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 The Verse
A monthly newsletter |
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The Hymn Society
in the United States and Canada
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February 2015
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We have some VERY exciting news to share this month. Online registration is now open for our conference this summer in New Orleans -- and you can read all about the program on our NEW WEBSITE! Executive Committee member, Brian Hehn, has logged untold hours setting up and troubleshooting our new site. Thanks so much, Brian! Check it out -- share it on Facebook and Twitter, and send us your comments.
Before you move on to read the rest of the newsletter, however, we want to remind you how much we value all our members and friends. So here's our Valentine to say thanks for singing with us on this journey of life and service!
Deb
Deborah Loftis
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Lifting Hearts - Joining Hands - Raising Voices: The Campaign for The Center for Congregational
S ong The search continues for our new Director of The Center for Congregational Song. We've had a great response to our search and we're now sifting through the many applications we've received. Please pray for everyone involved in the search -- candidates as well as the nominating committee and advisory group. The nominating committee is made up of Jacque Jones, President, Geoffrey Moore, President-Elect and Deb Loftis, Executive Director. In addition to these three, we have enlisted a group of members to act as an advisory group in the first stages of the search. They represent different denominations, different generations, different areas of North America, but all of them are skilled song-enliveners who are deeply invested in the work of The Hymn Society. These advisory members are: Emily Brink, FHSKen NafzigerJan KraybillDebbie Lou LudolphChris AngelDavid Toledo We're so grateful to each of these members for their willingness to work in the advisory group. There is still time to pass the job announcement along to persons who may be interested in applying. Job announcement We have advertised outside the Hymn Society with Choristers Guild, ACDA, AGO and many denominational music organizations, but we still depend on you to help us spread the word so that the right candidate gets the information and the opportunity to apply. |
2015 Annual Conference in New Orleans
The Hymn Society Annual Conference
Loyola University, New Orleans
July 12-16, 2015Online Registration is now open!!
Sunday Evening's Opening Hymn Festival
"When the Storms of Life are Raging:
Hymns in Crisis and Recovery"
John Ambrose and Debbie Lou Ludolph will lead us in hymns, some of which have a New Orleans or Louisiana connection. We'll pay tribute to the area's recovery from Hurricane Katrina ten years ago. The festival also reflects one of The Hymn Society's current projects: a compilation of texts to help congregations and individuals in times of crisis.
John Ambrose is an active retired minister of the United Church of Canada, having served congregations in Western Canada and Southern Ontario. Much of his ministry has focussed on the church's liturgy and song, having been appointed the first staff person in the United Church for Worship and the Arts, and later as Managing Editor of Voices United - the hymnal of the United Church. He is a graduate of Carleton University (B.A.), University of Toronto (M. DIV.), University of Notre Dame (M.A., Liturgical Studies), and was honoured with a Doctorate of Divinity (D.D.) from Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. He has been an advocate and promoter of the performing arts in Mississauga - a large city in the Greater Toronto Area. He is the immediate Past President of the Hymn Society.
Debbie Lou Ludolph combines a passion for congregational song, a love of vocal pedagogy, and a link between faith and justice in her work. Dean of Chapel at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary in Waterloo, Ontario, Debbie Lou is also Director of Worship Ministries for the Eastern Synod of the ELCIC. She directs Inshallah, a WLS community choir committed to singing global song, and is a leader for Music that Makes Community workshops.
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Emerging Scholars Forum at New Orleans Conference
The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada invites current graduate students and those who have graduated within the past three years to submit proposals to present their research effort on congregational song during the Annual Conference at New Orleans, Louisiana, July 12- 16, 2015. Submissions are to be guided by the research parameters of Practice, Philosophy (Theology), History, and/or Context of congregational song. Up to three presentations will be selected for presentation in a sectional entitled, Emerging Scholars Forum. One research paper will be selected to win the Emerging Scholar prize of a $150 gift certificate redeemable at the conference bookstore at the annual gathering and consideration for publication in The Hymn.See the attached form for application details. ESF application |
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Lovelace Scholarship Applications
Full-time and part-time students at the college and graduate level are invited to apply for the Lovelace Scholarship to attend the conference this summer. Named for former Hymn Society president and Fellow, Austin C. Lovelace, the scholarship provides full registration, housing and meal costs for the conference. Applications for First Year and Second Year (Returning) Lovelace Scholarships may be downloaded on the 2015 Conference section of the website or here: First Year Application Second Year Application Please note: Applications are due in The Hymn Society office by April 1, 2015. This is earlier than in previous years to allow more time for selected students to make their travel arrangements. |
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New Orleans Conference New Event -- Calling All Parents!
Do you have children ages 8-13? Would you like them to experience the joy of summer conference? Not sure what to do with them during the day? Then we have an opportunity for you! After recent discussions about how to make summer conference more "family friendly" while at the same time raising up a new generation of hymn lovers, the EC voted to pilot a program during the summer conference in New Orleans which would help support such efforts. For a reasonable registration fee, the program would provide daytime programming (9-5) for children ages 8-13. The program would be led by one of the Society's own members and former Lovelace Scholar Megan Mash and would be music centered. We will need 10-12 children to pilot the program, so please contact Geoffrey Moore ( gmoore@smu.edu) if you are interested. Spots will be available until filled on a first come, first served basis.
