tag:vandaliariver.com,2005:/blogs/r-hall-s-blog?p=1R. Hall's Blog2022-04-23T08:14:58-04:00Vandalia Riverfalsetag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/69553322022-04-23T08:14:58-04:002023-10-16T10:54:00-04:00When the gifts aren't ready<p>Only minutes after getting tucked in, a child in this house is usually completely lost to the dense interior of the Land of Nod. </p>
<p>One time, after saying good night, I left her to her sleep and was cheered to see a pile of presents in the living room--the Christmas stash my visiting parents had brought. It was February, but as illness had canceled original Christmas plans, there was no need to stand on ceremony. The older kids and I would open our gifts then and there; the one I left in bed would get hers the next day. </p>
<p>But for once her dreamboat didn't leave at the scheduled time. Next thing I know, she has audaciously walked out of her room and come to us, curious, smiling, hopeful at the sound of crinkling paper and cheerful voices. </p>
<p>"Go back to bed!" Sergeant Hall whisper-barked, guiding Cindy Lou Who back to the bedroom. Unlike her Dr. Seuss foil, this child was not persuaded everything was okay. <em>There were tears. </em></p>
<p>As I stood outside the door, I simmered with disappointment that I hadn't foreseen this scenario. Why could we not have waited ten minutes? But I was also angry at the pointlessness of it. If she had obeyed and stayed, she would never have supposed she was missing out on gifts. Truthfully, she wasn't. Hers would come the next day. </p>
<p>If she had only obeyed and stayed. </p>
<p>I wondered about myself. </p>
<p>How often have I allowed my thoughts to wander discontentedly, wishing to seize gifts not intended for me? </p>
<p>I don't know. </p>
<p>I do know my winter plans were wrested from my hands this year by a medical crisis. My family is getting used to a new level of care for my son. We're upside down in the water and taking the current one stroke at a time. I had no gifts to share this winter. My piano studio was halted for the semester. "Flourishing" is a prayer request, not a felt state of being. </p>
<p>But the gifts of others have meant something. The gifted psalmist somehow found words that expressed both his plight in the ancient Middle East as well as the plight of an American woman in blue jeans. The forties and fifties of the psalter have spoken to me especially this winter. </p>
<p>Then there are the gifts of other music makers. Not that I've always wanted to listen to something. Sometimes only silence would do. But for other moments--- </p>
<p>My husband and son gave JJ Heller a lot of spins in the hospital room, particularly these: </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="CSoFDvhk2MU" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/CSoFDvhk2MU/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CSoFDvhk2MU?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="--CoYCussQo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/--CoYCussQo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/--CoYCussQo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>Jess Ray's "Runaway" was also on repeat. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="q7PEXQMr9Wo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/q7PEXQMr9Wo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q7PEXQMr9Wo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>As for me, I often wanted music that was upbeat but not saccharine. Land of Color served the purpose. I recommend their whole catalog.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="oZeAskLc71w" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/oZeAskLc71w/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oZeAskLc71w?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="8tCQdLpXxZ0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/8tCQdLpXxZ0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8tCQdLpXxZ0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>A couple new releases with more of a hip hop bent were welcome, too, such as this one. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="3kwf88NKuCQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/3kwf88NKuCQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3kwf88NKuCQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>And my husband and I both took to this quirky number by John Van Deusen. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="zF0GTDEWno8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/zF0GTDEWno8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zF0GTDEWno8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>You can hear <a contents="these songs and several more on this playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7tAJL23wPQJb4q8JQjnVRH?si=02baa843ebcc4f72" target="_blank">these songs and several more on this playlist</a>, named for the room my son spent fifty days in. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7tAJL23wPQJb4q8JQjnVRH?utm_source=generator" style="border-radius:12px" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p>But I must mention one more artist, this time from the other side of the musical spectrum: violist Simone Libralon. One doesn't sleep well when nurses and respiratory therapists are visiting one throughout the night. So one evening Libralon's interpretation of six Bach suites played for hours and hours, at the ready with calming beauty for my son's waking moments. The whole album is a treasure. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="LMft2rIxXgU" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/LMft2rIxXgU/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LMft2rIxXgU?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you are a believer, I do welcome your prayers for my family, that we can rest, flourish, and be fruitful in God's wisdom and timing. Thank you.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/68325712021-12-07T06:54:00-05:002021-12-07T06:55:12-05:00Lessons and Carols in the PICU<p>Eight years ago this month, an ambulance transported my son to the Johns Hopkins pediatric ICU. A profound disorder had compromised his ability to cough, and the common cold was making it too hard to breathe. Day after day the news grew grimmer. We had been warned respiratory illness would be our son's biggest threat, but we were crestfallen to face the magnitude of the threat so soon. He was two years old. </p>
<p>In this frame of mind, while waiting at home with my daughter, I livestreamed a chorale service of Lessons and Carols, which intersperses Scripture readings, prayers, and songs of Christmas. </p>
<p>I was transported. </p>
<p>Uncertainty, grief, darkness, sickness—these are age-old themes not unique to my life. They were there in Galilee and Judea. They were there when voices broke the long silence of heaven, telling Zechariah, Mary, and Joseph amazing tidings; telling shepherds news no man could invent; announcing reasons for joy, peace, and God's goodwill toward men. </p>
<p>Voices in the night. Beauty in obscurity. Christ had come. </p>
<p>That night I found relief in the truth that my son's story is a page in one great story whose end is wonderful. It also created a new love for Christmas choral music. What could be more fitting to celebrate the Word made flesh than with words made song? So we played and re-played songs that December. My husband played and re-played Lessons and Carols in the hospital room. </p>
<p>Seventeen days after admission, our boy came home on Christmas Eve. </p>
<p>This year we went to the local Lessons and Carols service in person. It was wonderful. Not that I heard it all. Our dog had decided our six-foot fence was a ladder and used it to get out. The text messages from a kind neighbor began just as the service did. I ducked out shortly after <em>Pat-a-Pan</em> to go home and keep the dog from killing himself on a country road. </p>
<p>But it was no hardship for me, because for once my son was not missing out. He stayed, wide awake, for the whole service as the Story was sung.</p>
<hr><p><i><a contents="Our Christmas playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mYoeH8Rq6VVmNG7LA6lNV?si=28f04a520b48467c" target="_blank">Our Christmas playlist</a> has many selections often included in Lessons and Carols--and another ten hours of all sorts of other genres! I was afraid I'd be tired of it the minute we queued it up again, but no. It's been beautiful. Would love to hear about your favorite Christmas records. </i></p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="80" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/4mYoeH8Rq6VVmNG7LA6lNV?utm_source=generator" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/19e64839293e7424bba5c44d5924a31657bfd02c/original/starheader.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/67713482021-10-10T07:29:57-04:002021-10-10T15:59:39-04:00Lessons from the latest migration<p>A busy summer blended into the fullest fall of my life. The <a contents="summer music program" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/celebrating-the-summer-by-breaking-the-silo-effect" target="_blank">summer music program</a> climaxed while my family was carting all our belongings to a new house and cleaning up the old one. As soon as that was done, School Year 2021 flowed in with Ida, and just as we were overcoming the surge, a long-term house guest—unexpected but very welcome—came to live with us. </p>
<p>The piano was one of the last things to leave the former Hall Hutch. Its migration probably isn’t over. The partly finished basement has enticing potential to become a creative and teaching space, so maybe some soon day I’ll hire more biceps to carry the grand down from the living room. Beyond that, I better not broadcast predictions for studio work. Wait and see. </p>
<p>I learned a few lessons from this move.</p>
<p>1) <strong>Limitations make decisions easy.</strong> We had watched the market for two years for a house we could grow in while caring for a wheelchair-bound son. Despite seeing almost nothing, we finally listed. The day we were to ink a sales contract, a Coming Soon e-mail landed in our inbox that looked far and away better than anything else. The lack of options spared us analysis paralysis, so we made an offer sight-unseen; and now we’re here, grateful for God’s providing hand. </p>
<p>2) <strong>Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen has market growth potential.</strong> Everyone knows Chick-fil-A wins on customer experience, but when it comes to pure fried chicken pleasure, it's Popeye's. We made some new believers when we fed the moving crew. </p>
<p>3) <strong>A 3,000 square foot house can be too small for a four-pound rabbit. </strong>Daughter’s precious is too messy for a bedroom and too delicate for a polluted garage, lonely basement, or sultry outdoors. The blue-eyed beast is now perfuming our <em>living room, </em>and I’m not sure how she’s getting away with it. </p>
<p>4) <strong>Applying diluted Romabio Classico Limewash to rough dry brick</strong>—contrary to instructions to wet the brick first—<strong>produces a desirable mottled effect.</strong> I learned this by accident. </p>
<p>5) <strong>You are allowed to keep a programmable coffee maker <em>in your bedroom</em>.</strong> Best alarm clock ever. You don’t risk waking children sleeping near the kitchen. Many thanks to my parents for the housewarming gift. (Recommendation: the Cuisinart Brew Central from Costco. Use the gold-tone filter on the Bold setting and one heaping scoop per cup.) </p>
<p>6) <strong>Catharsis will come of its own accord, and it will be all right.</strong> I had little time to get sentimental about leaving our house of eight years. But when I returned after the move to do some clean-up, I carried the last armful through the side yard gate and allowed myself to look back. </p>
<p>In 2013, the backyard had been an open grassy slab, flowing unornamented into neighbors’ lawns. The only landscape piece had been a mature silver maple. In 2021, my eyes rested on fig trees, hydrangea, viburnum, blueberry, elderberry, a raised garden bed, a tree swing, and a tall semi-dwarf Grimes Golden apple tree, loaded with fruit and buttressed by a retaining wall made of stone unearthed from the same yard. </p>
<p>In that scene, my mind also saw something else—a four-year-old towhead shooting across the yard like a meteor. She grew right alongside the Grimes Golden and came to know every square inch of this patch of land, the soil of her growth, too. Now she is a twelve-year-old brunette every bit as promising as the enduring apple tree. </p>
<p>“Thank you,” I told my Maker tearfully. I knew he understood there was an essay in those two words, an essay that acknowledged the beauty of an era as well as its blights. </p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/132a146f5e7e827066dc1f6f27406b308252867d/original/img-0010.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_thin" alt="" /></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/67317972021-08-31T07:22:52-04:002021-09-01T17:20:23-04:00Celebrating the summer by breaking the silo effect<p>This summer was more about recreating old music than creating new music, and for very good reason. </p>
<p>Many piano students are victims of the silo effect. The student takes solo lessons, practices in a corner, learns music that he doesn’t hear anywhere else, and has one awkward recital a year. </p>
<p>Not how it’s supposed to be. </p>
<p>The practice of music should be, like any craft, <strike>audience</strike> neighbor-focused. </p>
<p>It should be shared. </p>
<p>It should be relatable. </p>
<p>It should be a way of life, or at least serve one’s way of life. </p>
<p>It should be learned to a degree where it can serve a greater purpose than mere self-display. </p>
<p>As a teacher, I’ve tried to fight the silo effect with group lessons and tailored recitals, but something more was needed. This year, the studio had a breakthrough when we partnered with local music educator Heather Wilson to offer a summer youth chorus and piano ensemble program.</p>
<p>Chorus offered accompaniment opportunities for piano students, but it also offered a social way for pianists to experience another dimension of musicianship. Furthermore, we had a goal to integrate the students’ work with local, experienced musicians to bring the community a pleasant outdoor performance. The performance wasn’t a recital; it was a way to bless attendees with art that fit the season. </p>
<p>How did we pull this off? </p>
<p>We started with the program selection. (I guess that’s classicalese for “setlist.”) We wanted the program to </p>
<ul> <li>Be achievable </li> <li>Expose students to good literature </li> <li>Be interesting to the community </li> <li>Have an energy arc (an ebb and flow of speed and mood) </li> <li>Suit the season (summertime)</li>
</ul>
<p>A preplanned program was essential to recruiting local musicians, since we could ask for a very specific part to be played. We adapted as needed when no one was available to fill certain roles. The final setlist included classical, popular, folk, and Christian numbers - and room for a surprise, like when the piper volunteered a performance of "Shenandoah." </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Felix Mendelssohn, “You Spotted Snakes” from <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em>, Opus 61 <br>(Women’s Chorus) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">English folk song arranged by Elizabeth Mitchell, <em>Froggie Went A-Courtin’ </em><br>(Children’s chorus with guitar and fiddle) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Scottish folk song, <em>Wha Saw the 42nd </em><br>(Youth chorus with bagpipes) <br><em>this is when the piper swelled into </em>Shenandoah</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Edvard Grieg, medley arr. R. Hall and G. E. Holmes, <em>Elfin Dance / In the Hall of the Mountain King</em> <br>(Two pianos, four hands, and tuba) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">English folk song and Paul McCartney/John Lennon medley, <em>Ah, Poor Bird / Blackbird</em> <br>(Children’s chorus) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Adam Young arr. Mark Brymer, <em>Fireflies</em> <br>(Youth chorus) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">R. Hall, <em>September</em> <br>(Piano and cello) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Ruth Moody arr. Marcelline Moody, <em>One Voice </em><br>(Youth chorus) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Brooke Ligertwood, <em>King of Kings </em><br>(Youth chorus, children’s chorus, guitar, and two pianos, six hands) </p>
<p>The students rehearsed for about eight weeks; community musicians rehearsed as needed. Then, with ample help from local folks, we pulled together at a big backyard on Friday, August 20, and sang till the moon rose. </p>
<p><picture> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/f362aef1aa3272fa3a00e14b422748e0e12f7b08/original/img-2916.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></picture></p>
<p>Music that was shared? Yes.</p>
<p>Relatable? Yes.</p>
<p>More than mere self-display? Judging by the smiles I saw in the audience and the words of parents who saw their kids grow through and enjoy the program, I think so.</p>
<p>It was a team effort and a labor of love. I hope we can do it again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>P.S. If you're curious, <a contents="Here's a playlist of the program." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/40eUd4agPC5esPoQQUTqwt?si=7b5f41acfe304151" target="_blank">here's a playlist of the program.</a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/66526552021-06-08T06:52:17-04:002021-06-08T06:52:17-04:00Material things<p>My mom placed a bunch of white lilac blossoms in my hands, and I flew back in time. </p>
<p>May 2008. I was an ignorant and anti-cosmopolitan bride whose wedding plans were never going to be featured in The Knot. </p>
<p>One thing I got right (besides the groom) was asking my friend Carrie to do last-minute coordinating. A day or two before the ceremony, she went to a plant wholesaler in search of stage decorations. </p>
<p>I got a text message with a grainy photo (remember, year 2008). </p>
<p>“Lilac,” it said. “Want it?” </p>
<p>“Yes!” I replied. </p>
<p>When I walked into the church, before my eyes noticed anything, a wonderful fragrance rushed through me. Those two white-flowering topiaries were radiating sweetness all the way from the other side of the building. </p>
<p>We flew to Maine the day after the wedding. I learned that Maine in June means lilacs in bloom. The scent from the purpled shrubs wafted into our rental car on the very first drive. It seemed like the two plants that had flanked the altar had been doorposts to the future. </p>
<p>How does an undisciplined, unsophisticated twenty-two year-old manage to pull off such a beautiful thing? </p>
<p>She doesn’t. She didn’t. It was all pure gift. A token, a mere token, of grace. God’s grace, like the fragrance of those lilacs, is aggressive. It is beautiful. It is overwhelming. It is not your plan. </p>
<p>My parents planted those lilacs where they are still flourishing in the northeast Ohio climate. They drove down a couple weeks ago with the cuttings that my mom handed to me. </p>
<p>Again, the fragrance was instantly everywhere. It nourished me like the honey brightened Jonathan. It brought me backwards over the thirsty places we’ve walked since the wedding, to that place of profound awareness of God’s goodwill toward us. It reminded me that the same goodwill is here today, not because of what I am, but because of who he is and what he’s done. </p>
<p>“Gift exchanges,” some people say, “all a bunch of materialism.” </p>
<p>Well, we’re material creatures. God uses material things, like lilacs and weddings, as parables of his love. The lilacs—and marriages, for that matter—will pass away. “But his love endures forever.”</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/3c1520c599ef633f0d396b4f9bc32bf4e7dbd40a/original/lilaca-1.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/65930062021-04-03T07:55:40-04:002021-04-04T09:24:31-04:00The hints of God are not mere enigmas<p>“This illness does not lead to death,” Jesus said, and I smiled at the poor cynics who would find this line irresistible. </p>
<p>Dear cynic, you quote the Scripture as proof against itself. God said thus, and thus didn’t happen. “This illness does not lead to death,” but Lazarus did die. He was dead, I suppose, when Jesus spoke those words. </p>
<p>We wayfarers ask God for many kinds of knowledge, and he is generous in reply. But to the question, “What will happen?” — oh, what darkness lies there! Of the future and his interventions he sometimes tells us just enough to summon our trust. </p>
<p>“This illness does not lead to death,” he told his disciples, and then he led them to Lazarus’s occupied tomb. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>I feared death the most when life smiled the most. I had a new family and a lot to lose. God owed no one a long life, I knew, no matter how promising it appeared. </p>
<p>Then the baby, my first, was born. I didn’t get a moment alone with her until our last hour in the maternity ward, when her father left to retrieve the car seat. While I looked at her perfect form, a paraphrase of John 10:10 suddenly visited me: “I came that you may have life, and have it to the full.” </p>
<p>And as I held this pristine newly born creation, I knew then that when God promises life, he knows what he’s talking about. It is his specialty. He’s made it in such perfection as I can’t imagine. </p>
<p>Having seen the perversity of man’s experience, I had come to expect perversity in God’s purpose. But Jesus doesn’t make promises to pick us up and then throw us down. He makes them to help us outlast the cynics to the real end of the story. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” “It is impossible for God to lie.” These truths are in harmony with another reality: God hides himself. Never in a capricious way, but in a sovereign, purposeful way. </p>
<p>The risen Lord hid his identity to those two on the road to Emmaus. Ironically, the Jesus they grieved was in their midst and they did not know it. And this Jesus reminded them that the key to a happy ending was in their hands, and they did not know it. </p>
<p>“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And he explained how everything that just happened, rather than overthrowing the Scriptures they’d grown up believing, confirmed them. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>Two years after my first stay in the maternity ward, I was back again with my son. He was a kicking, handsome baby with great Apgar scores. But he was always clenching his fists, craning his neck back, and squinting as if the room were too bright. </p>
<p>This unusual behavior continued, but more troubling was the behavior that never came. He never hit any developmental milestones. </p>
<p>Ten years later, he still hasn’t, having been stymied by a profound genetic anomaly. Ten years of watching my handsome, peaceful son in such a condition. </p>
<p>“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>God who promises abundant life has denied healing. Why? Whatever the purpose, it’s not his first denial. A much bigger one was issued in Gethsemane: “All things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” </p>
<p>And in several hours he whose prayer was denied was hanging in a noontime darkness, a darkness that hid God’s saving power. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>So here we are together, walking with the disciples back to Bethany to comfort Lazarus’s kin. </p>
<p>Then we are in earshot of the cynics at Golgotha as they ask, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!” </p>
<p>Then we are watching as the tomb is sealed and guarded against mischief makers who would fake a resurrection. </p>
<p>It is now the day after Good Friday, and we are here because of the words of Christ that seem, at this point, absolutely to have been proven empty. </p>
<p>But that point is just the middle of the very thing that proves those words true. And we know that, whatever the secrets of the future, these stories of the past are signs and seals. The work of Christ, an unparalleled and perfect fulfillment of God’s ancient words, is a down payment of the life it won. </p>
<p>“This illness does not lead to death,” Jesus said, and Lazarus, though he did die, lived again. </p>
<p>Jesus lives again. </p>
<p>The hints of God are not mere enigmas to the ones who trust him. </p>
<p>“I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”<span class="font_large"> </span></p>
<p>John 16:4</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/a73374fe0d4cd5474ae70234540cf710b9a8e1db/original/20210102-082635.jpeg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/65782012021-03-19T06:30:11-04:002021-03-27T18:03:20-04:00Got some new music for you<p>Pleased to tell you that a new solo piano piece is out where you can hear it!</p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ffm.to/newlamplight" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/1401d3f72562e2113bf6b408a979c46983034e4e/original/lamplight.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p><a contents="Click here to get it on your preferred service." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ffm.to/newlamplight" target="_blank">Click here to get it on your preferred service.</a></p>
<p>My husband turned to me one winter evening and said, “Have you ever thought about writing mellow piano music? It’s nice.” </p>
<p>Truth be told, I’m rarely in the mood for mellow music. I actively listen for a sense of build or story. But I considered the difference between a typical day in my life and a typical day in his. </p>
<p>While I’m reading and drinking coffee by lamplight early in the morning, he might be outside throwing punches at his boxing bag. </p>
<p>By the time I’m getting out a frying pan for breakfast, he might be getting back from a run up and down <a contents="Maryland Heights" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.nps.gov/hafe/planyourvisit/maryland-heights-trail.htm" target="_blank">Maryland Heights</a>. </p>
<p>While I’m making decisions like, should I pick up library books today or tomorrow, he’s facing clients who hold his bread-winning capacity in their hands. While he's focusing on the high-stakes tasks that serve them, he turns on the music.</p>
<p>Then, he leaves that world in the evening to be with the family for whom he wins the bread. </p>
<p>Maybe the man likes more mellow in his music because he lives more drama in his day. </p>
<p>Whatever the case, here you are, Jake. This one’s for you.</p>
<p>"Lamplight" has a felted piano tone with some atmospheric resonance and a calm, meandering quality. </p>
<p><a contents="Here's where you can get it.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ffm.to/newlamplight" target="_blank">Here's where you can get it. </a></p>
<p> </p><iframe width="600" height="300" frameborder="0" src="https://ffm.to/newlamplight.owe/widget?width=600&height=300&note="></iframe>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/65689572021-03-09T11:07:47-05:002021-03-10T06:33:22-05:00Ode to an influencer<p>“How did you get started in music?”</p>
<p>I once read a variety of answers to this question and was struck by a common theme. Just about everyone mentioned one person in particular. There was one person in their lives, outside of their formal studies, who made music inspiring. </p>
<p>For me, that person was a brother five years my senior. I had an independent love of playing music anyway, but he was the one who pulled my interest in a specific direction. He made music cool. </p>
<p>I’ve written about how music is meant to be shared. My brother, whether he knew it or not, gave me that music-sharing experience more than anyone else in those early years. I was in earshot as he strummed his guitar; I tagged along when he went to the Guitar Basement; I took the CDs he was tired of. He had more spending power--or, rather, he had more willingness to spend--so he patronized music festivals, untested albums, and lesser known bands. But for him I would never have immersed myself in Grammatrain, Johnny Q. Public, Poor Old Lu, Plankeye, Jars of Clay, early Skillet, early Switchfoot, or 107.9 The End. This rock alternative taste contributed to making me a more experimental and confident musician.</p>
<p>I was hotly jealous of the independence his age gave him to go to any concert he could afford. But he was the one who took me to my first show in 1999. My parents were away, and I still remember his telephone pitch for my dad’s permission: “Rebekah really likes this band,” he said, and, after all, it was at a familiar church. (Actually, I'd never heard the band before, but I didn't want to be left out again.)</p>
<p>When he got a new guitar, he let me play his old one. I earned my calluses feebly strumming “Love Song for a Savior” by Jars of Clay. And I knew all I wanted for my thirteenth birthday was my own guitar. </p>
<p>He’d write his own songs and knew I liked writing, too. Out of the blue he once asked if I had written any worship songs we could sing at youth group. I had, and we did. It wasn’t a great song, but when someone has a gift and interest, don’t put up needless barriers. No one’s life was ruined that night, and it was wind in my sails. </p>
<p>I once heard a music industry podcast in which one pro asked another, “How do you think we can help women in music?” The question took me by surprise. As an industry outsider, I simply hadn’t perceived a bias. </p>
<p>I’ve got some more thoughts on that topic I won’t share now, but I will say this. Girls <em>tend</em> to be more risk averse, and they <em>tend</em> to socialize by talking. Boys <em>tend</em> to take more risks, and they <em>tend</em> to socialize by doing something. So, by adulthood, young men often have more experience sticking their necks out for their interests and getting better at them on the way. Girls have worked just as hard, but they may not have the same interest or boldness to make their own way in something so vulnerable like sharing music. </p>
<p>I really can’t imagine what kind of musician I’d be without my brother’s influence, because it gave me boldness in my playing and my dreams. </p>
<p>So, Mike, did you know that? Thanks. Thanks for inviting you kid sister into your room every now and then. Thanks for letting me play your guitar and borrow your CDs. Thanks for rehearsing for youth group with me. Thanks for bringing me to the delirious? concert. </p>
<p>Happy Birthday. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_small">P.S. Aerosmith is still dumb.</span></p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/65522392021-02-16T14:00:00-05:002021-02-18T13:21:25-05:00"Who's in the house? J. C.!"<p>I was walking into a Christian bookstore as my friend was walking out. She was clutching a new purchase and smiling big. </p>
<p>“I got Carman’s new release!” she said. </p>
<p>We were teenagers, and though I didn’t say it, I thought, “Carman? I’m over it.” Carman did not belong in my carefully curated buckets of cool. </p>
<p>But listen. Carman shows up in one of my very favorite childhood memories. </p>
<p>My parents hosted a neighborhood VBS when I was in grade school. My brothers and I invited all the kids we saw playing outside, and when the time came, they packed our front porch for the program kick-off. </p>
<p>Now, in this neighborhood, rap and hip-hop were popular genres, obvious from the regular appearances of cruising Buicks that shook from bass waves and emanated rat-a-tats and angsty voices. I wonder if that put it in my dad’s head that Carman's music would be just the thing to start the evening with the kids. </p>
<p>Or maybe my dad just understood that kids like things loud, fast, and lively. </p>
<p>Whatever the case, he was right. There we were, music blaring, feet stomping, kids shouting, and my dad as loud as any of them: “Who’s in the house? J. C.!” </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="D11OBSEZWgg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/D11OBSEZWgg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D11OBSEZWgg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>About twenty years later, my dad was raking leaves when a minivan stopped in front of the yard. Darrell stepped out. He had been one of the boys at the VBS. </p>
<p>“Mr. Turner, I just want to thank you for doing the Bible camp all those years ago. I don’t know if you know this, but there were thirteen of us boys who ran around and grew up together in the neighborhood. Eight of them are dead now.” </p>
<p>His point was, life wasn’t easy for the families in the neighborhood. The little VBS was a bright memory for Darrell. It was something that made him feel loved, a token of the gospel he could carry into adulthood. He himself now had a family of his own, attended church, and seemed well.</p>
<p>I wish we could have done more for the neighborhood. But I’m glad we did something. </p>
<p>And I’m glad we had Carman’s music to help us. </p>
<p><em>Remembering Carman (Carmelo Domenic Licciardello), January 19, 1956 - February 16, 2021.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>P. S. My dad now tells me he also played Carman's stuff cause he liked it.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/65311192021-01-27T08:00:31-05:002021-04-01T02:35:23-04:00Does it have to be difficult?<p>Several popular playlists have a piano solo which, if I had written it, I would have dismissed as too easy. It uses simple chord progressions and could probably be played with one hand. </p>
<p>“But it’s good,” my husband said. He had listened to hours of these playlists while at work, and that track was only one of two he had saved as a favorite. </p>
<p>Why does it succeed? Well, I’m reminded of a physical therapist who, when asked why she charged so much for only twenty minutes of therapy, replied, “I get paid to know when to stop.” I won’t defend that therapist, but it’s true that every composer needs to know what to leave out just as much as what to put in. </p>
<p>As long a composition has no more and no less of what it needs, it doesn’t matter if it’s difficult. For some purposes, such as mellow background music, it probably shouldn’t be difficult. Virtuosity would get in the way. </p>
<p>Laurence Perrine offers some relevant words in his classic textbook on literature: "In judging any work of art, we need to ask three basic questions: (1) What is its central purpose? (2) How fully has this purpose been accomplished? (3) How important is this purpose? … Question 2 measures the poem on a scale of perfection. Question 3 measures it on a scale of significance… If the poem measures well on the first of these scales, we call it a good poem, at least of its kind. If it measures well on both scales, we call it a great poem."</p>
<p>So when I find myself judging one of my own compositions by how hard it is, I should ask myself, am I really serving purpose of the music - or am I serving my ego? </p>
<p>Not that the difficulty of a piece is meaningless. The most amazing secrets of the earth require hard work to extract. That’s why an engagement ring has a diamond instead of a pretty pebble. Just as serving the composition might require simplicity, it might require enormous skill. The discovery and refinement of anything really special usually does. </p>
<p>Then again, sometimes great skill leads the composer to keep things simple - or, at least, accessible. Johann Sebastian Bach was, inarguably, one of the greatest composers. But the <a contents="second most popular track" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408?si=ZuxRBAoNSSevrIOpoDdhSA" target="_blank">second most popular track</a> on his Spotify page is a little piece that can be found in my piano student’s fourth level method book.</p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">In judging any work of art, we need to ask three basic questions: (1) What is its central purpose? (2) How fully has this purpose been accomplished? (3) How important is this purpose? … Question 2 measures the poem on a scale of perfection. Question 3 measures it on a scale of significance… If the poem measures well on the first of these scales, we call it a good poem, at least of its kind. If it measures well on both scales, we call it a great poem.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">Laurence Perrine</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/771f62e1ce9e47d2cd5adcca49971a3c61f8427e/original/goaheadplay.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/65025412020-12-18T06:13:06-05:002020-12-18T06:13:06-05:00Music in wartime<p>“It almost makes you <em>want</em> to go to war.” </p>
<p>Such was the effect of the fife and drum corps at colonial Williamsburg as they marched by.</p>
<p>Music in wartime is an ancient tradition. Why? Why should something so beautiful, lively, and celebratory be laced with something so horrid, devastating, and grim? </p>
<p>There is the simple explanation that music is a mood-booster. I think we can extract a deeper reason, though.</p>
<p><em>Music declares victory before the battle. </em>Music strengthens the heart with the promise of what could be the reward of valor: rest, peace, and jubilee. </p>
<p>When Christ was born, poetry erupted. It is unclear how melodic these words were, but it’s reasonable to remember them as song, as we tend to do. Mary uttered her magnificat; Zechariah uttered his prayer. The host of heaven astonished the shepherds with their verse. They all sang good news.</p>
<p>But as far as we can tell, things went silent for Mary afterward. She lived to see her own son pinned in shameful death. At that moment and many others, how she must have clung to the vivid words that heralded his birth. How she must have needed that report of the host of heaven singing to shepherds who didn’t have a clue. </p>
<p>They had sung, “Peace on earth.” They were announcing the means by which God would achieve that Peace, but they were also declaring Peace before the war was over, before the crucifixion, before the final return of Christ. </p>
<p>We still need that song. The work of Christ is complete, but the day of complete salvation has not arrived. Those who are in Christ have a hope none can take away. And yet, we witness so much evil, and our limited frames render us downcast. We ask, “How long, O Lord?” </p>
<p>In times of discouragement as well as times of gladness, we can reach for the song. It is God’s gift to us to remind us that victory is sure, even if not yet here.</p>
<p>That’s why I have come to have a special love for music at Christmastime. It’s not just a European tradition; it's apparently a biblical one. What could be more fitting than to celebrate the Word made flesh with words made song?</p>
<p>To this end, there <em>is</em> a European tradition that has powerfully helped our family appreciate Christ in song. The King’s College at Cambridge, England, formed the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, a flexible liturgy of prayer, Scripture, and carols. It is broadcast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; see if you can catch it.</p>
<p>Let me tell you about some favorite Christmas records now. The list includes choral, a cappella, jazz, Irish, and pop-alternative. Favorite songs from these artists, as well as several others, are in our master <a contents="“Christmas in the Hall Home” playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/0J5mxoyU8lNsqPmepDLvmu?si=ObdKIOyGSWy7dFBrlaNjZg" target="_blank">“Christmas in the Hall Home” playlist</a><a contents="“Christmas in the Hall Home” playlist.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mYoeH8Rq6VVmNG7LA6lNV?si=2eehpCAST2qRwDZuyHAmUg" target="_blank">. </a></p>
<p>You probably already know that even the best Christmas music can get old. So, don’t overdo it. AND. Comment with your favorites! Always looking for more. </p>
<p><strong>Carols from Cambridge </strong>(compilation album)</p>
<p>Wonderful old carols delivered by English choirs.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="s9pp_YmWMXQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/s9pp_YmWMXQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s9pp_YmWMXQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Singers Unlimited </strong></p>
<p>The Singers Unlimited began as a jazz a cappella jingle group. Their <em>Christmas </em>album is exquisite. A few tracks are jingle-esque, but altogether it's a beautiful, harmonically thick collection of Christmas arrangements, including several lesser known songs. Here's one of my favorites. Listen to that final sustained note!</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="aOFhzIpAYD0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/aOFhzIpAYD0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aOFhzIpAYD0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Praytell </strong></p>
