2014 Conference in Columbus, Ohio
Closing Festival Leaders
You'll want to be sure to make sure your travel plans allow you to stay for the closing festival on Thursday morning! We'll end our time together with enthusiasm and encouragement to take home new understanding and skills as we're led by two outstanding song enliveners. You may already know Jorge Lockward, an active member of The Society for many years but his co-leader, Amanda Powell is joining us for the first time. If you haven't already experienced her leadership through United Methodist gatherings, you're in for a real treat.
Well-known to many in The Hymn Society, Jorge Lockward was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and currently lives in New York City where he works as Director of the Global Praise Program of the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, and lectures on worship at Union Theological Seminary. Jorge was a committee member of the Spanish Language United Methodist Hymnal, Mil Voces para Celebrar and has served as consultant on other denominational hymnals. He is the editor of Regocíjate y Canta (1995), a collection of Latino worship choruses, Tenemos Esperanza (2001) a trilingual (Spanish, Portuguese, English) songbook and recording, assistant editor of Global Praise 3: More Songs for Worship and Witness (2004) and co-editor of For Everyone Born: Global Songs for an Emerging Church (2008).
As song leader and workshop leader, he models a passion for the ways congregational song both reflects and shapes the theology and praxis of the assembled community. Presently, he is the Minister of Worship for a new United Methodist church in the Northwest Bronx and leads the New York based ecumenical chorale Cántico Nuevo.
Jorge served on The Hymn Society Executive Committee (1999-2002).
Amanda Powell's work in worship and song leadership began during a trip to South East Asia in 2001, sponsored by the Global Ministries Division of the United Methodist Church. During this music tour, she witnessed and became passionate about the power that music has to connect people from different cultures. Over the past decade, Amanda has performed and presented workshops for a number of regional and national ecumenical events including a gathering of global music song-leaders at Princeton Theological Seminary, the quadrennial 10,000 women gathering of United Methodist Woman, for the American Guild of Organists and for the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. Amanda has served as liturgist and worship leader at events with the World Council of Churches, The United Church of Christ Church House and the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. Amanda has worked in a number of local churches including Christ United Methodist, Northampton, MA and Trinity Episcopal, Upperville VA. Currently, Amanda leads the music ministry at
-- from her website: http://amandapowell.info/songleading-bio/
Registration forms available
in February online and in the Winter issue of The Hymn
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 Lifting Hearts - Joining Hands - Raising Voices Let's be clear: asking people for money is difficult because it's so, well, scary. You run all sorts of risks, personal and relational. It could ruin a friendship. The really good news about the fund drive to raise $2.2 million to fund the programs of The Center for Congregational Song is that you don't have to ask anyone for money! Our terrific trio of Deb Loftis, Allan Burton and Todd Heifner will take care of that piece of business. But they've got to know who to ask and that's where you come in. Who do you know that has the capacity to give a donation of $5,000 or more and an interest in the song of the church? Your job has three steps: 1) think about who in your circle of friends would be interested in our project; 2) let them know about what the Society is doing and planning to do by showing them our video, and 3) let Deb know these folks are ready to talk about donating. -- Joanne Reynolds, Chair "Lifting Hearts, Joining Hands, Raising Voices" The Campaign for The Center for Congregational Song |
Hymn-based Compositions
Many thanks to Melva Treffinger Graham for our reviews this month! December reviews
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Call for Papers
Christina Labriola, a George Black Scholarship recipient notified us of an upcoming conference, "Music Theology and Justice" at the University of St. Michael's College
in the University of Toronto, October 24th-25th, 2014. For details, see the attached pdf. Call for papers
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| Gendered Language and Imago Dei
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Saturday, January 18, 2014 -- Lynn and Tim Anderson will present a Spanish hymn workshop/festival ( 8:30 am - 4:00 pm) at North Shore Spanish Baptist Church
Chicago IL 60630 Further information: celebrad@gmail.com
Though they live and work in Colombia, South America, the Andersons have done hymn seminar/festivals in a number of countries, including Uruguay, Panama, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador as well as for both English and Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States. They were part of the team that published the Spanish hymnal, Celebremos su Gloria (750,000 copies in print) and later produced the digital hymn player, Gloria, currently being used in 70+ countries around the world.
January 19, 2014 - 6:30pm to January 22, 2014 - 1:30pm -- Music that Makes Community - Sonoma Wine Country. Held at:
Bishop's Ranch Retreat and Conference Center
5797 Westside Road
Healdsburg, CA 95448
Music that Makes Community renews ancient ways of singing together, sharing music as people did before music or words were written. New compositions by a wide range of composers, music from the church around the world, and new ways of using traditional tunes make this practice as traditional and contemporary as music can be.