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Photos from the 2014 Conference in Columbus, OH
The Columbus Conference photo flash drives were mailed on October 22nd. If you signed up for a photo flash drive but have not received a flash drive, or did not sign up and would like one, please contact Glen and Judy ( glenarich@aol.com) with a complete shipping address and they can send out a flash drive to you. The available supply of Columbus Conference photo flash drives of these special manufactured flash drives is limited on a first-come, first-served basis.
We are especially grateful to Glen and Judy Brown Richardson who volunteer their time and expertise each year to provide us with great conference memories!
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2015 Joint Meeting with HSGBI and IAH
If you're interested in attending the joint hymnological conference in Cambridge this summer but let the early registration deadline slip up on you -- you're in luck. HSGBI has extended the early registration period through the end of February.
Please note that the college accommodations are single rooms. HSGBI, however, will put couples in adjacent rooms. The cost is very competitive with area hotels and B&Bs, especially since the price includes all meals. So, if you're going, I hope you'll stay on campus. It will make getting to the conference much easier than having a commute from a distant hotel or B&B and will also help our friends who are organizing the conference as they must pay for the reserved block of rooms regardless of registrations.
The joint meeting of our Hymn Society with HSGBI and IAH will be held at
Robinson College, Cambridge. The conference will begin with registration on Sunday, 26th July 2015 with the Conference program beginning on Monday and concluding on Friday 31st July. It is anticipated that there will be at least one optional outing day on Saturday, 1st August. The Conference theme will be: Hymns in Liturgy and Life. Program schedule
Congratulations to our own HSUSC Leaders:
Robin Knowles-Wallace: "Congregational Singing and Everyday Life"
Kenneth Hull: "Do We Become What We Sing? Congregational Song and Spiritual Formation"
Geoffrey Moore: " Hymning the Kingdom: Originating - Resonating - Consummating"
Jan Kraybill: Hymn Festival coordinator
The third biennial conference of Christian Congregational Music: Global and Local Perspectives will be held at Rippon College Cuddesdon, Oxford on August 4-7, 2015. Details
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Hymn History Tours Come to You
Would you consider hosting a lecture-concert in your home or church? "Joining the Party: Celebrating Two Thousand Years of Congregational Song" is a walk through church history with a representative song from each era, about one-third talk and two-thirds performance and audience participation. Along the way, we'll explore why we need chronological breadth as well as global breadth in our songs! For this year's celebration of Pentecost, Rebecca Abbott and her family will be traveling to Pittsburgh (May 21-22), Philadelphia (May 23-24), Washington, D.C. and Maryland (May 25-27), Virginia (May 29-31), West Virginia and Kentucky (June 1-3). If you wish to host a lecture-concert, your commitment would be to provide room and board for Rebecca, her husband and 2 children for one night and $150 for a house concert or $300 for a church concert. If you choose a house concert, you would receive $50 back to reimburse you for some of the food costs for your guests. She will bring a digital piano, if needed, for house concerts, and could use either that piano, your church's piano, or your church's pipe organ for church concerts. Please email Dr. Rebecca Abbott at hymnnotes@yahoo.com or call (740) 324-1225 for more information. |
Hymn Writing Featured in Mennonite Online Journal
The current issue of the Center for Mennonite Writing online journal focuses on hymn writing. Edited by Adam Tice, it includes an interview with composer James E. Clemens, and a multi-media article on Congolese song by Jill Schroeder-Dorn, who was the Emerging Scholar award winner at our 2014 conference.
Visit the journal at http://www.mennonitewriting.org/journal/7/1/
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A Lenten Invitation
Rebecca Abbott writes: Out of concern for our suffering brothers and sisters around the world, I'll be posting a stanza of a hymn each Thursday afternoon on www.hymnnotes.com, with textual/musical analysis and brief devotional commentary. The first two or three will be related directly to the suffering Church, beginning with "Who Are These Like Stars Appearing" on January 29. Thursday afternoons are selected because Thursday evenings are when my husband Dean Abbott and I have been fasting and praying (juice fasts only at this point!-we're a mommy and daddy, not spiritual superheroes) as part of the historic Friday fasts of the Church-Thursday sundown to Friday afternoon. Prayers are enhanced through song; and song is best memorized to work its way down deep. We'll take a slow, gentle approach; if you participate each week, you should have a couple hymns memorized, with all the stanzas, by Easter Sunday. Follow "Hymn Notes" if you want an announcement of the first posting on January 29-and feel free to share this announcement with interested small groups or congregations.
