The Music This Week: October 12th, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have done a terrible job maintaining this blog this fall. I believe there are fairly obvious reasons for that though! I want to tell you about a few things now, but I anticipate that over the next few weeks the updates to this blog will be non-existent as I will either be severely pregnant or taking care of a newborn. I plan to return to weekly blog posts once things settle down.

There are a couple things I am really excited about though. Specifically the upcoming choir anthems.

This week we are doing a piece called River in Judea. It's lovely and rich. The choir seems to be enjoying it and I hope you do to, because it is so pretty that I think we may sing it again some time! It's about new hope and the beauty of the Jordan River, so I thought it would be appropriate while we explore our congregation's history.

Next week (which I will hopefully not be around for!), we're doing a piece called Soli Deo. It combines those words with the hymn Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow. It is very upbeat and lots of fun. It is incredibly joyful and I hope it will help us celebrate Anniversary Sunday.

The Music This Week: September 21st, 2014

Tomorrow our service will be about the Winnipeg Mission Trip and thus most of the music I have chose uses First Nations' melodies.

The adult choir will be singing for the first time this year! It's a piece we did in the spring called "Many and great, oh God, are your works" (301 in the hymnal). I enjoy its chant-like quality and because it comes from a First Nations' tradition, its melodic qualities are new and refreshing to our ears.

I am also delighted that Amy, Madison, and Bekah Lightfoot will be singing "On Eagle's Wings" (57 in the hymnal) for the offertory. There's always something so special about families singing together because of the way their voices blend.

The prelude and postlude didn't make it in to the bulletin properly, so I've listed them here:

Prelude: May the hope of God go with us every day - Hispanic folk song
Postlude: Land of the Silver Birch - First Nations folk song

The Music this Week: Sunday, September 14th, 2014

It's fall! I love fall, it's my favourite season. The weather, pumpkins, squash, pears, warm drinks, soup, Halloween, Christmas soon, and of course choirs and music groups everywhere are beginning their seasons!

We won't hear from the adult choir until next week, but we've started rehearsing and are working hard.

You may have noticed that I was sick last week. Terrible timing! Anyway, nothing can be done. I'm sure it was a treat to hear Brad play. Because so many things had to be shifted about, a lot of the music you saw in the bulletin last week, which was not played, will be played this week!

Mary Clifford is going to play a little piece by Handel and since Handel is such a great composer, I thought I should take my cue from her. The prelude and postlude are both organ arrangements of Handel pieces.

Madison Lightfoot will also be singing a piece for us this week! (I suppose one benefit of being sick and having to push things around is that you get a week with extra music that isn't just me playing!) It's a piece called Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United

Adult Choir Starting Again

Adult Choir will be starting again on Thursday, September 4th at 7:30. We'll rehearse for about an hour and then have some refreshments and catch up from the summer.

I hope everyone will be back from last year and new members are most certainly welcome too. You only need to be interested in singing to join!

The Music This Summer: 2014

Well! I have not done well at updating this blog through the summer! My apologies. We've been travelling quite a bit and my mind has been on summer things.

We still have a few weeks of soloists and small ensembles left which I hope you will enjoy. But now I am enjoying planning our fall and Christmas music too!

Look for more regular updates around mid-September when the adult choir starts up again.

The Music This Week: July 13th, 2014

The summer months tend to be a little more haphazard in terms of planning the music to illustrate the sermon. First of all, with both myself and Scott being away at various points, there isn't as much of an opportunity to plan things. Secondly, our wonderful soloists and small ensemble often want to chose there own music which may or may not line up with the topic of the sermon.

So this week, when I was choosing what to play for the prelude, postlude, and offertory, I thought we were going to have a very musically disjointed service. Scott's sermon is on the summer blockbuster Jaws and Gabrielle and Zoe McAndless are going to sing "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent. Seemingly completely different, but I was delighted when I realized Scott will be discussing how things don't always go according to plan (in relation to the movie) and that is basically what the musical Rent is about.

Prelude: Jaws (Theme from the Film) - By John Williams
Musical Reflection: Seasons of Love - By Jonathan Larson (from Rent), Performed by Gabrielle and Zoe McAndless
Offertory: Will I? - By Jonathan Larson (from Rent)
Postlude: I'll Cover You - By Jonathan Larson (from Rent)

The Music This Week: July 6th, 2014

This week is all about Canada and God's gifts to Canada. I've chosen an arrangement of How Firm a Foundation for the postlude because the idea of the church as a foundation reminds me the idea of our country as a foundation. For the prelude, I will be playing an arrangement of This is Our Father's World because it speaks of the beauty of our world, which Canada has an abundance of.

Roddie will be using his lovely, rich voice to help us worship during the musical reflection and the offertory.

Side Note: I will be away a lot over the next few weeks, and while I intend to update this blog every week, that may be a bit ambitious, and I apologize in advance if there is a lapse.