Posted by Peter on February 20th, 2007
Yesterday, I went to Dan Kreider’s graduate composition recital which was performed in partial fulfillment of his second principal for a Master degree in Church Music. I particularly enjoyed his cello suite entitled “Meditations on the Psalms.” The last piece of the recital was a choral piece entitled “Lord, I Have Shut the Door” - a very nice tune put to a very nice hymn text that I had never heard before. I thought I would post the lyrics here for your reading/meditating pleasure.
Lord, I have shut the door, Speak now the word
Which in the din and throng Could not be heard;
Hushed now my inner heart, Whisper Thy will,
While I have come apart, While all is still.
Lord, I have shut the door, Here do I bow;
Speak, for my soul attent Turns to Thee now.
Rebuke Thou what is vain, Counsel my soul,
Thy holy will reveal, My will control.
In this blest quietness Clamorings cease;
Here in Thy presence dwells Infinite peace;
Yonder, the strife and cry, Yonder, the sin:
Lord, I have shut the door, Thou art within!
Lord, I have shut the door, Strengthen my heart;
Yonder awaits the task— I share a part.
Only thro’ grace bestowed May I be true;
Here, while alone with Thee, My strength renew.
Posted by Peter on February 12th, 2007
Here it is - my Original Theme and Variations for Advanced Harmony II. You’re sure to recognize the tune, but in case you’re unfamiliar with it, it is entitled “The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond.” It is written for piano and violin. You will hear the theme followed by 5 variations.
- Variation I - increased Rhythmic Motion
- Variation II - parallel minor key
- Variation III - switch to 3/4 time
- Variation IV - back to parallel major key in 6/8 time
- Variation V - borrowed sub-mediant key
This time I recruited my friend Sam (who sits beside me in class) to play the violin part while I accompanied on the piano. Mrs. Pinkston was standing right behind me at the keyboard while I played. She seemed to like it . . . kept making remarks about how she visited Loch Lomond (twice) and waded in it once . . . interesting.
Anyways, here is the MIDI file. I had to invoke the help of Cakewalk Sonar to do the tempo changes (Finale is very awkward with tempo changes in the playback feature). Let me know what you think.
My next piece for this class isn’t due until sometime in mid-March - an Original Modal Piece. Not sure what to do for that one, yet . . . hmm . . .
Posted by Peter on February 10th, 2007
Well, I hinted about this in an earlier post, and here it is. I have just finished the new site theme for PeterAnglea.com. I think I have all the bugs finally worked out. Let me know what you think. Overall, this should be more readable (which was my major objective in this new design). Also, to stay on top of current technology, I have given greater prominence to the RSS feed links.
Enjoy!!
Note: If you don’t seem to see anything different, you may need to refresh the page and/or clear your cache.
Posted by Peter on February 10th, 2007
I thought I might write a word or two about my extension here at BJU. In previous semesters, I went on extension with Z-choir (20 men from Epsilon Zeta Chi) and sang in small churches and nursing homes in the Greenville area on Sunday evenings. However, that extension sort of fell through this semester (hopefully it will start up again next semester). Now I go with a few friends to Shepherd’s Care Center on Saturday mornings.
Shepherd’s Care is a BJ-run assisted living facility/nursing home about 5 minutes away from campus. Our extension consists of conducting a small service for the residents and singing for some others in the alzheimer’s wing. I joined the extension group because they needed a pianist. I play some hymns for about 10-15 minutes while the others bring in some of the residents to the meeting room. Normally about 10-15 residents will come. The service consists of singing hymns for about 30 minutes (they never tire of them!), prayer requests, and about a 15-20 message brought by one of the guys on the extension. While he brings the message to the residents, the rest of us go the alzheimer’s wing and sing some hymns a capella to the residents there and pray with them. Even though their minds are going, some of them can still “direct” and “sing” along. It is enjoyable.
More to come later . . . my Original Theme and Variations is due on Monday! I’ll try to share that with you.
Posted by Peter on February 6th, 2007
We got the results of last night’s run-offs this morning. No, I didn’t make the semi-finals - didn’t expect/want to either. Pressure’s off.
I had my piano lesson today with Dr. Mark Parker. Since I’m out of the running, I was able to play it for him and get his advice. He really liked my interpretation of the piece and only had small suggestions for improving it. I will continue to work on it now for my Sophomore Platform Exam at the end of this semester. I’ve got alot of other music to memorize for that still as well. Perhaps sometime I will record my platform and post it here to all to listen to. That might be fun . . .
