New music

Church musicians often discuss the challenge of introducing new music to a congregation, and the worship and music committee is well aware of how often we do (or don't) sing every piece in the hymnal.

This week I was thinking about how contrary that is to our everyday lives. While everyone prefers some musical style to another, don't we all continue to seek out new musical experiences within those genres? Jazz musicians are always seeking the latest sound; the top 40 charts are new all the time; and musical theatre people search constantly for a new gem. This week, I found one in the new cast recording of "Next to Normal."

I mentioned the musical once before because of local-girl-made-good Alice Ripley's acceptance speech at the Tony Awards. The plot of the show is minimal: it's the story of a mentally ill woman's struggle with doctors, drugs, and treatments, as well as the strain it puts on her family and their troubled past. But its the character of this woman's daughter who has a beautiful song in Act I that describes perfectly the experience of being a musician (especially a teenage musician). It expresses the transcending nature of music, the power to lift our spirits, which is what makes it such a powerful part of any worship service:

Mozart was crazy.
But his music's not crazy,
It's balanced, it's nimble,
it's crystalline clear.

There's harmony logic,
You listen to these.
You don't hear his doubts,
Or his debts or disease.

You scan through the score,
And put fingers on keys,
And you play.
And everything else goes away.

And you play 'til it's perfect,
You play 'til you ache,
You play 'til the strings of your fingernails break.

And you know that it's just a sonata away,
And you play.
And everything else goes away.
Everything else goes away.

Tintinnabulation

Isn't that a glorious word for the sound of bells? The poetry of the English language occasionally provides just the perfect word to describe something, and tintinnabulation perfectly conjures up the music of bells for me.

For Transfiguration Sunday, the short prelude was played by the Bethany Bell Choir, whom you can see pictured here. When they play, it gives me a rare opportunity to clear my mind before the service begins. It reminded me how wonderful it can be simply to stop creating and working and striving, so that we can listen and hear God's word.

I hope you enjoyed their playing as much as I did, and even more I hope that you tell them about it! Also, I know they'd be glad to have people joining them in making their beautiful music.

Meet the (primary) blogger

Welcome to the music ministry blog of Bethany English Lutheran Church in Cleveland! We'll be writing more soon about a variety of topics, including the purpose and aim of this blog, but it seems to make sense to start off with an introduction of our primary blogger.

Tom has been the organist at Bethany for nearly one year now. He is a relatively recent transplant to Ohio, having grown up in the small town of Melrose, Minnesota. He has played the piano since age 5 and organ since age 15, when he began playing part-time at his home church. Tom studied piano and voice (though without majoring in music) at St. Olaf College, which is perhaps best known for their annual Christmas concerts.

After college, Tom taught high school choir and drama, while working with a number of amateur and professional theatre troupes as music director and/or keyboardist. His favorite productions during that time include Les Miserables (student edition) and Children of Eden. Among his major performances, Tom has performed the Beethoven Chorale Fantasia, the Grieg piano concerto, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Tom's philosophy of church music can be nearly summed up in one word: balance. By that, he means a balance of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, simple and complex, community and individual, law and gospel, bombastic and peaceful, praiseful and penitent. He'll be bringing that same variety and balance to the pages of this blog. We hope you enjoy reading and participating in the dialogue!