Singing Along the Journey

Books and Reading

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More

It is never about the high note…

Music is, in so many ways, all about the phrasing.  When you experience someone as a "very musical" performer, the technical musical thing that is happening is phrasing--phrasing that best showcases the emotion or meaning of the music being presented.  For the best musicians, phrasing becomes like breathing and requires little thought.  Most of the rest of us work at it most of the time. But one of the most important things we learn, as we learn to phrase, is this rule:  the high note is hardly ever the point of the phrase.  This rule applies to singers and to instrumentalists;  the most important thing about a phrase is its destination...and it is…
Read More

A turn of the season…

I must admit that I have not been as engaged this Lenten season as usual.  In fact, I have been struggling with Lent in a very different way and that has been unsettling for me.  I was concerned that the rituals had become too ritualized, that the newness of walking through the liturgical calendar had worn off, that maybe the deep richness of the past few seasons of Lenten observance had been manufactured on my part and this nothingness and discomfort was what really happened for me in the spring.  Oh yes, I've been applying myself to my study, turning my thoughts to repentance, etc. and etc., but I have clearly…
Read More

Playing catch-up…

I would be the first to admit that I feel like I spend most of my days playing catch-up to those around me:  especially in terms of my reading and thinking about my faith and my calling.  I have, for most of life, done things in reverse order...I was an adult before I was a child, I had my old age before my youth (although I'm guessing I'll get a second run at the old age thing), I worked as a librarian before I studied library science, I sang professionally before I studied singing, etc. etc. and so forth and so on.  And now, I am coming to see that…
Read More

A Holiday Book Review

I am always struggling to make sure that each day includes some time devoted to something that most people would call a "spiritual practice".  In the course of my life, I have tried yoga, transcendental meditation, walking meditation, journalling, praying the hours-- if there is an activity recommended by my old compatriots in the New Age movement, I have tried it to a greater or lesser degree of success and discipline. The one thing that works for me, however, no matter what the current state of my theology, is reading a daily devotion of some type.  The older I get, the more I see how the practices of my childhood carry forward…
Read More

A pilgrimage…of sorts

Lately, I have been very interested in a way of thinking that is often referred to as the "ancient-future" view of Christianity, one that seeks to recover what we know and can know of the ways of those first Christians, struggling in faith, struggling to live together before the creation of the institution that we know as "church", and to take that knowledge and use it to forge a way of Christian living in the 21st century.  It is this view of faith that has led to such movements as the New Monasticism, among others. I however, have been approaching this interest, not by moving into a big house with…
Read More

Advent: Reminder of the Perpetual Coming

I must admit to having a fair amount of writer's block lately.  I have started any number of texts for various purposes and discarded them.  In one case, I even pulled back something that was about to be published.  I can't even find enough inspiration wordsmithing to finish the personnel handbook revision that is more than overdue. Perhaps it is just the hustle and bustle of seasonal preparations and concert preparations; I am not sure.   Maybe my eyes have been closed for other reasons (for it is with the eyes and and ears and the heart that we write, I believe); maybe my ears have been resting.   Maybe my thoughts have been just too internal…
Read More

Going to church…

It is, once again, Sunday morning.  And I am once again up at some totally-too-early-hour, getting ready to go to church and join my community in worship and in fellowship. But that, my friends, is my favorite way to spend my Sunday morning.  No lazy lay-a-bed with the New York Times for me -- 5:30 wakeup, meditation, preparation, and out the door at 9 a.m. only to return, if I am lucky, by 2 p.m. But what is really on my mind this morning as I get ready for the day ahead, is, well, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the things we read together as a study group in his work Life…
Read More

Thank God for mothers…

Despite my years as a devoted Germanophile, I have not yet taken the time to read any of the works of the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I knew of him from my studies of German history and culture, but he was for me just one of that far-too-short list of names of those known to work against the Nazi regime, a list that includes names like Sophie Scholl and the few members of the White Rose.  But in our Wednesday Night Words class, we have begun the study of his work, Life Together, and well, my historical-church-theological nerdiness is showing.  Last night we talked about the documentary we had seen the…
Read More

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold…

That quotation is actually an old Turkish proverb.  I offer it to you because over the past couple of weeks, the art of listening has been on my mind. Did you know that, for a musician, one of the MOST important skills is the ability to listen?  Correct.  And, in many, many instances, a performer's ability to listen will make or break a performance.  Listening is important for tuning, for ensemble singing and playing, for taking direction from a conductor or a stage director -- if you as a performer cannot listen well, you will never be part of a great performance.  That is right -- "part of".  No matter…
Read More

Public vs. private, again…

As the basis of my personal Lenten practice, I am using a book called Lent with Evelyn Underhill, edited by G. P. Mellick Belshaw.   For those of you who don't know who Evelyn Underhill is, she was prolific writer on the topics of mysticism, spiritual thought and practice, and worship; and a practicing spiritual director of the early 20th century.  Her early major work,  Mysticism (1911) remains the basic text on the topic; but her writings are numerous.  The Lenten devotional has been created from the whole corpus of her work. I can remember reading her book Mysticism during my undergraduate work in Medieval studies:  I too, shared her interest…
Read More