checking to see how this blogs

American Composer Participant-Listener Musical Musings

CDs/Songs: for worship and devotion

Leah Taylor - Faithful Friend

• In Christ Alone, of Newsboys renown
• Beyond the Tears
• Falling Up

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows: The Best of...

• Trading My Sorrows
• Your Love is Extravagant

From Latter-Day Saint Paul Cardall - Songs of Praise - with guests Steele Croswhite and Cheri Magill

• Grateful
• Agnus Dei
• Green Hill

Rich Mullins - The World As Best I remember It, volume 1, 1991

• Calling Out Your Name
• Step by Step

Mercy Me, Spoken For, 2002

• Word of God, Speak

Samuel Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard

Randall Thompson: The Peaceable Kingdom - excerpts from 1, 2 and 3 Isaiah juxtaposed and intertwined in a glorious cantata-style sequence for a cappella SATB chorus; I love it all, but esp recommend...

• Say ye to the righteous
• The paper reeds by the brook
• Have ye not known? and
• Ye shall have a song

secular vernacular variety assortment

David Benoit - Urban Daydreams, 1989

• Wild Kids - originally for a Charlie Brown Peanuts Special, glory in the sound of Eric Marienthal's sax!
• When the Winter's Past (Song for a Stranger) - with Jennifer Warnes
• Sailing through the City

Jewel Kilcher - Spirit, 1998

• Absence of Fear
• Life Uncommon
• Down so Long
• Innocence Maintained

Tracy Chapman - New Beginning - with wonderful photographs from the UC Santa Cruz Greenhouses

• The Promise
• Give Me One Reason

concert-hall array collection

Samuel Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915, 1947 - text taken from a prose poem by James Agee written in 1935, now included as the prologue to Agee's novel, A Death in the Family. If you sing and want to learn the piece to perform it; here's the vocal score with a piano reduction of the orchestral parts.

Roy Harris - Symphony No. 3, 1938 - 18 minutes long, 1 movement in 5 sections: raw, angular and elegant

Christopher Rouse - Phaethon, 1986 - started as a mini-concerto for orchestra to narrate part of the Greek myth, and turned out to be in memory of the Challenger's 7 astronauts

music to play for worship

Mark Hayes: Lord, Be Glorified - Keepsake Edition

• Lamb of God - Twila Paris
• He Is Exalted - Twila Paris
• We Bow Down - Twila Paris
• I Will Call Upon the Lord
• You Are My All in All

Glory to His Name! Charity Book Putnam

• Glory to His Name/Holy Manna Medley
• On Jordan's Stormy Banks--Southern Harmony's "Promised Land"

Stephen Nielson At the Piano

• Fanfare
• O For a Thousand Tongues

music to play mostly outside of worship

For piano scores I've linked to Sheet Music Plus, with its huge selection and fast, cheap shipping, too

Lukas Foss - Fantasy Rondo, 1944: I played this one-movement piece with its ever-changing key signatures, time signatures, textures and dynamics as prelude to worship on one Trinity Sunday; together with Leon Fleisher, Foss was on the piano faculty the summer I spent at Tanglewood; Scott Dunn plays Lukas Foss' Complete Piano works

Vincent Persichetti - 3rd Piano Sonata, Opus 22, 1943: Declaration - Episode - Psalm - amazing! I also love to play Persichetti's relatively austere Organ Sonata, Opus 86, 1960

Paul Creston

• Prelude and Dance, Opus 29, #2
• Prelude and Dance, Opus 29, #1

--Creston wrote a zillion pieces called "Prelude and Dance" for almost every instrument and instrumentation imaginable

...and two more...

Because I won't get to do this very often, in Latin, written by a German
Ernst Pepping - Te deum (1956) for soprano and baritone solos, SATB choir, woodwinds, brass, timpani, drums and strings. I got an ancient Deutsche Grammaphon recording on vinyl on eBay and couldn't find a CD anywhere I looked, but here's a Te Deum details page

from KiwiLand--New Zealander Douglas Lilburn brings us elegance with Aotearoa Overture

Dakoda - new Tucson nephew

Snow Cat

Right after noon today, I won another amazing cat painting on eBay from Dorchester(!) (Massachusetts) artist Carol Springer.

poppies

Not an original by me, but offered by a local freecycler—I love this painting!

4 kittens

morning in nahant

I probably wrote this during fall or winter 2000-2001. Nahant is a historical town on Boston's North Shore. Long ago I spent a summer working there as an au pair and on this September evening I'm posting this "Image" on this blog, both for lack of anything else and because I want to revisit and revise some of my old stuff soon. However, this is the original version, and it looks as if I mention the city a whole lot!

IMAGES :: Morning in Nahant

Still I feel it!
Eight A.M., a Nahant summer morn
looking out at the beach
f rom the porch
Cool air, I'm wrapped in a sweater
Fog has settled over the beach
sand and water
sky and rocks but
It'll clear
Today the sun will sparkle down
On a world of expectation!
Later my sweater'll come off
instead into tank top and shorts
then onto the beach
This world's away from the city
I'll be back in the city, but not today
Tomorrow morning once more
I'll look out at the beach
from the porch

© Leah Chang

Fall's Monday

yesterday was the autumnal equinox; today is the 1st full day of this new season of fall 2007.

Totem

By Tucson poet Richard Shelton,this is one of my all-time favorites.

TOTEM

stars you inquisitive
animals
shall I tell you the same things
again shall I tell you all the places
I went when I had nowhere to go
shall I draw you a map

while it is still night
with morning around the edges
I will take the face of dawn
in my hands and say it

surely if I can tell anyone
I can tell her
that I have found
the gods and discovered
I am not one of them

if I must have
faith in something
it might as well be the desert
as the river it might as well be
today as tomorrow my fingers
as my teeth it might
as well be despair

all I can do for the moth
is light the candle
all I can do for the forgotten
is forget

trees horse

desert floor shirt

Home - Chris Daughtry

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from,
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.

