoping to take a picture with SD in front of this tree in Eastman's Main Hall at the annual Holiday Sing. It's my favorite Eastman tradition and SD and I have been looking forward to it ever since we knew we'd be moving back here this year. I cleaned off my desk and admired our little Christmas tree. I printed a few handouts for my class presentation later in the day. I thought about giving myself a manicure over the weekend.
And then, I heard SD exclaim from the other room - "What?!" I rushed in to see what was wrong.
"There was a shooting at my elementary school," he said.
We watched in horror as the news reports rolled in and pictures of 1st graders being led to the nearby fire station flashed across the homepage of CNN, just one mile away from Steve's parents' house. "We were just there at Thanksgiving," I thought to myself. We were numb.
The closing song of the Holiday Sing, "Dona Nobis Pacem," sung in a 3-part round by all who are in attendance is normally our favorite part of the event. Now, standing in front of this beautiful tree, surrounded by the hundreds of people that had gathered in the Main Hall that morning, we contemplated the entirely new meaning of this text in the midst of such tragedy and heartache. I fought back tears as we sang:
Dona nobis pacem. Grant us peace.
Later in the day, we found out that most of the victims were children - twenty 6- and 7-year-olds - and my heart broke into a million pieces. Those families, those teachers, that community. Sandy Hook is an idyllic New England town and it's become somewhat of a home to me in the 4 1/2 years since SD and I started dating. That fire station they keep showing on the news? They have a lobsterfest in the summer and they sell Christmas trees and wreaths between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We pass it every time we come into town. Treadwell Park is where SD and I had a picnic lunch on my first visit to CT. That elementary school is where SD was assigned Georgia in the "parade of states" (it's the reason we danced to "Georgia On My Mind" at our wedding). He made a giant peach and wheeled it around in a little red wagon. It's where he first learned to play the saxophone. That auditorium where the vigil was held and where the President spoke? That's the stage where SD performed, soloed, and graduated. This is home.
There is no explanation for the events of last week. There are no answers. What can we do? We can pray, we can grieve with the rest of the nation, we can hold on to those close to us. We can live grateful lives. We can give to those in need (see here, here, here, and here for a place to start). Life is not the same.
How do we move on from such a tragedy? Leonard Bernstein once said, "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." Yes. As musicians, making music and sharing it with the community is a way that we can give back, a way to contribute meaning. This is the time of year that we sing hymns of faith and hope and peace; we sing of Joy coming into the world and we prepare our hearts anew for the coming of the Prince of Peace. So sing with passion, play with your whole heart, and lead with conviction. Focus on what matters. And in the midst of this overwhelming tragedy, may God grant us all peace.
Image Credit: personal
Three Hymn Arrangements for Advent
Last Sunday was Choral Sunday at church, complete with a performance of Vivaldi's "Gloria," Handel's Organ Concerto as prelude and postlude, and three Advent hymns that SD orchestrated for the occasion. It's so much fun to sing hymns with a chamber orchestra, don't you think?
Seeing as how Advent isn't quite over yet, I thought it might be nice to let y'all know about these arrangements in case you're looking for a little something extra for your upcoming services.
Three Hymn Arrangements for Advent
1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (listen here)
2. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus (tune: Hyfrydol) (listen here)
3. Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending (listen here)
These arrangements are for organ, strings, trumpet, and oboe (though instrumentation is flexible) and may be purchased individually. Read more and take a look at the scores here.
Image Credit: personal
On Teaching
Last week, I found out that one of my former students in Massachusetts passed away suddenly. Ironically (or perhaps not), I thought about Ed Sunday night and told Steve, "I should write him a note this week and see how he's doing." Later, I found out that he died the next day. Life is short, friends; too short to leave things unsaid, to worry about what others will think, to value things that don't matter. Act now. Love now. Give now. Focus on what matters. Ed was 73 years old when he began taking piano lessons from me in the summer of 2010. I'll never forget that first week - he came in with a stack of big note, EZ-read piano books, a mini audio recorder, and an enormous amount of self determination. We started at the beginning: landmark notes (Frances Clark method), folk songs, rote songs, and technic exercises. Within the first year, he was sightreading simple songs, harmonizing folk melodies, and playing teacher-student duets in the studio's spring recital. He was dedicated.
In our second year of study, he began learning key signatures and counting in unusual meters. He performed solo in the studio recital earlier this year. Our last lesson before I moved was at the end of July. In those final weeks, Ed began asking questions about chords, harmonic progressions, and inversions. He was curious and he truly loved learning.
Every week when he came into his lesson I would ask, "How are you doing today?" His response always caught me off guard: "Oh, I'm much better, thank you." "What do you mean 'much better'?" I'd say. "Were you sick?" "No, I'm fine. It's just that people always pay attention when you say 'I'm doing much better,'" he'd say with a grin. I smile when I think of him looking down now, saying, "I'm doing much better, thank you."
