JUNE 4TH — Stephanie Martin will be presenting accessible music for choir at a Choir Workshop a Trinity United in Cobourg, 3:30 to 5:30 pm. Stephanie is Director of Music at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto and is a Professor at York University.
Cost: $10.00 or FREE for RCCO members. Register by May 15 by contacting Debbie : fingas@cogeco.ca
The workshop will be followed by a concert with Stephanie Martin’s Gallery Choir from St. Mary Magdalene at 7 pm. Free will offering.
Exciting news! June 14 and 15 St. Andrew’s United, 441 Rubidge Street in Peterborough, ON is hosting John Bell in 4 workshops. He is a leader in the Iona Community and the Wild Goose Resource Group and many of their hymns are well-loved selections in Voices United and More Voices hymnbooks. Those of you in Central Canada have a wonderful opportunity to spend 2 days with this highly creative musician. He will also be keynote speaker at Worship Matters this year in Toronto June 16-18th. Go to the St. Andrew’s website to view the pdf of the brochure and to register! www.standrewspeterborough.ca
Hurry! Register by Feb. 28th for the MARCH 19TH, 2011 Choral African American Music Workshop in Cobourg, ON at Trinity United Church, 284 Division St. Workshop runs from 10:00 am to 12 noon with Rev. Dr. Raymond Wise, PhD of Pataskala, Ohio. For more information contact dfingas@trinitycobourg.ca.
Annual Choral Worshop at Faith United, Courtice, ON
In February 2011 Faith United in Courtice will once again be hosting their annual choral workshop. The focus is “Canadian Composers”. There will be 3 reading sessions, each with a different composer who presents their own works. Brian Stevens, resident musician at Faith United will be presenting excerpts from his new Easter and Christmas Cantatas. They are currently looking for two more composers to lead sessions. A small honorarium and travel expenses are offered plus the purchase of a full set of each composer’s music. Ideal candidates would have 6 – 8 pieces to present.
This is a great opportunity to ‘get your work out there’!
Hi Music United!
I just thought I’d let you know that as of last Friday I’m back in the church music saddle. I’ve been hired by First United here in Ottawa for the next three months while they go through some time discerning the future directions of their music ministry.
First United is an affirming congregation. It sold its building about two years ago and moved in with All Saints Anglican Church in the Westboro area of Ottawa. That relationship has gone well.
The icing on the cake (which may facilitate my long-term involvement) is that there are talented choir directors, composers (including Pat Mayberry), and pianists in the congregation who are anxious to volunteer their gifts. So … this will help me juggle the ministry with my financial development work which will require my absence on some Sunday mornings.
Just wanted to share the good news!
I hope all is well with you as we get immersed in the fall.
Paul
(Paul Sales is a former Music Editor for Gathering who now works for Montreal-Ottawa Conference in Gift Planning.)
TO: Choirs and Choir Directors — Atlantic Canada
The Recruiting Committee of the High Cs In Digby Choral Festival are requesting letters of interest from choirs that would like to participate as Guest Choirs and participate in the weekend festivities. This year’s High Cs Festival is planned for the Friday to Sunday of the Victoria Day weekend – May 20-22, 2011. We hope your choir is interested in participating and will contact us.
2011 will be our fourth festival which is becoming a popular way to wrap up the season – with a fun, relaxing weekend of singing and friends in the beautiful Digby Pines Resort & Spa. Along with the wine & cheese on Friday night and the banquet on Saturday, the rehearsals and workshops lead to a concert in the beautiful, gothic stone church in St. Bernard. The weekend is fun AND challenging. We have a goal of 200 singers in the Mass Choir on Sunday. The festival committee also invites one or two choirs to join the Sunday Program with a presentation of selections from their Spring Program or favourites from their repertoire.
Interested choirs should provide some background on the choir, a short video clip of a performance, the date and location of 2010 planned performances and the count of the voices (SATB) that are committed to attend the entire weekend. While only a maximum of two Guest Choirs can be invited, we are expanding our planning to a three year horizon – if your choir cannot attend in 2011, we are thinking 2012-2014 too!
The Guest Director will be announced in early January with the selection of the mass choir music to follow shortly thereafter. Choirs interested in participating are asked to advise us, by the end of the year, of at least three pieces they could sing to enhance the Sunday High Cs Concert. The invited choirs will be notified as soon as possible in January and will be provided the mass choir music in late March, 2011.
With the help of local sponsors and the support of the Digby Pines Resort and Spa, we have been able to keep participant costs low. The weekend attendance includes the mass choir and workshop along with the Harmony Harbour Wine & Cheese on Friday, snacks during Saturday’s rehearsal, the Conductors Appreciation Night banquet Saturday evening and a Picnic by the Bay on Sunday between the rehearsal and the performance. The Digby Pines offer a special rate for participants based on $37.50 per person with double occupancy (can be spouse) – included in their festival rate is a 15% discount on their services – including golfing! Other accommodations are also available in Digby.