<p>The majority of Jon and Valerie Guerra’s Christmas songs are feel-good holiday music, but there are a few spiritual numbers. Last year’s video of “Remind Me, Lord” brought a tear to my eye. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="3VRjS4oRnM8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/3VRjS4oRnM8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3VRjS4oRnM8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Their “Snow Song” is lovely. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="UvK2IlnjSg0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/UvK2IlnjSg0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UvK2IlnjSg0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>JJ Heller </strong></p>
<p>JJ Heller delivered a wonderful update to <em>We Three Kings.</em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ShQhhIol7ms" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ShQhhIol7ms/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ShQhhIol7ms?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Sufjan Stevens </strong></p>
<p>There are three types of people in the world: those who like Sufjan’s music, those who don’t understand those who like Sufjan’s music, and those who have better things to do. I’m in the first camp with a major caveat: I like his traditional Christmas songs. They are fresh and beautiful, if a a bit whimsical.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="eyORnEzBpAo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/eyORnEzBpAo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eyORnEzBpAo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Bifrost Arts </strong></p>
<p>Something tells me those who get the Sufjan wavelength will connect with Bifrost Arts. Though the vocal style of several songs is too weird for me, a few are captivating.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="fY6-a5I-UZY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/fY6-a5I-UZY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fY6-a5I-UZY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Kingston Trio </strong></p>
<p>My mother-in-law introduced me to this vintage sound.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="1h4D1-1Tdts" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/1h4D1-1Tdts/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1h4D1-1Tdts?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The Chieftains </strong></p>
<p>Their <em>Bells of Dublin</em> record comes with the scent of woodsmoke and ale.</p>
<p> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MyA1zKBUhxM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/MyA1zKBUhxM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MyA1zKBUhxM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Canadian Brass </strong></p>
<p>Canadian Brass has multiple classy Christmas albums with carols and fun holiday numbers.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="uaAX1cKYR-c" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/uaAX1cKYR-c/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uaAX1cKYR-c?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Vince Guaraldi Trio</strong></p>
<p>Does Christmas jazz piano get any better than <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas?</em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="XO2kSduwY34" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/XO2kSduwY34/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XO2kSduwY34?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Justin Kauflin</strong></p>
<p>Justin Kauflin's <em>Silent Night </em>is another fine jazz piano record.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-DMLa-zDnhg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-DMLa-zDnhg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-DMLa-zDnhg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Songs from these artists and several others are collected in this playlist. Enjoy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/4mYoeH8Rq6VVmNG7LA6lNV" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>First posted in 2019</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64959702020-12-11T07:00:00-05:002020-12-11T11:37:27-05:00The last post<p>“Gus never talked about art and hated art theory.” </p>
<p>Gus himself, however, was an artist. He was Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of the best sculptors of the nineteenth century per historian David McCullough. Apparently, Gus didn’t need to talk about art to make great art. </p>
<p>This thought prompted some self-reflection. I’d rather write less about music and make more of it instead. So, while this blog isn’t going away, I’m hitting the reset button. Today's post is the last new post of 2020. Posts in 2021 may follow a different schedule and become more eclectic.</p>
<p>The reset goes for the e-mail list, too. I don't want to assume all of you wish to keep getting these posts. <strong>So if you’ve been getting e-mailed posts,</strong> <strong><a contents="click here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://mailchi.mp/e58925385b8b/receive-blog-posts" target="_blank">click here</a> or reply to the e-mail to keep getting them.</strong> Otherwise, this is your last e-mailed post!</p>
<p>To close this year of blogging, here are the top five posts from the last twelve months. They were chosen because they were most-commented, most-read, or a personal favorite.</p>
<p><span class="font_large"><a contents="1. Music in Wartime&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/wartime-music" target="_blank"><strong>1. Music in Wartime </strong></a></span><br>“Music in wartime is an ancient tradition. Why? Why should something so beautiful, lively, and celebratory be laced with something so horrid, devastating, and grim? There is the simple explanation that music is a mood-booster. I think we can extract a deeper reason, though. Music declares victory before the battle...</p>
<p>They had sung, 'Peace on earth.' They were announcing the means by which God would achieve that Peace, but they were also declaring Peace before the war was over, before the crucifixion, before the final return of Christ. </p>
<p>We still need that song.” </p>
<p><em>This post concludes with a run-down of several favorite Christmas records. </em></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong><a contents="2. What I learned in jail" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/what-i-learned-in-jail" target="_blank">2. What I learned in jail</a> </strong></span><br>"'Her name’s Becky.' That’s the description I once heard of the average listener of Christian radio. Having answered to that name before, I searched inside for a witty comeback and never found one. </p>
<p>I’m not enamored with the music of Christian radio and keep close company with a few who’d block the frequency if they could. But one day I left the radio behind me and walked Inside - Inside, where a group of women dressed in orange were waiting for a Bible study to begin." </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong><a contents="3. Let them not sing alone" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/let-them-not-sing-alone" target="_blank">3. Let them not sing alone</a> </strong></span><br>"The slave population was liberated, but, too often, the black community had to sing to themselves. But sing they did, and their music became irresistible to its hearers. It transformed American music into a brilliant gift to the world." <em>This was posted before 2020 became what it became. </em></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong><a contents="4. Turning thunder into song" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/turning-thunder-into-song" target="_blank">4. Turning thunder into song</a> </strong></span><br>"My father surprised me one night by telling me he liked thunder. I didn't like thunder. Thunder made me feel like unseen powers were about to crush my bedroom between their hands. Thunder made me rise and go to my dad and quietly say, 'I'm scared.' He came to sit with me for a few minutes while it passed. That's when he told me he liked thunder. He liked feeling its awesomeness, its greatness. </p>
<p>Then he told me something else unexpected. 'I find it helps when I'm scared to worship God.'" </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><a contents="5. Routine is magic&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/routine-is-magic" target="_blank"><strong>5. Routine is magic </strong></a></span><br>"Routine and tradition are powerful pedagogical tools that throw light on another aspect of learning: the miracle of incrementalism. We haltingly begin a new craft and get dizzy when looking at what the experts do. It seems too far away. But the mountaintop metaphor, though simple, is not simplistic: step by step, you get there. No matter how tangled the notes look or how awkward the fingering feels at first, the minuscule gains each day seem suddenly to resolve in a creditable performance. And a little bit every day goes farther than a lot every now and then." </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>Merry Christmas</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64915952020-12-04T08:05:05-05:002020-12-04T17:35:49-05:00Twenty carols for Luke 2 Advent readings<p>We have an Advent tradition of reading a verse from Luke 2:1-20 throughout December. We’ve also picked a carol to go with each verse. This tradition serves a few purposes: </p>
<p>1. The lyrics of these carols magnify the moment of each Scripture reading. <br>2. The practice of singing, or at least actively listening, enriches our minds and hearts. <br>3. Kids in the home, who love traditions when started early, benefit from being able to do something actively. The songs of childhood also tend to stay long in memory. </p>
<p>(Many Christmas songs include inaccuracies about the nativity story. These songs were selected with accuracy in mind, but when they get a bit fuzzy, you have the Luke 2 Scripture reading to underscore the known facts.) </p>
<p>Luke 2:1 <br><strong>In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. </strong><br><em>The Peace Carol </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:2 <br><strong>This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. </strong><br><em>Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:3 <br><strong>And all went to be registered, each to his own town. </strong><br><em>O Come, O Come Emmanuel </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:4 <br><strong>And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, </strong><br><em>Once in Royal David’s City </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:5 <br><strong>to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. </strong><br><em>O Little Town of Bethlehem </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:6 <br><strong>And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. </strong><br><em>Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:7 <br><strong>And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. </strong><br><em>Oh, Come, Little Children </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:8 <br><strong>And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. </strong><br><em>While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks at Night </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:9 <br><strong>And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. </strong><br><em>Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:10 <br><strong>And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” </strong><br><em>Joy to the World </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:11 <br><strong>“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” </strong><br><em>Good Christian Men, Rejoice </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:12 <br><strong>“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” </strong><br><em>Away in a Manger </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:13 <br><strong>And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, </strong><br><em>Angels from the Realms of Glory </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:14 <br><strong>“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” </strong><br><em>Hark the Herald Angels Sing </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:15 <br><strong>When the Angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” </strong><br><em>Night Bethlehem </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:16 <br><strong>And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. </strong><br><em>What Child Is This? </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:17 <br><strong>And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. </strong><br><em>As Lately We Watched </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:18 <br><strong>And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. </strong><br><em>God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:19 <br><strong>But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. </strong><br><em>I Wonder as I Wander </em></p>
<p>Luke 2:20 <br><strong>And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. </strong><br><em>While by My Sheep </em></p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kiIMFZyG7OOb1nXSPHXkH?si=C7pBV4reT2CcAqTTRXDRsw" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/cdcb14433e7d8434f5c447ba0f1211cd263040a1/original/twenty-carols-for-luke-2.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></a>If you’re unfamiliar with any of these carols, you can find them <a contents="on this playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kiIMFZyG7OOb1nXSPHXkH?si=5AU9MesZRNiUTBV42X9UvQ" target="_blank">on this playlist</a>.<br>(A few of you might remember this playlist from a couple years ago. It’s been updated to be less eclectic and work better as background listening.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6kiIMFZyG7OOb1nXSPHXkH" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64867282020-11-27T08:58:19-05:002020-11-27T09:06:55-05:00Numerous objects of fascination<p>You could also call this post “Consumer Report” or “R. Hall’s Gift Guide,” because I’ve consumed all these things and find them all promising as gift ideas. They don’t all have to do with music, but let’s start there. </p>
<h3>Music </h3>
<p>You’re not going to hear me say, “Buy CDs to support your favorite artists.” Buy CDs if they can add value to your or your friend’s life. </p>
<p>And can they? I think so. </p>
<p>If you just say, “Check out so-and-so band,” your friend might forget. If you give him a CD with liner notes and artwork, he can probably play it in the car on his way home — and enjoy it more because of the relatively focused listening environment. Even if he never opens it, chances are better that he’ll remember to listen online. At the very least, a physical CD can replace a really nice card. </p>
<p>Some recommendations: </p>
<p><strong><em>For the lover of singer-songwriter music, sweater weather, and all things Narnia </em></strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/f3b02ca995c6b1ded376176becef962848bf4ee3/original/screen-shot-2019-10-31-at-10-01-51-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><em>Into the Lantern Waste</em> by Sarah Sparks is inspired by themes in the <em>Chronicles of Narnia</em>. The modal melodies fit the Isles while the thoughtful guitar and folk accents make it fine music for background or active listening. I didn’t love it at first, but after playing it for my daughter a bit, it grew on me nicely. </p>
<p><em><a contents="Buy it here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://sarahsparksmusic.com/store" target="_blank">Buy it here.</a></em></p>
<p><strong><em>For the lover of singer-songwriter music, sweater weather, and deep British voices </em></strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/3f4bd1d96c244de7489a3ced3900966c8d96fc57/original/roo-panes-land-of-the-living-cd-ep.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Roo Panes is a mainstream independent artist from England. Though his faith affiliation is not clear to me, his <em>Land of the Living</em> EP is cloaked in biblical allusions that, joined with inviting melodies, summon the imagination in the right direction. </p>
<p><a contents="Buy it here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.musicglue.com/roo-panes-1/products/roo-panes-land-of-the-living-cd-ep" target="_blank"><em>Buy it here.</em></a></p>
<p><strong><em>For those who like to praise, dance, and hear hopeful music </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/934433d742ea69ef65e5e4c67860fa35e6a8ab3e/original/r-9758561-1531734678-9174-jpeg.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></em></strong></p>
<p>Cece Winans’s <em>Let Them Fall in Love</em> is far different from her other releases. Robust, diverse, and declarative, the album induced grateful tears from me for at least five listens. (See post <a contents="Let Them Fall in Love by Cece Winans." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/album-relish-let-them-fall-in-love-by-cece-winans" target="_blank">Let Them Fall in Love by Cece Winans.</a>) </p>
<p><a contents="Buy vinyl or CD here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Them-Fall-Love-CeCe-Winans/dp/B01M360XBH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=let+them+fall+in+love+vinyl&qid=1606478612&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><em>Buy vinyl or CD here.</em></a></p>
<p><em><strong>For the kids</strong></em> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/e8377846ce859edf65f1293f41c69b2cae540905/original/sing-as-we-go-square2.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Charlie Hope has produced the only “children’s music” that the man of the place has voluntarily played. Our favorite albums are <em>Sing as We Go </em>and <em>Songs, Stores, and Friends 2: Where the Path Will Wind. </em></p>
<p><em><a contents="Buy them here.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://challengeandfun.com/collections/types?rb_product_type=Music+CD&page=1&rb_brand=Charlie+Hope" target="_blank">Buy them here. </a></em></p>
<p><em><strong>For those who like history and instrumental background music </strong></em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="TnWtMIzUYjk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TnWtMIzUYjk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnWtMIzUYjk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>You’ve heard of <em>Battlescapes</em> by Vandalia River, a collection of solo piano music with folklike melodies and subtle drama.</p>
<p><em><a contents="Buy the CD here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/album/1191727/battlescapes" target="_blank">Buy the CD here.</a></em> (Locals can arrange local pick-up to save on shipping.)</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/163572319901add8c7dceb6e978319de7c2b83eb/original/screen-shot-2019-12-05-at-6-15-14-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.png" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Books</h3>
<p><strong><em>For lovers of history, fine arts, and David McCullough </em></strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/020e7a8e84e2a2674edd58ec3a6596250b2ab1fd/original/10131648.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I only just caught up to David McCullough’s 2011 <em>The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.</em> McCullough uses the lens of Paris to profile numerous Americans and the history of Paris from about 1830-1900. The exploration of painting, sculpture, medicine, technology, politics, and personalities make it a terrific read. I might have my daughter listen to sections to expand on some chapters she’s read in <em>Story of the World</em>. (Although McCullough does not push your nose into the nasty facts of history, neither does he ignore them, so there are parts of the book I wouldn’t want my eleven-year-old to hear yet.) </p>
<p><em><a contents="View buying options at Goodreads." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10131648-the-greater-journey?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=DI2q98D2mJ&rank=1" target="_blank">View buying options at Goodreads.</a></em></p>
<p><em><strong>For American parents of school-aged children </strong></em></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/aa682b416532cf484c09f097fc5d9b6a3c97c628/original/35187170.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>American parents should at least skim Susan Wise Bauer’s <em>Rethinking School</em>. Bauer is best known as co-author of <em>The Well-Trained Mind</em> and developer of homeschool curriculum. Unlike <em>The Well-Trained Mind</em>, <em>Rethinking School</em> is written foremost for those navigating the traditional school system. Bauer draws on research, experience, and observations gleaned from unique access to a broad community of parents to help families find better solutions for their kids’ education, whether or not they remain in a traditional school. It may not be life-changing, but it might be liberating. </p>
<p><a contents="View buying options at Goodreads.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35187170-rethinking-school?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Ew7BaWgYjw&rank=1" target="_blank"><em>View buying options at Goodreads. </em></a></p>
<p><em><strong>For those who like </strong></em><strong>The Sound of Music</strong><em><strong> or a good read aloud</strong></em> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/2b1c0f1f0deb75c0454878499db4e98a3b391a34/original/554674.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The real Maria von Trapp had more plunk and spunk than the Julie Andrews version, and the <em>Story of the Trapp Family Singers</em> more twists and turns than Hollywood could film. (See post <a contents="That time a family started singing for fun" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/what-happened-to-one-family-when-they-started-singing-for-fun" target="_blank">That time a family started singing for fun</a>.) </p>
<p><a contents="View buying options at Goodreads." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/554674.The_Story_of_the_Trapp_Family_Singers?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qgMZad3Pk7&rank=1" target="_blank"><em>View buying options at Goodreads.</em></a></p>
<p><em><strong>For the band nerd in your life </strong></em></p>
<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/8b43635d023f3fe604472dc2ff73bf5b3cb8ae65/original/3030874.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></strong></p>
<p>John Philip Sousa’s <em>Marching Along</em> is a witty and well written memoir. His proximity to the White House and worldwide success gave him some entertaining anecdotes. (See <a contents="this post" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/victims-of-their-own-success" target="_blank">this post</a> and <a contents="this post" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/my-theory-was-first-to-reach-every-heart-by-simple-stirring-music" target="_blank">this post</a> on Sousa.) </p>
<p><em><a contents="View buying options at Goodreads. " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3030874-marching-along?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=pYxPRKnBaH&rank=1" target="_blank">View buying options at Goodreads. </a> </em></p>
<p><em><strong>For the kids </strong></em></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/e50dcd79e05f04be7f2dc747f1a8c71bee9deff0/original/378-sx318.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>We listened to the <em>Phantom Tollbooth</em> by Norton Juster between Christmas and New Year’s last year. My daughter rated it 11 out of 10 stars. The anniversary hardcover edition has several tributes worth reading. But I am glad we first heard it via audiobook; Juster’s puns came off quite successfully that way. (Also see Juster’s <em><a contents="The Dot &amp; The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/289866.The_Dot_and_the_Line?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=qroZBpCAdk&rank=1" target="_blank">The Dot & The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics</a>.</em>) </p>
<p><a contents="Buy it here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Tollbooth-Norton-Juster/dp/0394815009/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=phantom+tollbooth+hardcover&qid=1606481747&sr=8-2" target="_blank"><em>Buy it here.</em></a></p>
<h3>And, finally, something to help you with all those books</h3>
<p>In days of yore notebooks called commonplace books were used to keep track of quotations and thoughts. Serious notetakers today have reason to use apps, of course, but still, when I’m painting beadboard in the dining room, listening to David McCullough, and constantly saving the phone from falling into the paint can, I don’t want to open OneNote to take down something I heard. I want to reach for my <strong>Waverley Genuine Tartan Cloth Commonplace Notebook. </strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/eb046e85a87713bff47579f1f611abb8c5698297/original/51rfuakh1ul.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Any notebook could become a commonplace book, but the Waverley product is compact and comes with a special note on commonplacing as well as a back pocket. And above all, they are bound in genuine tartan cloth provided by kiltmakers. Cool. </p>
<p><em><a contents="Buy your favorite clan&nbsp;here.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=waverley+commonplace+notebook&crid=1JR1IWFEZSJ5N&sprefix=Waverley+common%2Cstripbooks%2C219&ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_15" target="_blank">Buy your favorite clan here. </a></em>Several patterns available. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/78c7e7e12502f78d3bbc13bdb7aba81f4bb65e6a/original/img-20201127-084816.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64820042020-11-20T06:53:20-05:002023-12-10T13:09:19-05:00Two hymns for Thanksgiving - and a free download<p>You might know Twila Paris’s song “The Joy of the Lord.” </p>
<p><em>The joy of the Lord <br>Will be my strength <br>I will not falter <br>I will not faint <br>He is my shepherd <br>I am not afraid <br>The joy of the Lord is my strength </em></p>
<p>The original context of that last phrase is surprising. It shows up in the book of Nehemiah, in which former exiles start rebuilding Jerusalem. Facing opposition within and without, they finish restoring the wall. Then they gather to listen to and understand the reading of the Law, and “all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law” (Neh. 8:9). </p>
<p>Then what? A seven-days’ fast and more mourning? No! They’re actually told to <em>stop crying</em>. “Go your way,” they are commanded. “Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). </p>
<p>This moment has come after many years of grief, acts of repentance, and works of rebuilding. There’s still much to do, and Jerusalem is nothing like it used to be. But now the Lord is confirming his mercy and faithfulness and telling them it’s okay to celebrate with joy. In fact, it’s inappropriate <em>not</em> to do so. </p>
<p>We are in a radically different time, place, and context than those former exiles, but I think there’s something in Nehemiah 8:10 for us. An older friend once observed that she needed our holidays to remember, amidst the weight of life’s cares, that we have reason to celebrate. Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas can help us reflect and rejoice that yes—God is good; we have much to be thankful for; and it’s right to celebrate him and his gifts. </p>
<p>For Thanksgiving in particular, I like the 19th-century hymn “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” It’s a season-specific call to gratitude for the here and now, while also helping us look forward to the permanent home we hope for. </p>
<p>Next week, we might sing one or both of these hymns on Thanksgiving. <a contents="Here’s a lead sheet for “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.”" data-link-label="Come Ye Thankful People Come Lead Sheet" data-link-type="file" href="/files/1092290/Come%20Ye%20Thankful%20People%20Come%20Lead%20Sheet" target="_blank">Here’s a lead sheet for “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.”</a> I tell the printer to print two to a sheet so I can cut and place as part of the table settings or just hand out. Use off-white card stock to up the nice factor. </p>
<p><a contents="You are welcome to download it for yourself." data-link-label="Come Ye Thankful People Come Lead Sheet" data-link-type="file" href="/files/1092290/Come%20Ye%20Thankful%20People%20Come%20Lead%20Sheet" target="_blank">You are welcome to download it for yourself.</a></p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="Come Ye Thankful People Come Lead Sheet" data-link-type="file" href="/files/1092290/Come%20Ye%20Thankful%20People%20Come%20Lead%20Sheet" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/1be068583d72ed4f9101aa5f5d98d0b5938e2887/original/screen-shot-2020-11-20-at-6-36-35-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.png" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And video for both songs:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="HsIKn_CC55Y" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/HsIKn_CC55Y/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HsIKn_CC55Y?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="csMBcNqQxXg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/csMBcNqQxXg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/csMBcNqQxXg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Have a truly blessed Thanksgiving. </p>
<hr><p><em><strong>Post Scriptum</strong></em></p>
<p>This is one of my favorite playlists, especially for this time of year. <a contents="American Foliage" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0?si=nlisM-c3ROKoljSHO6yz7Q" target="_blank">American Foliage</a> is a mostly instrumental mix that favors the harmonic strains of Appalachia with some fresh interpretations by current composers. Often plaintive, sometimes dancing, always beautiful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0" width="300"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64766782020-11-13T07:25:17-05:002020-11-13T07:25:17-05:00Taking Andrew Peterson out to lunch<p>Poor authors. Together with their publisher they hone their book, fuss over every detail, and broadcast, broadcast, broadcast its existence and purpose and still — people in its intended audience don’t get the point. </p>
<p>I heard more buzz about <em>Adorning the Dark</em> by Andrew Peterson than any other title this past year. Yet I didn’t get what it was about till a friend walked over two Sundays ago and handed me a copy. </p>
<p>“Oh,” I thought after opening it. “It’s Andrew Peterson’s memoir on becoming a Christian writer.” For lack of a better word — <em>duh</em>. </p>
<p>Andrew Peterson, as you likely know, is a singer-songwriter whose songs range from interpretive story-telling to overt worship. He’s a steadfast believer who’s been around the block creatively and spiritually, not just as a songwriter and performer but also as a family man, novelist, and founder of the Rabbit Room. Buying a copy of <em>Adorning the Dark</em> is taking Andrew Peterson out to lunch for a three-hour one-way conversation on what he’s learned from his career as a Christian writer. </p>
<p>Why would I not want that? <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/6fdcc55dd25fa83d005f6879d39966ff1b9b9d9a/original/atd.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p><em>Adorning the Dark</em> is part autobiography, part advice, and part exploration of what it means to be a Christian artist. This last theme is its most important, because I don’t think many believers realize what happens when they create art. </p>
<p>A couple years ago, I saw a local Christian ballet based on a biblical narrative. It was a relatively simple, low budget production, and yet it deeply moved me. Why? Every element was ordered to serve something true. The pretty Christ-centered songs and the allusions of the choreography to biblical stories were a vessel for something powerful. </p>
<p>That led me to start thinking of art as just that, a vessel. The vessel may be grand or modest. We’ll reject it if it’s ugly. But its purpose is what it carries. Does the artistic production carry something good, true, or beautiful? </p>
<p>And that brings me to the special role of the Christian in art. Christians have something to offer that the rest of the world cannot produce. “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” When a sincere believer who treasures God’s word does his work well, gospel hope emanates from it one way or another — <em>especially</em> when the medium has anything to do with words. </p>
<p>Oh, yes, good and beautiful art can come from outside the church. Oh, yes, poor craftsmanship and hypocrisy can infiltrate a believer’s work. This topic could be nuanced to Baffin Island and back. I’m not implying anything specific about what belongs in Christian songs. I’m not ignoring the full spectrum of artistic work, which has many applications that may seem spiritually neutral. </p>
<p>But I hope more Christian songwriters realize they need not depart from what is uniquely theirs to give. They shouldn’t be discouraged by the snark about “Christian music” or fooled by the allure of fame. God has a message of perfect beauty that the world is starving for. Almost every top 40 song and TV show is void of or opposed to this message. Diluting or ignoring that message is holding back something precious. </p>
<p>So I’m grateful to Andrew Peterson for writing not just about writing, but writing about it as a believer for believers. </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">“When we take seriously the fact that as humans, we’re bearers of God’s image, and as Christians, we’re also bearers of the Holy Spirit, we remember that we’re well-equipped to speak beauty into ugliness, order into chaos, light into darkness, love into lovelessness. That’s true no matter what our specific calling is. As we move through time, we’re contributing to the story of creation whether we like it or not. It just happens, no matter who you are.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="Andrew Peterson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://adorningthedark.com" target="_blank"><span class="font_regular">Andrew Peterson</span></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64714262020-11-06T08:25:38-05:002020-11-10T11:42:49-05:00A confluence of stories<p>Anyone who comes to Harpers Ferry enters another story. That’s the point of a historical park. The landscape is kept in tact with signs and monuments as witnesses to something too important to forget. </p>
<p>Seven years ago this week, we entered that story when we moved to Harpers Ferry. We didn’t move here because of a grand plan; in fact, we knew hardly anything about the neighborhood. We only moved here because we needed an affordable single-level home for our son's wheelchair. We were too consumed with his health and our own feelings to pay much attention to anything else. As we settled in, however, I kept noticing runners at the top of a big, boring hill not far from the house. </p>
<p>That hill was Bolivar Heights. Tourists who go to Harpers Ferry see the old town and know about the dazzling view from Maryland Heights, but they often don’t know about Bolivar Heights. I certainly didn’t until curiosity led the kids and me up that hill one November day in 2013. It was the first of countless visits to what would become my favorite part of the area. </p>
<p>The view is breathtaking. You can see all the ridges that encircle Harpers Ferry and the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. One long ridge terminates in Loudoun Heights, then there’s the river gap, then there’s Maryland Heights. Though you can’t see the body of the Shenandoah River, it runs parallel between Bolivar Heights and a far ridge. You can tell just where it is on some mornings when a channel of fog clings to the water. In the fall, the hills are a gradient of autumn color. In the winter, a snowfall or ice storm transform them into a fairy world. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/b621316e0ee7e0b8a2ba942bb108b5791ef2262d/original/img-20161013-082240695-hdr.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/5f8976e2f58859fa47a8dcb05ea6644f965626b1/original/img-20161112-164546631-hdr.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>But close at hand on Bolivar Heights are the signs, the signs that tell you about an old story — a sad story, a war story, a story that brought multiple battles to Bolivar Heights and Harpers Ferry, a story that disrupted the lives of many local households just trying to raise a family and turn a profit. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>One day, a few years later, my husband Jake took our daughter to see a new coffee shop in town. The owner, Chris, turned out to be an Air Force veteran with a vision to use outdoor activities to help other veterans manage disabilities. He also had a nephew in a wheelchair, and he said he wanted to push him in a marathon. </p>
<p>“I want to push <em>my</em> son in a marathon!” said Jake. </p>
<p>Before I knew it, Chris and Jake were making it happen. I still remember that Saturday morning when my husband and son strolled toward me wearing medals from their first Harpers Ferry Half Marathon. A whole new world opened up for them. Running was one of the very few things they could do together. They’ve now finished four marathons and six half-marathons, and more importantly, they can hit the road on any nice day and get quality time outside. </p>
<p>Through training, Jake has gotten to know a vibrant local running community. He even bought the H.U.R.T. shirt. </p>
<p>H.U.R.T. is the Harpers Ferry Ultra Running Team. Clever, right? Thing is, the acronym hits really close to home. </p>
<p>Why does he run? Why does he go up and down Maryland Heights, Loudoun Heights, Bolivar Heights? How did we end up here in this beautiful community? </p>
<p>We’re here because of our son’s condition. The hurt has driven us to the heights. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/3995bd41037a6dded50a14ee7355272440634ed5/original/img-20160508-173811469.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I would never ever ever have agreed to let my son be so afflicted. But what a road it’s taken us on. It has led us to a deeper, richer experience of life. We’ve seen the heart of God in the way people are moved to enrich the life of our little guy, though he can’t ever give back. We’ve made unforgettable friendships. And we’ve plopped ourselves unwittingly amid a stunning network of hills we can walk among any time. </p>
<p>As I learned to say last year, life is full of beauty and battle—neither ever completely safe from the other. I look out the window and see the scenery and scars of Harpers Ferry; I see my family’s story swirl together with its older story. </p>
<p>I realized only recently that the anniversary week of our move to Harpers Ferry coincides with another anniversary. One year ago,<em> <a contents="Battlescapes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/1191727/battlescapes" target="_blank">Battlescapes</a></em> was released. The fourth piece in that album is dedicated to all the heights surrounding Harpers Ferry. I got to share that piece and the thoughts behind it with some friends last year.</p>
<p>In recognition of these anniversaries, here it is again.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="cIsdCu9aNTA" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/cIsdCu9aNTA/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cIsdCu9aNTA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64665202020-10-30T06:30:30-04:002021-01-21T06:01:49-05:00A return to touchy-feely music<p>Today’s dominance of online streaming means my children do not have a way to touch the records we play.</p>
<p>I grew up often looking at the jewel cases in my dad’s music collection and leafing through the <em>Sound and Spirit</em> catalogs. I read the liner notes, studied the artist pictures, and switched out discs myself. </p>
<p>My daughter, however, usually just sees us bend over a device. </p>
