The concert will be held on Sunday, June 2nd at 2pm in the historic St. Philip’s Church. Tickets are $11. More information and a link to purchase tickets can be found on the Rivertree Singers website.

I’m excited for this opportunity to sing my own work alongside those of composers that I highly admire such as Eric Whitacre, Dan Forrest, Moses Hogan, William Byrd, Ola Gjeilo, Mack Wilberg, Bob Chilcott, and more. (As it happens, the program order has my piece bridging the gap between Byrd and Gjeilo!)

I hope you can make plans to be there!

Full sheet / Half sheet / MP3

This new tune for Samuel Davies’ text was spurred on in part by my pastor’s recent sermon series in Titus, particularly chapter 3. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Great God of wonders! All Thy ways
Are matchless, God-like, and divine;
But the fair glories of Thy grace
More God-like and unrivaled shine.

Refrain:
Who is a pard’ning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

In wonder lost, with trembling joy,
We take the pardon of our God:
Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,
A pardon bought with Jesus’ blood.

Oh, may this strange, this matchless grace,
This God-like miracle of love
Fill the whole earth with grateful praise
And all th’angelic choirs above.

Full sheet / Half sheet / MP3

This is a new tune to a familiar text. I actually wrote this my sophomore year of college and forgot about it until recently. You never know what you’ll find when you start rummaging through boxes and binders of old stuff. Anyways, I figured it’s time to dust it off and release it for others to use.

Sweet hour of pray’r, sweet hour of pray’r,
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known;
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempt er’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of pray’r.

Sweet hour of pray’r, sweet hour of pray’r,
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of pray’r.

Sweet hour of pray’r, sweet hour of pray’r,
Thy wings shall my petition bear,
To Him Whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless;
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my ev’ry care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of pray’r.

Sweet hour of pray’r, sweet hour of pray’r,
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home, and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of pray’r.

What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping,
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary!

Why lies He in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear: for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through,
The Cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word Made Flesh,
The babe, the son of Mary!

Raise, raise the song on high!
The virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy! joy! for Christ is born,
The babe, the son of Mary!

It either comes in response to telling people in my work circles what my Masters degree is in, or by telling people at church or choir what my day job is.

And it’s not a exclamation of derision, but rather (I suspect) people are genuinely surprised that someone could be proficient (if I may be so bold) at both singing, playing, writing, and conducting music AND creating, coding, and speaking about websites and web development. Or perhaps they’re curious how someone could actually be interested in simultaneously engrossing themselves in the artistic and the technical, two disciplines which seem like they couldn’t be more different.

Sometimes I feel it is something to embrace. Something that makes me unique from any other composer or web developer out there. I mean, how many composers get invited to speak at web conferences, and how many web developers have a Masters degree in Composition? And are only 24 years old? And are seasoned Shakepearean actors? And are amazing cooks? And have the best sense of humor? And awesome hair?! Ok… perhaps I’ve gone a little too far there. Back to earth, Peter.

Other times it’s something I honestly struggle with. Why am I splitting my time between two distinctly opposite pursuits? If I were to devote myself solely to just one of them, how much farther would I be able to go? Is my fascination with one preventing me from reaching my full potential with the other? When will I drop web development and actually do the thing that I spent 6 years and tens of thousands of dollars studying? Or when will I realize that I am but a small fish in the great ocean of composers and that I’m actually a better coder than I am composer (relatively speaking)?

Further, I don’t completely “fit in” with either the programmer stereotype or that of the classical musician/composer. Confession… I’ve never seen the original Star Trek (I just nod my head and chuckle when someone quotes it) and anime doesn’t interest me in the least. And I realized that I don’t have a future in the scholarly musical arena somewhere between studying Pierre Boulez and doing a 45-minute presentation on the history and development of the Requiem Mass in grad school.

