The Newport Experience...

I have just arrived in Newport, RI. I have taken the job as Director of Liturgical Music and Organist of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. This magnificent edifice of stone, designed by Patrick C. Keeley built in 1848, was the sight of the marriage of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. Presently, the Parish includes approximately 1,200 families. What a mysterious new challenge... a large, Catholic parish with a rusty 1950's era Casavant pipe organ and a dwindling music program on the island city that inspired Thornton Wilder's Theophilus North.

My first Sunday was a shock. At the 11:00 Mass, five women showed up in the choir loft and whispered their way through the hymns and service music. I thought to myself, "Is this the choir?" After my postlude, one of the women said to me, "Didn't they tell you? The choir's dead! We're it, kid!"

I've come to know these women very well. Over the past several months, they've taught me the ins and outs of Newport and St. Mary's: who's who; what's what; why this is this; why that is that... These ladies have been great friends in every sense.

Last night we had our fourth choir rehearsal of the year. There were fifteen singers present! The group of five ladies has begun to blossom into a fine little choir, with voices on all four parts. Every week, one or two new people come to me, interested in singing. What's left of the old guard tells me that just twenty-five years ago there were over forty singers in the choir. All the evidence suggests the choir will continue to grow in size and strength for the foreseeable future. The original five ladies, who whispered through the music when I first arrived, have begun to sing with confidence and pride!

The choir members are friendly, gracious people who want to do the best job they can, but still like to have some fun. My priest is kind, understanding, and helpful. I know I can trust him and I know there is mutual respect. There is a very supportive attitude among the entire church staff, for which I am grateful. Constantly, I hear people saying with excitement, "Things are changing!" and I couldn't be happier to be a part of that change.

St. Mary's Church interior, as viewed from the Choir Loft

Whatever the purpose, what the future holds... God must be working in mysterious ways. I have never felt this sense of belonging outside of the home I grew up in. I have never felt so strongly that this is where I belong at this time in my life.

I don't know how long I'll be here - four years, ten years, sixty years - but I do know that I have been brought here for a reason. For now, I know that this is where I belong. This is the right place.

Thoughts for early May

It's May and Spring is now in full force. In fact, it will be Summer before we know it! This Spring has already brought about some wonderful activities and is looking to be the precursor to a fantastic Summer!

As far as music goes, I played a recital at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre in April and I played in the first annual 'Organ Gala' at the First United Methodist Church in Catawissa. My choir has been working very hard on music for our evensong on Mother's day - just a week away!

Aside from the music, today I attended a church dinner at the house of some of my dearest friends. There were nine of us total. The company was lovely and the food was magnificent. I was the youngest one there by far, and it was amazing to hear their stories about 'how things used to be'. Even though I couldn't sympathize, I was more than content to reminisce vicariously with them.

I find myself so blessed to have made relationships with so many older people. Some of my closest friends are anywhere from their late twenties to their late seventies or older. I think for a young person to develop meaningful relationships with adults is incredibly beneficial for ones character and understanding of life. When you can find mutual respect across generational borders, it helps you look at the world in a different way.

Spring 2012

The weather has been warming, flowers have started to peak about, people are outside more, and Spring is here!
As Spring begins, so I begin planning many things for Spring (and Summer).
First on the list is an organ recital at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre, in late March. I will be playing pieces ranging from the German Baroque, to English Romantic, to French Modern on the Berghaus pipe organ, the largest pipe organ in all of Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania. After the concert is over, I plan to go to lunch with several of my music teachers, as well as some of my choir members, my boss, and my mother. It should be a very fun event.
April, of course, begins with Holy Week and Easter, for which I am planning some rigorous choir music by Johann Sebastian Bach as well as music for two trumpets and organ. After the heat of Easter is over, we will begin preparing for choral evensong for Mothers' Day in May. For this evensong, the choir will be singing a four-part Ave Maria by Tomas de Victoria, Brahms' 'Geistliches Lied', and we may even be singing a Nunc Dimittis composed by myself. Mark Laubach, winner of the 1986 AGO national young artists competition, will be the organist for this evensong. The evensong will be a service of light, which I find especially beautiful, meditative, calming, and concentrating, being so rewarding in the way it aids congregants to connect with the Spirit on new and diverse levels.
After evensong, the annual Pops concert quickly approaches! Still don't know what I will sing for it, but I am not terribly worried about it because I am just beside myself with excitement to see and hear what everybody else does - by far my favorite concert of the year. I am always touched by the nearly unbelievable talent and joy which is exhibited from my beautiful classmates at this concert.
During the Summer, I will be working on lots of solos with people at Saint Paul's, we will be having a choir concert in June (to say farewell to our retiring rector), and will perform an organ and voice recital in the end of July.
Very busy times, to say the least! Hopefully what I do will make somebody else satisfied, bring some beauty through music to another person, even for just that moment. That's my life.