What a privilege we have in teaching.
Teaching to me is not just about music or experiences. It's about people - people like Ed who want to build on a lifelong love of music, people like Bobby who love to create, and people like Matthew who love to explore and build with musical patterns. What an opportunity we have as teachers to engage with others, interact, and share musical experiences. I am so grateful.
Happy birthday, darling
Happy birthday to this handsome fella today! I so admire your patient and kind heart. I am more and more grateful for you every day! Thank you for being my husband and my best friend. I love you!
Love, Speak, Give
The phrase, "Love, speak, give with intention" appears on my lock screen as a constant reminder to be more intentional about life. It reminds me to do small deeds with great love, choose words carefully and intentionally, and give with joy. This month, I've been intentional about gratitude and really acknowledging the good gifts we have been given. As we celebrate Thanksgiving and families and football and turkey and cranberry sauce this weekend, I hope you sit a little longer, hug a little tighter, speak with intention, and give to others as much as you are able. "Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices..."
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Building a Successful Children's Choir Program
So, you want to start a children's choir. Awesome!
Wondering where to start and what to do first?
Here are a few ideas and suggestions for getting started and building a new choir program, based on my experience starting and directing a children's choir program at a small church in rural Massachusetts.
*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Building a Successful Children's Choir Program
Getting Started
The first step in building a new program is choosing a rehearsal time and setting age parameters. Will you rehearse during the week or on Sundays? Will you rehearse throughout the school year, or just for a season?
Consider the children you have in your congregation who may be interested in singing in choir. I started out with children in grades 1-6 so that we’d have a group of about 12. If you have enough interest, consider dividing the children into two age groups: K-2 and 3-6.
Once these pieces are in place, then you can start thinking about an overall theme for the year.
Choosing a Theme
An overall theme can guide your planning, music selection, and activities, and foster engagement among those participating.
For the first year, I decided to build on an idea from a children's choir I had worked with in the past - "The Image of God." The visuals were things like film strips and photographs and each month, we explored a new way that we are made in God's image.
The second year, I planned an "Around the World" theme with music from various countries, flags, passports, and international prayers like Alan Paton’s “For Courage to Do Justice” (United Methodist Hymnal #456):
"Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
and use me to bring them to those places. AMEN."
Once you have a theme, begin planning ways for the children to participate in worship throughout the year.
Participating in Worship
One of the things that sets a church children’s choir apart from a school or community choir is the element of spiritual formation. Talk about the importance of sharing music in worship (read more here and here), the difference between worship and performance, and the impact of the message we have to share. Help the children to see that singing praises to God is a true privilege and that they are leaders when they participate in worship.
In addition to a few anthems throughout the year (including a few with the adult choir), you might plan and coordinate the music for the children's Christmas play as another opportunity for them to sing in worship.
Set goals for the program—both musical and spiritual—and begin searching for music.
Choosing Repertoire
Pull from a variety of musical resources (especially those that are free!): hymnals (consider choosing a Hymn-of-the-Month, which maybe gets incorporated into worship on a day they sing), octavos already in your choral library (unison/2-part or SA), online resources, music you have at home, and a few new anthems that you find through Sheet Music Plus, J.W. Pepper, and Choristers Guild.
Related post: Top 50 Favorite Anthems for Children’s Choirs
An invitational postcard for our "Around the World" choir year
Getting the Word Out
Next, promote your new program and invite children to participate. Write short announcements in the bulletin and newsletter, post information on the church website, post a flier at the library or gym, and pass out fliers at the beginning of the school year.
Planning for Rehearsal
As you begin planning for the first rehearsals of the year, try to include several elements of discovery:
uncover a new symbol somewhere in the room each month (a new picture on the film strip or a new flag)
collect “stamps” from each country you visit in passports made with copy and construction paper
fill out scripture cards (if the children look up the month's verse at home, copy it down and bring it back in, they get a piece of candy from the scripture jar—added incentive!)
Begin preparing your choir room or rehearsal space with other visuals like a "Thankful Tree" (the children in my choir loved this so much, we kept it around in the spring and turned it into a "Good Attendance Tree") and a world map where you can mark all the places you travel throughout the choir year.
For fun, pull together a few silly songs and musical games to use as change-of-pace activities: Ham and Eggs (traditional) and Irish circle/line dances when you "visit" Ireland around St. Patrick's Day. I love Madelyn Bridges' book, Sing Together, Children.
In a typical rehearsal, I started with a gathering activity or musical game. We did a few minutes of stretching and warm-ups before singing through the Hymn-of-the-Month. We read the scripture verse, reviewed the Symbol of the Month, and read the opening prayer together.