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News of Members
Congratulations to Eric Mathis who directs anima: the Forum for Worship and Arts. Samford University announced that anima: the Forum for Worship and the Arts has received a $600,000 three-year grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to further our work. Here are the highlights: The grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. will continue support for anima's three key initiatives: - The Forum on the Web, a repository of practical resources for worship leaders
- The Elisha Project, a worship leadership mentoring program for Samford students
- Animate, a hands-on, interdenominational, intergenerational workshop in worship and the arts
Full press release: http://www.samford.edu/news/?id=21474868912#article Stephanie Budwey's book on Marian congregational song, Sing of Mary: Giving Voice to Marian Theology and Devotion, published by Liturgical Press, is now available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and also directly from the Liturgical Press website. There was a book launch/hymn sing/book signing at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury, MA on Sunday, December 28, 2014 to celebrate the publication of the book. The group sang old and new Marian hymns that were featured in the book, and Steph gave a little bit of background on each of the hymns. Congratulations to Ronald Giles whose short story, "The Friday Night Dance," has been published in a collection of stories and poems written by thirty-one authors who have ties to Appalachia. The book, "Every River On Earth" was edited by the poet, Neil Carpathios of Shawnee State University, with a foreword by author, Donald Ray Pollack. Information regarding e-book and traditional editions can be obtained through Ohio University Press. http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Every+River+on+Earth Thomas H. Troeger will be a keynote speaker and Marilyn Haskel will be a workshop leader at the Northeast Regional AGO Convention, June 28 - July 1, 2015. 2015 Lovelace Scholar, Samson Tarpeh, will be hosting a benefit concert to aid the re-opening of the music academy he founded in Liberia, the Agape National Academy of Music. The Academy tragically lost two students and one instructor to the Ebola epidemic that ravaged that country and the Academy was forced to close along with all other schools. Clearance has been given for schools to re-open in Liberia. The concert will be Sunday April 19, 2015, 5pm, at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. Those living in the Lexington, KY area are cordially invited to attend. Anyone wishing to assist with the re-opening costs for ANAM are invited to contact Samson by email: sstarpeh@yahoo.com
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Recent Events
January 25, 2015 - A Hymn Festival Celebrating Creation" was held at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, New Smyrna Beach, FL led by Brian and Barbara Larson. The singing was accompanied by organ, piano, handbells, flute, brass instruments and percussion. January 30, 2015 -- Laurel Westover and Iteke Prins presented a workshop entitled: Lent and Holy, Easter Hymns as Anthems for Small choirs. Most of the texts and tunes were taken from published works by Hymn Society members. February 7, 2015 -- the second-annual Joining in Song: A Festival of Gospel Music and Hymns was held at Bethel AME Church in Tallahassee. Ryan Luhrs planned and led the service. My apologies to Ryan for changing his first name last month!
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Upcoming Events
February 28, 2015 -- St. Thomas' & St. Andrew's Episcopal Churches, Richmond, Virginia are pleased to announce a weekend with Ana Hernandez, a nationally recognized leader in church worship music. Hymn Society member David McCormick is organist-choirmaster at St. Thomas. Ana Hernandez will lead two Workshops on Sat., Feb. 28th, 2015 Practicing Presence -10 am to 12:30 pm - is designed for, but not limited to, choir members, encouraging and enabling them to worship while leading in the worship. Sound as Prayer - 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm - is a time for people of any level of experience to come and experience making music as prayer. 2015 Lovelace Scholar, Samson Tarpeh, will be hosting two benefit concerts to aid the re-opening of the music academy he founded in Liberia, the Agape National Academy of Music. The Academy tragically lost two students and one instructor to the Ebola epidemic that ravaged that country and the Academy was forced to close along with all other schools. Clearance has been given for schools to re-open in Liberia.
Thursday, March 19, 2015 7:30 pm at the chapel, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Richmond, VA.
Sunday April 19, 2015, 5:00 pm, at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Lexington, KY
Those living in the Richmond, VA or Lexington, KY area are cordially invited to attend. Anyone wishing to assist with the re-opening costs for ANAM are invited to contact Samson by email: sstarpeh@yahoo.com May 3, 2015 -- Join members of the Saginaw Valley Chapter of the AGO in the hymn festival, "Made in Michigan." The event takes place at Trinity Lutheran Church, Midland at 4:00pm. Designed and led by Liife Member, Andreas Teich, the festival features hymns with Michigan connections. The idea originated with "The Old Rugged Cross" but moved quickly to living text and tune writers such as David Haas, Steve Starke, Roy Hopp and John Kleinheksel. Come and sing with us! You can contact Andreas at Messiah Lutheran Church, 989-893-4444 July 21-24, 2015 -- Baylor University Alleluia Conference. The Alleluia Conference is one-of-a-kind enrichment event features superb clinicans who re-energize and inspire worship leaders, music ministers, children's choir leaders, and keyboard ministers. Hymn Society members serving as clinicians include: John Bell, FHS, Randall Bradley, Stephen Cowden, Brian Hehn, David Music, FHS, Jacob Sensenig, Al Travis. Online registration is open. http://www.baylor.edu/alleluia/
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