<p>Is this important? Eh. Maybe not. We're still listening to the actual music together. Nevertheless, the tactile connection is powerful for kids, and I wonder if losing it weakens the impression that artist records have on the new generation. </p>
<p>So I’ve toyed with the thought of slowly building a physical collection, maybe even in vinyl. Would you have predicted that in 2020 <a contents="vinyl sales would beat CD sales" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2020/09/vinyl-overtakes-cd-sales-for-first-time-in-30-years.html" target="_blank">vinyl sales would beat CD sales</a>? </p>
<p>If I did build a physical collection, here are some albums I’d include. It’s not a definitive or exhaustive list of any kind. I’m largely leaving out the classical tradition because it 1) can be harder to appreciate in recordings and 2) deserves a more thorough treatment of its own.</p>
<p><em>A Charlie Brown Christmas</em> (Vince Guaraldi Trio) <br><em>Christmas</em> (Singers Unlimited) <br><em>Carols from Cambridge</em> (Various) <br><em>The Bells of Dublin</em> (The Chieftains)<br><em>Appalachian Journey</em> (Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor) <br><em>Appalachia Waltz</em> (Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor) <br><em>The Ministry Years,</em> Vol. 1 and 2 (Keith Green) <br><em>Let Them Fall in Love</em> (Cece Winans) <br><em>Sanctuary </em>(Twila Paris) <br><em>Jars of Clay</em> (Jars of Clay) <br><em>Add to the Beauty</em> (Sara Groves) <br><em>Glo</em> (delirious?) <br><em>The Legend of Chin </em>(Switchfoot) <br><em>The Land of the Living</em> (Roo Panes) <br><em>Foggy Mountain Jamboree</em> (Flatt and Scruggs) <br><em>Sing as We Go! </em>(Charlie Hope) <br><em>Song, Stories, and Friends 2: Where the Path Will Wind</em> (Charlie Hope) <br><em>Blue Clouds</em> (Elizabeth Mitchell) <br><em>Mute Math </em>(Mute Math) <br><em>The Sound of Music</em> soundtrack </p>
<p>If you rebuilt a physical collection of music, what is the first album that comes to mind as one you’d get? If I hear from enough people, I'll share the results in a future post. </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64617842020-10-23T06:22:55-04:002021-01-07T04:23:03-05:00It's funny how small the big things can be.<p>Put the big rocks in the jar first, goes the illustration, and you’ll have room to pour in the little rocks afterward. Put the little rocks in first, however, and you won’t fit the big rocks. It’s a metaphor for priorities. </p>
<p>It’s funny how small those big rocks can be. Making your bed. Folding the napkins. Doing the dishes. Greeting your spouse. Looking your child in the eye while smiling. </p>
<p>These are all little things and rarely urgent, yet when they happen the whole day is lifted up. The stage is set for something more than mere survival. When they don’t happen every now and then, no harm is done. When they don’t happen as a pattern, their importance becomes plainer. </p>
<p>I’ve often thought of a given day’s tasks as points on an intricate connect-the-dots pattern. The dots are tiny. You can skip some and still make out the picture; but they’re not exactly expendable. </p>
<p>This analogy has a double-edged use. First, it reminds me that many little, unspectacular daily acts make a lifetime difference. Yes, the dishes can wait, but if I make them wait every time, it’s a ding on the evening; it’s another wrinkle in the morning. If I made a flip book of daily pictures of the kitchen counter, would the movie show peace or pile-up? If my daughter made a flip book from our morning interactions, would the movie show closeness or coldness? </p>
<p>Too often pile-up and coldness have marked my days. That’s when I appreciate the other side of this connect-the-dots concept. “His mercies are new every morning.” This morning is a new dot. The Lord is not calling me to finish the whole picture, but rather to be faithful with the little things before me today. Over time, those little things make something beautiful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>This post came to mind after reading <a contents="this reflection from Amy Young" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.alifeoverseas.com/watching-what-i-invest-in-evaporate/" target="_blank">this reflection from Amy Young</a>. Thank you, Amy.</em></p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"What you do—the conversations you have, the games you play, the emails you write, the projects you work on, the loads of laundry you do—are the strands of life that when woven together build into something larger than the fleeting moments they represent. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">So I turn to you and say, 'Just because something looks to be fleeting or eternal, that’s not the full picture.'"</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_regular">Amy Young</span></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64571142020-10-16T10:10:10-04:002020-12-04T00:59:12-05:00Four favorite works for piano<p>Piano literature is a many-splendored thing. </p>
<p>Sonatas, nocturnes, variations, etudes, lyric pieces, humoresques, waltzes, songs without words, sonatinas, fantasies, rhapsodies, orchestral reductions, minuets, preludes, fugues — <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/9f88f6060ff8af3cb917ed683d3afa7c12a3a0d9/original/screen-shot-2020-10-16-at-10-08-45-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>But I had to learn to love it. Growing up, I was inspired by bands I liked and the pleasure of recreating interesting chord progressions. I must have been fifteen when a serious introduction to classical piano repertoire commenced. </p>
<p>“You should learn a Beethoven sonata,” said one professor. He was an unusually accomplished and intelligent pianist but a bit laissez-faire in his pedagogy, so he left it up to me to choose the sonata. I didn’t know any besides <em>Pathetique</em> and <em>Moonlight</em>, so I borrowed CDs from Bierce Library. </p>
<p>Will it surprise you if I said it wasn’t love at first sound? Beethoven sonatas. Dense, notey, long. But the more I listened, the more they drew me in--the opposite effect of popular music, which quickly got old. </p>
<p>Those college years left me with an iceberg-tip sized knowledge of the literature and an open heart to all its textures. And I have to say, I miss it most when I browse Spotify’s solo piano playlists. There’s a lot of minimal, sparse, slow, melancholy, sometimes simple piano music getting played right now. I suppose it’s because folks want non-intrusive background music for their work. And if they haven’t had time to get warmed up to the broader piano tradition, the everyday casual listening context is not the way to do it. </p>
<p>Frankly, I can’t stand more than a few minutes of some of the modern solo piano music. Not that it’s bad! I just want more texture, more drama, more instrumental story-telling, and perhaps above all - I want it louder and faster! </p>
<p>“Rebekah sure likes to play loud, doesn’t she?” said my grandmother as I was banging on her piano many years ago. (She said it enough times that my dad began to discern a hint being dropped.)</p>
<p>It’s true. I like dynamism in all music, including solo piano. Here are four dynamic piano works that I’ve never stopped loving. </p>
<p><strong><span class="font_large">1) <em>La Campanella</em></span></strong><span class="font_regular">,</span><strong><span class="font_large"> </span></strong>Franz Liszt’s prodigious arrangement of what was first part of a violin concerto by Paganini. The title means “the little bell,” and you will hear it through and through. It was the first instrumental music that brought tears to my eyes. Performed below by Andre Watts.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="VHTloqZ8I0k" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/VHTloqZ8I0k/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VHTloqZ8I0k?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong><span class="font_large">2) The first of Grieg’s four<em> Norwegian Dances</em>, Opus 35.</span></strong> These dances were based on Norwegian folk melodies and written as parlor music duets. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="0Re4_GT42NM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/0Re4_GT42NM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Re4_GT42NM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>3) Brahms’s Rhapsody in E-flat Major, Opus 119, No. 4. </strong></span><span class="font_regular">Jubilation.</span></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ncvkc249e2c" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ncvkc249e2c/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ncvkc249e2c?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong><span class="font_large">4) And finally, Mendelssohn’s <em>Variations Serieuses</em> in D Minor, Opus 54. </span></strong>Beautiful and heart-rending, with a vaulting resolution that makes me swoon every time.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ZJQiqTELwwI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZJQiqTELwwI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZJQiqTELwwI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64522932020-10-09T06:50:17-04:002020-10-09T06:51:57-04:00For the money<p>I blogged a couple weeks ago about <a contents="the Trapp Family Singers" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/what-happened-to-one-family-when-they-started-singing-for-fun" target="_blank">the Trapp Family Singers</a>. We have their story and <em>The Sound of Music </em>for one simple reason. Captain von Trapp’s bank failed. They went public with their singing for the money. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/system/7cf7177602f0fc02681cf05445fa9c3b68d4ea4c/original/pexels-photo-60783.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>They did a few other things, too: handmade crafts, singing camps, a vacation lodge, and a book deal. Their industry made the world a more interesting place. And they did it for the money. </p>
<p>Doing something for the money can sound crass, like a necessary evil. But it need not be so. </p>
<p>When the ALDI cashier tells me my grocery total, I sometimes say, “Not bad for the food you eat!” Then I walk away with a cartful of stuff worth more to me than the $94.04 I just handed over. </p>
<p>In a good transaction each party gets the good end of the deal. Each party has traded up, getting something more valuable than what they gave for it. While I always want to get more for my money, the fact is that some other person was able to produce something I couldn’t get for myself. Giving that person money for what they offered was not a necessary evil. It’s proof that the work was valuable to me. </p>
<p>Yes, fraud, extortion, greed, and envy can corrupt these transactions; the love of money is “<a contents="a root of all kinds of evils;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.esv.org/1+Timothy+6/" target="_blank">a root of all kinds of evils;</a>” and not every market is a good market. But that’s not the whole story. “You should sell that!” is high praise for anyone’s product. The existence of buyers proves you can offer something worthwhile to the world. </p>
<p>It can be a great thing to do it for the money.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64476222020-10-02T07:14:17-04:002022-05-10T06:40:53-04:00A poem for autumn<p>Good poetry is always in season.<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/95549cfb9cf675fe8e2cd566979a5cbdea006fdf/original/summer-ends-now-now-barbarous-in-beauty-the-stooks-arise-around-up-above-what-wind-walks-what-lovely-behaviour-of-silk-sack-clouds-has-wilder-wilful-waviermeal-drift-moulded-ever-and-melted-across-skies-i-wa-2.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<h3>Hurrahing in Harvest</h3>
<p>Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the stooks arise <br> Around; up above, what wind-walks! what lovely behaviour <br> Of silk-sack clouds! has wilder, wilful-wavier <br>Meal-drift moulded ever and melted across skies? <br><br>I walk, I lift up, I lift up heart, eyes, <br> Down all that glory in the heavens to glean our Saviour; <br> And, éyes, heárt, what looks, what lips yet gave you a <br>Rapturous love’s greeting of realer, of rounder replies? <br><br>And the azurous hung hills are his world-wielding shoulder <br> Majestic—as a stallion stalwart, very-violet-sweet!—<br>These things, these things were here and but the beholder <br> Wanting; which two when they once meet, <br>The heart rears wings bold and bolder <br> And hurls for him, O half hurls earth for him off under his feet. </p>
<p><em>Gerard Manley Hopkins</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64417212020-09-25T06:35:28-04:002023-12-10T13:09:38-05:00That time a family started singing for fun<p>A few weeks ago I suggested <a contents="some ways to encourage a music-making culture" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/do-kids-learn-music-faster-than-adults" target="_blank">some ways to encourage a music-making culture</a> in the family. Around that time, daughter and I were in search of a new book to read out loud. I resorted to <a contents="this grade-by-grade reading list" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/summer-reading-grade-grade-recommended-reading-list-kids/" target="_blank">this grade-by-grade reading list</a> and settled on <em>The Story of the Trapp Family Singers</em> by Maria Augusta Trapp. The Trapp Family <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/373d9615453c06bfd0733ef129b3dbfcae712286/original/trapp-family-singers-1941.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Singers, as you likely know, were the real Austrian family that inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein’s <em>The Sound of Music</em>. </p>
<p>We were highly entertained. The original Maria had even more pluck and spunk than the Julie Andrews version, and her story-telling shows it. But I also noticed that the Trapp family story confirmed some of my hunches about what it takes to develop a home practice of music. </p>
<p>When Maria first came to work for the von Trapps, they lived in Salzburg, Austria. Now, Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and has a long, prestigious musical tradition. It’s only three hours from Vienna, historically a musical capital of the world and working home to many world-class composers, including Haydn, Beethoven, Verdi, Brahms, and Strauss. The von Trapps lived on fertile soil for music education. Indeed, the children had already had some training by the time Maria came. </p>
<p>But how did they become a family that sang together, eventually doing it well enough to become a touring act? </p>
<p><em>First</em>, they used music for recreation. They played volleyball, went mountain climbing, and sang—for hours and for fun. </p>
<p><em>Second</em>, they started with what they knew. When Maria first took up her guitar, she asked, “What songs do you know, children?” “’Silent Night,’” little Johanna stated truthfully.” (It was not Christmas time.) “The others giggled, but I had started already…. Then I put my guitar down and said: 'Now let’s think hard what other songs you remember.'” </p>
<p><em>Third</em>, they used organic opportunities to sing for the occasion. They sang Advent songs and Christmas carols when ’twas the season. When Maria safely delivered her first baby, she heard a chorus break out from downstairs of Bach’s “Now Thank We All Our God.” (This happened again with her third baby, startling the American doctor!) </p>
<p><em>Fourth</em>, they accepted instruction. When the von Trapps lost most of their wealth in a bank failure, they rented rooms to boarders as a source of income, even installing a chapel so they could host a priest and students of the Catholic University. One day a visiting priest named Father Franz Wasner heard them sing. “‘You really sang quite well this morning, but…’ and he explained in a few words several important things to us, and right then and there at the breakfast table, made us repeat a motet, conducting it from where he was sitting.” </p>
<p>Father Wasner was an accomplished musician and music enthusiast, and he remained with the family and elevated their singing into a serious class act, so that one day, as they were minding their own business, singing outside just for the fun of it, they were overheard by the famous soprano Lotte Lehman. “You simply have gold in your throats!” she gushed. “Tomorrow is the festival for group singing. You have to take part in that contest. You simply have to!” </p>
<p>And they did. They had no idea they were casting bread upon the waters. They had no idea their singing would be their ticket to refuge when the Nazis overtook their homeland. They were just singing for fun, beauty, and to be together. </p>
<hr><p><em>Post Scriptum </em></p>
<p>A shout-out to Benjamin Mallinak for his <a contents="Autumn playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5NZNrh7rNMBghmTiFAUDfc?si=NcsrLKd-TjGAwoVXs9wZhg" target="_blank">Autumn playlist</a>! Made my day to see the likes of “September” and “Murphy Farm” alongside Josh Garrels, Adam Young, and the Avett Brothers.</p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/5NZNrh7rNMBghmTiFAUDfc" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Photo: Trapp Family Singers-Metropolitan Music Bureau, New York. Photo by <a contents="Larry Gordon" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22747754" target="_blank">Larry Gordon</a>.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64367832020-09-18T06:54:36-04:002020-10-01T23:54:29-04:00"September" is now playing just about everywhere<p>A new single from Vandalia River released today wherever you listen to music. "September" is a work for piano and cello.<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://lnk.to/magiclight" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/7dd604b55c84f18143e7007a220a8310e59834f1/original/september.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></a></p>
<p><a contents='Listen to "September" on your preferred music service.' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ffm.to/magiclight" target="_blank">Listen to "September" on your preferred music service.</a></p>
<p>Nine years ago, we finally got a home big enough for a piano. It meant kicking the dining table out of the dining room, but we had a piano again. It was also a time of introducing the world to our toddler and, along the way, re-discovering it for ourselves. We went apple-picking for the first time. We made a color book of fallen leaves. We found poetry for the season. One such poem was “September” by John Updike: “The breezes taste / Of apple peel. / The air is full / Of smells to feel.” </p>
<p>That poem found its way into a simple melody on the piano. It only used three chords, but its thick resonance hooked us. This bit of music came out again every year with fast and slow variations, and sometimes Jacob would take a seat with his cello and work something out to go with the piano. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, our toddler became less littler by the minute. Autumn would come around again and find her in a bigger size of rubber boots, sailing walnut rind boats in the short-lived creeks of a gentle fall rain. </p>
<p>We love every season, but none cuts through the memories so sharply as the sensations of autumn—its crispness, its woodsmoke, its harvest. “September” became a perennial soundtrack for the sights, sounds, and smells of fall. </p>
<p>This year, it was time to share “September” with you. </p>
<p>This recording is a blend of old and new, organic and atmospheric. You hear the tones of the same piano that took over our dining room all those years ago. Today, it sits more comfortably in our living room, where it was recorded this summer. </p>
<p>Jay Arrington from <a contents="Greenbriar Studio" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.greenbriarrecordingstudio.com" target="_blank">Greenbriar Studio</a> played cello. I told Jay, “I want this song to be a soundtrack for the magic light of autumn.” Anyone who listens to the final record will know he got the point. The cello is magical. </p>
<p>Maryland-based mixing engineer <a contents="Daniel Busche" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.genesisrecordingmd.com" target="_blank">Daniel Busche</a> glued all the pieces together and enhanced the whole. Without a good mix, you can’t hear a good performance, much less a good song. Daniel made sure “September” shined.</p>
<p>It was a joy to see this domestic soundtrack come to fullness in the recording process. I hope you like it. </p>
<p><a contents="Here it is." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ffm.to/magiclight" target="_blank">Here it is.</a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64298382020-09-11T07:00:00-04:002020-10-20T06:11:58-04:00A two-year anniversary<p>This coming week marks two years since releasing <em>Heaven and Earth: Scripture Songs for the Old and New</em>. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/df4bdb8fc02e067b50b5418dc07086db390a02ce/original/a3131724261-2.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>This album was the catalyst for converting me from writer-dabbler to writer-producer. Why? Because it was made for </p>
<p>1. A specific group of people <br>2. with a clear objective <br>3. and deadlines. </p>
<p>The songs were written to meet an ordinary, local objective: give the kids in church a singable, enjoyable way to remember truths of Scripture during Sunday children's ministry. Each song had a deadline, well defined lyrics, and specific audience — all great ingredients for well cooked music. </p>
<p>I loved the fact that these songs were put to use right away serving a group of very real families, recording or no recording. But I believed that the songs could benefit a larger audience, so even though I didn’t have a budget for a pro studio or promotion, I started where I was and tried to record the songs myself. </p>
<p>Late in the process Derryck and Kellan came along and doubled the album quality. But, the final mixes were still based on an amateur recording process. Production shortcomings show well enough that it wouldn’t have made sense to use a promotional budget even if there had been one. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it’s been very rewarding to know friends and family have repeatedly used the music in their own homes. And it’s heartwarming whenever complete strangers download, stream, and save it. Perhaps most gratifying of all: my own daughter, who obligingly sang on the album and heard these songs more than anyone besides myself, still likes them. Honestly, I wasn’t counting on it! </p>
<p>According to Spotify, the most-streamed track is “A New Commandment (Children’s Version).” </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="8zHwo20arCA" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/8zHwo20arCA/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8zHwo20arCA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>The most-saved track is “This Is Love.” </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="fIRD6gBtU3U" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/fIRD6gBtU3U/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fIRD6gBtU3U?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>One of my top favorites is one of the least streamed! I think I can tell why. The intro is too long and tinny and the vocal performance is wanting. But as a composition I think it’s one of the strongest songs. I especially love the surprising chorus harmony that begins at 1:34. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Lee7zrfK5yY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Lee7zrfK5yY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lee7zrfK5yY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I have to give a special mention to “Children and Fathers.” It’s an instance where an uplifting melody and gifted voice (thank you, Kellan) serves the heart of Scripture, helping us feel that God’s commandments aren’t mundane and burdensome, but life-giving. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="r80yJUWzvSc" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/r80yJUWzvSc/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r80yJUWzvSc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In closing, I have to say thank you. Some of you have been following this Vandalia thing ever since these Scripture songs were released. Thank you. The words on the original Bandcamp album site still apply, so I'll end this post with them:</p>
<p><em>Thank you to KELLAN GASH for elevating tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 9 with your voice. I could not have produced this album without you. </em></p>
<p><em>Thank you to MEG for encouraging other kids to jump in by lending your voice on the children's versions of tracks 1, 2, 5, and 7. </em></p>
<p><em>Thank you to DERRYCK BIRT for sharing your mixing expertise. I believe your contribution doubled the quality of this production. </em></p>
<p><em>Thank you to JACOB for admiring the fireflies. Thank you for being, ever always, my best friend. </em></p>
<p><em>Thank you to the families of Frederick, Maryland, for helping me write these songs in the first place. They are dedicated to you.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>P.S. All these songs can still be downloaded <a contents="here on the website" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/1139904/heaven-and-earth-scripture-songs-for-the-old-and-new" target="_blank">here on the website</a> or streamed on the regular music platforms.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64247322020-09-04T07:50:29-04:002020-09-04T07:50:29-04:00A new soundtrack for autumn<p><a contents="" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/7dd604b55c84f18143e7007a220a8310e59834f1/original/september.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p>Last year at a house concert in Akron, Ohio, I said that I hoped Vandalia River would produce more than just piano music. </p>
<p>I’m so pleased now to announce “September,” a new work for piano and cello. </p>
<p>I wish I could tell you about it in person, so I did the next “best” thing. Yes, a video! </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="upVazM8Q8wg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/upVazM8Q8wg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/upVazM8Q8wg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>“September” will be released everywhere online September 18, just in time for the fall equinox. </p>
<p>But you can hear and get it early—today—at the <a contents="Vandalia River homepage" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">Vandalia River homepage</a>.</p>
<p>This piece has literally been a soundtrack in our house for years. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have. </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64190082020-08-28T07:33:58-04:002020-08-28T07:41:24-04:00I'll take a piece of everything.<p>I had a keyboard synthesizer in high school with an onboard multitracker so I could layer recorded sounds. It was pretty sweet technology in its day. In college I told another composition student about it. </p>
<p>“Don’t use it,” he urged. </p>
<p>Don’t use that toy, was the idea, because you’ll think less like a composer. You’ll get caught up in trendy cut-and-paste patterns and write shallow music. </p>
<p>I sympathize with that observation, but I’m reluctant to accept fixed dichotomies in the music-making process. Sometimes we speak of popular music as being here while classical music is there. Commercial music on the one hand, artistic music on the other hand. Pen-and-paper note drawing versus digital track layering. Certainly there are gradations of quality in music just as there are in other art forms, but I don’t think one can paint bold strokes between styles and methods to separate the keepers from the rejects. </p>
<p>Something can be appreciated in most genres and trends. Popular music has long inspired classical works. Classical technique elevates the performance of popular music. Electronic looping beats make people smile. Even Christian radio is refreshing after listening to melancholy Christian indie. </p>
<p>Technology like that found in my old keyboard is bread-and-butter today (a Mac user can get it just by downloading GarageBand). Digital recording is standard, and electronic music in particular is flourishing. </p>
<p>I’ll take it all or, at least, a piece of everything. </p>
<p>Moreover, for someone like me with certain limitations, today’s digital tools simply make it possible to develop music to share with you. That’s why I just picked up a mini MIDI controller. I can’t keep a keyboard set up for long in my small house, so when I want to work on an idea before the kids are awake, this little guy makes it easier. </p>
<p>Plus my eleven-year-old can lay a beat to “Picnic on the Seine.” (Slide 3)</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEbmAcFAjLf/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;">
<div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div>
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div>
<div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEbmAcFAjLf/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke="none" stroke-width="1"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;"><div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEbmAcFAjLf/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div>
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div>
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div>
<div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div>
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div>
<div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div>
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div>
</div>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEbmAcFAjLf/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by R. Hall (@vandaliariver)</a> on <time datetime="2020-08-28T11:22:39+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Aug 28, 2020 at 4:22am PDT</time></p>
</div></blockquote><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64142002020-08-21T06:51:13-04:002020-08-21T09:23:44-04:00The right place at the right time<p>Last Friday afternoon, I posted these words on Facebook: <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/362006bd358b6196fc476b8a3362e18151049a97/original/img-20200714-163753762-hdr.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p><em>Get thy tools ready, <br>God will find the work. </em></p>
<p><em>- Browning </em></p>
<p><em>The mind of man plans his way, <br>But the Lord directs his steps. </em></p>
<p><em>- Proverbs 16:9 </em></p>
<p><em>Writing, recording, and trying to keep it all in perspective. </em></p>
<p>Later that hour, I was clearing my son’s airway as he worked through his umpteenth episode of pneumonia. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had been in the wrong room of the house for just five minutes that day. The square fact presented itself that one’s hour can come anytime, whether well or ill, young or old. </p>
<p>I had been thinking anyway about last year—how happy I was that we did certain things in 2019, because we can’t do them now in 2020. </p>
<p>Well, covid or no covid, life still changes. Opportunities change or disappear altogether. Now is the time to live. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the chance to make the most of our opportunities. </p>
<p>This exhortation can feel like a stressful kick in the pants to do something dramatic. But don’t most of our opportunities arise in the day-to-day of an average life? I want to live in such a way that faithfulness fills the ordinary moments. I want the routines of a normal day to coalesce into a beautiful picture, in which I’m in the right place at the right time for the people in my life. Sometimes the right place is as simple as the same room as my son on a quiet afternoon, so I can hear and see when he needs help.</p>
<p>My failures in this regard have taught me to be grateful, very grateful for the grace of God, whose mercies are new each morning. </p>
<p>Last week’s fright snapped some things into focus. A busy school year is about to start for our family, calling for a change in workflow. One small change is that I’ll stop taking the extra step of e-mailing the new post every week to subscribers (my site platform has no automated blog alert option yet). I might send a periodic digest instead. If you like reading each week, just visit the website or add the blog to your RSS feed. </p>
<p><em>Get thy tools ready, <br>God will find the work. </em></p>
<p><em>- Browning </em></p>
<p><em>The mind of man plans his way, <br>But the Lord directs his steps. </em></p>
<p><em>- Proverbs 16:9 </em></p>
<p><em>Writing, recording, and trying to keep it all in perspective.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">George Eliot, <i>Middlemarch</i></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64085792020-08-14T07:00:00-04:002020-08-15T08:15:15-04:00Do kids learn music faster than adults?<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/83c7e413cb26e6643b0301fc0b87e06e94a09468/original/rukma-pratista-qej8x-erxlg-unsplash.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>“I’ve heard that kids learn music faster than adults,” said one of my adult students. My own observations from teaching piano are the contrary.* Adults quickly catch on to concepts that grade schoolers take years to mount. </p>
<p>But the kids do have an important advantage: they're better at enjoying music. As soon as they’ve got a recognizable melody under their pointer finger they’re playing it for you, for Grandma, for themselves. It’s about sharing more than impressing, recreating more than accomplishing. </p>
<p>Adults, who don't prefer beginner melodies and hate feeling awkward, tend to give up before getting to music that feels rewarding. </p>
<p>So while any age is a good age to start learning, ages 5-10 make a good window to tap into that eagerness to play.</p>
<p>Since kids love recreating what they've learned, it's important to give them stuff they can recreate <em>now </em>and not over rely on drills and difficulty. My daughter's youth chorus director was a master at leveraging this pedagogical angle. He said something like, "Kids can learn anything if you make it a game." So, yes, he was precise with their solfege singing and pronunciation and posture - but peppered throughout the lesson were singing games and rote imitation so they could not just learn music, but make music. Parents were called in to listen to them sing what they had just practiced; no silly wait-until-the-recital tradition. In this way, by semester's end that group of ordinary 3rd-8th graders could perform a chorale motet arranged by Michael Praetorious. In German. </p>
<p>In light of all that, I offer these suggestions to consider if you want to prioritize music education. </p>
<ul> <li>Treat music like you would sports. Very few student athletes go pro, but many get proficient enough to enjoy tossing the ball around even as adults. Music is meant to be social, so aim for a music education that gives your kids enough skill to do music for or with others. <br> </li> <li>Look for organic opportunities for them to share what they’re learning--not to get the spotlight, but to serve the occasion. Some of my students have played a Christmas carol at a family gathering or learned a hymn for Thanksgiving Day. <br> </li> <li>Prioritize lessons. I have homeschooling families in mind here: affording lessons is often a challenge, and some fall back on just studying music literature and history. But that's not <em>doing </em>music. Good instruction by a practitioner is irreplaceable.<br> </li> <li>If you can’t pay for lessons, get instruments in the house. When my brother got a new guitar, he let me play his old one before he sold it. In a few weeks I won myself callused hands and enough open chords to play along with many songs and write some of my own. <br> </li> <li>If you can’t pay for lessons (and, if you can!), sing with your kids. Singing makes anyone an instant practitioner. Don’t get hung up on what to sing. Start with what you know and like, and they’ll like it, too (if they’re young enough).</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><em>*By the way, I don't mean to oversell my expertise. I have a college certificate in piano pedagogy and several years of teaching experience.</em></p>
<p><em>Photo: <a contents="Rukma Pratista" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://unsplash.com/@rukmapratista?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank">Rukma Pratista</a></em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/64042922020-08-07T07:40:27-04:002020-08-07T07:40:27-04:00On liking music<p><em>One way or another, it's back to school month. And one way or another, it's back to music studies for many families. So you'll see a couple posts this month with thoughts on music education. Here's the first serving, something I posted a long time ago about music appreciation.</em></p>
<hr><p>I think about the music I liked between the ages of 11 and 14. It was hard to discern then if I liked something cause it was trendy or if I liked it for itself. Here's what I think now as a practitioner, teacher, and consumer of this wonderful art.</p>
<p><strong>1) Music is art, so it should be appreciated like art. </strong></p>
<p>We should learn to appreciate the skill and discovery inherent in excellent music. As in poetry or paintings, the excellence of music might not cling quickly to the listener. Learning to appreciate excellent music will take time, but once we can, we will be empowered to tap into the centuries of music that has gone before us.</p>
<p><strong>2) Music is expression, so we shouldn't be snobby about it.</strong></p>
<p>A distinction is made between serious music (which includes classical) and folk music. By folk, I don't mean the narrow indy category people usually mean. I mean, "the people's music," from nursery songs to hymns to Top 40. Folk music is not as fully composed and ultimately not as brilliant as the serious stuff, but we identify with it more readily. We share it by singing it, playing it on the guitar, dancing to it, giving it to a friend. It's essential to the human experience, and we don't need to shun it. There's van Gogh and da Vinci - but it's okay to beautify the house with chalk art. There's Keats and Donne - but it's okay to quote a moralistic couplet to your kid. And there's Bach and Beethoven - but it's okay to like simpler music that's just good fun.</p>
<p><strong>3) We should recognize the spiritual power of music when it includes words. </strong></p>
<p>Art is skill infused by the expression of one's soul, and that is clearest when art uses words. The word is charged with truth value. We shouldn't lightly listen to lyrical music. Perhaps this relates to why listening to Christian music <a contents="is a surprising indicator " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ericgeiger.com/2017/10/research-reveals-the-5-biggest-influencers-on-your-childs-spiritual-health/" target="_blank">is a surprising indicator </a>of whether an adolescent will profess faith as an adult.</p>
<p><strong>4) We should like music because we like it. </strong></p>
<p>Keeping in mind that some music takes time to appreciate, we still shouldn't kid ourselves about our tastes. I don't know how many times, as a young'n, I listened to certain albums just because they were there and they were popular. Now I see that I only liked one or two songs on many of those records. But there were other albums I listened to again and again and again because I loved them.</p>
<p>Between the ages of 10 and 12 my most loved albums were <em>Take Me to Your Leader</em> by the Newsboys and Switchfoot's <em>The Legend of Chin. </em>I don't listen to the Newsboys or Switchfoot's newest albums today, but the energy in their early music resonated with the energy I felt. It was good for my musical development to soak it in.</p>
<p>I played "Breakfast" by the Newsboys for a piano recital at age, oh, eleven? Yeah, I was the brunette in the pink floral dress pounding away power chords and octaves for the <strike>captivated</strike> captive audience. The chorus used a 3-against-2 rhythmic pattern that wasn't going to show up in my John Thompson piano course anytime soon. Internalizing the syncopated rhythm and chord progression helped make me a bolder musician. I didn't know that at the time - I just loved banging on the song.</p>
