Original Works in Music, Writing and Visual Art
I have been composing music and writing in various art forms on and off since I was a teenager. Unfortunately much of it is hand written and in a mess. I am now attempting to get these small works into acceptable printed form and to put some of it up on this blog for anyone who might be interested. All are copyright to me with the exception of two works which I have donated to St Thomas Moore Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University. Some of my works are up on the website the Director of Music there has built for composers of liturgical music, the Cloud Hymnal.
I teach music composition and some of my students have composed very interesting pieces and I will be putting selected works up here as well with their permission. I also teach Finale, the powerful music notation program which I use to put music compositions in written form. One of my students is now an expert but younger ones are just starting to use the beginner Finale programs.
It is very exciting to go back and look at what creative endeavors I have embarked on in the past. Sadly some of them went in the fire! Artists, don’t do that because you will one day be sorry! I have started again to write poetry and I am not saying it is good poetry but you cannot get to good until you have tried out the not-so-good. I am also writing a memoir of my life which will probably be just for the edification of my daughters but you never know. It is getting written in sections and I will put up a chapter soon.
Some of my creative efforts so far: I have written a PhD about Hildegard of Bingen’s music (not yet published), collaborated on a lovely CDROM “Ocean Psalms” with Teresa Berger (music and photography), written the music for a landmark Uniting Church conference, all of which was produced in a CD “Seeds of Wild Honey”, and so much more that I cannot list it all, but am working on that too!
My students are invited to submit works but I will be the final arbiter and I want to keep the blog varied and interesting.
Psalm 2300
In 2008, Teresa Berger and I published a CD-ROM called Ocean Psalms. Sadly the technology used is not longer viable and the website has been taken down and the CD-ROM will not load. It was a lovely piece of work bu 4 women and I am sad that it cannot be viewed as we intended.
Ocean Psalms was an interactive CD-Rom presenting meditations, music, prayers, songs, photography, psalms and art, all focused on the sea. In multimedia form, Ocean Psalms invited people into the both ancient and ever-new world of “ocean depths” as a way of deepening the life of the spirit. At a point in time when the environmental assault on the world ocean has become life-threatening, Ocean Psalms witnessed to the primal bond between ecological and religious commitments. This witness focused on highlighting possibilities of contemplative engagement with the “depths of the sea”.
“Psalm 2300: Holy Wisdom is my Ocean” appeared in “Dawn”, the first of four sections in Ocean Psalms. The verses were Teresa’s response to Psalm 23. The beginning of the antiphon came from a scribbled note on the margins of a ninth century MSS, and I finished the rest of the antiphon text. The antiphon is a simple melody set for SATB and piano and Teresa’s verses are set to a chant based on psalm tone 8.
La Virgen de Guadalupe
La Virgen de Guadalupe was a song i wrote in 2005 for Immaculata School. I have now fully orchestrated it for 4 part choir and soloist and several instruments. Here is a copy of the score which I have donated to the St Thomas Moore Catholic Chapel at Yale to be performed on December 12 this year, in honor of the feast day of La Virgen de Guadalupe.