Recital Season, responses, and improvisations

Recital Season has begun: The parish hosted a doctoral recital on Double Bass this afternoon, and the Graduate Student Jazz Combo tonight. Both were excellent; both had fewer than twenty people in the audience. No parishioners attended.

I am of two minds about this work; I consider it important and I enjoy it – but it results in a day like today when I put in lots of hours and still do not discharge my duties. All told, the two programs consumed close to six hours. I tell myself that if it was my Duty, I should not feel badly about it. There would be no blessing on such work as I might have gotten done in those six hours if I did it by shirking what God wanted of me. And, the best I can tell, that would be hosting these two recitals.

Whether I like it or not, there will be a lot fewer recitals from now on: the School of Music will finally be moving into their new building this summer, eight years after they lost the old one to the flood.

****************

Some new YouTube clips:

Preces and Responses (Craig Phillips)
This is the only accompanied set of the responses that I know, and they are excellent.

Preces and Responses (David Drinkell)
Another fine set of the responses. The photo is from a webpage that has information about Drinkell, who sounds like a delightful character. He is a fan of Tolkien and LOTR, which raises him several levels in my estimation.

Walk as children of light (Daniel Kallman)
Our anthem from the April Evensong; it is so good to be done with Lent and into the Fifty Days!

Improvisation for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
I had three tunes that I wanted to include: one way to do that is a Rondo form, so that is what this is. “Resignation” (My Shepherd will supply my need) is the main tune that recurs each time in the tonic, following each of the other tunes, which are “St. Columba” (The king of love my Shepherd is) and “Old Hundredth” (All people that on earth do dwell). I don’t like all of this improvisation, but there are parts of it that I think went very well, especially the “C” section (Old Hundredth, which combines with Resignation), and the final return of the “A” section, where Old Hundredth continues to go alongside Resignation, with bits of St. Columba as well.

Improvisation on “Land of Rest”
This one is a set of Variations, from this morning’s service. It is structurally simpler than the previous.

****
I keep putting improvisations on YouTube; they are not much listened to. For that matter, I do not know if the congregation likes them or not. Someone did thank me for the “Land of Rest” variations this morning, and one of my friends sometimes listens to a CD of these things as she drives to work. All I know is that I like them; they are the sort of music I would want to listen to before a church service, or at certain other times -- I like to end my Sunday night with some of this music.

More to the point, they are functional. There was a time when the 9:00 service did not begin well. Since I began playing improvisations, people have entered quietly and perhaps have used the time to prepare themselves for worship. If that is the case, I am doing the right thing.