<p>Today I am picky about what I listen to. I could give some reasons why, but in the end I'd basically be saying, "I don't like the music because I don't like it." You might like it, and that's all right.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63982412020-07-31T07:33:01-04:002020-10-09T02:35:24-04:00In defense of Glo - and different tastes<p>I’ve made peace with the fact that a divergence in taste is rarely a cosmic injustice. </p>
<p>It took me some time. I remember being in a chat circle as a young teenager not long after Switchfoot released their second album. “Every song on that album is good!” I said ecstatically. </p>
<p>A guy in the circle who had never spoken to me before simply looked across and said, “No.” </p>
<p>I’m still a little stunned. Not just because he disagreed. He disagreed with authority. He didn’t say, “Wasn’t my thing.” He said, “No.” </p>
<p>By and large, however, as mystifying as our different likes can be, I’ve learned to accept them. <em>It's. O. Kay.</em> So I was in a healthy frame of mind when I scanned <a contents="Josh Balogh’s 100 Greatest Christian Albums of the 00s" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/jfhblog/template_permalink.asp?id=819" target="_blank">Josh Balogh’s 100 Greatest Christian Albums of the 00s</a>. </p>
<p>One hundred is a big number. To have listened to so many albums that, after discarding the disappointments, you can still recommend a hundred is impressive. It’s an investment of time, attention, and, in the early 2000s, money. Even though I knew my own preferences wouldn’t match his rankings, I admired the mere fact that Josh and others at <a contents="Jesus Freak Hideout" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/about.asp" target="_blank">Jesus Freak Hideout</a> give so much thought to what Christian artists produce. Hard work and bravery go into every record. </p>
<p>Still, there was one title I wondered about. Many of my friends missed it when it came out. But surely there was room in the hundred for this special record to be remembered. </p>
<p>It wasn’t there. </p>
<p>“Nice list!” I commented. “Had you heard the Glo album by Delirious?” </p>
<p>Before Hillsong United and Passion came around, Delirious? was one of the few young touring bands cutting overt worship albums. (The second time I saw them in concert some dude named Chris Tomlin opened for them.) But they had a lackluster praise band sound that didn’t win much loyalty from my friends, so most of them stopped paying attention.</p>
<p>Shortly before boarding a flight to Brazil, I got their 2000 release <em>Glo</em> for the trip. </p>
<p>I tell you. <em>Glo</em> was the perfect soundtrack for a girl’s first overnight flight. It’s an immersive, ethereal, worshipful album experience that pairs perfectly with the 30,000 foot view of city lights and continental coastlines and the closest, broadest, most brilliant view of the sunrise a typical worldling can get. I looped it over and over on my Sony Discman, with the Pop EQ setting for maximum bass. </p>
<p>We rarely have a great context for hearing new music. We’re distracted, or the sound system is poor, or it doesn’t fit the mood. I had the perfect context to hear <em>Glo</em> for the first time, and it's no wonder it won me over. But, I really do think it was a great album for the decade. Would have made my top ten for sure. </p>
<p>Sadly, I can’t even think of nine other Christian albums from the 2000s to finish the top ten. Too many changes in life, taste, and motivation were going on to pay much attention. Not at all to say there weren't that many good ones - certainly there were. They just didn't reach me. </p>
<p>So I wondered what you would say? What are your favorites from that decade? The only authority you need is your own taste.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>P.S. I am enjoying the new album from <a contents="Mission House" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.mission-house.com" target="_blank">Mission House</a>!</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63906972020-07-24T07:04:07-04:002020-11-05T06:24:02-05:00From sunlight to song<p>We drove home from Nutter’s Ice Cream in an unforgettable evening light. Daughter exclaimed at the frozen explosion in the west, issuing a red-pink brilliance so thick it seemed like the sun had literally rested on that corner of Jefferson County. I looked at it and the lush, midsummer fields it lit and decided humanity was very rich in visual beauty. Almost all over the inhabited world, something called a sunset happens every day. Just its light, along with that of its sister sunrise, has a good chance of stunning any onlooker even in the plainest landscape. </p>
<p>Beautiful sights are replete in wild nature. Beautiful taste and smell are harvested in its vegetation. You could even say beautiful touch can be found in a clear swimming hole, a bed of moss, or the cool of the shade. </p>
<p>When my mind turned to beautiful sound, however, something new came upon the scene, and I smiled at the picture. People. The wood thrush and nightingale call out only fleeting clues to glorious sound. Because what would such sound be other than music? And you can’t have music without Man.</p>
<p>“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy,” said the English poet, but the very first poet disagreed. He saw wild nature and its wonderful creatures and still felt something was missing. Then he saw one like himself for the first time, Woman, and burst into verse, the first quoted man-made sounds in Scripture (<a contents="Gen. 2:23" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.esv.org/Genesis+2/" target="_blank">Gen. 2:23</a>). I don’t know how tuneful this first instance of poetry was, but I think it is accepted as closely related to song.</p>
<p>To this day music continues to be inspired and originated by people. We figured out long ago, of course, how to extract pitches and rhythms from elements of the earth, but we only need a multiplicity of human voices to get melodies, rhythms, and the full range of harmonic depth.</p>
<p>On this earth, to find music, we must find Man. I wonder if that must be closely related to the fact that to find song, we must find the Word.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p><em>Thank you to artist Maneli Jamal for including "Virginius Island" in your playlist. </em></p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/user/manelijamal/playlist/2Hp0uFEm1VB8G41PhkfA7D" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/7c1e6f3c00d01f6f8ea54cc47b1aeb736cb7e180/original/ab67706c0000da84b63d7dd45907ebb46c301a6e.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>And thank you, Riccardo Pietri, for doing the same!</em></p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/user/richipietrii/playlist/0lwoQBMoEOfHU7gMJPMyPa" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/9b026e46880bd44ee8d83ce19236a78b25ac9f70/original/ab67706c0000da84f96f965fb7a0783d06200420.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></a></p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63862872020-07-17T07:53:35-04:002020-12-03T04:52:14-05:00"Let Them Fall in Love" by Cece Winans<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/934433d742ea69ef65e5e4c67860fa35e6a8ab3e/original/r-9758561-1531734678-9174-jpeg.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I was three years late to the party. Fortunately, the music’s still going on.</p>
<p><em>Let Them Fall in Love</em> (2017) was Cece Winans’s first full length studio album in ten years. Her career as a gospel singer had been long established, of course, with eight Grammy awards and induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. But the last time I had personally noticed her work was childhood, when the CD changer in my family’s living room cycled through the records she made with her brother Bebe Winans. </p>
<p>So when Andrew Osenga said this recent release was “easily” his favorite album from the last five years, it was time to hear it for myself. </p>
<p>Before I heard it twice I had already told five other people about it. </p>
<p>Musically, it’s something of a throwback album; the descriptor “Motown” is all over other reviews. But as others have observed, it synthesizes some diverse strands: besides the retro Motown feel, there’s gospel Pentecostalism and even a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s country staple, “Why Me?”* </p>
<p>Altogether the record is an upbeat, robust departure from the smoother, breathier sound Cece is known for. After years of listening to a good deal of indie pop-alternative music, I was reminded that Cece’s vocal skill is simply in a class of its own. </p>
<p>But that observation comes after reflection. The first thing that struck me about the album was not her voice or the arrangements. It was the lyric. The words went straight to my heart. And I think it was because the words, though capable of summoning many kinds of people, were words for a church kid like me. That’s because they were mostly written by a church kid--Cece’s son, Alvin Love III. </p>
<p>Alvin grew up embedded in church life, yet after college he felt the need to discover himself apart from his family and faith. He went to the farthest English-speaking city he could think of—from Nashville to Melbourne, Australia—where his folks didn’t know anybody who could hook him into church meetings. </p>
<p>But Melbourne wasn’t too far for the Spirit, and in a Melbourne church on his first morning in Australia his heart was revived to the Lord. He carried that revival back to Nashville and in a short period of time wrote the songs now on this album. He’s told the story many times, but I heard it only recently on Andrew Osenga’s Pivot podcast. </p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf3Yn9BK7b/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;">
<div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div>
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div>
<div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf3Yn9BK7b/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke="none" stroke-width="1"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;"><div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf3Yn9BK7b/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div>
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div>
<div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div>
<div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div>
<div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div>
<div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf3Yn9BK7b/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Alvin Love is a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer, a co-founder and pastor of Nashville Life Church, and an all around pretty incredible guy. This was honestly one of the most fun and exciting conversations I’ve had in a long time. I first really heard of Alvin because of a record that he wrote and produced for his mother, legendary gospel artist CeCe Winans. The album is called “Let Them Fall In Love” and it’s easily my favorite record of the last five years. We started working together a few years ago when his church’s worship band, Nashville Life Music, signed to Integrity Music. Once I got to know Alvin and his church community I learned that what I love in all that music is simply a natural outpouring of what has been going on at the church. And as you’ll hear, ALL of that began with this incredible story of Alvin’s. This is one of my favorite episodes ever.</a></p>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andrewosenga/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Andrew Osenga</a> (@andrewosenga) on <time datetime="2020-06-16T13:37:17+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Jun 16, 2020 at 6:37am PDT</time></p>
</div></blockquote><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<p> </p>
<p>The first track is my personal favorite: “He’s Never Failed Me Yet.” </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="vgKZGalfgy8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/vgKZGalfgy8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vgKZGalfgy8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><em>When I was a child, I did childish things <br>My life was church and all it brings <br>I'd always hear the old folks sing <br>"He's never failed me yet!" … </em></p>
<p><em>With years of life came test and trial <br>And nights when tears replaced the smile <br>Though God was right there all the while <br>My soul was not at rest <br>But I lived to tell that I made it through <br>So instead of singing 'bout the blues <br>I bring you news to encourage you <br>He's never failed me yet </em></p>
<p>I want to expand on how these words fit me as a church kid. But it’s almost 7:30 a.m., my son is awake, and I’ve run out of time to write an autobiography. I’ll just highlight a few more songs. Then you just need to listen to the whole thing yourself. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MT-bFu91zbY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/MT-bFu91zbY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MT-bFu91zbY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>"Run to Him"</p>
<p><em>I heard of His name in stories <br>And Sunday song </em></p>
<p><em>But </em></p>
<p><em>My image of Him was distant <br>My image was wrong <br>Turns out he's much closer <br>And oh so deep <br>My faith in Him so much bolder <br>My direction is clear </em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Epb-f3TFUXs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Epb-f3TFUXs/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Epb-f3TFUXs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>"Lowly"</p>
<p><em>Lay down yourself young man <br>Let out some air oh won't you boy <br>God's got your blessing <br>But you got to come down to get it </em></p>
<p><em>The high is for the lowly ...</em></p>
<p><em>Unless you come as a little child <br>You'll never see his face <br>His favor goes to the meek and mild <br>For them he's made a place </em></p>
<p><em>So consider today the best one <br>For the truth has met your ear <br>If you want to be a blessed one <br>The word has made it clear </em></p>
<p>Finally, the title cut, “Let Them Fall in Love.” Let <em>who</em> fall in love? </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="qQ1KIw583CI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/qQ1KIw583CI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQ1KIw583CI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><em>If they can't see <br>How will they turn <br>If they can't hear <br>How will they learn <br>Touch their eyes <br>Bless their lives <br>Hear this prayer <br>Hear my cry </em></p>
<p><em>Father let them fall in love with you <br>Please forgive them too <br>For they know not what they do <br>Let them fall in love with you </em></p>
<p>The heart of this song is beautiful. It’s an earnest plea from love for friends and neighbors to know the living God. This longing can be a hard one for church kids. We can feel rational pressure to share the gospel; we mentally understand its importance; but we can get over focused on how weird we already are. To close the album with this wonderful prayer is a wonderful reset. </p>
<p>If you haven't heard this record before, I hope it blesses at least a few of you.</p>
<p><a contents="Listen on Spotify" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/38jktl2c8ZRqyKDV25XgNt?si=lcs2UXSCRf6isZLdXbwGJg" target="_blank">Listen on Spotify</a></p>
<p><a contents="Listen on Apple/iTunes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/let-them-fall-in-love/1168821004" target="_blank">Listen on Apple/iTunes</a></p>
<p><a contents="Listen on YouTube" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kvC8ipcVUf8t5jYs9kLYgNN1deWSKNPFg" target="_blank">Listen on YouTube</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>*Cece’s cover reminded my dad of his dropped-out-of-college-running-from-God days. He first heard “Why Me?” in that time of life on a diner jukebox. He would play it every time he went there.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63818212020-07-10T08:24:34-04:002023-12-10T13:09:10-05:00"My theory was first to reach every heart by simple, stirring music."<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.loc.gov/item/sousa.200031378/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/863ce20c77c149e8ad667f8dace9875f0c1d0bbb/original/sousaatlantic.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p>John Philip Sousa was enormously successful, and it’s not just because of the quality of his music. He understood how to deliver music to people where they already were. </p>
<p><strong>1. He wrote and conducted for a medium that reached a lot of people. </strong>As a student, Sousa was electrified by light opera. But though he did write several operettas, his career embraced a production type that was much more familiar to the average American town: the brass band. According to Tom Spain, “Most citizens received their first, and in many cases, only exposure to the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, and Verdi from a town band or a touring concert band.” </p>
<p><strong>2. His music joined a conversation his listeners were already having.</strong> Many of his works are branded with self-explanatory names that Americans could immediately relate to. A march called <em>The Washington Post</em> - another one, <em>Boy Scouts of America</em> - a tone poem called <em>The Chariot Race</em> for when <em>Ben-Hur</em> was popular. His performance programs always used popular tunes, too. “The audience at big out-door concerts is composed largely of the masses,” he said <a contents="in an interview" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152753/" target="_blank">in an interview</a>. “They don't care for what some folks are pleased to call classical music.... I have always believed in playing airs that I found everybody likes."</p>
<p><strong>3. But he used what was familiar as a bridge to a more elevated style.</strong> His highly disciplined band performed far more powerfully than a typical local band. The wind section of the band was more prominent, too, and altogether the Sousa Band approximated the sophistication of an orchestra. His programs intertwined great classical works with the popular tunes. </p>
<p><strong>4. He literally brought his music to people on a large scale with live performances.</strong> He didn’t just rely on local bands and newspaper critics to get his music. He showed them how it could be done with his own tours, for many years moving his sixty-piece band in trains all over America and Europe. He led something like 15,000 performances in his lifetime. </p>
<p>Discussions of art sometimes incline toward self-expression. But someone who wants their output to impact the world should consider how the world is positioned to receive it. What speaks to people? How can listeners most easily access what the artist has to give? These questions don’t aim at selling out on “good art” for the sake of commercialism. Rather, they’re meant to encourage artists to understand and serve their listeners, like Sousa did.</p>
<hr><p><strong><em>A few Sousa quotes</em></strong></p>
<p>"<a contents="Tunes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152753/" target="_blank">Tunes</a>--real tunes, good honest tunes--that is what the public demands, and with absolute right."</p>
<p>“My theory was first to reach every heart by simple, stirring music; secondly, to lift the unmusical mind to a still higher form of musical art. This was my mission. The point was to move all America, while busied in its various pursuits, by the power of direct and simple music. I wanted to make music for the people, a music to be grasped at once.” </p>
<p>“No man need get the ‘big head’ over success attained. He is not responsible for all of it, for the Almighty and the world are partners in the success of every man. My warning always is, ‘Beware of the Big Head.’” </p>
<p>“My years in Washington had taught me that if you wish to see the President, see his wife first.” </p>
<p>“Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds. The average music-lover hears only the production under prevailing conditions.” </p>
<p>“To a great extent I have my parents to thank for my success and achievements, for they unlike many parents humored my boyish ambitions and helped me to take for a life profession that which I longed for as a kid.” </p>
<p>After the failure of an early operetta: “I went to my hotel disillusioned and disconsolate. I examined myself and could only see that I was a colossal failure as a composer, as a dramatist, and as a man. I buried my head in the pillow. If ever a man berated himself as the smallest and most insignificant specimen of the human race, I did that night.” </p>
<p>"The <a contents="greatest thing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="ttps://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152753/" target="_blank">greatest thing</a> and the most beautiful thing about this great American nation is its home life.”</p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63747072020-07-03T08:21:09-04:002020-07-04T19:49:14-04:00Victims of their own success<p>Daughter and I have listened to a bunch of <a contents="Classics for Kids" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.classicsforkids.com" target="_blank">Classics for Kids</a> episodes. I almost skipped the series on John Philip Sousa, though, because he is a victim of his own success. </p>
<p>Music has many such victims. You know you’re one of them if your composition ends up in a <em>Looney Tunes</em> episode. (This happened to Rossini, Wagner, and Liszt.) </p>
<p>And you know you’re one of them if pop culture puts some pointless words about ducks to your most famous composition. That’s what happened to Sousa and his “Stars and Stripes Forever.” </p>
<p><em>Be kind to your web-footed friends, <br>For a duck may be somebody's mother. <br>Be kind to your friends in the swamp, <br>Where the weather is very, very damp, <br>Now you may think that this is the end, <br>Well it is! </em></p>
<p>So I wasn’t in the mood for Sousa’s blaring brass which, by my lifetime, seemed overplayed. I listened anyway - and learned that Sousa was much more than blaring brass.</p>
<p>John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) knew from childhood he was music-bound. His dad knew it, too, although a difference of opinion arose when he discovered his son’s secret plan to join the circus. Dad reacted by enlisting him, at age thirteen, in the United States Marines as a band apprentice. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/d2c12cd1602e70874cbc936078e2b5641ed1ebce/original/sousa1.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The Marine Band did not have the sterling reputation it has today. That’s because it would take Sousa to give it that reputation. He became its leader and improved its discipline, literature, and performance quality and turned it into a touring group. Over his lifetime, Sousa would conduct the President’s Own Band for five U.S. presidents and tour with his own sixty-piece Sousa Band across the world. Altogether he led something like 14,000 public performances. </p>
<p>Sousa is considered to be America’s first hitmaker and internationally renowned composer. The man never struggled for a new theme. He published 136 marches and well over a hundred other types of works. </p>
<p>His biggest hit arose from a poignant moment. He had been vacationing in Europe - 1896 spring-loaded Europe, when the British Empire oversaw a quarter of the world, a kaiser ruled Prussia, and Russia had a czar. Trench warfare, NATO, and the European Union all lay in the pitch black future. After traveling between various European flags, Sousa learned that his manager had suddenly died back home, so he boarded a ship to New York. </p>
<p>“Here came one of the most vivid incidents of my career,” Sousa writes in his autobiography, <em>Marching Along:</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>As the vessel steamed out of the harbor I was pacing the deck, absorbed in thoughts of my manager’s death and the many duties and decisions which awaited me in New York. Suddenly, I began to sense the rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain. I kept on ceaselessly, playing, playing, playing. Throughout the whole tense voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes, echoing and re-echoing the most distinct melody…. When we reached shore, I set down the measures that my brain-band had been playing for me, and not a note of it has ever been changed.</em></p>
<p>That theme became his number one march and, 101 years later, recognized by Congress as America’s National March: “The Stars and Stripe Forever.” </p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2003juv02775/?sp=43" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/d1aeb9f090f176b6e6072d2afac856ac11431682/original/1896-flag.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p>You’ve heard parts of this march a million times. But have you heard it all, all together? The soaring opening strain? The way the North, South and West are represented respectively by the main theme, piccolo flute, and brass section? </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="XH5erXg6lH8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/XH5erXg6lH8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XH5erXg6lH8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This march honors the American flag. And the fact that Sousa wrote it is totally fitting. Sousa began music lessons the very same year a war broke out that threatened to tear eleven stars off that banner. In his autobiography, he writes that Washington, D.C., the place of his upbringing, was “in those Civil War days, an armed camp, and there were bands galore. Strange is the boy who doesn’t love a band!” Sousa’s attachment to band music began in the context of preserving what became the subject of his biggest hit. </p>
<p>When that war erupted, the Stars and Stripes stood for unity. And despite all the wrong bound up in northern attitudes, the record is clear that it stood for freedom, too. </p>
<p>That cloth has a poisoned reputation for many today. So much could be said, and 99.99999% won’t be said here. As a Christian, I firmly believe my citizenship is in heaven, and no earthly nation can be expected to be ultimately anything but a province of Babylon. But, dissertations could be written on the peculiar expression of good, justice, and freedom here in the United States. And, I think G. K. Chesterton makes <a contents="a reasonable point" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2018/07/chesterton-on-the-virtue-of-patriotism/" target="_blank">a reasonable point</a> that loving all humanity starts with loving those who are near to you - your own family, your own country.</p>
<p>Not with a blind love; not with a love-at-all-costs; but with a love that can labor for and celebrate the good in your land. </p>
<p>That’s why tomorrow the Hall house will eat fried chicken and cherries jubilee and shoot whatever firecrackers we’re able to buy later today. I just might foist a Sousa march on the family, too. </p>
<p>Regardless, we’re eating Sousa’s favorite meal tonight: spaghetti and meatballs. </p>
<p>Here's the recipe, which was originally printed in the <em>Chicago Herald </em>on July 23, 1916 (I don’t have access to the original archive, but this recipe has appeared in print and online; the following is copied from <a contents="a&nbsp;Facebook page" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fjohnphilipsousa%2Fposts%2F3797108540362237&width=500&hc_location=ufi" target="_blank">a Facebook page</a>).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Sauce: One quart can of tomatoes. Put in kettle on top of stove, simmer or let boil slowly for one and a half hours. Add pepper, salt, two onions cut in fine slices, four allspice and four cloves. The cloves and allspice to be added after it starts to boil. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>After two and a half hours add the meatballs. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Pelotas (meat balls): Two pounds chopped beef; add one onion, chopped fine, two cups bread crumbs, a little parsley, salt and pepper. Make into meat balls about the size of a plum. Put into sauce and cook slowly one and one-half hours. This makes fully three hours’ slow boiling for the sauce. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>To sauce, add three bay leaves one hour before taking off the stove. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Spaghetti: Use a package or a pound of spaghetti; not macaroni. Have a large pot of boiling water with about one tablespoonful of salt. Slide the spaghetti into the water. Do not break it. Boil exactly twenty minutes. Must be tender, not tough nor doughy. </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Serve spaghetti on large platter, pouring tomato sauce over it. Serve pelotas on smaller platter, allowing a small quantity of sauce to remain on them. Serve grated Parmesan cheese on side. Use a piece of cheese to grate, not bottled cheese. </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>And per Hall family tradition: Cherries Jubilee </p>
<p>2 C fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted <br>3/4 C water <br>3 T sugar <br>1 T cornstarch <br>1/3 C brandy <br>Vanilla ice cream </p>
<p>Cook cherries in water and sugar for 5-10 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1 T cool water, then stir into the cherries and cook a couple more minutes. Gently heat the brandy, pour over the cherries, and light with a match. Pour flaming cherries over the ice cream.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63509272020-06-12T07:59:26-04:002023-12-10T13:08:24-05:00Routine is magic<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/system/13ac143a2996f72e1da007b28c7b7375ed804e7e/original/xu2wyjek5ai.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Routine is magic. When daughter first started piano lessons, practice happened when Mama said so, and when Mama said so, daughter’s shoulders slumped and her inward being released a plaintive groan to heaven. </p>
<p>But when practice happened after schoolwork and before free play, Mama didn’t need to say so. After a couple days of this routine, the girl went straight to the piano herself and got it done with nary a sigh. </p>
<p>Now that it’s summertime with little-to-no schoolwork to anchor her day, practice must find some new spot in the morning routine or else it won’t happen. </p>
<p>I find as a teacher that it’s effective to have routine within the practice, too. It doesn’t do to send them home with a vague “work on this” mandate, especially when they’re younger. For example, start with the warm-up; flow into the rote piece; practice reading pieces x times; a couple pages in your theory book if applicable. Of course it varies, but I believe the predictable structure helps students not feel lost, while the varying content keeps things interesting. (Readers who are parents of students, I can’t be a fly on your wall, so let me know if you’d disagree!) </p>
<p>Children have an amazing attachment to routine, and more broadly, tradition. If you put out the ugly snow globe at Christmastime when she’s four, she will ask to put it out again when she’s five. </p>
<p>Moral: choose your snow globes wisely. </p>
<p>Actually, the real moral is teachers and parents can use this trait to pass on what’s important. If you start a tradition of singing in the house when they’re young - say, a Christmas carol on Christmas Eve - they won’t be so embarrassed to sing when they’re fourteen. </p>
<p>Along these lines, if a student is floundering in music study, one factor might be what they’re playing. Children like tradition because it repeats something they know. Are they playing any pieces they know and like? I have a hunch that at least half of the boys I knew growing up who quit piano quit not because they didn’t like the instrument but because they didn’t relate to the music in their dated method books. If they don’t have a routine for practice, being assigned cool music won’t magically change that, but they will feel more rewarded once they do become consistent. </p>
<p>Two successful piano methods - <em>Piano Adventures</em> and <em>Piano Safari</em> - have the strength of including familiar tunes. Violinist Mark O’Connor created a <a contents="string method" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.oconnormethod.com/About-Us.html" target="_blank">string method</a> that relies greatly on its literature, starting beginners on simplified versions of timeless melodies so they can re-create the good, familiar stuff right away.</p>
<p>Routine and tradition are powerful pedagogical tools that throw light on another aspect of learning: the miracle of incrementalism. We haltingly begin a new craft and get dizzy when looking at what the experts do. It seems too far away. But the mountaintop metaphor, though simple, is not simplistic: step by step, you get there. No matter how tangled the notes look or how awkward the fingering feels at first, the minuscule gains each day seem suddenly to resolve in a creditable performance. And a little bit every day goes farther than a lot every now and then. </p>
<p>Routine, tradition, incrementalism. These concepts help me as a teacher be patient with what can feel like spoon-feeding. Each lesson brings very little that’s new to the student. But as long as what is covered contributes to the long-term objectives, and as long as the student is going step-by-step in his own practice routine, the student will very soon play enjoyable music and reach his own mountaintop.</p>
<hr><p><em>Speaking of routine, I’m breaking it. The blog is going on vacation - see you in a couple weeks! </em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63432052020-06-05T07:10:39-04:002020-06-05T11:58:01-04:00"Let us cheer the weary traveller"<p><i>Today's post comes from a superior writer, who published these words in 1903. To hear the music of the notation, listen to the audio file at the end.</i></p>
<hr><p>They that walked in darkness sang songs in the olden days—Sorrow Songs—for they were weary at heart…. Ever since I was a child these songs have stirred me strangely. They came out of the South unknown to me, one by one, and yet at once I knew them as of me and of mine. Then in after years when I came to Nashville I saw the great temple builded of these songs towering over the pale city. To me Jubilee Hall seemed ever made of the songs themselves, and its bricks were red with the blood and dust of toil. Out of them rose for me morning, noon, and night, bursts of wonderful melody, full of the voices of my brothers and sisters, full of the voices of the past. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WTN_EVula_187.jpg" title="EVula / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/WTN_EVula_187.jpg/256px-WTN_EVula_187.jpg" class="size_orig justify_center border_" alt="WTN EVula 187" width="256" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Jubilee Hall at Fisk University,<br>whose construction was funded by <br>a European tour of the <a contents="Jubilee Singers" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.fisk.edu/about/history/" target="_blank">Jubilee Singers</a></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">… </p>
<p>The songs are indeed the siftings of centuries; the music is far more ancient than the words, and in it we can trace here and there signs of development. My grandfather’s grandmother was seized by an evil Dutch trader two centuries ago; and coming to the valleys of the Hudson and Housatonic, black, little, and lithe, she shivered and shrank in the harsh north winds, looked longingly at the hills, and often crooned a heathen melody to the child between her knees, thus: </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/d7c73a245f15bfdc7e57e064c7b797055161288a/original/do-bana.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The child sang it to his children and they to their children’s children, and so two hundred years it has travelled down to us and we sing it to our children, knowing as little as our fathers what its words may mean, but knowing well the meaning of its music. </p>
<p>This was primitive African music; it may be seen in larger form in the strange chant which heralds “The Coming of John’: </p>
<p>“You may bury me in the East, </p>
<p>You may bury me in the West, </p>
<p>But I’ll hear the trumpet sound in that morning,” </p>
<p>—the voice of exile. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">… </p>
<p>In these songs, I have said, the slave spoke to the world. Such a message is naturally veiled and half articulate. Words and music have lost each other and new and cant phrases of a dimly understood theology have displaced the older sentiment. Once in a while we catch a strange word of an unknown tongue, as the “Mighty Myo,” which figures as a river of death; more often slight words or mere doggerel are joined to music of singular sweetness. Purely secular songs are few in number, partly because many of them were turned into hymns by a change of words, partly because the frolics were seldom heard by the stranger, and the music less often caught. Of nearly all the songs, however, the music is distinctly sorrowful. The ten master songs I have mentioned tell in word and music of trouble and exile, of strife and hiding; they grope toward some unseen power and sigh for rest in the End. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">…</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/660af99a3cdeb313db7b99be1cb26aaf9f18ce8a/original/soul.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">…</p>
<p>Through all the sorrow of the Sorrow Songs there breathes a hope—a faith in the ultimate justice of things. The minor cadences of despair change often to triumph and calm confidence. Sometimes it is faith in life, sometimes a faith in death, sometimes assurance of boundless justice in some fair world beyond. But whichever it is, the meaning is always clear: that sometime, somewhere, men will judge men by their souls and not by their skins. Is such a hope justified? Do the Sorrow Songs sing true? </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">…</p>
<p>Even so is the hope that sang in the songs of my fathers well sung. If somewhere in this whirl and chaos of things there dwells Eternal Good, pitiful yet masterful, then anon in His good time America shall rend the Veil and the prisoned shall go free. Free, free as the sunshine trickling down the morning into these high windows of mine, free as yonder fresh young voices welling up to me from the caverns of brick and mortar below—swelling with song, instinct with life, tremulous treble and darkening bass. My children, my little children, are singing to the sunshine, and thus they sing: </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/5bcb1f60395f0f7ba15e49215aae958a00869f5e/original/weary-traveler.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>And the traveller girds himself, and sets his face toward the Morning, and goes his way.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">W. E. B. Du Bois<br><a contents="The Souls of Black Folk" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm?fbclid=IwAR08RI0zSkHCN_8E9MdXHnkBqZtF-HEJbwAktL2YSu5ZU8dKOPSR1EILK48#chap14" target="_blank"><em>The Souls of Black Folk</em></a><br>(excerpts from chapter 14)</p>0:51Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63349012020-05-29T14:11:27-04:002020-07-16T01:06:27-04:00Soundtrack of a yesteryear (May 31)<p>Songs have a way of becoming mementos for persons, places, events, and feelings. The weekend of May 31 is a special one for me. Let me use two songs to tell you why.</p>
<p>Years ago, he and I were eager to get married. But after six months of dating, he could see - ironically, better than I could - that I was not eager to marry <em>him</em>. Six months of hope and mounting anxiety fizzled out in an early morning Starbucks conversation when we realized it was time to give it up. But during that conversation, he was full of peace, despite the fact that he still felt I was the only one for him. </p>
<p>On the drive back to campus he turned up a song that explained this peace. It was from the first album of a band called Telecast. </p>
<p><em>I just need You <br>Til You're all I can see <br>You're the Lord of Lords <br>And the King of kings <br>And Jesus, You're all this heart needs </em></p>
