Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
It’s the Day of Rest here, so I have time for a quick post.
This Friday evening (April 11th) at 7pm, the Bob Jones University Concert Choir under the direction of Mr. Matt Whitcomb will perform in the War Memorial Chapel. The concert will include works by Faure (Requiem), Rutter, Vaughn Williams, and Gustafson. The choir will be accompanied by a small chamber orchestra and the impressive Wicks pipe organ in the WMC.
Come if you are able!
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
If you are (or planning to be) in the Greenville area next week, I would like to invite you to my Junior piano recital next Thursday, March 6th at 7:00pm in FA224. For those of you that don’t know where that is, it’s in the middle of the second floor of the Fine Arts Building. The recital will only be about 20-25 minutes long, so hopefully that won’t conflict with any of you that might have plans to attend the opera that night. I will be playing music of Bach, Mozart, and Chopin (see Music page for more details).
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
After rehearsing some of the most amazing music in my life for the past month and a half, it’s hard to believe the concert is over. Overall, it went very well and Dr. Forrest had nothing but good things to say about it. 
I was talking to a former music teacher of mine after the first performance. The first thing he said was something to the effect of, “That was probably the most amazing music I have heard in my life. Nothing was lacking.”
I was super-privileged to be a part of this choir, and in a sense, I think I had one of the best “seats” in the house – front row, dead center. I got to see and follow every one of Dr. Cook’s gestures. I’m sure the overall sound was better out in the house (what with the percussion and everything), so I can’t wait to hear the recording!
The next big thing for my choir (Concert Choir) is Christmas Vespers in December. We will be singing 5 numbers (4 of which I haven’t seen yet – we’ve been so busy working on Forrest music lately). More later…
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
If you are in the Greenville/Bob Jones area and haven’t yet procured (free) tickets for this Friday’s concert, consider this as a virtual elbow jab. *nudge* If you haven’t yet heard of this concert, let me fill you in.
This Friday, October 19th, the Bob Jones University Chorale and Concert Choir are joining forces for “ForrestFest: A Welcome Home Concert.” The concert, which will be performed at 6:30 and again at 8pm in Stratton Hall, features the works of Dan Forrest. The concert lineup is:
- Arise, Shine!
- Three Nocturnes for Chorus and Percussion
- Basque Lullaby
- You are the Music
- Oread Farewell
Dan Forrest will be speaking at the concert as well. Rehearsals for the concert have been going extremely well. I am very excited to be a part of this concert (singing Baritone). It will be a very rewarding concert both for us performing and especially for you, the listener.
UPDATE: I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we’re sold out, and the bad news is that we’re sold out… Non-ticketholders can still get in, though. You just won’t get your choice of seats.
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Classes started today at BJU with a bang (for me anyways). Let me give you a quick rundown of my classes for this semester:
- Church Music Administration
- History of Music I
- Elements of Conducting
- Private Classical Piano & Hymn Playing lessons
- Bible Doctrines
- Intermediate Spanish II
We also had our first rehearsal for Concert Choir/Chorale for our October 19th concert today. Mark your calendars now; it’s gonna be good! We will be doing at least 4 pieces by Dan Forrest who is back at BJU now after getting his doctorate at KU (Kansas University). Some titles include “Three Nocturnes” for Choir and Percussion, “You are the Music”, “Arise, Shine!” (Premiered in Carnegie Hall), and “Oread Farewell” (which as I learned is pronounce ORE-ee-add) with text by Anthony Silvestri. That’s some powerful music!
Update: We may or may not be doing all four of those pieces. See comments…
This week also marks the beginning of Society Rush. In fact, I’m going to head out to the Epsilon Zeta Chi rush booth now and try to start some conversations with the new freshmen. More later!
Saturday, April 21st, 2007
. . . my sophomore piano platform exam!! Whew! It’s a nice feeling to be done with the 15 most stressful minutes of my life (in regards to piano, that is). I had 5 piano teachers staring at my fingers the whole time – Drs. Parker, Davis, Moore, Wilson, and Kendall. I don’t know what my grade is yet, but at least they told me I passed.
Good feelings . . . *sigh* . . .
Update: I got my grades and comments sheets back this week. Apparantly, my judges (see above) had different opinions about my playing. I received two A’s, two B’s, and one C (ewww). I believe it all averaged out to a high B+ for the semester. I was hoping for an A, but I guess I’ll have to settle for that…
Monday, April 2nd, 2007
Here it is, my modal composition for Advanced Harmony II. A few quick details and then the MIDI:
- I titled it “Mixolydian Dance No. 5.” Why? Just as a play on Hungarian Dance No. 5 (even though it sounds nothing like it). It is pretty fast and “dance-like” though.
- If I didn’t make it obvious enough, it is in the Mixolydian mode (duh) with a few deviances.
- It is in 6/8 (3/4) time (one measure in duple compound meter followed by a measure in triple simple meter, and so on). I still am stumped as to how to set that up in Finale, so I eventually just wrote it in manually using the expression tool. I had to manually rebeam some of the measures manually, but it’s ok.
- About 50 measures in about 50 seconds. It moves fairly quickly.
- For Piano and French Horn. I wrote it like that so Jed could play in it class for me, but we never did play it in class. Oh well.
- It was a result of working on it Friday night and some of Saturday. Ie. I didn’t spend weeks on this, so don’t feel like you got gyped if it doesn’t meet your expectations.
- Here’s the MIDI.
Again, let me know what you think.
Oh, BTW, I got my Original ABA back . . . A+ . . . with this note: “I guess you should probably be a musician, after all.” Not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I’ll take it.
Tuesday, 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.
Monday, 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 . . .
Tuesday, 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 . . .
