The St. John’s Adult choir provided the music for the Christmas Midnight Mass.  Our music prelude started at 11:40 pm.  The choir and organ were joined by violin and flute for a festive celebration of Jesus’ birth.

I am visiting New York City for a few days with my daughter, Carletta, and her husband, Aaron.  We enjoyed seeing Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera on December 28.  What a treat to hear Mozart’s magical music that is at times sublimely beautiful and at other times comic and playful.  This production and the costumes were designed by Julie Taymor, which gave it a whimsical fairy tale feeling.  This is a photo of the outside of the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center.

We also enjoyed two matinee Shakespeare plays on December 28 and 29 with the same cast at the Belasco Theatre:  Richard III and Twelfth Night.  It was fascinating to see the same actors perform in both a tragedy and a comedy.  Even though Richard III is a tragedy, the actors, with their skill and timing, often introduced comedic gestures and intonations in their voices that lightened at least some of the tragedy.  Each play began 20 minutes early with the actors on stage in a pre-show Shakespearean ritual preparing their costumes and makeup in front of the audience accompanied by musicians on traditional period instruments.  The musicians played periodically throughout each play.

Since I was in New York, I took the opportunity to attend several training sessions at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue: how to better use iPhoto, iMovie, my iPhone and iPad.  I wanted to learn how to better use the tools available on my Mac computer and other Apple devices.

In addition to great opera and theater, we enjoyed wonderful New York cuisine and the beautiful Christmas and holiday decorations in the city.

Best wishes to all for a blessed and healthy 2014!

After I announced my retirement in June 2013, I continued to work full time at Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS) coaching others and gradually transferring my responsibilities to them.  Dr. Richard Freeman, who I reported to at EMHS, generously allowed me to start my music education at the University of Maine in September by taking three classes (5 credits) during the fall semester.  These courses were only offered in the fall semester and this gave me a “jump start” on my music education.  I took:

1.   Elementary Harmony I

2.  Elementary Sight Singing and Ear Training I.  Do my ears look more trained?

3.   Oratorio Society – a large choir performing “Ein Deutsches Requiem” by Johannes Brahms.  This is one of the most sweeping and inspirational choral works I have ever performed.  Brahms’ work departed from the tradition by setting to music seven biblical texts that expresses a range of emotions from solemn sorrow to joyful rejoicing in moving beyond death.  Brahms work begins with “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall have comfort.  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”  Only in the last movement does Brahms turn to “Blessed are the dead.”  The performance was initially scheduled for December 15, 2013 and was postponed due to inclement weather to Monday, January 20, 2014 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) at 7:30 pm, at Hampden Academy.

I formally retired from EMHS on December 6, 2013.  This gave me time to study for my final examinations, which were the week of December 16-20.

I have now completed the first semester at the University of Maine and I am enrolled as a full time music student starting January 13, 2013!

Ten years ago I decided that when I retire from my profession in health care that I have a calling to be a music minister at a Catholic church.  I started studying pipe organ in 2009 as a means to this end, and fell in love with the instrument. 

In June 2013 I announced that I would retire in December from my career as a Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS) to pursue my music calling.  

To prepare for music ministry, I applied to the University of Maine (Orono, Maine) music program.  An undergraduate degree in music will give me the skills and some of the experience required for this calling.  I passed my audition on August 1, 2013 and was admitted into the music Bachelor of Arts program.  I will study pipe organ, choral conducting, piano, and other music courses to give me a broad and solid background in music theory, literature, and history.

I continue to take private organ lessons and I am very active in the music program at St. John’s Catholic Church singing in the Chamber Choir and the Adult Choir.  I am also assisting Dr. Kevin Birch, the St. John's Music Director, with the Youth Choir and with organizing the organ and choral music in the music office.  

The Christmas concert that was scheduled for this afternoon for the St. John’s Youth and Adult choirs was cancelled because of an ice storm.  Come and hear the choirs on Christmas Eve:
7 pm Mass - Youth Choir (extended prelude beginning at 6:30 pm)
Midnight Mass - Adult Choir (extended prelude beginning at 11:15 pm)

I am starting this blog to chronicle my adventures as a music student!