<p><em>I hear the rain and the thunder <br>And in it hear Your voice <br>Crying out to me <br>"Come to Me you who are weary <br>And I will give you rest <br>I will set you free" </em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="njoFX4FYbBE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/njoFX4FYbBE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/njoFX4FYbBE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>This song represented his new prayer. It became mine, too. The lesson cut hard and deep, but we learned that when we grasped at our ideal of life, no matter how golden it looked, we languished. When we surrendered it to the Lord, we fell back on a much better ideal - and peace to boot. </p>
<p>That better ideal is summed up in an anecdote that impressed me in high school. A poor solitary woman looks in her pantry and sees only a dry crust of bread. “What?” she says. “All this and Christ besides?” </p>
<p>This story, in all its simplicity, rings true. Knowing Christ is everything, and an abundance beyond measure! </p>
<p>For years a dominating theme in my church circles was suffering. The lessons were profound, and I’ve learned a lot about weeping, for myself and with those who weep. But I wonder if some of us, including myself, have been so focused on what we’ve lost that we forget what we have gained. </p>
<p>We have gained Christ.</p>
<p>I don’t just mean the future presence of Christ, when all things are made new. That is the crown, most certainly. But we have gained peace with God <em>now</em> (Rom. 5:1). We are delivered from the domain of darkness <em>now</em> (Col. 1:13). We have his word <em>now</em> - we have more Bibles than people in our house! I have a new life in Christ <em>now</em>, not the vicious one I would have pursued apart from his intervention. Oh, I’m so glad! </p>
<p>And that brings me to the second song. The joy of what we have gained in Christ is expressed in the words of this well known hymn:</p>
<p><em>And can it be that I should gain <br>An int'rest in the Savior's blood? <br>Died He for me, who caused His pain? <br>For me, who Him to death pursued? <br>Amazing love! how can it be <br>That Thou, my God, should die for me? </em></p>
<p>And this is the song we sang at my wedding, my wedding with the guy who had broken up with me. Four months after calling things off, we found ourselves together again and very much in love. Having learned to walk by faith and surrender our dearest hopes to God, we were truly free to receive marriage as a gift, not an entitlement, reward, or wise calculation. </p>
<p>That day was twelve years ago this Sunday. In the years since, life has dealt its unpredictable blows. We know there are more to come. Sometimes the idea of them is paralyzing. I’m so grateful for the experience my husband and I had of giving each other up; I think of it and remember that Christ is enough in loss. I think of it and remember how he is behind our story. He finishes what he starts. And, I think of that song and remember all that we have gained - and all the good that awaits us. </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63254912020-05-22T06:59:29-04:002020-07-11T03:45:27-04:00Music is about communication<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/524c0e2d6b97c3209ec01a3b2da52002c551f96f/original/josh-appel-yotoihdwpqo-unsplash.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>“Giving a speech isn’t like performing a musical instrument; it doesn’t have to be perfect.” </p>
<p>I heard this in my college speech class, and it didn’t sit right. I had been to musical performances that hadn’t been perfect, but they were still successful. </p>
<p>That’s when I decided that music actually is very much like speech. Music is not about perfection; it’s about communication. It's about conveying some kind of impression, some strand of beauty, to the hearer. Now, a perfect performance is perfectly communicated, but a flawed one can still convey something worthwhile to its listeners. </p>
<p>A corollary of this idea has to do with writing new music. There have been and continue to be brilliant composers. What could anyone not counted in that number have to offer to the world? </p>
<p>Well, music is not just about brilliance; it’s also about sharing. Yes, there are amazingly skillful musicians in the world, but they can’t personally share their interpretations with my friends in my living room. Ninety-nine percent won’t even come to my county. There is a strong poetic undercurrent to composing and songwriting that can only flow from local experience. Crafting from that experience, the best creators will get international acclaim - but the more modest ones can at least bless their neighbors. </p>
<p>It’s not humility to keep artistic skill to yourself when you’re just afraid you won’t look as good as the best. Even a modest skill can bring something life-enriching to others. </p>
<p>Pursue perfection - dig for brilliance - but don’t be afraid to share along the way.</p>
<hr><p><strong><em>Post Scriptum</em></strong></p>
<p>Thank you to Igor Longhi for including "Virginius Island" <a contents="on your playlist!" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3df3qmBm3p9yc6MKVesR3B?si=7Z5DA_oYT9OrnsXnuk2V7A" target="_blank">on your playlist!</a></p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3df3qmBm3p9yc6MKVesR3B?si=7Z5DA_oYT9OrnsXnuk2V7A" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/94adc76a8572131a277aa8209e5d629dab4007af/original/ab67706c0000da84d9e055dc286c2f7df2e05994.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Photo by <a contents="Josh Appel" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://unsplash.com/@joshappel?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank">Josh Appel</a> on Unsplash</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63174062020-05-15T12:06:03-04:002020-05-21T19:27:34-04:00Bless the limitations<p><em>The Spirit of Jefferson and Farmer's Advocate</em> <a contents="published a story" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.spiritofjefferson.com/news/article_694526c4-9526-11ea-b188-b3e35c744364.html" target="_blank">published a story</a> this week about the <em>Battlescapes</em> project. Reading it was like opening a time capsule; I had been interviewed for it four months ago. Already since then, I’ve mentally moved on from <em>Battlescapes</em>. Numerous musical concepts have been picked up only to be put down again due to logistical limitations. And those limitations have been discouraging. </p>
<p>While some of those limitations can change, the ones that seem most frustrating are circumstances that don’t change. But I have those limitations because of more important priorities, and if I'm honest, taking those priorities away would also extinguish much creative inspiration. The tension and dynamism of real life fuel art. <em>Battlescapes</em> would not exist if a limiting medical situation hadn’t pushed my family to move here or pushed my husband to start running. Then there are numerous unreleased songs that wouldn’t exist without the literature I encountered during my daughter’s education. </p>
<p>This is a time many musicians can’t do anything but write, but I’d be surprised if I was the only one who has felt a creative malaise as the schedule has flattened. Art is fueled by living and often steered by routine. It’s an uphill climb to retain those things right now. </p>
<p>As disappointment was mounting with what Vandalia River has produced to date, re-reading the story behind <em>Battlescapes </em>and the original vision for Vandalia River helped me remember that Vandalia River is a net to catch the music that arises from life and loving people.</p>
<p>How freeing that is. </p>
<hr><p>P.S. <a contents="Josh Garrels released a new album" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://joshgarrels.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">Josh Garrels released a new album</a> today that I've really enjoyed so far. </p>
<p>And a shout-out to William in Argentina for <a contents='including "Schoolhouse Ridge" in his playlist' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7Kq3Qd9fT7Eo8aI6C4Zco3?si=2YmjOB0bR--R5dN7C53Lxw" target="_blank">including "Schoolhouse Ridge" in his playlist</a>! It's an inspirational collection of well known classics and lesser known newer works. </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63088682020-05-08T06:51:31-04:002020-10-09T03:08:39-04:00On Mother's Day<p><i>This post is a little off topic for this blog, but since it's apropos to the weekend, here goes.</i></p>
<p>Mother’s Day must be awkward for some pastors. Always falling on Sunday, it begs to be acknowledged, but how should a church recognize mothers while being sensitive to those who can’t be mothers or whose family ties are broken? </p>
<p>While my bleacher seat opinion is that churches don’t need to fuss about it, it’s okay to spotlight the role. But it’s also okay to zoom out and admire how women, very generally speaking, make such better mothers than men - even quite apart from pregnancy and childbirth. </p>
<p>There are a million directions this topic could go with varying degrees of tact, so I’ll keep it simple. </p>
<p>Women naturally stay by their people. No, not always, and not always well. But this is a tendency easily observed. In a boys-versus-girls grade-school game of Capture the Flag, the girls cluster in a social circle while the boys spread and dash to win. Give the kids a jump rope, and the boys will go for repetitions while the girls invent group singing games. Men rove, mentally if not physically, after their objectives. Women stay, because they see the people they’re with as the objective. </p>
<p>We see this in the biblical narrative, too - as an observation, not necessarily a prescription. There’s Rizpah, who stays night and day by her sons till she gets help to bury them (2 Samuel 21). There are the two Marys and Salome, who return to Jesus’s tomb as soon as they can to honor the body of one they loved. (<em>They were rewarded with good news. Understatement.</em>) </p>
<p>Despite the cruel order of Pharaoh, Moses’s mother keeps her newborn son. Then, when finally forced to part, she can’t simply lay him in the reeds - she makes a little house for him, a protective basket, probably comfortable, too. </p>
<p>His sister is standing by, and in her I see just about every older sister I’ve ever met. Of course she’s around, watching. Of course she follows her mom. Of course she stays in sight of her brother when her mother must withdraw. </p>
<p>Then who comes along and has compassion on the baby? Not a man, as in the legend of Sargon, nor a wolf, as in the legend of Romulus and Remus, but more believably another woman, the daughter of Pharaoh. Moses’s sister steps into action and volunteers to find a nurse (his mom) so Pharaoh’s daughter can raise him. </p>
<p>Moses has only one biological mother, but God uses the female inclinations of all three women to preserve his life and heritage. </p>
<p>The lines fall for us in different places. Each woman has a different lot when it comes to motherhood. On Mother’s Day, I remember that all women really do have a life-giving part to play in this world, no matter whether they bear children. </p>
<p>I heard a sermon years ago that explicated this idea well. Afterward, every female in church from the youngest tot to the oldest woman received a rose (or was it a carnation?). I loved seeing the young girls take hold of the flower, an emblem of their innate beauty and the beautiful role they were just beginning to play. </p>
<p>That image became the genesis of this sonnet. I’ll leave you with it now. Happy Mother’s Day. </p>
<hr><p>On Mother's Day, a rose in hand was laid <br>For her whose years were fewer but by one <br>Than all the fingers round the rose that played. <br>At once she saw not rose but reed, and sun; <br>And water at her feet and water on <br>The cheeks of one whose arms let go a form, <br>Which, patched with pitch and weave, did hold her son, <br>Whose breath and arms still moved with skin still warm. <br>The mother hid and could not look, but fled. <br>The girl stood by and saw another hand <br>Outreach to calm the crying boy. She said, <br>"His nurse I'll find if he returns to land." <br>Among the reeds moved impulse womanly. <br>There was not only one mother, but three.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/63011632020-05-01T07:48:58-04:002020-05-01T13:17:42-04:00There were hits before radio<p>Hit songs are hits for a reason. There’s a combination of catchiness, uniqueness, and lyricism that wins so much loyalty that the song becomes self-propelling. </p>
<p>The very idea of a hit song seems to begin with radio and vinyl records, but is that so? The narrative of a <a contents="nineteenth-century midwestern family" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22212838-pioneer-girl" target="_blank">nineteenth-century midwestern family</a> tells how they sang and played music for recreation - you know, the old songs, such as “Sweet By and By” and “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning” and “John Brown’s Body.” </p>
<p>Except - I noticed for the first time several of these songs weren’t very old to <em>them</em>. Some were written within ten or fifteen years before the date of the account. One of them, "Old Stebbins On The North-Western Line," was made up and sung around by the very railroaders they worked with. “John Brown’s Body” was an evolution of the Civil War, which must have felt quite fresh even in 1880. Like today, there was an eagerness for new tunes to popularize - new hits, if you will - while the hits of yesteryear ("Oh, Susanna," "Old Dan Tucker," "Arkansas Traveler") stayed in circulation. </p>
<p>Had my daughter’s youth chorus group been able to perform last Wednesday, they would have delivered the original version of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer. <a contents="Published in 1908 by the York Music Company" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200153239/" target="_blank">Published in 1908 by the York Music Company</a>, “The Sensational Base Ball Song” became one of the "most easily recognized songs in America," just trailing "Happy Birthday" and the national anthem. The inside and back pages convey advertisements for more music from the publisher. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/48aaafe9ab1285c9ee72762e0604e8410c4766f7/original/ballgamepage3.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/3535d410c16ff5f619182ba639d1f52d31d63e3b/original/ballgameback.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>This artifact shows us the music business hard at work prior to the proliferation of recorded music. We also see that back then people wanted new music, yet it must be familiar, too. They wanted music that was relevant to their shared experiences (in this case, baseball!). Technology has changed our consumption of music, but not what we want from it. </p>
<p>In the days before Billboard charts and vinyl singles, what made these songs popular? What made them last? This could stand a good bit of research, but I have a couple hunches. </p>
<p>First and not surprisingly, they were strong songs. They were catchy. They were lyrically relevant to their listeners. It’s been observed, too, that prior to the era of ubiquitous records, publishers would rely on producing music that the average piano-playing mom or the average singing teenager could learn. The songs were not just reproducible data, they were re-creatable performances. </p>
<p>Which leads me to my second hunch. Because these songs had to be shared by physically performing them, they could leave a much deeper impression on their listeners. Music was shared as a norm. Today, many of us tuck ourselves away with our private headset and personally edited playlists. As a result we have a very fractured music literature. Other than the short hooks of some big hits, the average group of Americans would be hard-pressed to find more than a few songs everyone could sing together. </p>
<p>One big exception is church-goers. This was plainest to me at my alma mater, a Christian college with regular chapel meetings. There were mixed opinions about chapel and chapel music, but it didn’t keep the room from resounding with singing voices. One student introduced an original song that was carried on for years after he left; the context, origin, and accumulated memories behind the song made it stick. A steady group would gather in stairwells just to sing together, mostly from memory as I recall, and all songs of worship.</p>
<p>Outside of church music, I wonder if today’s popular songs will be remembered a century from now. I don’t think they will, at least not as well as we remember numbers from the nineteenth century. Not because they’re not great songs, but because they’re not reaching as deeply and widely into our human experience.</p>
<p>But, perhaps you have a different perspective. I haven’t been around that long and have been as guilty of staying in my tiny music niche as any other. Let me know what you think.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62921302020-04-24T06:13:15-04:002020-06-30T02:24:22-04:00"All this time, I've been underneath Paris?"<p>A couple moments from Pixar’s <em>Ratatouille</em> are unforgettable. The first is when Remy, the foodie rat, emerges from the sewer system and beholds the city lights of Paris. </p>
<p>“Paris?” he says. “All this time, I’ve been underneath Paris?” </p>
<p>The other moment is when the skeptical food critic finally tastes the best of Remy’s restaurant. It is a refinement of actual ratatouille, a common peasant dish. But rather than turn up his nose, the food critic is transported back to his own modest childhood, to a modest table with a modest dish served by his loving mother. His heart melts at the memory. </p>
<p>In each instance, the plain is a portal to the profound. </p>
<p>They say if you want to write, live a life worth writing about. To me, a well-behaved midwesterner growing up in normal times, this was disheartening news. It seemed living an orderly life would be at odds with living an interesting one. </p>
<p>But now I know that’s true only if your eyes are closed. The plain can be a portal to the profound. Or, to use <a contents="G. K. Chesterton" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.chesterton.org/quotations/essential-chesterton/" target="_blank">G. K. Chesterton</a>’s less fanciful words, “There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.”</p>
<p>Take Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of her stories inspired the title of a <a contents="new lyric piano piece" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/2315617/the-chinook-is-blowing" target="_blank">new lyric piano piece</a>. But, honestly speaking, I was a little bashful about naming her. “The Little House books” can sound quaint, sentimental, and juvenile. When I got them for the first time as an adult, I expected to see quaint and juvenile qualities in the prose that I didn’t notice as a child. </p>
<p>But on the contrary, her writing style held up impressively. While remaining child-appropriate, it reflects the plain, laconic culture she grew up in as well as her own aversion to sentimentality. She excels at showing, not telling, and her concrete language, unlike the prose of other girlbook writers such as Louisa May Alcott and L. M. Montgomery, is closer to Hemingway than Dickens. (Ironically, I think this literary quality had a bit to do with the recent wave of criticism against Laura Ingalls Wilder - but that is another topic for another day.) </p>
<p>On the face of it, she had a dull life: bound to the midwest, law-abiding, marrying young, staying married, unglamorously farming. While free-thinking, she did not challenge cultural norms and wasn’t the first woman to do anything. </p>
<p>But she paid attention to life and remembered it. Her attention to farming and societal issues (and, always, extra sources of income) led her to contribute articles <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/1b28a46d6a16cb943a15ed3800600534e3beddba/original/liwtablets.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="Photo: South Dakota State Historical Society Press" />to the <em>Missouri Ruralist</em> for several years. (A fascinating collection of these articles is published in <a contents="Little House in the Ozarks" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17579.Little_House_in_the_Ozarks" target="_blank"><em>Little House in the Ozarks</em></a>, ed. Stephen Hines.) This prepared her for her greatest work: threading her real life into a fictionalized narrative to make the past live for today’s children. </p>
<p>It’s true her daughter was instrumental to the publishing deal, but the stories are Laura’s. The life was Laura’s. Her quiet life culminated into a stack of cheap tablet notebooks written in a humble farmhouse. Those notebooks turned into Harper & Brothers hardcovers, won Newberry Honor awards, and remain some of the best children’s literature at the library.</p>
<p>I believe aspiring writers and artists have plenty of fodder for the imagination no matter their life circumstances, as long as they live fully in them. We won't all have the same output or opportunities, but if our eyes stay open, the lights of Paris might get brighter. </p>
<hr><p><em>For further reading</em></p>
<p>Jonathan Rogers has an insightful <a contents="weekly e-mail and blog" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thehabit.co" target="_blank">weekly e-mail and blog</a> for folks who want to write. He provides so many great quotables, I stopped sharing them because it was starting to look creepy. </p>
<p><a contents="Pioneer Girl: The&nbsp;Annotated Biography," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.pamelasmithhill.com/pioneergirl" target="_blank">Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography,</a> by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited Pamela Smith Hill (2014). Before Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her children's books, she wrote a true-to-memory draft of her autobiography. The editor's extensive research adds to, corrects, and confirms her account.</p>
<p>And by the way, Laura Ingalls Wilder might have been born <a contents="the same year as Scott Joplin" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blog/blog/let-them-not-sing-alone" target="_blank">the same year as Scott Joplin</a>. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Photo: South Dakota State Historical Society Press</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62840862020-04-17T06:26:37-04:002020-10-12T07:05:35-04:00A new piano solo is out today!<p>“The Chinook Is Blowing” is possibly the best produced piano solo from Vandalia River. It's in the lyric piano tradition, wordlessly evoking a scene from nature and literature. With a percussive motive and gentle but soaring arpeggios, it paints the death of winter, the coming of spring, and the moment you know your hope is not in vain. </p>
<p>UPDATE 4/23/20: <em>Due to an unexpected distribution error, this single will be temporarily removed from digital music platforms. It can still be streamed and downloaded <a contents="here at the website" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/2315617/the-chinook-is-blowing" target="_blank">here at the website</a>. </em></p>
<p>Now, even if you love the piece, there’s not much you can do with one piece by itself, is there? You might enjoy hearing it in the <a contents="American Foliage playlist on Spotify" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0?si=NeXhy2ToTzGQ2xs_Hd8edw" target="_blank">American Foliage playlist on Spotify</a>, which has been updated and refreshed for warmer weather. Plaintive, dancing, and beautiful, this mostly instrumental mix favors the strains of Appalachia while including fresh interpretations from current composers.</p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0?si=NeXhy2ToTzGQ2xs_Hd8edw" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/139804cf99d52e38b8c2b3f07e971835518e5f69/original/american-foliage-spring.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p>I’d love to hear any tracks <em>you</em> would suggest for this playlist.</p>
<p>One last thing. There is so much music in the world, it can be costly to put new music where people can hear about it. If you listen to the new single and like it enough to tell others about it, please let me know. Folks who share the news <em>today</em> will be entered into a drawing for a <em>Battlescapes</em> CD. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/163572319901add8c7dceb6e978319de7c2b83eb/original/screen-shot-2019-12-05-at-6-15-14-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.png" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I miss how easy it used to be to give the gift of music with physical CDs. The <em>Battlescapes</em> CD was designed to be a special souvenir of historic Harpers Ferry, and it did not disappoint. </p>
<p>That’s all for now. Thanks so much for following along!</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62770522020-04-10T07:06:11-04:002021-02-02T05:04:54-05:00Poetry for such a weekend<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/124f789d6779d559406f7b9f0575071b42240cb7/original/kazi-faiz-ahmed-jeem-hxxncjtjj1g-unsplash.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>This morning's soundtrack consisted of highway noise, a stirring son, and the call of our neighbor's rooster. If you've lived near a rooster, you know he doesn't just crow once to tell you the sun is rising. He crows to tell you he's awake, and then he crows to tell you he's still awake, and he pretty much keeps crowing until he falls asleep again at dusk. </p>
<p>With his call sounding off, the darkness of the morning still thick, and the sleep still in my eyes, Matthew 26 became easy to imagine. Weary Peter, trying so hard to stay by his betrayed rabbi, lashing out suddenly in complete denial of him who was called the Christ - and the rooster crows. And keeps crowing. And keeps crowing. I wonder if he was able to get away from the sound. I wonder if each crow felt like a punch to the stomach. </p>
<p>Today there are <a contents="more chickens in the world than any other bird" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken" target="_blank">more chickens in the world than any other bird</a>. Most cultures can easily understand what Jesus means when he warns Peter about the rooster crowing.</p>
<p>But there's another bird in the Bible that <a contents="has also become worldwide" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_sparrow" target="_blank">has also become worldwide</a>: the sparrow. And of these birds, Jesus says, "Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father" (Matt. 10:29). Not even Peter. </p>
<p>Let's leave the rooster with his rough, indicting song and move to some English poetry. </p>
<p>The first two poems here are devotional poems with tightly constructed forms. The final one is more loosey-goosey; and some readers aware of its popularity in the 80s and 90s will possibly feel a bit sentimental about it.</p>
<p>I love the first one because it recounts the bitterness and depth of Good Friday. I love the second one because of its musical metaphor. I love the third one because it PREACHES. </p>
<p><strong>Good Friday</strong></p>
<p><em>by Christina Rossetti</em></p>
<p> <br>Am I a stone and not a sheep <br> That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross, <br> To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss, <br>And yet not weep? <br> <br>Not so those women loved <br> Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; <br> Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; <br>Not so the thief was moved; <br> <br>Not so the Sun and Moon <br> Which hid their faces in a starless sky, <br>A horror of great darkness at broad noon— <br> I, only I. <br> <br>Yet give not o’er, <br> But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock; <br>Greater than Moses, turn and look once more <br> And smite a rock.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Easter</strong> (excerpt)</p>
<p><em>by George Herbert</em></p>
<p>Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise <br>Without delays, <br>Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise <br>With him mayst rise: <br>That, as his death calcined thee to dust, <br>His life may make thee gold, and much more just. </p>
<p>Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part <br>With all thy art. <br>The cross taught all wood to resound his name, <br>Who bore the same. <br>His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key <br>Is best to celebrate this most high day. </p>
<p>Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song <br>Pleasant and long: <br>Or since all music is but three parts vied <br>And multiplied; <br>O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part, <br>And make up our defects with his sweet art.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Easter Song</strong></p>
<p><em>by Anne Herring</em></p>
<p>Hear the bells ringing <br>They're singing, that you can be born again <br>Hear the bells ringing <br>They're singing, "Christ is risen from the dead!" <br>The angel up on the tombstone <br>Said, "He has risen, just as He said <br>Quickly now, go tell His disciples <br>That Jesus Christ is no longer dead!" </p>
<p><br>Joy to the world <br>He has risen, hallelujah <br>He's risen, hallelujah <br>He's risen, hallelujah <br>Hallelujah </p>
<p><br>Hear the bells ringing <br>They're singing, that you can be healed right now <br>Hear the bells ringing <br>They're singing, "Christ, He will reveal it now" <br>The angels, they all surround us <br>And they are ministering Jesus's power <br>Quickly now, reach out and receive it <br>For this could be your glorious hour</p>
<p><em>Keith Green delivers Anne Herring's "Easter Song" (song begins at 1:40)</em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Z3kc1jDahU4" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Z3kc1jDahU4/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z3kc1jDahU4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@djkazi8?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=photographer-credit&utm_content=creditBadge" rel="noopener noreferrer" style='background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px' target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Kazi Faiz Ahmed Jeem"><span style='background-color: black; color: white; text-decoration: none; padding: 2px 3px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px;'><svg style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewbox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title></title>
<path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style='background-color: black; color: white; text-decoration: none; padding: 2px 3px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px;'>Kazi Faiz Ahmed Jeem</span></a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62692512020-04-03T06:43:14-04:002023-12-10T13:09:58-05:00New music is coming from Vandalia River!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/c791b4616890b3a8f265f6b78e18de72e22bf4d1/original/spring-bluebells.jpeg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I have a new piano solo for you.</p>
<p>There is a moment in late winter when the wind brings warmth, and you know that this time the weather isn’t teasing. The trees are still skeletal, but the new grass glows beneath. The cold is still bitter, but it beats retreat. </p>
<p>In <em>The Long Winter</em> by Laura Ingalls Wilder, back-to-back blizzards force settlers in a South Dakota town to stay mostly housebound from October to April. School is closed, company is scarce, and supplies are scarcer. After months of being shut in with a small fire in an uninsulated house, Laura wakes one night to the sound of wind - and another sound she cannot recognize. When she realizes it is water dripping as the snow melts, she jumps out of bed and cries, “The Chinook is blowing!” </p>
<p>Her father teases her later. “Waking us all from a sound sleep to tell us the wind was blowing! As if the wind hadn’t blown for months!” </p>
<p>“I said the Chinook,” Laura replies. “That makes all the difference.” </p>
<p>This is the moment the new single from Vandalia River is about. But it’s not just about the weather. It’s about the moment you know your hope is not in vain. </p>
<p>It’s about the moment the miles are behind you and the finish line in sight - the moment the paper is turned in and you know it’s good - the moment the family van pauses at Grandmother’s gate after 15 hours on the road - the moment the baby is born but she’s not in your arms yet - the moment the groom sees the bride but the vows must still be said. The fatigue is still in your bones, but the sight of rest comforts your heart. </p>
<p>Many of us are longing for a moment like that to come. </p>
<p>At least we’re no longer waiting for spring. At least it is here now, with all its light and bloom to cheer us along our course. </p>
<p>“The Chinook Is Blowing” is possibly the most refined piano piece Vandalia River has produced. It is less Americana and a little more ornate than <a contents="Battlescapes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/1191727/battlescapes" target="_blank"><em>Battlescapes</em></a>. </p>
<p><strong><em>And it’s coming soon.</em></strong></p>
<p>Stay tuned for more details.</p>
<p>Spotify listeners: <a contents="follow Vandalia River" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/1aCN6iVRAwsoqFgLtHosvO?si=C5mQL5e3QSaR3IYbPMWFtA" target="_blank">follow Vandalia River</a> so the new single can appear in your Release Radar.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62635042020-03-27T06:19:35-04:002020-04-14T06:30:31-04:00Turning thunder into song<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/f32853494da19f0b3b2ef2d38470addde3dfc4eb/original/neven-krcmarek-3mowt2jyupg-unsplash.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>My father surprised me one night by telling me he liked thunder. I didn't like thunder. Thunder made me feel like unseen powers were about to crush my bedroom between their hands. Thunder made me rise and go to my dad and quietly say, "I'm scared." He came to sit with me for a few minutes while it passed. That's when he told me he liked thunder. He liked feeling its awesomeness, its greatness. </p>
<p>Then he told me something else unexpected. "I find it helps when I'm scared to worship God." </p>
<p>I took the tip to heart. Later when alone and scared before falling asleep, I turned to my favorite church song at the time ("God Is My Redeemer") and found the strategy worked. </p>
<p>Years afterward I scared the sleep out of a kid I was babysitting by telling him the plot of <em>The Hobbit</em>. When he called for comfort, I gave him the same advice my dad gave me, and we sang something. It helped. He still remembers that. (Well, at least his sister remembers it, which I guess is not the same thing.) </p>
<p>I don't mean to suggest this idea as a mere self-help trick, or that worship just means singing. Fast forward thirteen or so years. Now I had a toddler asleep upstairs and a baby napping across the room when I heard a rumble - then felt a rumble - then saw a rumble shake the picture frames and rattle the whole house. It was unmistakably an earthquake, but I had terrible earthquake sense. Two kids on two floors, whom do I grab? What do I do? Is it really over? Where the heck is my phone? </p>
<p>I crossed the street to my neighbor Candace to hear her confirm, yes, that was an earthquake. I went into her house to see the news for a minute. Then I asked her to pray because I was scared more tremors would happen. She opened her mouth in prayer, but it was not a prayer of asking. It was a prayer of worship. She acknowledged God's authority, God's control, and God's might. By the time she was done I was thinking, "Yeah! That's right! Bring on the earthquake!" </p>
<p>My fear disappeared like a shadow at noontime as I remembered who God was. Remembering who God was gave me faith, not that he would prevent bad situations, but that he would be sovereign over them and willing to empower me to respond to them. </p>
<p>The act of worshiping the Lord can often feel like a step in the dark. We might not feel like doing it. We might even think that, to worship properly, we should wait until we <em>do</em> feel like it! But no matter what’s happening, God deserves the praise, and we benefit by giving it. Donald Whitney devotes a chapter to the discipline of worship in his <em><a contents="Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/spiritual-disciplines-for-the-christian-life-don-j-i-packer-whitney-9781615216178?variant=9997155893295" target="_blank">Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life</a>.</em> Calling anything a discipline might seem to take the life out of it - but - it makes sense that worship should be an intentional practice and not left to moments of spontaneity. </p>
<p>If you don't know where to start, choose one true song as your go-to, open your mouth, and sing it out loud. (I often turn to songs learned in childhood, because I still remember them, and I’m not distracted by whether they’re cool.) There have been a couple of occasions where my daughter and I sang the same song for one to two weeks. Just a couple, but those times went far; she still remembers the words and will join in with me.</p>
<p>We’re all processing current events differently. No matter our felt level of fear or anxiety, no matter the actual peril of present times, there is something worth doing besides washing hands and reading news. </p>
<p>Worship the Lord.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Adapted from an older post</em></p>
<p><em>Photo:</em> <a href="https://unsplash.com/@nevenkrcmarek?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=photographer-credit&utm_content=creditBadge" rel="noopener noreferrer" style='background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px' target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Neven Krcmarek"><em><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewbox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title></title></svg><em> </em><path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></span></em><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">Neven Krcmarek</span></a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62552372020-03-20T07:00:50-04:002021-04-01T02:41:06-04:00"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."<p>When J. I. Packer was a child, his head was smashed in a traffic accident. Because of this injury, his parents did not get him a bicycle for his eleventh birthday, <a contents="even though he wanted and hoped for one." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/j-i-packers-11th-birthday-the-tale-of-the-bicycle-and-the-typewriter/" target="_blank">even though he wanted one.</a></p>
<p>Instead, he got a typewriter. J. I. Packer would go on to publish so many books and papers that a <a contents="complete bibliography is impossible." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-j-i-packer/" target="_blank">complete bibliography is impossible.</a></p>
<p><em>“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”* </em></p>
<p>I’ve thought often of this anecdote because of my own family’s limitations. The rest of the world is now practicing what we, in large part, have been practicing for about seven years: social distancing. A profound genetic condition has caused such low muscle tone in my younger child that he does not cough like he ought. We go through round-the-clock breathing treatments, suctioning, supplemental oxygen, and usually pneumonia - for the common cold. </p>
<p>So we don’t do holidays with young cousins. Our older child doesn’t go to birthday parties or children’s ministry classes during cold and flu season. Small get-togethers are often cancelled because someone has a cough. </p>
<p>Recreation as a family is not easy, either, for a number of reasons I won’t list for fear of sounding grumpy. We parents can easily occupy ourselves, but what can we do that’s inclusive of both our kids and something they’d enjoy? </p>
<p>We’ve failed at figuring this out more often than I’d wish. But, in the spirit of not letting what we can’t do interfere with what we can, we have found some things that have worked well for our small family. </p>
<p>Chances are, if your life has changed because of the national precautions being taken, you are already falling into a unique rhythm of life that fits you. There are many normal things that won't happen these next few weeks. But I look forward to hearing, when all is said and done, about the other things that happened instead. </p>
