Singing Along the Journey

Service

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Star-shaped pegs, round holes, and obsessions…

The Lenten season is never a particularly easy one for me...I tend to take the set-apart nature of this time very seriously, and conduct my own very intense version of the 12-step "ruthless moral inventory" to the very maximum.  Throw in a little of the type of soul-searching and relationship review that precedes the commemoration of Yom Kippur, and add a dash of my own personal intensity, and well, you can imagine what these weeks are like inside my spirit and my head.  I have always loved the Lenten season, despite its difficulties -- but not this year. Without burdening those of you who kindly read what I write with…
Read More

Authority, credentials, and the road less travelled…

Well, the Lenten season is, for me, off to a whizz-bang start.  Two Ash Wednesday services, five days of my personal spiritual discipline, a conversation with my spiritual director and one with my pastor (and let's not forget the total change in my relationship to all the water on the planet) and yes, my view of the world and my place in it is totally up-ended. I have a new, weird kind of clarity, and I realize that, when faced with that famous fork in the road, I have been looking right when I should have been looking left-- although not totally.  It has been more like I've been looking right,…
Read More

Now I see me, now I don’t…

As I sit at my desk this first Monday morning of 2011, I have before me a number of project files -- many of which have a due date of January 10, 2011.   And I need to decide which one to tackle first.   The good thing about mornings is that usually, I can multi-task.  For example, right now I am listening to a wonderful recording of Johann Adolph Hasse's Salve Regina in A-Dur, with an ear to whether or not I want to add it to my repertoire this year (and I think the answer is yes).  At the same time, I am staring at a folder for the incorporation…
Read More

It’s all in the introduction, Part the First

In American culture of the 21st century (and before this time, too), we are often so defined in the eyes of others by the answer to what is so often the first question that comes up during the social ritual of "small talk":  "So, what it is that you do?"  You're answer to that question defines in so many ways the direction that the conversation to follow will take, or, in fact, whether or not there will be a conversation at all.    For years, my answer has been my affirmation:  "Oh, I sing opera."   And now, I am ready to change that answer. But my mind and my speech need…
Read More

One year ago today…

One year ago today, I was baptized at the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC.  I thought about this anniversary all day yesterday -- I can't quite decide whether I should commemorate the anniversary as the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy, each year, or whether I should stick to the actual date, which is  today, December 13.  Perhaps I shall just commemorate both from now on, as it is a choice and a date that I will choose to celebrate and remember all my life long. If you want to read again or for the first time about my experience of baptism, you can do so here. …
Read More

Why I Became a Baptist, Part 2

When I wrote the first entry titled "Why I Became a Baptist", I never dreamed that I would write "Part 2".  But after the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the choices I've made over the course of my life, and in particular, this specific choice. You see, it has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me, what with committee meetings and concerts and a whole host of activities that have kept me running hither and yon, as my mother would have said.  By the time I finished everything that I had to do on Sunday and finally found myself at home, sitting in my…
Read More

Pausing for a moment

I have a lot of things on my mind that I would like to write about, but, for a whole lot of reasons, I have neither the mental focus nor the energy to tackle them today.  But, feeling that I have been silent for too long on this page, I wanted to share something with the world.  While I am not a big fan of poetry (funny thing, for someone who SINGS it all the time), but as I opened a new piece of music this morning that I ordered in honor of a friend who does really like poetry (yes, Amy, that's you) I was struck by the poem that…
Read More

It is well with my soul…

Yesterday, the congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church gave me a present.  They probably don't know that they did, but they did...a great big, warm, sloppy wet kiss of faith and love.  And all they did was do what they do best -- be the best they can be at being the community of Jesus in that moment and in that place. What did they do?  They sang, spontaneously, the most beautiful four-part harmony on the hymn for our call to prayer, "It is Well With My Soul".  The congregation has grown so over the last couple of years, that, on any given Sunday, there are many faces that belong…
Read More

May the circle be unbroken…

Yesterday, I filled in for Pastor Leah at Thomas House.   My adventures at Thomas House, have, well, been very formative for me in this my spiritual quest (you can read about my first solo visit here).   And I have high hopes that my organ playing will improve now that my friend Elaine pointed to me this great book:  100 Hymns with Just Three Chords.  So yesterday, I prepared "Open My Eyes", "I Need Thee, Oh I Need Thee," and "Blessed Assurance", and despite my less-than-elegant playing, well, it seemed to work. But yesterday, the surprises for me were not in the music, neither the singing nor the playing, but in…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More