But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.
The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.

But your love remain true and I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.
So I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.

I'm not running from,
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Harwich Scrapbook - end

Harwich Scrapbook Cover

I'm planning to upload my 13 Harwich scrapbook pages to one of my domain names, but before doing that I want to check out the appearance of some of the pages. I've been working on the cover this morning.

Harwich 02

This is the original original totally unimproved format of the house...

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turquoise impact 3¯`•.¸(¯`•.¸*¨¨*:•.••.•:*¨¨*:• ¸.•´¯)¸.•´¯)

dodgerblue georgia 2¯`•.¸(¯`•.¸*¨¨*:•.••.•:*¨¨*:• ¸.•´¯)¸.•´¯)

comic sans coral 4¯`•.¸(¯`•.¸*¨¨*:•.••.•:*¨¨*:• ¸.•´¯)¸.•´¯)

verdana orange 4¯`•.¸(¯`•.¸*¨¨*:•.••.•:*¨¨*:• ¸.•´¯)¸.•´¯)

teal bold arial 3¯`•.¸(¯`•.¸*¨¨*:•.••.•:*¨¨*:• ¸.•´¯)¸.•´¯)

tomato times bold 2¯`•.¸(¯`•.¸*¨¨*:•.••.•:*¨¨*:• ¸.•´¯)¸.•´¯)

Harwich 10

FW: Horseback Riding

This is too too funny--wish I knew who to credit for the original.

Subject: FW: Horseback Riding

A blonde decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons, nor prior experience. She mounts the horse unassisted, and the horse immediately springs into motion. It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but the blonde begins to slide from the saddle. In terror, she grabs for the horse's mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horse's neck, but she slides down the horse's side anyway.The horse gallops along, seemingly impervious to its slipping rider.

Finally, giving up her frail grip, the blonde attempts to leap a way from the horse and throw herself to safety. Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup; she is now at the mercy of the horse's pounding hooves as her head is struck against the ground over and over. As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconsciousness when to her great fortune.....


Frank, the Wal-Mart greeter, sees her dilemma and unplugs the horse.


And you thought all they did was say Hello

full moon

Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea Scrolls in Paradise

Wellesley Park

veggies

sunday morning psalm

City Blues and Brights - City Lights

Really old one--from about ten years ago, and it looks as if I need to find my original with its unique formatting: that we can be "City Lights!!!"

It's a morning glow - the kitchen at dawn.
City blues. The kitchen at dawn.
Come on, get up, wake up!
It's a brand new morning!

Look out the window, look at the sky...
Watch the stars fade
the night stars
lights of night fade
take some stars into your heart
Quick! Look up in the sky – look quickly.
quietly, softly, look
while still there's time
Circle some stars - circle some stars
to bring them into your heart

You're up, you're awake. You’re ready
You're ready, you're alive
It's a brand new morning!
It's a beautiful morning!
Hold onto the morning, day is breaking
night is over
This is the sunshine place
It's a city bright

Take that heartful of stars you've
borrowed from the sky
there's a basket over there
set some of those stars
into that basket
You'll need them in the darkness of your night.

Day's breaking
Day's broken all over the city
City blues - the city at dawn

Sit and savor the sunrise
savor the day
bask in and savor the kitchen at daybreak
Watch that basket of stars
guard that basketful of stars
Are the stars still in your heart?
Delight in them - Hold them dear
And share them
Share them...

City blues, urban blues that is.
Sun's up - Morning's here

Morning's ready! There's a city out there
A big city out there - A Great City
get on out there and scratch for
life
hold on, hold on
hold on. Don’t let go.
Keep those stars in your heart
and give all of them away.
There’s lots more where those came from.
This city will be a sunshine place.

Day's done, it's end o'day
Watch those stars in your heart,
in that basket
Morning's over, so's afternoon
it's evening now
night's closing in...

It's sundown. Night's right at hand
Watch those stars in that basket,
on that table
Watch them closely
night's...almost...here

What promise will you offer the night?
What answer will you give to the night?
Night has dawned upon all of us
Night's here now
Now is the season of night
sleep

You made a covenant with the day
The stars you show are its sign
Will your covenant enfold the night
as well?

It's night now, darkness time
Stars in the basket on the table
Stars in your heart
In your heart - Sleep quietly
...now...
Morning's on the way

© Leah Chang

Romans 6:4...

...cross-posted from desert spirit's fire


You can see the entire group of four on this far by faith: Romans 6:4 - NEW!!! At least as of now, I'm planning to enter this one in St. Mark UMC's digital graphic competition--now to finish my artist's statement--scanned original freehand drawing, gradients, filters, effects, layer styles....

vallejo pants

New!!!!! In an attempt to be proper and refined in some situations, although in other places I love to wear dresses and skirts.

liberal libertarian?!

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 90%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 50%.
(Please note: Scores falling on the Centrist border are counted as Centrist.)
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take this quiz!

wednesday announcement

I've started a bunch of short, not especially formally theological blogs to post *soon* on desert spirit's fire, this far by faith and preservation project.

rose skirt

corduroy jacket

another eBay win—corduroy bomber jacket, really cool, and in time for chillier weather.

rose watering can

Tiger's Table

Hey, I should have blogged this a while ago--another wonderful cat painting I won in early June on eBay; this one is Tiger's Table by Texas artist and teacher Jody Rosas, ruokjody68gf on eBay.