Next, I reviewed something familiar—a hymn or anthem. Then, we spent some time looking at a new anthem: learning the melody and text and discussing its meaning. By this point, the group was usually ready for a change of pace: a hand jive or clapping activity, a silly song, a musical game, or some rhythm improvisation. Generally, there was time left for one more song or anthem, one more change of pace activity, and our closing prayer.
Related resource: Free Children’s Choir Rehearsal Template
Singing with Purpose
Consider tying in a mission element. For the "Around the World" theme, Operation Christmas Child was a perfect choice. This gave the children an opportunity to participate in something greater than our church and give to those in need. Together, we packed and shipped over two dozen shoe boxes to children around the world that year.
Celebrating
How will you celebrate at the end of the choir year? Consider an ice cream party or game night or a special outing or field trip of some kind.
Our end-of-year celebration for the "Around the World" year was a pizza party. Each family brought a different colored pizza topping and everyone helped make pizzas that looked like flags from around the world. We played a few traditional games from different countries, did a little trivia, and celebrated a year of exciting travel and music-making.
Related post: Four Ways to Celebrate the End of the Choir Year
End-of-the-Year "Around the World" Party Invitation
Learn how to lead and teach your children’s choir, creatively and confidently.
Join me in Directing a Church Children’s Choir 101,
a 4-week online training program geared specifically toward children’s choir directors in church settings.
I hope these ideas are helpful as you start your own children's choir program! Have other ideas or suggestions for working with children's choirs? Please share them in the comments!
Eastman Weekend
Last weekend was Eastman Weekend and with over 550 alumni in town there was much to celebrate! Since it was Steve's and my first time attending alumni events as alumni (and not just students), we tried to take advantage of as much as we could. Here's a glimpse of our first Eastman Weekend experience: On Friday night, we celebrated the 15th anniversary of Eastman's Arts Leadership Program (of which Steve and I are both alums), attended a welcome reception with the dean, and enjoyed a jazz concert in tribute to Rayburn Wright (who taught at Eastman from 1970-1990). Many of his students returned to play on the concert so there were many wonderful guest artists. We may have snuck out for pizza at intermission - it was a long day!
On Saturday morning, we were interviewed as alumni to discuss the role the Arts Leadership Program has played in our careers and then we scrambled to get to the market, do our shopping, grab lunch, and be back at school by 1 p.m. In the afternoon, we attended an awesome workshop with Fifth House Ensemble out of Chicago (the Executive Director and her husband are both Eastman alums!). They talked about innovative programming, interdisciplinary performance, and the nuts and bolts of building a business and gave us lots of good things to think about.
Later in the evening, we attended the opening concert of the Prismatic Debussy Festival. This month, we're celebrating what would have been Debussy's 150th birthday and Eastman has put together a month-long festival of scholarship, concerts, and visual presentations to celebrate the occasion. It was so exciting to witness the first concert! Many of Eastman's large ensembles performed and Eastman's graduate dean shared insightful narration and video projections throughout the program. It was a wonderful concert!
If you're in the area and would like to attend some of the Prismatic Debussy events this month, see the schedule here.
Do What Matters
Do what matters.
This is my new motto.
When you really stop to think about what matters in life, the world seems to stop spinning quite so fast. There are so many things in life that vie for my attention every day - emails, bills, people asking me to do more, my iPhone in general, you get the idea. But do they really matter in the bigger picture? Not so much.
Sometimes things happen that put things back in perspective. You make choices about what you are going to do and what you are going to leave undone.
Sound familiar?
This happened to me last week. The decision seems easy at the time but it makes you stop and think. How often would I make this same choice on a normal day? How often do I scroll through Instagram during our after dinner conversations? As recently as last night, I'm embarrassed to say. How often do I fret about meeting the expectations of others or getting everything done in a day?
This is a reminder to myself: Do what matters. (Forget the rest.)
Happy anniversary, darling
Happy anniversary, darling.
What an exciting year we've had! We moved to a new state, visited eight states together + two more on our own, and hit 100,000 miles in the car. We started (and stopped and started) jogging and started eating healthier. I became a coffee drinker, you became a Bachelor Pad fan (I take full responsibility). You had four commissions(!), I started a new degree program, and between us, we had two failed publishing attempts (there's always next year!). We tried too many new recipes to count, saw Vermont in the fall, made our first trip to the ER, played concerts for audiences ages 2-80+, found our new everyday wine, and became Apple converts.
Our first year as husband and wife was not without its challenges but we had many laughs along the way. I'm so grateful for your kind heart, your patient spirit, and your unwavering support. My heart is full of so many sweet memories! Remember splashing in the puddles on Main Street on our way to the Post Office? And rearranging the tulips on Easter Sunday morning? How about that time I opened a fortune cookie that had nothing inside and you opened yours to find two? I learned just how handsome you look in a bow tie and you learned that my southern charm has a fiery side (or maybe you already had that one figured out).
I'm so grateful for the life we share together. I love you!