For more information visit http://www.allsaintscompany.org/event/music-makes-community-sonoma-wine-country
February 16, 2014 -- A day of services of celebration to honor Canon Charles Winfred Douglas on the occasion of his 147th birthday will be held at Saint John's Episcopal cathedral in Denver on February 16th. The director of music/organist of the cathedral, Stephen Tappe, is the leader for that day's activities. The day will conclude with Evensong that afternoon and placing of Canon Douglas' portrait in Dagwell Hall. For more information, see the attached article and notice of the services. Canon Douglas
If you'd like to be invited to the events, contact Nancy Parker at nv_parker@msn.com
February 2, 2014 -- Woven of Vibrant Strands: A Hymn Festival of Emerging Song will be held at Royal York Road UC, Toronto. Refreshments at 3:30 p.m. and hymn festival from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. The hymn festival, co-sponsored by Royal York Road United Church and SOCHS, will be directed by Hilary Seraph Donaldson, with Douglas Brownlee, director of music at Royal York Road UC, and friends. It will be an opportunity to explore new horizons and new directions emerging in the ecumenical world of congregational song, especially as influenced by the boom in vernacular song in the fifty years since the Second Vatican Council. This hymn festival will be based on the closing hymn festival of the Hymn Society's 2013 annual conference, "Tree of Life and Love: The Blossoming of Song since Vatican II," which took place in Richmond, VA in July. A freewill offering will be collected to defray expenses. If you are interested in participating in the hymn festival as a singer or instrumentalist, contact Hilary at her email address - hilaryseraph@hotmail.com.
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News of Members
Jayne Southwick Cool's "We Trust in Jesus Christ" was the winning entry in the new music search for an SATB choral composition based on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sponsored by The Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, in collaboration with the Fred Bock Institute of Music.
Please keep Jacque Jones, President-elect, in your prayers. Her mother passed away just before Thanksgiving. A memorial service will be held in Dickinson, TX on January 4, 2014.
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Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology
Be sure to check out the great resources available through the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. The CDH is now available for subscription online at http://www.hymnology.co.uk/
The extensive Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology is our generation's version of Julian's monumental work, The Dictionary of Hymnology. The present online resource is an essential reference resource for scholars of global hymnody, with information on the hymns of many countries and languages, and a strong emphasis on the historical as well as the contemporary.
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Church of the Servant Psalm Contest Winners
Church of the Servant is excited to announce two winning songs-both co-written-in its 2013 New Psalm Contest: Kathy McGrath and Carol Browning's "Psalm 139: Search Me, O God," and Bruce Benedict and Wendell Kimbrough's "Psalm 113: Who Is Like Our God?" More information
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Auction of Bay Psalm Book
Thanks to many of you who alerted me to the notable sale of a first edition of the Bay Psalm Book (1640). You'll recall that this is the first book published in North America. Just in case this tidbit of news slipped past you . . . . .
The volume was sold by Sotheby's on November 26 for a record $14.2 million dollars. The Old South Church of Boston sold one of its two (!!) copies in order to better fund the church ministries. The new owner is David Rubenstein, head of the Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm. He has said he will lend the volume to libraries across the country. There are ten other known surviving copies.
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Hymn Playing Competition for Organists
To promote the value of excellence in hymn playing, the 2014 Schoenstein Competition in Hymn Playing has just been announced to coincide with the release by MorningStar Music Publishers of the book Hymn Playing: A Modern Colloquium by Stuart Forster. Organists born on or after March 20, 1981, are invited to apply. The application should include live recordings of the applicant playing hymns with a congregation singing, and must be received by March 20, 2014. The final round will be held at Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 22, 2014, the day before the National Convention begins in Boston for the American Guild of Organists. The public is invited to sing in the congregation during the final round. Finalists will play the 2006 III/43 Schoenstein organ at Christ Church, Cambridge. First prize will be $3000 and second prize will be $1000. Rules and Application Forms are available at www.hymnplayingcompetition.org or from the organizer, Dr. Stuart Forster,
atstuartforster@aya.yale.edu
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Research Project Survey - Deadline December 31!
Robin Knowles Wallace, a professor at Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO), is conducting a survey for a faculty project, eventually to be a series of essays and a book on singing, congregational song, and soundtracks of contemporary lives. The project is tentatively titled "My Life Flows On in Endless Song:" The Impact of Congregational Singing on Discipleship and the chapter that these responses are for is titled "The Soundtracks of Our Lives."
The survey has both short and long questions, some yes/no and others fuller answers, and is designed for persons 18 and older. There is one question which could trigger emotions about a previous crisis; that question may be skipped if desired. The survey will take approximately 15-30 minutes. The research will take place May 2013 through May 2014. Information on publication of these ideas will be found following the conclusion of the study on the MTSO website (www.mtso.edu) under Wallace's publications.
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| Continuing Contests and Searches
The 2013 Macalester Plymouth United Church hymn contest will be a search for a new Advent or Christmas carol which speaks to the mystery and wonder of the Incarnation, and the coming of the One who brings justice, mercy and "peace to all on earth." As always, both new music and familiar music is welcome! All entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2013. For more information, call the church (651-698-8871) or visit the church website at www.macalester-plymouth.org. For more details, consult the attached pdf: Macalester Plymouth 2013
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