Winter Update

I know many people send out Christmas cards including a brief letter describing what has happened with them and their family throughout the preceding year. Given that I haven't really been posting here, I think such a note from me might be as good as any a use of this blog right now.
So what has happened to me since I last posted in September? I've made many new friends in school from a variety of classes, backgrounds, and ages. I am so pleased to become friends with people I have been acquainted with for up to seven years in many cases. They are all wonderful, beautiful people and I love them very much. The most important friendship I developed is a friendship with a couple separated from me by nearly sixty years. Dr. Bill Decker and his beautiful wife Mary have become some of my dearest friends. Bill and Mary have been incredibly gracious and loving to me. They can both attest that I spend an incredible amount of time with them - more than any of my other friends. From eating lunch and dinner, to spoiling their cats, listening to music, going to opera, visiting cities, and our weekly trip to Saint Stephen's in Wilkes-Barre, I have had incredible fun and memories with them that I will cherish forever.
On Christmas Eve 2011, I became the Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Bloomsburg, heading a choir of about twenty talented and dedicated singers. We rehearse twice a week and sing a wide variety of literature. I have made many friends through my new post at Saint Paul's and I could not be more grateful.
This Sunday, we will have our annual parish meeting, I have a report regarding the music program prepared - many things are looking good for Saint Paul's! Our membership has grown, we had a surplus due to far more income than we were expecting (a very exciting surprise), a new and successful fundraising committee, choral evensongs, and a forthcoming website. Most exciting of all, my friend John Shirley is preparing to enter the priesthood.
My grandparents are in Dayton now, I'll be visiting them in a few weeks for my audition in Oberlin. I am also auditioning at Eastman and Westminster Choir College in the coming weeks. I am very excited!
My sister Maeve is doing Super Saturday as well as Zumba for kids. She has also signed up to play soft ball! Riley has had some illnesses and visits to the hospital, but remains resilient and ever-vibrant! He's the funniest guy I know. Wilder has gone to Dayton to spend the rest of the semester with our grandparents. He rode a plane for the first time (and drove it! Courtesy of our uncle Dan sho is a flight instructor).
I am very thankful for friendship, peace, laughter, travel, church, school, music, play, and family. I've had a lot of those things this year and I am so blessed for it!

Growing up

Recently, I asked a friend, who I have not seen in quite some time, to lunch. Believe it or not, this is significant! After asking him to lunch, I thought it very strange and exotic. In previous years, friends and I could talk and have fun in school, hang out after sports practices, and pass nights away leisurely with hardly a worry. Times such as that are become less and less frequent! Now, it has occurred to me that I am not able to see my friends on a whim as I once could, and my life is no longer structured so that my friends are always nearby. I now have to result to adult tactics: I now have to be truly proactive enable to keep a friendship going. Asking a friend to lunch... there seems to be no other time in which we may both be free. I now have to ask people to lunch. Strange and exotic. I'm not exactly sure I like it, but I am growing up. These things happen.

I think myself quite smarter than I was a year ago. Being so young, I am by no means wise, but I have grown wiser than I was before. I am pleased to see myself and those around me grow, change, and improve. Now, I dedicate more time to myself than I did a year ago. I seek to make myself happy more than before - and others less than before. This is not to say that I don't seek to make my loved ones happy - I do - but I hold my own self as a higher priority and the results show.

I no longer accept any compromise for becoming a more skilled and experienced musician. I am working much harder in that regard than I did in the year previous. I've learned pieces by Howells, Mendelssohn, Purcell, and Couperin in the past month alone. My lessons with Mark Laubach have helped me to practice more thoughtfully and understand more fingering possibilities, increasing my overall technique. My conducting and voice lessons with Dr. Decker have helped extend my range and have added warmth and body to my voice, while maintaining the brilliance I already had naturally. I have been directing a church choir, learning service music every week, giving private sessions to soloists... it is so invigorating to teach and direct and organize!

Music aside, I've improved exponentially as a runner so far this Autumn. I've dropped my cross country time from a record of 23:05 last year, to a record of 21:36 - with a month left in the season to improve further still.

Now isn't a time for us to be concerned with others. Young people (my age specifically, and a few years older) must prioritize, focus on themselves rather than others, and make compromises less frequently. The time will come later in our lives when we will once more be able to focus on others more strongly and loyally. For now, I hope my young friends and peers strengthen their focus more on themselves.

Integrated Arts 2011: Week 1

Week One of the BTE Integrated Arts Camp 2011 is over! Integrated Arts is a two week day camp for students aged six through thirteen where students learn about the culture of a certain country or area of the world through art, music and theatre (and sometimes food!). This year, the theme is the Caribbean! The first week is over, and here is some of the artwork the students have made in art class. I'm going to update this post soon with some of their artwork! I didn't get any footage of music or theatre yet, but I will by the end of the second week!

Love and Companionship can be Painful Reminders...

The past two days I've spent mostly at my friend Lydia's house. We watched the Beavis and Butt-head movie and 'The Bucket List', had a picnic, got soaked in the rain, talked, played life and just had a wonderful time. I love her so much and I truly appreciate the time I spend with her and her family. That being said, spending this time around them and thinking about how much I appreciate them gets my emotions going. Sometimes, it makes me think of things I regret and things I have lost. Now, in this reflectively sentimental state, I'm thinking about mistakes I've made - and how sorry I am for them. I love Lydia so much. However, thinking about that love - thinking about how much I love her and how beautiful she is - reminds me of how much I have loved others, some of whom I have lost, some of whom I have grown apart from.