September 30, 2011
Association of Lutheran Church Musicians
e-newsletter
In This Issue
Let the Hymn Festival Begin!
Connect on Facebook
Don't Miss This Travel Opportunity
Another Opportunity
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Donate to ALCM's 25/25 Campaign

 

 

25th Anniversary Hymn Festival Home Page  

  
  

From the President

Over the past months I have been on leave from most of my professional work, including ALCM. My thanks to many of you who have called or sent emails or cards, showing your care and concern for me. I am grateful to Kevin Barger, Kate Adelman and the ALCM board for their leadership during my temporary leave of absence, as well as business manager Cheryl Dieter. I hope to be back fully in January, and will continue small tasks for ALCM in the meantime. 

Thanks again for your well-wishes,

Lorraine Brugh
ALCM President

Let the Hymn Festival Begin!

 

All materials for the 25th anniversary hymn festival are now available for download on the ALCM web site. Hymnwriter Susan Palo Cherwien, commissioned to write a new hymn text for the event, has written "What Joyous Song Unfolding" set to the Finnish tune Noormarkku. Reflections to be read during the hymn festival have been crafted by a variety of writers and are available in both Word and PDF format. An updated listing of instrumental and choral resources related to the hymns has been posted, which also includes resources for the commissioned hymn. 

 

An invitation. . .This hymn festival presents a wonderful opportunity to share collegially with each other. Many of you have probably written choral stanzas, descants, preludes, reharmonizations, bell choir arrangements, and much more on the hymns that will be part of this festival. Consider sharing these original compositions and arrangements with your colleagues across the ALCM as we celebrate our anniversary in song. If you have a composition to share, email it to [email protected] or mail it to the ALCM office at the address at the end of this newsletter.

 

If you have not already done so, sign up to host a 25th Anniversary Hymn Festival. 

Connect on Facebook

 

Would you like to be part of ongoing conversations about church music? A Facebook group called Lutheran Church Musicians has been formed for that purpose. Over 300 musicians are already part of this group, and discussions range from musical settings of particular texts to music budgets to liturgical practices. This is a closed group; if you're a member of Facebook, type "Lutheran Church Musicians" in the search box, send a request to join the group, and a current member will approve you.

Don't Miss This Travel Opportunity!

 

Throughout 2012, the Reformation will be commemorated in Germany with the theme Luther and Music. The ELCA Wittenberg Center has arranged a free familiarization tour of the principal musical venues around Wittenberg, Germany to acquaint church musicians with the Reformation heritage and to promote the possibility of musicians travelling to Germany during the Luther Decade. Except for the round trip international airfare from the US to Berlin, all other familarization tour expenses have been underwritten by Christian Tours Europe and the Colleg WittenbergThe tour will take place November 18-22, 2011.

 

The deadline for registration is October 14, 2011. To register for the tour and to receive more information, please contact Christian Tours at [email protected]

 

To view the trip itinerary, visit the Wittenberg Center page on the ELCA web site.

Another Opportunity

 

This coming November, a group of college music administrators will meet for the second of two day-long workshops discussing current issues in music for worship. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the annual National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) meeting. This e-mail comes to invite the input of a wide range of working church musicians to this discussion, via a brief survey located at the URL listed below.

 

I want to emphasize that this survey is not a product or a request of NASM, nor does it necessarily represent the views, standards, or guidelines of the Association. Rather, it is intended to solicit the opinions of working church musicians about certain items widely perceived to be important currently to worship music in American congregations.

 

Please click on this URL to complete the survey: http://tinyurl.com/ChurchMusiciansSurvey

The survey will remain open until October 31.

 

Ben R. King

Professor of Voice

Director and Associate Dean

Greatbatch School of Music, Houghton College

 

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Association of Lutheran Church Musicians
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