Beginning Spring Semester!

The Spring semester started January 12.  In addition to taking classes in harmony, ear training, and choral conducting, I am taking lessons in pipe organ, piano, and voice, and participating in the Collegiate Chorale ensemble.  I am taking one less classroom course this semester, and will spend more time practicing organ, piano, and singing. 

I am also involved in music ministry at church.  I sing in three choral groups in St. Paul the Apostle Catholic parish:  St. John’s Adult and Chamber choirs and the St. Teresa’s schola. 

I sometimes play the organ for Masses, especially when the Music Director, Kevin Birch, is out of town.  I played for three Masses at St. John’s and St. Teresa’s churches January 17 and 18 and for the All Saint’s School Mass on January 21.  This is the first time I have played the organ with the St. John’s Adult choir.  What a privilege that was!  I prepared for this for about six weeks to make sure I knew the music well.

The weekend after Christmas, I sang “Maria Wiegenlied” by Max Reger at two of the Masses.  This translates as “Mary’s Lullaby” and is one of the pieces that I learned in my voice lessons in the fall semester.  I sang it in the original German, and then in an English translation.  I also played the organ prelude for both of those Masses.

I played “Joseph est bien Marié” from Noels by Claude Balbastre in a Program of Winter Music and Readings  sponsored by the Bangor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists on January 11 at the Brewer Second Congregational Church.  We played the Hook & Hastings Opus 2196 (1906) organ that was rebuilt and tonally revised by Berkshire in 1997.  Claude Balbastre (1724-1799) was born in Dijon, France.  He studied organ and composition in Dijon and Paris.  Balbastre was organist at St. Roch and at Notre-Dame.  He was employed at the French court, where he played organ for the chapel and taught harpsichord to Marie Antoinette.  After the French Revolution he lived the rest of his life in poverty.  He composed chiefly keyboard works.  Balbastre’s “Joseph est bien Marié” is based on a French Christmas carol.  The English translation is “Joseph has married well.”  This is a theme and four variations.

At the console of the Hook & Hastings/Berkshire organ at the Second Congregational Church, Brewer, Maine preparing for the AGO Winter Readings and Carols

Over the break between semesters, I spent some time learning how to use the Sibelius music notation software that my sweet husband gave me for Christmas.  Besides using some of the Sibelius tutorials, I spent several hours with a good friend, Lorna Russell, who showed me how she uses Sibelius efficiently, and answered all my questions.  She recommended that I purchase a midi keyboard to improve the ease of note entry.  Lorna is a church musician so she uses Sibelius for the same types of tasks that I will be using it for.  PhotoScore, which works with Sibelius, is a very powerful tool.  I can scan a music score into PhotoScore, which enters the notes into Sibelius.  I can then transpose the music, add extra verses, or make any other modifications that would be useful.

At my desk with my computer and new midi keyboard