Please consider participating and contact:
Charles Haliburton
PO Box 280 Digby, NS B0V1A0
chaliburton@ns.sympatico.ca
Joanne Buckmaster, publicity
Hi Cs in Digby Choral Festival
Dr. Patricia Wright, first Congregational Designated Minister of Music in the United Church of Canada, with the Rev. Dr. Betty Lynn Schwab, National Coordinator of Worship and Music after the Covenanting Service at Metropolitan United in Toronto on September 19, 2010.
Greetings, Music Lover!
I want you to be among the first to know about the Nova Voce Men’s Choir new CD: MAKING WAVES.
It is only recently released and has 15 tracks of outstanding singing. (Granted – as a member, I am somewhat biased, to be sure!!)
It is now available from choir members at $20 per CD (add $5 for mailing) and contains favorites like:
– The Mary Ellen Carter by Stan Rogers
– She’s Called Nova Scotia by Rita MacNeil
– The Hills and Glens – NS folk song from the Helen Creighton Collection, arranged for NV by Alasdiar MacLean
– The Gaelic classic, ‘Chi mi na morbheanna’
– the haunting Frobisher Bay
– The Cape Breton Lullaby
– G & S selection, With Catlike Tread.
– Away from the Roll of the Sea
– the nostalgic ‘Lilli Marlene’ with solo by Harold Gaudet
– John Rutter’s ‘Look to the Day’
– Oscar Peterson’s ‘Hymn to Freedom’, as arranged for NV by Ryan Billington
– the spiritual, ‘Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen’
– trad. gospel favorites: ‘Just a closer walk’ and the spirited ‘Heaven Somewhere!’
….. and more!!!
It you want your own copy, contact me or any choir member, and we will be glad to see you have yours. Makes a great Christmas gift!!
For those who also want to order SuperStore food gift cards (for personal use or gifting) they are available from me, usually one week from receiving payment. The favorite denomination is $100 but others are also available.
All cheques made out to Nova Voce Men’s Choir, please. Cash also welcome!
Musically yours.
Don
Donald Hill
don.hill@ns.sympatico.ca
2 Skeena St.,
Dartmouth, NS, B2W 1P8
Phone: (902) 434-2482
What happens when you combine an event in southern Alberta with beautiful spring weather, great theme presentations, meaningful worship, terrific food, lots of musicians, and a skilled planning team? A huge success!
Here are some comments from participants:
“Thanks to Rhythms of the Spirit’s organizers for breaking new ground in the musical ministry of our church. Trust was demanded amongst liturgists and musicians and speakers, and the result was a dynamism that broke lots of boundaries and set the stage for an amazing finale…also called the “Celebration of Ministry”. Our United Church of Canada is a little bit groovier thanks to “Rhythms of the Spirit”.
Thanks for making Brian (Browne) and I part of the scene.”
Peter Woods
“Thank-you for such a super event! Very spiritual. Very faithful. Very healing. Very inspiring.”
Betty Lynn Schwab
“It was a good chance to be together with people you knew, and others you knew about, and some awesome talented strangers.
It was equally good to get some fresh perspectives on what each and all are all about.
Beyond that — it was a mad pace featuring things coming together just in time — which involved a lot of trust and a great deal of character….and in the end was great fun.
Congratulations everyone — I’m free for the next gathering!”
Ian Macdonald
…and further to that, and as a result of one of the workshops:
Biblical Drumming in Calgary !
Thanks to the wonderous movement of the Spirit and loving invitation of Susan Lukey, a new frame drumming group is forming in the Calgary area — one of the numerous exciting results of Rhythms Of The Spirit. Based on archeological discoveries and scholarly analysis, Layne Redmond has pioneered this form of drumming recovery beginning with the Glen Velez slide collection she catalogued for her teacher long ago.This frame drum was part of the birth of the Christian Church and of its earliest worship services. Yet, as that Church ascended into political and economic power, favouring male over female, the Church Fathers ruled regularly against it. The Inquisition finally silenced this drum and its female players. It has remained silent, banished from our sanctuaries until our day. Parkdale and Wild Rose United Churches, Calgary, High River United Church, and Ralph Connor Memorial United Church, Canmore are involved.
Any of those church leaders would welcome your call! Let the Pulse of the Spirit beat within you and your congregation!
Betty Lynn Schwab
United Church Publishing House recently introduced “Singing Faith Alive”, described as a “workbook for study and worship”. This new resource, designed as a small-group study, is useful for boards or councils, M&P Committees, congregations, choirs and praise bands — in effect, anyone, or rather, everyone, touched by music in worship. The material contained in the resource is based on discussions that took place at the “Are We Off-Key” consultation that took place about a year ago. A section of particular interest is “A Theological Statement on Music in The United Church of Canada”.
This is a great resource to enable a discussion in congregations where music in worship is often taken for granted. This topic, worship music, like many topics in church life, is often not discussed simply because most people, especially non-musicians, don’t have the language to use to enter into the conversation.
Available from UCRD or Presbytery Resource Centres. Order # CH10638 $9.95