<p>For what it's worth, here are some activities that have been mainstays over the years for our semi-isolated family.</p>
<h2>Games </h2>
<h3>Table Games</h3>
<p>Last year our ten-year-old suddenly started to enjoy table games. (Suppose it has anything to do with the fact she suddenly started beating us at them?) These are the ones we keep coming back to.</p>
<p><strong>Rummikub: </strong>when a Romanian man under the Soviet regime isn’t allowed to play Western card games, he invents a game with tiles and calls it Rummikub. </p>
<p><strong>Qwirkle: </strong>like Scrabble, but with shapes and colors, so it uses a different mental skill. </p>
<p><strong>Scrabble:</strong> like Qwirkle, but for nights when Mama feels like winning.</p>
<p><strong>Quiddler: </strong> Scrabble for people who don’t like Scrabble. </p>
<p><strong>Uno </strong></p>
<p><strong>Connect 4 </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Singing games </h3>
<p>The music teacher in me wants to mention two singing games that will train the ear to recognize certain intervals. </p>
<p><strong>Category. </strong>Say you look at a piano and find the notes E and G. In solfege singing, you could call them Mi and Sol (think the <em>Sound of Music</em>). This forms a definite tonal distance called a minor third interval. In a group of any size, you use those two notes to sing, “One, two, categories, tell me the name of [clap] [clap] [name of category, such as, ‘animals’].” Then you go around the circle, taking turns naming something in that category. You have to sing the word using those two notes! </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="nf1HN4CePQY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/nf1HN4CePQY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nf1HN4CePQY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Doom-Doom.</strong> My dad must have invented this game. The parent becomes a rolling log on the floor, slowly singing the theme to <em>Jaws</em> (<i>doooooom - doom - </i>which forms the interval of a minor second - the distance between any key on the piano and the very nearest key, black or white). The kids have to jump over the log. As the music gets faster, the log rolls faster, and the kids jump faster. At the climax of the music, the log becomes a shark that can grab legs and pull down kids. </p>
<p>The object of the game is to escape the shark. The game ends when the youngest child starts crying (always too soon). </p>
<p>In addition to building gross motor skills and aural awareness, Doom-Doom facilitates psychological self-discovery. It is how I discovered, as I was pinned under the weight of a grown man and three brothers, that claustrophobia could kill me and spelunking would not be my vocation. </p>
<h2>Animals </h2>
<p>Pets and livestock don’t seem practical in our economy. But when I saw how they got my daughter outside and moving when there weren’t other siblings to play with, there was no looking back. The chickens came first. Then the dog. Then the ducks. Then the rabbit. Then just this week the ducks found a new home so we could make way for more… </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/68848d95db3039dbc3b52326f09c7d6f5129ccdc/original/20200319-193931.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>chickens. </p>
<h2>Outdoor Activities </h2>
<p>Social distancing does not equal staying housebound! </p>
<p><strong>Tennis</strong> works for us because two or three can play, and no matter our fitness level each of us gets a workout. We have to drive to a court, but we can still improvise in our driveway or the neighborhood basketball court. (We just heard of pickle ball for the first time - that might become the next thing.) </p>
<p><strong>Wildflower naming. </strong>Kids have an amazing memory for plant identification. We would carry the <em>Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers</em> with us on walks and stop to identify anything we didn’t recognize. Have you ever tried to describe a flower in enough detail so that someone else could draw it? It’s challenging, but the field guide gives you vocabulary to do so. </p>
<p>Similarly, <strong>bird counting</strong> and identification can be interesting to kids and stimulating for adults. </p>
<h2>Books </h2>
<p>The following works of fiction make for terrific read alouds or audiobooks that accommodate a range of ages. </p>
<p><strong><em>Rascal </em></strong>by Sterling North </p>
<p>You've heard of<em><strong> Treasure Island</strong></em> and <strong><em>Kidnapped</em></strong> by master storyteller Robert Louis Stevenson, but have you actually read them? Alfred Molina's reading of <em>Treasure Island</em> (Listening Library 2007) and Kieron Elliott's performance of <em>Kidnapped</em> (Recorded Books 2015) are exceptional! </p>
<p>If you’ve seen the film versions of <strong><em>Cheaper by the Dozen</em></strong>, too bad. Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey's embellished re-telling of their real upbringing is hilarious and fascinating. The sequel, <strong><em>Belles on Their Toes</em></strong>, is possibly funnier than the first, but a little naughtier, too. </p>
<p><em><strong>Owls in the Family </strong></em>by Farley Mowat is a short and humorous re-telling of the antics of two rescued owls in Saskatoon, Canada.</p>
<p><em><strong>The Phantom Tollbooth</strong></em> by Norton Juster</p>
<p><em><strong>The Borrowers </strong></em>by Mary Norton. The Borrowers are tiny people that live in hiding off the provisions of human beings. Norton actually describes how they build things to their size in enough detail you could do it yourself. (For an interesting film adaptation, see <em>The Secret World of Arrietty.</em>)</p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="The Light Princess Audiobook" data-link-type="page" href="/the-light-princess-audiobook" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/9b19a048891ba1fb27ae7ee49e2dcf1966f56ecd/original/lp-cover2.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></a></p>
<p><em><strong>The Light Princess</strong></em> by George MacDonald is a fairy tale about a princess cursed with the loss of her gravity - and a lightness of mind that confounds her parents. We enjoyed this story so much that in 2018 I produced a real-deal audiobook of it. It’s been updated and re-released! <a contents="Download and stream for free here.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/the-light-princess-audiobook" target="_blank">Download and stream for free here. </a></p>
<h3>Honorable Mention</h3>
<p>And, finally, though this is not something the family does together, this product deserves praise. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/0b6870740c0107395eebe75d7466c18aba18684b/original/075065.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p>The <strong>Tiny Baking </strong>set will enable your child to explore in the kitchen without making a huge mess or using up ingredients too quickly. (The recipes are quite good, however, and you will sometimes wish it had been Big Baking rather than Tiny.) </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, isolated families, you know what to do. </p>
<p><a contents="Get your free copy of the Light Princess.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/the-light-princess-audiobook" target="_blank">Get your free copy of <em>The Light Princess</em>. </a><br>Order a Tiny Baking set for each of your children. <br>Support your local Tractor Supply or Southern States and pick up a box of fuzzwumps.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/68848d95db3039dbc3b52326f09c7d6f5129ccdc/original/20200319-193931.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And, above all, do not let what you can't do keep you from doing what you can!</p>
<p><em>*John Wooden</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62476172020-03-13T08:03:36-04:002020-06-25T01:26:02-04:00Playlist Round-Up<p>I was nursed on light jazz and CCM, weaned on secular and Christian rock-alternative, tutored by Bach and Beethoven (and spanked by Rachmaninoff), described by Sara Groves, and charmed by samba, bluegrass, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer. </p>
<p>In my late teens to early twenties I wandered in a sort of musical wilderness, having become disenchanted by much I saw and heard in CCM and “Christian rock,” but not attracted at all by the ethos that permeated the radio. Folks who only know me as an adult might not guess how much I can love big bass, ripping guitars, and robust drums, but I don’t like those things enough to forego compelling melodies, interesting harmonies, and true lyrics. (That’s not to say what <em>I</em> find compelling is the end of the matter! In a previous post <a contents="On Liking Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/blogs/r-hall-s-blog/posts/on-liking-music" target="_blank">On Liking Music</a> I defend the idea that we just like what we like.) </p>
<p>I have come to think of song craft as made up of four elements: </p>
<ol> <li>The structure (here, referring only to the melody, chords, and, where applicable, lyrics) </li> <li>The arrangement </li> <li>The instrumentation </li> <li>The performance </li>
</ol>
<p>In popular music, a songwriter can record a demo with just guitar and voice, and an artist can hear whether the song structure is compelling. Then the band might get together and arrange the chords, melody, and rhythmic elements across their members. Whatever the band plays, of course, determines instrumentation. But a different instrumentation with a different arrangement might make the song come alive for a different audience. Our household does not listen to Bon Iver, but we’ve been streaming <a contents="Vitamin String Quartet’s arrangement of Bon Iver’s “Holocene”" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeeOA3yF3n4" target="_blank">Vitamin String Quartet’s arrangement of Bon Iver’s “Holocene”</a> quite a bit. </p>
<p>And, of course, no matter the quality of composition, arrangement, or instrumentation, it takes a good performance to deliver the music to the listeners. In this vein, a good recording and mixing job is included in the performance category. </p>
<p>Most people seem happy with good instrumentation and performance. They want music to fit a mood, and they don’t want to have to work too hard for it. I think that’s why Pandora and Spotify playlists have become so successful.</p>
<p>I’ve always been more drawn to the song structure - the interplay of melody and harmony. A well performed song with a boring structure is like a pretty book with a boring plot. But, the more I’ve worked to release original music, the less snobby I’ve become about this. No matter how amazing the plot of a book is, it can be conveyed in a paragraph, and you still don’t have a book. Likewise, you can have a great “idea” for a song, but until you can deliver that idea with a complete arrangement, instrumentation, and performance, you don’t have a song. </p>
<p>The following playlists have line-ups that are somewhat off the beaten path. They include well known and lesser known artists, but the songs selected seem to fit a niche I don’t often see promoted. New playlists of relevance will appear on the <a contents="Playlists" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/playlists" target="_blank">Playlists</a> page of the website. (If you don't use Spotify but you're curious, let me know and I'll send you the song line-ups.)</p>
<p>I am always eager for song suggestions, so send me any tracks you think would fit! (In particular, I’m looking for tracks for “Awesome Piano” and “Chore Time” playlists.)</p>
<p><strong>Morning Worship: Gentle, Upward, Acoustic</strong></p>
<p>These are mostly acoustic, gentle, cheery, guitar-driven songs with words that go up and out to Christ and his work. So often we need to get our eyes off ourselves. "O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch" (Psalm 5).</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/1EmMBgVF2Fgbjzdud8C0ch" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>American Foliage</strong></p>
<p>This playlist attempts to convey countryside music without the twang or honky-tonk that drives some listeners away. A mostly instrumental mix, it favors the harmonic strains of Appalachia and nineteenth-century hymnody, with some fresh interpretations by current composers. (Wait, Josh Garrels is in the same line-up as Yo-Yo Ma?? Yes! Check it out). Often plaintive, sometimes dancing, always beautiful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Kids Biblical Mixtape</strong></p>
<p>Alas, parental boredom and taste keeps many a pleasure from our kids! This playlist is an attempt to pull together Scripture-based songs that speak more readily to the minds of children, while still being pleasant for older listeners. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0eD3qGpjXb1fd2f7k3G9Bn" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Kids Music That Parents Will Like</strong></p>
<p>Here's another one for the little 'uns. These are songs old and new, folk and not-so-folk, that the whole family can enjoy. I think it's important we preserve traditional songs so we have a common literature. We like to sing what we know; and when we don't know the same songs, it's hard to sing together. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/2Q2qbz0T7WhUvVsPvkPS7K" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>Again, these and other playlists are on the <a contents="Playlists" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/playlists" target="_blank">Playlists</a> page. Remember to send me your song suggestions. </p>
<p>And - while you're on Spotify, <a contents="you might as well follow Vandalia River" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/1aCN6iVRAwsoqFgLtHosvO?si=L0c5PWXiRzuHCPzgCuWVHw" target="_blank">you might as well follow Vandalia River</a>. Then new releases will show up in your Release Radar. And. There might be a new release sooner or later. Just maybe. </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62390092020-03-06T06:18:44-05:002020-03-06T06:18:44-05:00A poem for Daylight Savings<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/355339f423eab28694af3cefa2a424ff0ff4123d/original/boris-misevic-am7moactjt8-unsplash.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>This week in March, three hundred eighty-seven years ago, a country parson in England finished his race with Time. Shortly before, he had given his unpublished poetry to a friend. That country parson was George Herbert, and his poetry, published posthumously, has gone down as the finest devotional poetry in the English language.</p>
<p><span class="font_large">Time</span></p>
<p><em>by George Herbert (1593-1633)</em></p>
<p>Meeting with Time, slack thing, said I, <br>Thy sithe is dull; whet it for shame. <br>No marvell Sir, he did replie, <br>If it at length deserve some blame: <br> But where one man would have me grinde it, <br> Twentie for one too sharp do finde it. </p>
<p>Perhaps some such of old did passe, <br>Who above all things lov’d this life: <br>To whom thy sithe a hatchet was, <br>Which now is but a pruning knife. <br> Christs coming hath made man thy debter, <br> Since by thy cutting he grows better. </p>
<p>And in his blessing thou art blest: <br>For where thou onely wert before <br>An executioner at best; <br>Thou art a gard’ner now, and more, <br> An usher to convey our souls <br> Beyond the utmost starres and poles. </p>
<p>And this is that makes life so long, <br>While it detains us from our God. <br>Ev’n pleasures here increase the wrong, <br>And length of dayes lengthen the rod. <br> Who wants the place, where God doth dwell, <br> Partakes already half of hell. </p>
<p>Of what strange length must that needs be, <br>Which ev’n eternitie excludes! <br>Thus farre Time heard me patiently: <br>Then chafing said, This man deludes: <br> What do I here before his doore? <br> He doth not crave lesse time, but more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@borisview?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=photographer-credit&utm_content=creditBadge" rel="noopener noreferrer" style='background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px' target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from boris misevic"><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewbox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title></title>
<path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">boris misevic</span></a></em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62268702020-02-28T07:27:54-05:002021-03-31T05:41:40-04:00Let them not sing alone<p>"No one knows exactly what day, or year, Scott Joplin was born." </p>
<p>The fact fell on me like a sand bag. My daughter and I were listening to the umpteenth episode of the <a contents="Classics for Kids" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.classicsforkids.com" target="_blank">Classics for Kids</a> podcast and so far had heard the matter-of-fact birth year of numerous composers. Telemann, 1681. Johann Strauss, Jr., 1825. Rossini gets a smile because he was a leap day baby. </p>
<p>But then we get to a composer whose birth day and month are lost forever; the year was either 1867 or 1868. </p>
<p>The fact struck me because I knew that, unlike other composers we'd learned about, Scott Joplin was African-American. The obscurity of his birth shouted something sad about the black experience in America.</p>
<p>I thought of Frederick Douglass, another African-American who did not know his birthday. Though not a composer, he had some things to say about songs. In his <a contents="Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23/23-h/23-h.htm" target="_blank"><em>Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave</em></a>, he writes of when slaves walked to their master’s house to collect their allowance: </p>
<p><em>They would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness...</em></p>
<p><em>I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension…</em></p>
<p><em>I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake… The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears. </em></p>
<p>Douglass never knew his father (probably his master), nor did he know his mother well enough to mourn her death. Douglass’s eloquent words did much for me to enter emotionally into his experience, which was only multiplied across the enslaved population. They made me wonder, “How many white Americans really comprehend the toll of the past?” </p>
<p>I’ve been blessed to grow up with family and friends who did not practice racism. We’d shake our heads and wonder about all the talk, relieved that we weren't racist - we weren’t treating certain people a certain way. But “not being racist” isn’t enough. </p>
<p>“Not being racist” isn’t enough because humanity needs empathy. We need others to listen to our experience and use their imagination to feel what we feel.</p>
<p>Unless you’re very close to someone who is grieving, you will probably find it easy to withdraw. You don’t want to say the wrong thing, so you say nothing. You say nothing, so you seem distant. Certainly, this tendency was true of me. It is less true now that I’ve walked through a deep grief. In the throes of that grief, the most comforting thing was when friends simply cried with us. Sometimes people said, “I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” but that felt isolating. “You can’t imagine?” I thought. “Please try, because I don’t want to go through this alone.” The empathy of others was impractical in itself, but comforting nonetheless.</p>
<p>“Not being racist” isn’t enough because humanity needs intervention. Sometimes I hear folks venting about the powerful versus the weak; the privileged versus the marginalized. Certainly there are actively wicked agents in society that bulldoze the interests of others. But I think much of the plight of “the poor and marginalized” today is due not to <em>evil </em>forces but to <em>absent </em>forces.</p>
<p>God is not an absent force. He observes, understands, and intervenes, especially when things are "not his fault." So many ills come about when we, as men and women made in God's image, neglect the Godlike practice of observing, understanding, and intervening if in our power. There has been a terrible fall-out from racism and slavery, and doing nothing about it (“because it’s not my fault”) can be abdication. </p>
<p>What does being an agent for good actually look like? Well, I don’t think we’ll know till we’ve observed, understood, and empathized a bit more for ourselves.</p>
<p>The historical record is clear African-Americans were never completely without white advocates and friends, otherwise we would not have the reforms we have today. But the record is equally clear there wasn’t enough humanity extended across color lines. The slave population was liberated, but, too often, the black community had to sing to themselves. But sing they did, and their music became irresistible to its hearers. It transformed American music into a brilliant gift to the world.</p>
<p>As I listened to the rest of the podcast, Joplin’s compositions, from ragtime to opera, were the soundtrack to these reflections. Despite everything, they could not be kept from singing. I found myself singing, too, singing words along these lines to the tune of Joplin’s “Bethena.” </p>
<p>February is the adopted birth month of Frederick Douglass. So let me end by recognizing his birthday, and Scott Joplin’s birthday, and the birthdays of all who don’t know their birthday. No matter the color, no matter the father, no matter the mother: you are made in God’s image and precious to the world. </p>
<p>Let's look out for our neighbors, and let them not sing alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Itzhak Perlman and André Previn play "Bethena (A Concert Waltz)" by Scott Joplin</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Z_ERyEuB8vI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Z_ERyEuB8vI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z_ERyEuB8vI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62225332020-02-21T07:24:16-05:002020-06-23T08:35:05-04:00Songs that fascinate me<p>Sometimes certain songs become a kind of study. Here are a few that have my attention either because of the composition, mix, or instrumentation. </p>
<p>“Siren” by Samuel Sim was the theme music to the British <em>Home Fires </em>series. A female vocal ensemble layers haunting parts with spare accompaniment from rhythmic strings. This piece opened my eyes to the under-used potential of smaller female vocal ensembles. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="3rwiNCryws0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/3rwiNCryws0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3rwiNCryws0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>“Carol of the Russian Children,” as arranged by the Singers Unlimited, is another enchanting example from a smaller vocal ensemble. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="aOFhzIpAYD0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/aOFhzIpAYD0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aOFhzIpAYD0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>“Appalachia Waltz,” written by Mark O’Connor, was recorded for solo cello by Yo-Yo Ma. It is a magnificent showcase of the virtues of a bowed instrument. I can’t imagine arranging it for, say, piano with nearly the same beauteous effect. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="DFgYWpLT0Hs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/DFgYWpLT0Hs/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFgYWpLT0Hs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I’m not closely familiar with the band Joseph, and honestly I do not entirely like the ethos of their music, but “Green Eyes” is a riveting rock song. Without sounding dated, the verses evoke vintage jukebox and then blow up into an explosive chorus, which despite its hugeness feels wide and spacious, even empty. The performance of the vocalist is dynamite. </p>
<p>At first I thought this song was an example of mix, performance, and instrumentation saving an average melody. But then I heard Joseph's performance with just two vocalists and an electric guitar, and they still really delivered.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/1FoCSrNyUVF00C8foohH2G" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rachmaninoff thrashed me in college with his Op. 33, No. 2 etude in C Major for piano. It starts innocently with short C major arpeggios but then vaults into Phrygian mode by superimposing A-flat harmony over the theme. Or, maybe it's just a direct modulation to A-flat major. At least, not having studied advanced music theory, that's the best sense I can make of the tonality.</p>
<p><em>“Phrygi - what?” </em></p>
<p>If you’ve ever studied music, you probably played the eight white keys on the piano from C to C. That’s the famous “Do - Re - Mi” major scale. If you play all the white keys from A to A, you create a minor scale. Compositions may be written in either major or minor, but there are many other patterns they can follow. </p>
<p>For example, “Scarborough Fair” could be written in A minor, but you wouldn’t actually play only the white keys from A to A. You would swap the sixth white key for a black key (F becoming F-sharp). When you sit down and play the A minor scale with that change, you are now playing not a minor scale but another type of scale called a mode. This particular mode is the Dorian mode. (“Siren,” above, also has Dorian elements.) </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-Jj4s9I-53g" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-Jj4s9I-53g/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Jj4s9I-53g?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Now, if you instead change the minor key by lowering the second note, you create the Phrygian mode. This is the pattern that much of Rachmaninoff’s etude seems to follow, at times shifting to other tonalities.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="cujQf77BHRI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/cujQf77BHRI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cujQf77BHRI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Like a flip book, this piece comes alive with velocity. The profusion at 1:36 almost makes me see colors.</p>
<p>(If you have studied advanced music theory, feel free to update me with better analysis.) </p>
<p>These pieces as well as several others are in a small eclectic playlist called “<a contents="Songs That Fascinate Me" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/28D10hnQqTB3jSbRNentM8?si=xuU47forTK27V1iGGGNCbA" target="_blank">Songs That Fascinate Me</a>.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/28D10hnQqTB3jSbRNentM8" width="300"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62150212020-02-14T06:23:23-05:002020-02-14T06:25:15-05:00Poem for a birthday<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/5ac84a6de13764a8ffe8d7f0b194f678c49bae37/original/birthdaypoem.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The poetry of Christina Rossetti doesn’t tower like that of some others in the British tradition, but it has a pointed strength nonetheless. My eyes fell on her short “A Birthday” in early 2018. </p>
<p><em>My heart is like a singing bird <br> Whose nest is in a water'd shoot; <br>My heart is like an apple-tree <br> Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit; <br>My heart is like a rainbow shell <br> That paddles in a halcyon sea; <br>My heart is gladder than all these <br> Because my love is come to me. </em></p>
<p><em>Raise me a dais of silk and down; <br> Hang it with vair and purple dyes; <br>Carve it in doves and pomegranates, <br> And peacocks with a hundred eyes; <br>Work it in gold and silver grapes, <br> In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys; <br>Because the birthday of my life <br> Is come, my love is come to me.</em></p>
<p>You get the idea that there is someone so special to the poet that real life seems to begin when that person is present. Or, in a deeper sense, life begins when these two realize and acknowledge their mutual love, as happens to couples when a woman not only knows which man she loves, but knows he loves her back. </p>
<p>I don’t know whom Christina Rossetti had in mind when she penned these words, but I know whom I think of. The Lord came to me when I was twelve, and my life, in a good way, has never been the same. </p>
<p>So last year for my birthday I recited this poem for friends. This year, I sang it to a melody in 3/4 time. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the song took on the feeling of a processional. (Can processionals be in 3/4 time?) The poem may be called “A Birthday,” but it makes me think of a wedding. And, indeed, birthdays, weddings, and salvation are all doorways to new life. When I sing this poem, my soul rejoices in what has already and definitively happened; but it also looks forward to the day salvation will be complete and the bride of Christ ready, pure, and incandescently happy. </p>
<p>As for the song - many public songs started as living room songs. But other songs live a happy life staying as living room songs. My little birthday song might fall into the latter category. We’ll see.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62076102020-02-07T07:01:23-05:002023-12-10T13:08:29-05:00Vandalia River is now on Pandora<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/0bac411bc7a22a319c4e1bb65023b404a1117bf6/original/screen-shot-2020-02-07-at-7-00-31-am.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Vandalia River is now on Pandora radio! This means you can choose Vandalia River or a particular Battlescapes track and create a station based on that style. The more that Pandora listeners do that type of thing, the more likely Pandora will bump these pieces onto more stations and give them more Internet radio play. </p>
<p><a contents="Pandora listeners can click here to begin." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=wxTmdJuco4iuUv1-2Fea7h9SztucA-2BvmR6EVznJvEmlEBBMDkKsJ7EsDXAPfRFP5cEDONF7-2FDJC-2F49VxLi-2Bk7WVgv1sNgXfXGB7fhg1LrTOEc-3DSJsI_Ik1TvYEnRMa0pvGVY0a5XO0IVL76M-2FFDDvET5Npha2s6VFtW3oPD-2Fc1HVUCsNbin4KzhrjxaQIDSRvfMJYSpWqlUMoO8Ce6WQBNGraI6zOcBXQgXboL-2FNjXi5f2pJS7QQszcbdJugJHUdnWPtEbo6IlxYDiTTtmjp6haZNCBkPtebnlEdMSGVKnBdWJ3ffU4CEEPk2o0MenLo4GV-2Blc85A-3D-3D" target="_blank">Pandora listeners can click here to begin.</a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/62075882020-02-07T06:13:15-05:002020-02-08T12:39:20-05:00Music is a servant<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/5e89d58b3a55d648da033d16de21fc0bf759f764/original/img-0969.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Music is a servant. Sometimes it is center-stage, but usually it’s supplementing some other thing. It’s the soundtrack to a film, or the animator of a dance, or the atmosphere of a party, or the distraction-soothing ambience of the office. </p>
<p>But even when it is center-stage, music is still a servant. When a performer walks onto the platform and sings, all eyes may be on him, but neither he nor his song is the purpose of the event. They’re just the means to the real purpose: delighting the audience. Souls are the purpose. </p>
<p>I respond to pre-performance anxiety by remembering it’s not about looking good; it’s about giving good. That helps me be crowd-conscious rather than self-conscious, which in turn helps me be craft-conscious because I want to deliver something good to my neighbors in the room. If you’ve watched a visibly nervous speaker or performer, you know how that person’s anxiety interfered with your experience. There’s a pure and liberating rationality to accepting the fact that anxiety just doesn’t serve the listener, so shed it.</p>
<p>The performer has something to give listeners that they can’t or don’t give to themselves. Whether that gift is big or small, spotlighted or sidelined, the performer should embrace that truth and give it. </p>
<hr><p><em>By the way, in the spirit of serving with music, I’m pleased that the </em>Battlescapes<em> record is contributing to the work of local historian Jim Surkamp. Jim has created dozens and dozens, maybe hundreds, of videos about various facets of Shenandoah Valley history. His latest is about the life of Harriet Lane. Educated locally in Charles Town, she became America’s First Lady when her bachelor uncle, James Buchanan, was president. <a contents="You can learn a LOT more here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/jsurkamp" target="_blank">You can learn a LOT more here.</a> (The newest three videos include Vandalia River in the soundtrack.)</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/61981462020-01-31T06:30:08-05:002020-02-04T07:19:16-05:00Wrapping up winter break<p>The collective wisdom of successful songwriters and producers seems to be quantity. Make stuff. You’ve got to craft stuff to craft better. I also once read an exchange that went something like this:</p>
<p><em>“I have some ideas that would make really great poems, but I can’t bring them together.”</em></p>
<p><em>Replies successful poet, “Poems are made with words, not ideas.”</em></p>
<p>Likewise, songs are made of music, not ideas (or mere hooks). So winter break at Vandalia River has been spent turning song ideas written in pencil into WAV files stored in a Soundcloud folder. It’s been about hammering out as many song structures and arrangements as I can. The folder is not nearly as big as I hope it will be, but so far it includes lyrical pop-alternative, composed instrumental, and ambient tracks.</p>
<p>I’d love to share some with you, but, consider a fully produced song like this house:</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/ce8d450ccc8cd02e74c80240b38935767093ae0a/original/jesse-roberts-561igityvsk-unsplash.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>And these song demos more like this house:</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/28c1aeac68c58b1f3093d4dab3e3f39b0f82088a/original/house-being-built.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Unless you’re a creative who likes getting under the hood, you just won’t enjoy the songs yet the way you ought.</p>
<p>I appreciate more and more that to be worth the enormous effort of record-making, a song or album should be pretty compelling. So while I hope to share some recorded music this year, the near future will be focusing on putting away as many songs as possible and seeing what emerges as the best. The challenge will be pursuing excellent craft without letting fear hold good stuff back.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I don’t want to overlook opportunities to deliver music in person. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a weird world where more and more are going straight to the recording studio without sharing their music live first. If you’d be interested in hosting a free house event with music from Vandalia River, e-mail r@vandaliariver DOT com. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="TnWtMIzUYjk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TnWtMIzUYjk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnWtMIzUYjk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Photo of finished house by <a contents="Jesse Roberts on Unsplash" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://unsplash.com/@jesseroberts?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank">Jesse Roberts on Unsplash</a>. </em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/61643742020-01-24T06:38:32-05:002023-12-10T13:09:42-05:00What I learned in jail<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/ff35dc3a1a1124c59e184cb53a3fd9053c452d65/original/bill-oxford-udxd2nrbxs8-unsplash.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>“Her name’s Becky.”</p>
<p>That’s the description I once heard of the average listener of Christian radio. </p>
<p>Having answered to that name before, I searched inside for a witty comeback and never found one. </p>
<p>I’m not enamored with the music of Christian radio and keep close company with a few who’d block the frequency if they could. But one day I left the radio behind me and walked Inside - Inside, where a group of women dressed in orange were waiting for a Bible study to begin. </p>
<p>It’s easy to think Us and Them when talking about inmates. But They are Us. Anyone in jail or prison now was just another member of the community, another neighbor, another parent, another sibling, another son or daughter. We’re all sinners, but they happened to dial the combination of transgressions that get the law’s attention. (Or, were accused of doing so.) I didn’t know the individual charges of the ladies in the room, but a veil of drug addiction seemed to lay on all of them. </p>
<p>After the study leader walked through some Scripture, she handed me 8.5” by 11” printed lyric sheets to pass out and pressed play on the CD player. I thought I had left the radio behind me, but in my hands were the lyrics of a Christian radio chart topper. I scanned them and was consciously unimpressed. The music I heard was even more disappointing. I know better than ever what it takes to produce a record, and sometimes I’m confounded why certain songs and arrangements were deemed worthy of the effort. And why those songs end up as hit singles! </p>
<p>But a sound interrupted my dissatisfaction. Multiple women in orange were crying, and we hadn’t even gotten to the chorus. </p>
<p>The next song - another chart topper - started to induce similar disappointment, but I tried to suspend all snobbery and just sing. This was unto the Lord. And as I sang, the very words I would’ve dismissed as cliché emerged from the paper into my heart. Something about moving mountains - and the biggest burden of my life came to mind - and I knew afresh the Lord was present and aware - and his promises true -</p>
<p>And now the tears were in my own eyes. </p>
<p>I remembered that night in jail that God speaks through simple truths to humble hearts.</p>
<p>God bless Christian radio. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>This post brought to you by Becky.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/61169422020-01-17T01:53:51-05:002020-01-17T01:53:51-05:00The best way to know the land<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/354a366cc3a7320d9c1f36d24eead3d7ad2ab3f6/original/img-20161112-164546631-hdr.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The best way to know the land is to walk it.*</p>
<p>The best way to see its paths, pools, bends, brooks, avenues, alleys, flowers, fauna, shallows, surprises, features, and functions is to move through it on your two feet. </p>
<p>This observation doesn't stop at the earth. The land is its people, too. Half of the neighbors we have met we know simply because of a walk down the street. Some of these connections are dormant. Others have led to vibrant friendships and opportunities. </p>
<p>We live where we live because of circumstances, not exactly choice. When I was a tourist in Harpers Ferry, I never felt attracted to become a resident. It took being one to see its rewards. It took many walks over many months to understand and love this land, which I'm still learning to understand and love.</p>
<p>How many places like this there must be! How many places would we dismiss as visitors, unaware of its true potential as Home? Moreover, how many homes have we hidden in, unaware of the lie of the land outside? </p>
<p>Love your land, and walk it. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="TnWtMIzUYjk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TnWtMIzUYjk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnWtMIzUYjk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><em>*Some agrarian person, such as Wendell Berry, must have written something like this, but I could not find the original quotation.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/60731272020-01-10T06:22:05-05:002020-01-10T06:25:10-05:00Capturing a piece of life in the Indiana EP<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/a407d6536e64c3c7ce19985b6d8c6d453c4528a3/original/screen-shot-2020-01-10-at-6-17-14-am.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I'm still testing out this analogy, but I often think that life is like a vine. Beauty - the delight and interpretation we derive from life - is the wine, extracted from the vine in a process of violence and stillness. Good art is a vessel that can carry the beauty to the consumer. It can be ornamented like a royal goblet or plain like a Baptist communion cup as long as there is something inside.</p>