At the end of the day, I have to stick with what I know:

1. I’m not alone. Even in my circle of friends. There’s the organist at school who’s also on the Computer Science faculty. Then there’s two web developers I met recently at a conference in Milwaukee: one with a Masters in vocal pedagogy and another with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.
2. There is a correlation between the technical and the creative. To insinuate that problem solving doesn’t involve some creativity (whether in forming a hypothesis or in how one arrives at a conclusion) is just as erroneous as denying that there is no technique involved in playing a piano concerto (yay! I’m not an anomaly after all).
3. My talents are God-given. I honestly don’t know what possessed me to start making websites when I was 14. Or why, in the same year, I wrote my first piano arrangement. God doesn’t make mistakes when he hands out talents, gifts, and abilities. Both have given me many opportunities to directly and indirectly share something about Christ to others. That’s not a mistake.

In the final analysis, my job is simply to step through the doors that are opened in front of me and invest my talents wisely.

Yeah… I think about these things a lot. Been thinking about it for years.

PS. If you’re looking for resources from my Responsive Web Design presentation at HighEdWeb this week, click here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to practice the choir number for Sunday.

Full sheet / Half sheet / MP3

As Christians, we often wonder what heaven will be like exactly. The occasion of a loved one passing away often causes us to speculate about what they’re experiencing in their new “home” and in their immortal bodies. This text, originally written by Laurentius Laurinus in 1622, does a great job of emphasizing heaven’s most awesome aspect – not mansions, streets of gold, or angels, but “our God, the Lord of Hosts.” He is the One Who is beyond all description, comparison, and expectation.

In heaven above, in beaven above,
where God our Father dwells,
how boundless there the blessedness–
no tongue its greatness tells!
There face to face, and full and free,
The everliving God we see,
our God, the Lord of hosts!

In heaven above, in heaven above,
what glory deep and bright!
The splendor of the noonday sun
grows pale before its light;
that mighty Sun that ne’er goes down,
before whose face clouds never frown,
is God the Lord of hosts!

In heaven above, in heaven above,
no tears of pain are shed;
for nothing there can fade or die,
life’s fullness round is spread;
and, like an ocean, joy o’erflows,
and with immortal mercy glows
our God, the Lord of hosts!

In heaven above, in heaven above,
God has a joy prepared,
which mortal ear has never heard,
nor mortal vision shared,
which never entered mortal thought,
in mortal dreams was never sought,
O God, the Lord of hosts!

Also, while we were in Charleston, we had the great opportunity to worship with Redeemer Presbyterian Church in downtown Charleston on Sunday morning and provide some music for their service. After the pastor finished his months-long exposition through the book of Acts, we very fittingly sang “Ride On, King Jesus,” to which he responded, “Yeah! What they said.” In addition, we gave a short open-air concert in Marion Square to a small, yet enthusiastic audience just a few hours before our official concert at St. Philip’s. All in all, it made for a full day of singing and a very rewarding weekend.

We are all very thankful to those who came to hear us sing in Charleston and also those who gave donations to help defray the cost of traveling. It is possible that we will make a repeat appearance at Piccolo Spoleto again next year!

I posted some highlights from the music on my Bandcamp site yesterday. Please listen, enjoy, and let me know what you think. This is a slight departure from my normal sound world, but I’m not afraid to try new things.

In early August, I returned to Greenville, SC where I now work as a web developer for my alma mater maintaining the university’s website and meddling in social media. On the side, I continue to compose and arrange. In addition, I’m beginning to have some sporadic performances of my work. On October 1st, my sister performed my Three Movements for Violin and Piano on her senior violin recital. Jubilate Deo is slated to be performed as part of a High School Choral Festival/Competition later this month and The Dawning will make on an appearance on a graduate voice recital next semester. (Side note: if you or someone you know is performing one of my works, I’d love to hear about it.) I am also very happy to be singing with the Rivertree Singers in Greenville. We have a few Christmas concerts planned, so keep an eye out for announcements about that in the coming weeks and months.