<p>I love it when people use their art to capture the meaning and beauty close to home, from the people they’re close to and the circumstances they walk through. This is what singer-songwriter brothers from Maryland have just done with their new EP, <em>Indiana</em>. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/1VMS5XplexLxGLGd8weSKF" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>Jon Anderson has long loved and explored songwriting even though he’s currently occupied full-time in another field. Tom Anderson is a senior songwriting student at Belmont University in Nashville. Growing up, Christmastime meant going to their grandparents’ home in Indiana, Pennsylvania. But that changed when dementia overtook their grandmother, leading the family to auction off their house and belongings. Visits now had to take place in a nursing home. </p>
<p>This process brought a profound sense of not just loss, but losing, a process they’re still experiencing. Tom and Jon were moved to respond in song, and that turned into the <em>Indiana</em> EP, a joint four-song project that was just released in full online today. They write deeply and introduce the music on <a contents="the album site." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theindianaep.com" target="_blank">the album site.</a> </p>
<p>They’ve also taken some time to answer a few questions I had for them. </p>
<hr><p><span class="font_large"><em>When did you start writing songs, and how did you start sharing your songs? </em></span></p>
<p><strong>Jon: </strong>We've both been writing songs since we were kids. I think it started a little more in earnest when I got my first guitar in high school. Most of the songs from those years were pretty bad, though - typical teen angst and clichés were the dominant themes. </p>
<p>I think the first time I ever played a song I'd written in public was at a high school benefit concert. Lyrically, it was pretty close to "Friday" by Rebecca Black. But people were encouraging about it, anyway.</p>
<p><strong>Tom:</strong> I started writing a few years after Jon. I wanted in on the fun, but didn't really take it seriously until college. I didn't really share my music until a few years ago when I recorded some lame high-school songs and put them on the internet. Now that I'm a songwriting major and have to regularly play in front of people, I'm getting into performing a little more.</p>
<p><span class="font_large"><em>It sounds like the first </em>Indiana<em> songs were almost reflexive ways you responded to the situation. Is that accurate? </em></span></p>
<p><strong>Tom: </strong>Yeah, that sounds right. An artist Jon and I love (Tyson Motsenbocker) had just released an EP (<em>Almira</em>) that took a small town I'd never heard of and made it come alive. I thought it had a really special way of making people feel the things he felt without really talking about himself, and I wanted to write a song that did the same thing. I wrote "Indiana" in like twenty minutes the next day. </p>
<p>"Spring" was a little different, in that I tried to write the last song for the EP and failed a few times before it finally came. But when it did come, it came without much hard work, like I was just dusting off a song that had already been written for me and to me. Those moments are cool.</p>
<p><strong>Jon: </strong>I wrote "Restore" (which ended up being the third song on the EP) after visiting my grandparents for the first time in the nursing home. It was a tough visit, seeing them in that context after years of visiting them in their home. When I got back, I literally sat down and cried, and then almost had to write the song. </p>
<p>It's the fastest I've ever written a song - it all came out in about half an hour, and there was very little thinking on my part. </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><em>It’s one thing to write songs for yourself and your family; it’s a whole other thing to take them to the studio. What moved you to develop a four-song EP? </em></span></p>
<p><strong>Jon:</strong> We'd each been impacted by watching our grandparents deal with my grandma's dementia, and we'd each written a song in reaction to that experience. From there, we kind of sat down and decided that we wanted to make a project that would honor them. </p>
<p>I'm a big proponent of intentionally giving art context. More context allows for more meaning to be conveyed, I think - maybe not always, but often. </p>
<p>Like, an album can have more depth to it than a three-minute song and a novel can offer a deeper narrative than a tweet. Neither of us had ever made a cohesive project before; we'd only written single songs. So when we had two related songs to start, it felt right to create more context to tell the story well.</p>
<p><em><span class="font_large">How did you go about the recording process? </span></em></p>
<p><strong>Jon:</strong> We were in the studio together as much as we could be, but also did some solo work, too, since Tom goes to school in Nashville. Actually, Tom recorded most of the final song, "Spring", down there, barring a few vocal parts. </p>
<p>Other than that, we worked with our friend, Dan Busche, at <a contents="his studio in Myersville" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.genesisrecordingmd.com" target="_blank">his studio in Myersville</a>. Dan rocks.</p>
<p><strong>Tom:</strong> We knew we wanted it to sound real, so we didn't overproduce it with thousand-track sessions, and I don't think we used midi for anything besides a background pad and a few bass lines. We wanted the bones of the songs to be the focus, so we just played it safe with guitars, piano, kit, bass, and vocals.</p>
<p><span class="font_large"><em>Are there other songwriting goals you have for the next year that you’re willing to share? </em></span></p>
<p><strong>Tom: </strong>Aw man, here I am just answering these questions and now I have to think about the future. </p>
<p>I don't really have any songwriting goals, besides write some songs. Going to school for songwriting has made me overthink the process, and I've really slowed down my production over the past few years. I have a bunch of songs that I never demoed, so maybe I'll try to get into the studio again to clear the slate before I write too many more.</p>
<p><strong>Jon: </strong>Personally, I want to write something that's fun. This project was super fulfilling and also felt super heavy. I want to do something a little lighter in 2019.</p>
<p><span class="font_large"><em>What is the best way for folks to follow your music? </em></span></p>
<p><strong>Jon: </strong>Go to <a contents="theindianaep.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theindianaep.com" target="_blank">theindianaep.com</a> and enter your email. There won't be too many updates on this project, but we'll give you the heads-up on what's coming next for each of us.</p>
<p><strong>Tom:</strong> Jon and I are both on Spotify and Apple Music, under Jon Henry and Thomas Austin (Anderson is a common last name, so we use our middle names to distinguish ourselves and sound cooler than we really are).</p>
<hr><p><em>Indiana </em>by Thomas Austin and Jon Henry is available online (as singles) as well as on a brand new CD, <a contents="which you can order here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://theindianaep.com/shop/" target="_blank">which you can order here</a>. (As of this posting the site says CDs are for pre-order - but actually they do exist now!) All profits go to the Lewy Body Dementia Association. </p>
<p>In conclusion, I’ll leave you with the final song on the EP, released just this morning.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="nSRaw1vW1Ss" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/nSRaw1vW1Ss/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nSRaw1vW1Ss?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/3WiaOul8FrvsnkNjbuhBwR" width="300"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/60577492020-01-03T07:33:03-05:002020-01-03T07:52:21-05:00A poem for Epiphany<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/4ff422f1cdf7f48b78253caaffd9264aa53376b3/original/ben-white-oau4yhemfsi-unsplash.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p><span class="font_large">Journey of the Magi</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">by T. S. Eliot</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">‘A cold coming we had of it, <br>Just the worst time of the year <br>For a journey, and such a long journey: <br>The ways deep and the weather sharp, <br>The very dead of winter.’ <br>And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, <br>Lying down in the melting snow. <br>There were times we regretted <br>The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, <br>And the silken girls bringing sherbet. <br>Then the camel men cursing and grumbling <br>And running away, and wanting their liquor and women, <br>And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, <br>And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly <br>And the villages dirty and charging high prices: <br>A hard time we had of it. <br>At the end we preferred to travel all night, <br>Sleeping in snatches, <br>With the voices singing in our ears, saying <br>That this was all folly. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, <br>Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; <br>With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, <br>And three trees on the low sky, <br>And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. <br>Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, <br>Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, <br>And feet kicking the empty wine-skins. <br>But there was no information, and so we continued <br>And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon <br>Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">All this was a long time ago, I remember, <br>And I would do it again, but set down <br>This set down <br>This: were we led all that way for <br>Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, <br>We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, <br>But had thought they were different: this Birth was <br>Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. <br>We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, <br>But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, <br>With an alien people clutching their gods. <br>I should be glad of another death.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="To hear the author read this poem himself: here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://poetryarchive.org/poem/journey-magi/" target="_blank"><span class="font_regular"><em>To hear the author read this poem himself: here.</em></span></a></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="To learn more about T. S. Eliot, a&nbsp;Unitarian-St. Louis-born-turned-British-Anglo-Catholic-modern-poet-and-literary-critic, here.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/t-s-eliot" target="_blank"><i>To learn more about T. S. Eliot, a Unitarian-St. Louis-born-turned-British-Anglo-Catholic-major-modern-poet-and-literary-critic: here. </i></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><i>photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@benwhitephotography?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=photographer-credit&utm_content=creditBadge" rel="noopener noreferrer" style='background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px' target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Ben White"><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewbox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title></title>
<path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">Ben White</span></a></i></span></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/60471192019-12-27T07:54:08-05:002020-02-13T06:50:01-05:00The risk of inaction<p><span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/d4ce9d1ef8a62da6b64c08b9782c01d922047d43/original/20190809-162838.jpeg" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">We finally got one of those family photos where everyone looks pretty good in a beautiful destination. Now I know why they are a popular thing to share:</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">They’re costly.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">There’s a lot of risk represented in the picture. It was taken on our first family tent camping trip. (“Tent camping” has possibly scared you away already.) So much could have gone wrong. Our boy could’ve gotten sick. Our van could’ve broken down (this happened before and canceled a vacation). Our never-opened tent from Aldi could’ve unfolded in shreds.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">We braved the trip because <em>the risk of staying home was greater. </em>A heat index of 110+ was the local forecast. Oppression and bugs outside. Cabin fever inside. We had to go.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Travel was optimistic but anxious until we walked under the tree cover of the campsite. “Wow,” breathed our ten-year-old, and the breezy, quiet, clean air hushed all our disquietude.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Worth it. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/341d345edff49dc6d086461996f20b680ab1bdb5/original/a-1.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Vandalia River is costly. Publicizing new original music is humbling. Vulnerable. Inviting friends and strangers to sit and listen to your music can feel risky. The most expensive part of sharing music - the record - is what folks expect to consume for little or no cost.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">But the risk of covering up and not cultivating the art or skill or talent that one has is greater. Admittedly, it’s an ambiguous risk. No one specifically misses the stuff you never produce. And you have to produce shoddy stuff on the way to getting better. But once you’ve been able to pull off something that truly enriches people’s lives — ahhh. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">“Wow.” Worth it.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_regular">There’s this whole deal about new year’s resolutions. While Vandalia River has goals for 2020, it will follow this wise productivity tip: "<a contents="Tell&nbsp;what you've done, not what you will do" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.rayfowler.org/2019/08/29/do-it-first-principle/" target="_blank">Tell what you've done, not what you will do</a>." You probably won’t hear about new music until it actually exists in some credible form.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Meanwhile, do tell: <strong>what music do you wish existed</strong>? When you turn on your app or radio, what do you want to hear? Comment here. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Thank you so much for reading today. Happy New Year!</span></p>
<p><br> </p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/52931d15e489f4093e127b53929557ac295b9aa9/original/20190720-145523-0.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><em>By the way, if you want to do more to help Vandalia River to keep chugging, consider one of these cost-free actions:</em></span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">Create a Facebook video or Instagram story with a music sticker. Type in your favorite <em>Battlescapes</em> piece as the song. </span></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">If you use Instagram, <a contents="follow Vandalia River." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.instagram.com/vandaliariver/" target="_blank">follow Vandalia River.</a></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.instagram.com/vandaliariver/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/1bac3afe9bf04343eeee978630a718195f42d391/original/screenshot-2019-12-27-07-36-58.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">If you use Spotify, <a contents="follow Vandalia River." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/1aCN6iVRAwsoqFgLtHosvO?si=W2EUjpGxRX6xdWxzGI5CaQ" target="_blank">follow Vandalia River.</a></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/1aCN6iVRAwsoqFgLtHosvO?si=W2EUjpGxRX6xdWxzGI5CaQ" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/e577f29e9455e91c2efc405045ef7ba344c88b0a/original/screen-shot-2019-12-27-at-7-31-31-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">If you’ve liked any of the music or blog posts, forward to a friend or share a link on social.</span></li>
</ul>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/60346792019-12-20T13:38:58-05:002020-02-13T06:49:08-05:00Another song from the hospital<p>There is a carol whose music you have heard, but I doubt you have ever sung in a congregation. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="GXRiL8E0lTM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/GXRiL8E0lTM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXRiL8E0lTM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>"The Coventry Carol" is a commemoration of the children who perished at Herod’s order. </p>
<p>Those children were victims of an ancient war, a war predicted in the curse of the serpent in Genesis, a war between Satan and the woman’s offspring. </p>
<p>The war continues. It has touched my son and my friends’ children. There are fatalities, and there are casualties - such as the woman I recently met who is ready for rehab because “I’ve been getting high since I was twelve.” </p>
<p>"The Coventry Carol" clashes with the holly-jolly-Christmas sentiment, but I'm glad we have it. Its acknowledgment of grief is appropriate. Yet I also think it is totally fitting that, traditionally, this minor song resolves on a major chord. It signals hope. The war may rage, but </p>
<p><em>The sword stopped short of Mary’s door. </em></p>
<p><em>The man grew from the child she bore. </em></p>
<p><em>The host did sing, good news we bring </em></p>
<p><em>Of peace on earth, goodwill to men. </em></p>
<p>The ancient foe could not extinguish the Christ. He came to give life and give it to the full. He accomplished his work, but we are still waiting for the day all is restored. </p>
<p>Paul and Ruth Manz remembered this truth. Paul was an organist and composer. He was also a father whose three-year-old became gravely ill; so much so the doctor gave up hope. Though his son did recover, the outlook was bleak when Paul sat by his bedside and composed music for lyrics worked out by his wife, Ruth. </p>
<p>The lyrics, Ruth <a contents="would later say" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/12/20_olsond_manz/" target="_blank">would later say</a>, are “just a compilation of the theme in Revelation, Revelation 22, where it speaks of the longing of Advent, actually, the coming of the Christ.” </p>
<p>This composition became Paul Manz's most famous chorale, “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come.” Fifty years later, they listened on the radio to the Choir of King’s College perform the chorale from St. Paul’s Cathedral days before Christmas. </p>
<p>The Manzes’ story hits close to home. My two-year-old son spent 17 days in the pediatric ICU at Johns Hopkins Children’s in 2013. A profound undiagnosed disorder left him vulnerable to respiratory illness, and pneumonia was chaining him to his hospital room. It looked very grim. Early in the illness, while my husband was with my son and I was home with my daughter, I watched for the first time a broadcast of Lessons and Carols, which in fact originated with the Choir of King's College.</p>
<p>I was transported. </p>
<p>Voices in the night. Beauty in obscurity. Christ had come. Uncertainty, grief, darkness, sickness - these are age-old themes not unique to my life. They were there in Galilee and Judea. They were there when voices broke the long silence of heaven, telling Zechariah, Mary, and Joseph amazing tidings; telling shepherds news no man could invent. </p>
<p>That night, as I waited out my son’s illness, a deeper love for Christmas choral music was created. </p>
<p>Advent literally <a contents="means" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2018/12/advent-st-nicholas-the-deity-of-christ/" target="_blank">means</a>, “he comes.” It’s the season of expecting the Christ who is not yet here. It’s recalling long years of mystery, anguish, and hope. It’s treasuring the prophecies partly fulfilled. We see many fulfilled in Christmas, but we yet live today in a season of advent, awaiting Christ not as baby but as returning king. </p>
<p>But while we wait, we can sing. </p>
<p><em>"Our redeemer made us glad." </em></p>
<p><em>"E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come."</em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="a9emo9465_8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/a9emo9465_8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a9emo9465_8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Merry Christmas.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/60077902019-12-13T17:08:58-05:002019-12-13T17:21:44-05:00Songs from the hospital<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/5e2f280e208432cc1d469e025374d251dbc09f61/original/1944-abc-whatarethesigns-carol-72dpi.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>A hospital stay impressed a deep love for Christmas music in this writer’s heart. The hospital was also the beginning of another person’s practice of music. About the year 1930, ten-year-old Alfred Burt received a cornet as a reward for willingly undergoing an appendectomy.</p>
<p>His father, Bates Burt, was a self-taught musician and pastor in Pontiac, Michigan. When Al was quite young, Bates began a tradition of enclosing a new Christmas carol with the family Christmas card. The year that Al graduated with a music degree from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Bates invited him to write the music for the carol. Father and son partnered in this way - with lyrical help from other sources - until Bates died in 1948. </p>
<p>Al and his wife, Anne, continued the tradition. By the time their family settled in California, their Christmas list had grown to 450 names. Anne writes, “We would drop people from the list in order to save postage only to have them write that their carol had been lost in the mail.” </p>
<p>Al was now a professional musician and composer in the bustling Hollywood scene. His wife and young daughter were enjoying the first house they had bought. But his health was deteriorating, and in 1953 they found out why: terminal lung cancer. </p>
<p>“Together, we had foreseen a struggle to establish him in the musical world, but this we had never imagined,” writes Anne. </p>
<p>When Jim Conkling, president of Columbia Records, heard about Al’s condition, he made a way to record Al’s Christmas carols. </p>
<p>“A volunteer chorus of the finest singers in Hollywood met… Al's wheelchair could easily enter from the parking lot into the auditorium where he lead the first demonstration taping. In our home, over a cup of hot chocolate, Al reviewed the session, thrilled at the turnout for him, the lovely voices on the tape, and the fact something he had written would be released. ‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ he remarked.” </p>
<p>He finished his last carol on the eve of his death, which preceded the arrival of the contract from Columbia Records by one hour. </p>
<p>Alfred Burt died on February 7, 1954, thirty-three years old. </p>
<p>I didn’t know so much as his name until last year when I noticed some of his songs. </p>
<p>“Night Bethlehem” is a favorite of mine on the Singers Unlimited <em>Christmas</em> album. </p>
<p><vid> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-TsPBUxI_PU" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-TsPBUxI_PU/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-TsPBUxI_PU?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></vid></p>
<p>My father reminded me last year of “Some Children See Him.” </p>
<p><vid> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="yPQjyK_S1to" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/yPQjyK_S1to/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yPQjyK_S1to?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></vid></p>
<p>“What Are the Signs” was written during World War II, and its lyrics, Anne writes, are “reflections of the Burts' belief that Christianity, not war, was the solution to the world's problems.” </p>
<p><em>What are the signs of the morning? <br>God, who created the light, <br>speak through the gloom that enfolds us, <br>when breaks the dawn on our sight, <br>when comes the end of our night.</em></p>
<p><br><em>These be the tokens of promise: <br>one is a bright star above, <br>one a poor child in a manger, <br>symbols of faith and of love. <br>Hope comes with faith <br>and with love!</em></p>
<p>“The Star Carol” was Al's last song.</p>
<p><vid> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="txtanfXV7_o" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/txtanfXV7_o/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/txtanfXV7_o?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></vid></p>
<p>With compelling lyrics and lasting melodies, Alfred Burt’s fifteen carols have been recorded by Andy Williams, Julie Andrews, Nat King Cole, Simon & Garfunkel, George Winston, and many others. </p>
<p>And how did this all begin? </p>
<p>It began with an amateur musician dad who wanted to share music from the home. </p>
<p>How was it carried on? </p>
<p>By the son-turned-professional, whose musical journey began with a hospital, and whose journey’s end launched these carols into the world. </p>
<p>All this information comes from Alfred’s wife Anne, whose story is <a contents="on their website." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://alfredburtcarols.com/burt/Web%20Pages/burt_family.htm" target="_blank">on their website.</a> Do read it if you can. You will also find there these words from Al’s father: </p>
<p>"The secret of joy out of sorrow and gain out of loss is all there in the message of Christmas." </p>
<p>Amen. <em>"He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.”</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59950882019-12-06T17:13:55-05:002019-12-17T15:31:40-05:00Music in wartime<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/19e64839293e7424bba5c44d5924a31657bfd02c/original/starheader.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.png" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>“It almost makes you <em>want</em> to go to war.” </p>
<p>Such was the effect of the fife and drum corps at colonial Williamsburg as they marched by.</p>
<p>Music in wartime is an ancient tradition. Why? Why should something so beautiful, lively, and celebratory be laced with something so horrid, devastating, and grim? </p>
<p>There is the simple explanation that music is a mood-booster. I think we can extract a deeper reason, though.</p>
<p><strong>Music declares victory before the battle. </strong>Music strengthens the heart with the promise of what could be the reward of valor: rest, peace, and jubilee. </p>
<p>When Christ was born, poetry erupted. It is unclear how melodic these words were, but it’s reasonable to remember them as song, as we tend to do. Mary uttered her magnificat; Zechariah uttered his prayer. The host of heaven astonished the shepherds with their verse. They all sang good news.</p>
<p>But as far as we can tell, things went silent for Mary afterward. She lived to see her own son pinned in shameful death. At that moment and many others, how she must have clung to the vivid words that heralded his birth. How she must have needed that report of the host of heaven singing to shepherds who didn’t have a clue. </p>
<p>They had sung, “Peace on earth.” They were announcing the means by which God would achieve that Peace, but they were also declaring Peace before the war was over, before the crucifixion, before the final return of Christ. </p>
<p>We still need that song. The work of Christ is complete, but the day of complete salvation has not arrived. Those who are in Christ have a hope none can take away. And yet, we witness so much evil, and our limited frames render us downcast. We ask, “How long, O Lord?” </p>
<p>In times of discouragement as well as times of gladness, we can reach for the song. It is God’s gift to us to remind us that victory is sure, even if not yet here.</p>
<p>That’s why I have come to have a special love for music at Christmastime. It’s not just a European tradition; it's a biblical one. What could be more fitting than to celebrate the Word made flesh with words made song?</p>
<p>To this end, there <em>is</em> a European tradition that has powerfully helped our family appreciate Christ in song. The King’s College at Cambridge, England, formed the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, a flexible liturgy of prayer, Scripture, and carols. It is broadcast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; see if you can catch it. Alternatively, it so happens that this very evening (Dec. 6) at 7pm a local college is <a contents="live-streaming their version of Lessons and Carols" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.phc.edu/patrick-henry-college-webcasts?hsCtaTracking=c5115410-a207-438d-af36-8edfca8b43a5%7C0c5b6944-dbe2-4889-98d5-8005e80a5871" target="_blank">live-streaming their version of Lessons and Carols</a>. </p>
<p>Let me tell you about some favorite Christmas records now. The list includes choral, a cappella, jazz, Irish, and pop-alternative. Favorite songs from these artists, as well as several others, are in our master <a contents="“Christmas in the Hall Home” playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/0J5mxoyU8lNsqPmepDLvmu?si=ObdKIOyGSWy7dFBrlaNjZg" target="_blank">“Christmas in the Hall Home” playlist</a><a contents="“Christmas in the Hall Home” playlist.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mYoeH8Rq6VVmNG7LA6lNV?si=2eehpCAST2qRwDZuyHAmUg" target="_blank">. </a></p>
<p>A word of warning: even the best Christmas music can get old. So, don’t overdo it. AND. Comment with your favorites! Always looking for more. </p>
<p><strong>Carols from Cambridge </strong>(album by various artists)</p>
<p>Wonderful old carols delivered by English choirs.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="s9pp_YmWMXQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/s9pp_YmWMXQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s9pp_YmWMXQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Singers Unlimited </strong></p>
<p>The Singers Unlimited began as a jazz a cappella jingle group. Their <em>Christmas </em>album is exquisite. A few tracks are jingle-esque, but altogether it's a beautiful, harmonically thick collection of Christmas arrangements, including several lesser known songs. Here's one of my favorites. Listen to that final sustained note!</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="aOFhzIpAYD0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/aOFhzIpAYD0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aOFhzIpAYD0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Praytell </strong></p>
<p>The majority of Jon and Valerie Guerra’s Christmas songs are feel-good holiday music, but there are a few spiritual numbers. Last year’s video of “Remind Me, Lord” brought a tear to my eye. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="3VRjS4oRnM8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/3VRjS4oRnM8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3VRjS4oRnM8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Their “Snow Song” is lovely. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="UvK2IlnjSg0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/UvK2IlnjSg0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UvK2IlnjSg0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>JJ Heller </strong></p>
<p>JJ Heller delivered a wonderful update to <em>We Three Kings.</em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ShQhhIol7ms" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ShQhhIol7ms/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ShQhhIol7ms?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Sufjan Stevens </strong></p>
<p>There are three types of people in the world: those who like Sufjan’s music, those who don’t understand those who like Sufjan’s music, and those who have better things to do. I’m in the first camp with a major caveat: I like his traditional Christmas songs. They are fresh and beautiful, if a a bit whimsical.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="eyORnEzBpAo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/eyORnEzBpAo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eyORnEzBpAo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Bifrost Arts </strong></p>
<p>Something tells me those who get the Sufjan wavelength will connect with Bifrost Arts. Though the vocal style of several songs is too weird for me, a few are captivating.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="fY6-a5I-UZY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/fY6-a5I-UZY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fY6-a5I-UZY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Kingston Trio </strong></p>
<p>My mother-in-law introduced me to this vintage sound.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="1h4D1-1Tdts" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/1h4D1-1Tdts/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1h4D1-1Tdts?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The Chieftains </strong></p>
<p>Their <em>Bells of Dublin</em> record comes with the scent of woodsmoke and ale.</p>
<p> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MyA1zKBUhxM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/MyA1zKBUhxM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MyA1zKBUhxM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Canadian Brass </strong></p>
<p>Canadian Brass has multiple classy Christmas albums with carols and fun holiday numbers.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="uaAX1cKYR-c" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/uaAX1cKYR-c/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uaAX1cKYR-c?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Vince Guaraldi Trio</strong></p>
<p>Does Christmas jazz piano get any better than <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas?</em></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="XO2kSduwY34" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/XO2kSduwY34/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XO2kSduwY34?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Justin Kauflin</strong></p>
<p>Justin Kauflin's <em>Silent Night </em>is another fine jazz piano record.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-DMLa-zDnhg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-DMLa-zDnhg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-DMLa-zDnhg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Songs from these artists and several others are collected in this playlist. Enjoy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/4mYoeH8Rq6VVmNG7LA6lNV" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59811452019-11-29T07:05:00-05:002020-04-03T14:29:36-04:00Soundtrack of a yesteryear: a Thanksgiving tribute<p><span class="font_large">It must have been twenty years ago. At a November youth group meeting, we divided into little circles and said or prayed something we were thankful for. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I looked down at my hands. One of them had scars on both sides from an accident that could have debilitated it, but did not.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">"God," I said, "thank you that I can play the piano." And I teared up. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">All I had been doing was banging out chords and probably blessing no one but myself; but I loved it so much. It keenly felt like God's personalized gift to me. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">But a larger gift underlay it. At thirteen, I was newly sincere as a Christian. I had been on a trajectory of hatred, pride, selfishness, and other awful things. Then, God moved me to come clean about it all when I was twelve. I was still rough around the edges, but I felt like a new creature; and I was happy. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I didn't expect then to experience years of spiritual depression, but that's what most of high school felt like. I went from being an ebullient believer to wondering if God was real and what difference did it make to believe in him. The harder I tried to reel myself in, the more distant from God I felt. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Finally, I silently said, "God, if you are real, you're going to have to get me out of this. I can't, so I'm going to stop trying." It wasn't a rejection of belief, but complete relinquishment of effort to believe. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I can't identify the stages of returning to confidence, but healing did slowly come. One day, when I was seventeen, my dad and I were on a bike ride talking about this and that when he said, "You seem to be doing well, honey." </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">"Yeah," I said, realizing it for the first time. "I am doing well." And I teared up. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I see now how much pride I had derived from my sense of spirituality. God wouldn't have it; he would do the saving, not me - and so my efforts to feel spiritual were futile. The mere fact that in time my faith became strong again is another way I know he is there. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Mrs. Potter came to my high school graduation party and gave me Sara Groves's latest album, <em>The Other Side of Something</em>. I remember thinking it was bold to give music to a teenager you didn't know especially well. But that album had songs that I soon described as my life songs. "The One Thing I Know" describes my high school years: </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>And the clouds just parted </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>On a corner of my life </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>And I can see for miles </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>And the things I was stuck on </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>Things I thought would never change </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>They just broke open wide </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>This is the one thing I know: </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>You said you won't let me go </em></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">And "Compelled" describes my whole life. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>What a relief it is to know </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>I'm a slave to Christ </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>Of all the masters I have known </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>I'm compelled to live my life </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>Free for you </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>I'm on the other side of something </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>I'm on the other side of something </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>I have a new hope </em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><em>And it blows away the small hopes I knew before </em></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">This Thanksgiving week, I thank you, Sara, for describing me. I thank you, Mrs. Potter, for the CD. Thank you, God, I can play the piano. Thank you that I still have a new hope. </span></p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59692892019-11-22T07:43:10-05:002019-11-22T16:07:27-05:00A photographic tour of the land of Battlescapes<p><span class="font_large">I thought it was a dumb idea to put cameras on phones. In my defense, the first phone cameras were bad. Not in my defense, I had no imagination. "The farsighted see better things," and so many of our best pictures now exist just because the camera was ready on our person.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I would love to bring you music videos of the places <em>Battlescapes </em>are named for. Until that's possible, let me give you a little tour with pictures we've caught over the years. This is a view from the Virginia side of the river. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/8595ee661b44b8ed5aaca82f1e52f92fcead23f7/original/panorama.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_none" alt="" />The bridge on the right is Route 340 from Maryland crossing the Potomac. Harpers Ferry itself is the low land peeking above the river on the left side between the hills. At a few hundred feet above sea level, it's the lowest part of West Virginia. "The Mountain State" has the highest average elevation of any state east of the Mississippi, and it almost ain't nothing but hills and hollers. But, as for my house, it sits lower than the Ohio city I grew up in.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The hill in the middle of the above picture is Maryland Heights. Say you were on the west side of it, you'd see Lower Town Harpers Ferry and the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers:</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/46c0b641b51eba83b88bc78b2ebd2d8a9ae940c8/original/marylandheightsview.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /> Looks like this photo was snapped during a dry spell. John Brown's raid took place somewhere on that visible part of the land. Notice the bridge ruins:</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/d3900b66889e8ee99f0d600c1fb68eb72a3f6bfd/original/hpim0710.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Harpers Ferry was a real war town, changing hands between North and South at least seven times. The train bridges operated by the Baltimore & Ohio were destroyed numerous times, as captured by this illustration for <em>Harper's Weekly</em> in 1861:</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/0e86cb60a32b085b4702847bcdccadd744442614/original/page0001.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The only regular sight missing from the following pictures of Lower Town is the many tourists who are milling about the place on the weekends.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/ddbcce3d1dcdb4f275e897a8f819057158761112/original/img-20180425-192821873.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/2bbd9cd11b2a7d05655a4479b5ae2c1fc90aae4d/original/img-20180207-164712571-hdr.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/9f8792682436f7b48ce231ab221f45d0bbcda85c/original/img-20150827-201634542.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Oh, here's a tourist. Hi, Dad.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/fbd9e16eecc9348f6fe3d27d20d0c0466886befc/original/hpim0707.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Virginius Island is adjacent to Lower Town on the Shenandoah River side. I don't have many great pictures handy, but here's some video set to a piano piece that's <em>not</em> on the <em>Battlescapes </em>album. The Virginia bluebells carpet the ground for a few weeks every spring. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="5odvlD8MXEw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/5odvlD8MXEw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5odvlD8MXEw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="270" width="480" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The only shot I have of Murphy Farm is this late fall photo of the overlook. Behind the photographer is a large plain field with farmhouse. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/dc26483ee189283d1b19ca9ade00bf3978ac38fb/original/img-20151111-165501810.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">West of Murphy Farm is the approach to Schoolhouse Ridge.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/72626a9d1e2f8310e6c6f0b3b00b4621cf78f614/original/20190819-094618.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">If you were to turn around and face east again on Schoolhouse Ridge North, you could walk up the hill to Bolivar Heights. Break through the tree line and --- </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/354a366cc3a7320d9c1f36d24eead3d7ad2ab3f6/original/img-20161112-164546631-hdr.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />We're now on Bolivar Heights, on the other side of the panorama we began with, looking the opposite direction. Maryland Heights is the larger hill on the left. I love Bolivar Heights. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/b621316e0ee7e0b8a2ba942bb108b5791ef2262d/original/img-20161013-082240695-hdr.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Last summer Jacob came in from the front yard, pointed out the window, and said, "I want to do that before I die." Lo, a paraglider above Bolivar Heights! We ended up meeting the fellow. Tom has some amazing videography he captures from his glider. Here's his video from that day. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Harpers Ferry enters view around 3:15. You can see the storm that forced him to land. </span></p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="_wAuI8JJjUA" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/_wAuI8JJjUA/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_wAuI8JJjUA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="270" width="480" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Happy Thanksgiving week, everybody! And...may I suggest some mealtime music? </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0?si=ywwWTiNuRwWUdeosreG6yA" style="" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/e6c1a02d03c1d7a0a4ab436e300b7aeb255fbd4f/original/american-foliage.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a>This mostly instrumental mix favors the harmonic strains of Appalachia and nineteenth-century hymnody, with some fresh interpretations by modern composers (including a few from Vandalia River). Often plaintive, sometimes dancing, always beautiful.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0" width="300"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59615102019-11-15T16:19:50-05:002020-06-23T08:01:54-04:00The frame (or, why we don't like classical radio) + artwork news<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/fab1a55d20058bf32a9d9b8ef30706f4f0212bb2/original/20191115-103311.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Jacob brought a Winslow Homer print of <em>Snap the Whip</em> to our household. The folks who gave it to him understood that to use this gift, it needed a frame. They couldn't get a nice one, but they got a complete one, and to this day it hangs on our wall in the same plastic casing.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">It's interesting to me that framing, or at least matting, was a required part of the [two] art classes I've been in. Wall art isn't complete without some kind of frame. The frame enables it to be displayed on a basic level and appreciated on a deeper level.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Music needs a frame, too. It needs devices that make it easier for the listener to hear and for the listener to appreciate. Often music fails to move us simply because it was not presented appropriately. Here are a few conventions that can function as a frame for music. All genres benefit, but some more than others. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>1. The live performance </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The live performance is the ultimate frame for all music. Of course! It's the original thing! Whether it's an Irish music jam at The Barn, or a house concert with whomever, or a marching band at the football game, or a piano major's senior recital - we'll enjoy it in person even if we won't turn around and listen to a recording of it. A lot of us, myself included, have lost touch with the unique human dimension of live music; it's worth pursuing ways to bring more of it into your life. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>2. Repetition </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">One of the first symbols music students learn is the repeat sign. Its frequency reflects the fact that when we hear a bit of music, we want to hear that bit again. It's easier to listen to music a second time than a first time. My piano students love the folk songs in their books simply because they've heard them before. Generation after generation is faithful to the songs of youth because - it's what we know!. Artists often break through with a new sound when they apply it to a familiar cover song. And bands have success selling CDs at shows because now that the audience has heard their music - uh, they want to hear it again.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">All music - up to a point - is better appreciated when we hear it again. <em>Especially</em> music from classical literature. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Classical music is like dark chocolate or wine: an acquired taste, but yours forever once you get it. We all know what it's like to get sick of our favorite pop song after a month of repeat play. I find the inverse phenomenon with a Beethoven sonata: I won't begin to like it until <em>after</em> a month of repeat play. (Good thing, too, cause they take me months to learn.) </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">This may be why many of us don't listen long to the classical radio station. Much classical music demands a heavier frame than radio to help our contemporary American ears appreciate it: our full attention, a stage, and familiarity. Otherwise, it's like trying to appreciate Michelangelo when his sculpture is in the garage next to the lawn mower.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>3. Story behind the song </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Stories prepare the mind in surprising ways. When you know the context of a composition, your imagination turns it into a soundtrack for some other thing, enhancing its power. This is why I like catching American Public Media's <a contents="Performance Today" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today" target="_blank">Performance Today</a> radio program and the <a contents="Classics for Kids" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.classicsforkids.com/" target="_blank">Classics for Kids</a> podcast. This is also why the <em>Battlescapes</em> pieces resonated with people whenever I presented them in person. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">George Winston's performances are very simple. Nothing on stage but the piano and himself in plain clothes. But his piano pieces have names that the audience instantly understands. "Woods." "Stars." And to go back to point #2, though his work was initially a breakthrough for solo piano music, being neither classical nor jazz, many Americans loved it because harmonically it was familiar: folk piano with a fresh twist. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>4. Artwork</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Whether recordings are physical or digital, artwork helps the presentation. It whets the listener's appetite, preparing him visually for whatever vibe he's about to hear.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Which segues beautifully into announcing five winners of some artwork made for <em>Battlescapes</em>. To thank folks for sharing the news about the music, there was a drawing for a 16x12 glossy poster of a unique map rendering of the Harpers Ferry area. Congratulations to Jayme, Karen, Mirais, Robyn, and Alison! I'll send you the poster soon. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/610be519cac7e155e8da848cf18346e6fdd90979/original/poster.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">There are four more of these posters that will be included with the next four CD orders.<a contents=" Use this link if you like that offer" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/product/343053" target="_blank"> Use this link if you like that offer</a> or get in touch with me directly. If you're interested in buying a poster by itself, they can be ready in a week or sooner for $7 each. Let me know!</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">That's all. Have a great weekend and keep in touch!</span></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59582152019-11-08T16:35:00-05:002019-11-12T16:32:40-05:00Today is a special day.<p>Good beautiful morning!</p>
<p>This is a special day!</p>
<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/341d345edff49dc6d086461996f20b680ab1bdb5/original/a-1.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The <i>Battlescapes </i>EP is now released on most digital platforms! Pick your pleasure to listen:</p>
<p><a contents="AMAZON" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Battlescapes-Vandalia-River/dp/B07Z3DLJYS/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=Vandalia+river&qid=1573211779&sr=8-10" style="" target="_blank">AMAZON</a></p>
<p><a contents="SPOTIFY" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2ABhOcu52PB7SVYA1shdfh?si=dx12l0hmQs-ccfUitQDU6g" style="" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a></p>
<p><a contents="ITUNES / APPLE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/battlescapes-ep/1482386008" target="_blank">ITUNES / APPLE</a></p>
<p><a contents="YOUTUBE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhj67cWcNa5zUZFBbQERS_9ondpCNa82E" target="_blank">YOUTUBE</a> (this is a playlist on the VR channel; the videos themselves were not created by Vandalia River)</p>
<p>Thank you so much for following this journey so far. I hope the music finds a good place in your life. And now for a little fun…</p>
<p><strong>POSTER GIVE-AWAY</strong></p>
<p>I’m expecting a delivery tomorrow of 16x12 posters of the unique map rendering that was made just for the <i>Battlescapes </i>CD. I’m giving away five posters! Share the news about the <i>Battlescapes </i>release, and you’ll be entered into a drawing. This can be by e-mailing a friend, sharing on Facebook, or sharing on Instagram. Just make sure I somehow know you did it so I can include your name (like, send me a screenshot or tag @vandaliariver. Privacy settings on Facebook often keep me from knowing).</p>
<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/610be519cac7e155e8da848cf18346e6fdd90979/original/poster.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><strong>AND THE CD IS IN PRODUCTION!</strong></p>
<p>The final design for the <i>Battlescapes</i><b><i> </i></b>CD was submitted to CD Baby this week. They will probably be ready in early December. <a contents="You can still order one for $10, delivery included, here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://vandaliariver.com/product/337212" target="_blank">You can still order one for $10 here</a>. All CD orders include a download of the album (in WAV files).</p>
<p>That’s all for now! No deep thoughts for today. Have a good weekend and keep in touch.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59448862019-11-01T07:15:00-04:002019-11-01T08:03:37-04:00Down-Home Domestic Art<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/0b4f45d47e1bc3056f060048cf8d6bdbc2e4f51d/original/20191025-144920.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpeg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Literature professor Laurence Perrine sums up literature as either interpretative or escapist (or a blend thereof). A classicist might instead say the function of literature is to teach and delight. </p>
<p>I think these categories can be applied pretty well, in different degrees, to all forms of art. Art has the potential of helping us interpret and intensify our experience of life. No matter where the art falls on a scale of brilliance, its effect can be the same. You can have the history-making character of a da Vinci painting or a cathedral’s architecture or a Shakespearean monologue. You can have the closer-to-home music of a jazz band at your local restaurant. You can have the home decor that comes from your kitchen garden or local boutique. All of it has the potential to teach or delight; to help us interpret life (not necessarily in an absolute or moralistic way) or take restful flights of fancy. </p>
<p>Which has an (obvious) implication: art is for people. Good art ends up enlivening the existence of many. </p>
<p>Just as art is for people, tech is for people. Talent is for people. Hospitality is for people. As human beings we can passively experience all these things—and join in as creators, too. When we do the latter, we find a myriad of ways in which to love our neighbors. </p>
<p>This is what went down in a wonderful way last Friday night at the Selby home. A busy family opened up their house so folks could experience live music from Wild Harbors and Vandalia River. Someone brought dinner so we could “eat and be satisfied.” (Food is underrated.) A childhood friend of mine stayed up late two nights in a row setting up and tearing down the portable PA system. Someone else brought in lighting equipment despite a flat tire. There were others whose planning, words, and presence helped make it fantastic. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/0eda29fcf39ca2fd153169d461430cadb0940faa/original/20191025-203155.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The house concert production certainly was a level up from ordinary events. But I could tell as I saw everybody work in a mostly relaxed way that pulling together with their gifts, possessions, time, and ability was par for the course. This was a community that was used to living life together. And because they did, as they made way for musicians to present their art, they produced a down-home domestic art that enriched everybody present. Not least of all me. I’m still in an afterglow.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59347202019-10-25T07:10:00-04:002019-10-25T07:13:50-04:00Bringing a piece of home to home<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://flickr.com/photos/75683070@N00/7992968569" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/667acafb9272cfb99d660e32303119beaa9cb5f3/original/junction-of-i-80-and-i-76-near-youngstown-ohio-west-akron-west-cleveland-ohio-via-turnpike-i-76-it-i-80.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_none" alt="Ken Lund https://flickr.com/photos/75683070@N00/7992968569" /></a></p>
<p>The experience of staying in one place most of your childhood is irreplaceable. Stasis allows depth. </p>
<p>This is what I had in Akron from age four to nineteen. It was there, in an old gritty neighborhood just west of downtown, in the company of folks I knew through church and classes, in a home culture driven by brothers, that the fundamentals of my creative taste and vision were formed. </p>
<p>When I moved away, I bragged about Akron. I talked it up so well I think I lost some credibility. I can see why: if newcomers were to take a trip through the city via I-76, they wouldn’t see much to entice them. I think that’s why I praised it - I knew there was more than the first impression. I walked, biked, rollerbladed, and drove on the brick streets and cracked sidewalks. I hiked the trails (which sometimes could be hilly!). I knew some of the cultural centers and institutions all blessedly within driving distance. I stayed in the children’s hospital not knowing how convenient it was to live just ten minutes from one. And the folks I grew up with - oh, we were as human as anybody. But to see how they welcomed and delighted Virginia friends when they came for my wedding - that said everything I ever wanted to say. </p>
<p>Today I am going back to Akron to bring a piece of home to what was once my home. In a suburban house, close to the one where I once scared the sleep out of a kid I babysat, in a mid-sized city pie-cut by two interstates and built by the tire industry, I’ll get to bring stories and music from Harpers Ferry. </p>
<p>And, in fact, just as Akron was the incubator for my adulthood, Ohio had something to do with what developed in Harpers Ferry. I once watched contestants from Oberlin Conservatory perform in a piano competition, and I once went to my friend’s piano recital at the Western Reserve in Hudson. Both institutions, in their earliest forms, were either founded or supported by John Brown’s father. John Brown had grown up in abolitionist Hudson, Ohio, watching his father aid escaped slaves. He also had known one of his father’s apprentices, Jesse R. Grant. Jesse regarded John Brown as “a man of great purity of character, of high moral and physical courage, but a fanatic and extremist in whatever he advocated.” It was his extremism that led him to try to seize the armory at Harpers Ferry in 1859 and start a slave uprising with less than twenty men. </p>
<p>That act accelerated the secession of the South, whose army was finally extinguished by the present-minded war execution of Jesse Grant’s son, General Ulysses S. Grant, another Ohio boy. (<a contents="Read his memoirs sometime." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/4367-h/4367-h.htm" target="_blank">Read his memoirs sometime.</a>) </p>
<p>Ohio may not have the buried bullets or plunging vistas of Harpers Ferry, but it has the soil where great things can grow. Of course, the greatness of the Civil War is quite mixed - but that's not all that's come about. The Wright Flyer flew in Kitty Hawk, but the Wright brothers built it in Dayton. Apollo 11 launched from Florida, but Neil Armstrong learned to fly in Ohio. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to get sentimental. But I truly believe Ohio was and still is a great place to grow up.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59294802019-10-18T06:43:21-04:002019-10-18T06:43:21-04:00Confluences<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/72bafd3b582b8a35309799b8141eb31db5f8a04b/original/100-3230.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Once upon a time, not so long ago, free spirits could walk to the edge of the cotton factory ruins on the Shenandoah River. These are square-cornered stone walls two or three feet wide with a drop of, oh, ten feet or more into the shallow water. These walls once begged to be walked, but today a spit rail fence is in the way.</p>
<p>The fence wasn’t there in 2007 when I followed Jacob to the edge of the wall. We sat down, our legs dangling over the river. “It’s like a river glorious, Rebekah,” he said. He was happy in his resolve to ask me in a few minutes to marry him. He did ask, I did whisper “yes,” and we did get giddy. </p>
<p>Then we walked up the steep steps past Jefferson Rock to almost the highest part of the town of Harpers Ferry. We sat down with the sunset behind us and the mountain view in front. At our feet, a cemetery cascaded downhill. What is better, I thought, than to consider a graveyard after you’ve pledged your life to someone? </p>
<p>We were happy but conscious of the secrets of the future, conscious that no one makes it out alive, no one makes it through untroubled. What would our troubles be? </p>
<p>One of Wendell Berry’s characters says, “The mercy of the world is you don’t know what’s going to happen.” That’s a mercy indeed that should be quietly accepted. Since the day we got engaged we have experienced much good, but also enough bad that one could consider the words of the hymn Jacob quoted and get cynical. </p>
<p>“Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace.” </p>
<p>And it would be right to be cynical if the “peace” preached by the hymn was a mere inner zenlike tranquility. But God’s peace isn’t just an inner peace; it’s an outer peace with God. It’s an objective reality that happens when we are brought into his family through the work of Christ. It’s an increasing wholeness as our lives align with what is good and right. </p>
<p>The Lord promised - promised - that in this world we would have trouble. But, “take heart,” he said, “I have overcome the world.” The mercy of the world is one thing. God's mercy is so much more.</p>
<p>Twelve years ago, that giddy young couple sat near the confluence of two rivers as they began the confluence of their two lives. And ever since then they have been learning to hope in the confluence of God’s sovereign and good way with the troubled waters of life. </p>
<p>These thoughts are behind a piano composition called “The Confluence,” which uses a theme from “Like a River Glorious.” Though it is instrumental on the record, one of the highlights of my year was to hear Chris and Jenna Badeker from <a contents="Wild Harbors" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.wildharbors.com" target="_blank">Wild Harbors</a> bring a lyrical version of mine to life. It was a message for that young, inexperienced couple that sat on the stones twelve years ago; and it was a word for the older, weathered couple that lives today.</p>
<p><em>Come now, let us test the waters: let us feel the cold; let us feel the cold and the rushing strength... Let us take the life we can't choose to make.</em></p>
<p>I would like to share a video of that rendition, as well as video of the five other pieces, as a thank you for pre-saving the album on Spotify (or pre-ordering the CD). Pre-saving tells Spotify that the music matters to you. Of course, not all music is for everyone - I get that - but if you like what you are hearing, this is for you. </p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://show.co/social-unlock/7KpUCW3k8OAUiqkCUe3Tx4/widget" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p>Thanks for reading today.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59243652019-10-12T12:12:45-04:002019-10-12T12:12:45-04:00The most expensive piece<p>The biggest disappointment from my first trip to the studio was that one of my pieces wasn't ready. It was, technically and compositionally, the most difficult piece. I wondered if I would have to hack it to bits before coming back to record. </p>
<p>I sat on it, practiced it, hand-wrung about it, made some changes, and booked the studio for a September Sunday evening. </p>
<p>"Wow," said the engineer after I played it twice.</p>
<p><em>Phew. It was going to work.</em></p>
<p>It <em>had</em> to work. How could an album commemorating Harpers Ferry be complete without a tribute to "The Heights?" </p>
<p>Besides lower town, Maryland Heights is probably the most visited part of the park. It gives you this view. </p>
<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/46c0b641b51eba83b88bc78b2ebd2d8a9ae940c8/original/marylandheightsview.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>Across from Maryland Heights is Loudoun Heights. And some of my favorite pictures are taken from Bolivar Heights:</p>
<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/126309b8d0c8642822baab280d879f4d2a5a367d/original/20180903-064710.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>This piece is dedicated to the Harpers Ferry Ultra Running Team. For why that is and more of the backstory, this video is for you. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="cIsdCu9aNTA" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/cIsdCu9aNTA/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cIsdCu9aNTA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p>That video was filmed at a get-together we had last Sunday evening, which was the twelfth anniversary of the day Jake and I sat down in Harpers Ferry and got engaged. It was very special to share not only the music but also the thoughts and stories behind the music. (If you tried to livestream, I'm so sorry the audio quality failed. It's better in the videos!)</p>
<p>The final piece of the album is named for the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Though it is instrumental on the record, Chris and Jenna Badeker from the band <a contents="Wild Harbors" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.wildharbors.com" target="_blank">Wild Harbors</a> were present to sing, for the first time ever in public, a lyrical version of the song. That performance was a highlight of my entire year.</p>
<p>You can now pre-save or pre-order the entire <em>Battlescapes</em> album. If you do, I'd love to thank you by sharing videos of the live performances of all six pieces from Sunday.</p>
<p>Pre-save on Spotify:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://show.co/social-unlock/7KpUCW3k8OAUiqkCUe3Tx4/widget" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>or</p>
<p><a contents="PRE-ORDER THE CD" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.vandaliariver.com" target="_blank">PRE-ORDER THE CD</a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59152652019-10-04T06:57:42-04:002023-12-10T13:08:25-05:00Seedheads (and news!)<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/ca320d7f995dc89664574f1f28ce30c9caecfd20/original/seedheads.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>At the end of the summer the grasses unsheathe their seedheads, spraying the field with a million points of light. It's as if they are finally acknowledging the sun's work all season long by reflecting its brilliance. </p>
<p>I guess an album cover can be like one of those seedheads. This one, coming at the end of a long season of preparation, gives away the inspiration for the whole Battlescapes project: the area I call home, as viewed from Bolivar Heights.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/5f3a3043e82cce717d9eb41df1a6a37b97cb170e/original/digital-album-cover-battlescapes.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><strong>Pleased to announce that the piano tracks have been sent to the distributor and they will be released online on Nov. 8! </strong></p>
<p>I miss how easy it used to be to get or give a CD. So I've been designing one. If there is enough interest to cover the cost of duplication, I'll order a batch. If you think you would like one for yourself or as a gift, you can pre-order here at the site for $10/CD, including delivery to you. If I get 45 pre-orders I'll be able to make CDs.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a contents="here's a new Spotify playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0?si=ywwWTiNuRwWUdeosreG6yA" target="_blank">here's a new Spotify playlist</a>. This mostly instrumental mix favors the harmonic strains of Appalachia and nineteenth-century hymnody, with some fresh interpretations by modern composers. Often plaintive, sometimes dancing, always beautiful. It includes numbers from </p>
<ul> <li>Edgar Meyer </li> <li>Doris Johnson </li> <li>Jay Ungar and Molly Mason </li> <li>Mark O'Connor </li> <li>Yo-Yo Ma </li> <li>George Winston </li> <li>Laura Leon </li> <li>Fernando Ortega </li> <li>Pa's Fiddle Band </li> <li>Julyo </li>
</ul>
<p>(and one modest piece by yours truly). </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/71MnvBguCf9TD7caGoo5q0" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/59063702019-09-27T07:05:58-04:002019-10-03T13:29:02-04:00Treasurekeeping<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/78c11099bf8b8b783b02dd2041410ad15ec19fe7/original/clutter.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_none" alt="Photo by Tania Melnyczuk on Unsplash" /></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://unsplash.com/@alphabetania?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=photographer-credit&utm_content=creditBadge" rel="noopener noreferrer" style='background-color: black; color: white; text-decoration: none; padding: 4px 6px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; border-radius: 3px;' target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Tania Melnyczuk"><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewbox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title></title>
<path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">Tania Melnyczuk</span></a></p>
<p>I had a pleasant dream one Saturday morning about an auction. I hadn't been to an auction in a while, even though two fifty-cent La-Z-Boy armchairs in the living room testified of my success. This unexpected dream prompted me to look up the listings, and what would you know, there was an estate auction just across the highway that very morning. </p>
<p>The quality of an auction is always hard to tell from the pictures. Jacob noticed a pair of over-ear headphones in the listing, but as far as we could tell they were cheap and generic. I had been eyeing ninety-dollar Sennheiser 280 Pros so I could record someone singing into a mic without the accompaniment track bleeding through the monitor headphones. In the end, I crossed the highway because of a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. Not our dream car, but what if it was a deal? </p>
<p>I had to remind myself that estate auctions wouldn't happen if they didn't attract a throng of buyers, so I had better not hope for much of a deal. Indeed, the street was lined with parked cars almost as I soon as I turned into it. In my snow-colored rainjacket I was a white vulture amid the committee; but, we were innocent vultures, meaning no disrespect to the deceased. </p>
<p>At first I was disappointed. Rows of seeming junk sat on the grass getting wetter every minute under soft drizzle. I might have gone home had I not spotted the pink desk lamp my daughter wanted. I nabbed it for a buck. The more I stayed, the more I saw, and the more I wondered about the man whose estate this was. "Jack," he had been called. Stereos, speakers, microphones, a four-track cassette recorder, synthesizers, an electric guitar, MIDI controller, cables and cables, multimeters, at least one oscillator, radio and telegraph devices, boxes with switches and plugs whose function I didn't understand, and tools upon tools were spread throughout the eclectica. "This guy was quite the hobbyist!" I couldn't help but say.</p>
<p>He was also someone who wanted to take care of his property, judging by the automotive products, trimmers, lawn mowers, seed spreader, and pruners. His movie and music collections had nothing dirty or (in my opinion) poor taste and were found in VHS, DVD, CD, cassette, and vinyl forms. (Oddly he had multiple sets of <em>Anne of Green Gables</em>.) His books ranged from chemistry and math texts to <em>Calvin and Hobbes</em> to Ronald Reagan biographies and piano books and hymnals. "Gladys" was engraved on one of those hymnals. His wife, perhaps? </p>
<p>And to my slow belief, there was a pair of over-ear headphones that said "SENNHEISER HD 280 pro" on the side. I listened carefully for the auctioneer to get to them, hoping none of the other buyers would pay attention. </p>
<hr><p>Clyde wasn't a hobbyist like Jack, but he was his own jack-of-all-trades and master of insurance. The latter business laid his nest egg while he also repaired cars, learned Tae Kwon Do, cooked food he liked, piloted his single-engine Cessna - and wrote songs. Some of these songs were sung at his memorial service. Not long afterward, his wife sat in an armchair and sang a few into a tape recorder. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/ae7bd9ff57ff452f223d7bc0c64d83c510e870d7/original/clyde-lowell-floyd-with-french-horn.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>That cassette lay in a box of mine for years as well as a manila envelope full of Clyde's lyric sheets. In 2015 I finally overdubbed her voice with a piano track and converted the audio to digital. I did this because, of course, they were the songs of my grandfather. Every melody was telltale of when he came of age. They seem to spring from the soil of military marches and mid-century hymns, yet I can see how in another generation they could turn into Maranatha songs. They were all praise songs. And though they sound dated now, they were the sincere, complete, and catchy psalms of a man who came to love Jesus after a mid-life repentance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/c99129d10458a44013e37f689208f609fff9ee86/original/clyde-lowell-and-trellis-elizabeth-haynes-floyd.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Granddaddy and Grandmama left us in their mere sixties, much too much too soon. My mom gave me his songs in the hopes not just of saving them but of someday notating the melodies and adding harmony. As I bent over the piano working on one of the songs, I suddenly imagined a descendant of mine doing the same for me. Not so much for the merit of my work, maybe, but for the place I would hold in his or her history. The notion was wonderful. Granddaddy has better things to think about right now, but if I could go back and tell him I would keep his songs, I think I understand how he would feel. </p>
<hr><p>After I got home from the auction, Jack's obituary revealed to me that he had died a childless bachelor. Gladys had been his mother. Not much close family was named, though there were two nephews. Jack's nephews may have preserved mementos I don't know about. In case not, he has an entry in my journal and a blog post here. </p>
<p>And, I have his Sennheiser 280 Pro headphones. </p>
<p>They helped me edit one of Granddaddy's songs.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="mu5gmpqL26s" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/mu5gmpqL26s/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mu5gmpqL26s?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Note: Grandmama never supposed I'd put her voice on the Internet, so I debated whether to do so. She sang with neither accompaniment nor studio conditions to speak of. In the end, I decided that sharing a part of Granddaddy and Grandmama was worth it.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58991092019-09-20T16:29:21-04:002019-09-20T16:31:14-04:00Letting Art Adorn<p>Parallel principles exist between disciplines. What is true for, say, writing is often true for music. I recently subscribed to the Habit Weekly, a writing advice resource by Jonathan Rogers. This week <a contents="he brought his readers" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thehabit.co/the-desk-in-the-corner/" target="_blank">he brought his readers</a> to an observation of Stephen King's: "Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around."</p>
<p>We live first - we love our families and our neighbors - we let that life inspire art - and we let our art adorn that life. Not that the craft can't be serious and time-consuming (and often must be), but if it becomes too much so it may exhaust itself and become pointless. </p>
<p>That sentiment and this picture capture the genesis of a piano piece released today.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/454867c806b7f0c1f183528bd58a9e63eb4e9581/original/img-20150823-071943634.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>You see the shadow of a man, husband, and dad who is taking his son for a walk by neighboring fields. So much is pleasant: the openness, the accessibility, the beauty of the hillside. So much is right: this man loving his son with a simple act. But this field had been a scene of war, and to this day a shovel would find lead artifacts from that era. This man is pushing his son because a mysterious disorder has robbed the boy of most of the abilities the rest of us enjoy. </p>
<p>When playing these piano pieces, all these things come to mind. We are living, literally and metaphorically, in battlescapes.</p>
<p>"Schoolhouse Ridge" is a solo piano piece named for a series of fields in which Stonewall Jackson based maneuvers ahead of Antietam, maneuvers which led to the largest capture of federal troops during the Civil War. Today, we walk our dogs and take our children to Schoolhouse Ridge. And it was because the dad in this picture developed a running hobby - for his son's sake - and ran the Schoolhouse Ridge trails that the idea for this piano piece formed.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/3592ea020e40d01bcfa1e2b50eb7f7cd19a732cd/original/20190918-110239.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/1f9e687439f33d528a61a1af4e39398eecab3448/original/20190918-110405.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/7937229ea4e5c0cc5e83810436379987a196b845/original/schoolhouse-ridge-single-art.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>It's now available for stream or download in most places. </p>
<p><a contents="ITUNES / APPLE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/schoolhouse-ridge-single/1477721220" target="_blank">ITUNES / APPLE</a></p>
<p><a contents="SPOTIFY" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5vgDvjP4EAn7ceb99RNQms?si=osUBDwhVSdCpLyqoyXFe1w" style="" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a></p>
<p><a contents="AMAZON" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Schoolhouse-Ridge-Vandalia-River/dp/B07WPM225H/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=schoolhouse+ridge&qid=1568999063&sr=8-1" target="_blank">AMAZON</a></p>
<p><a contents="YOUTUBE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-d66kxRWfk" target="_blank">YOUTUBE</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58906542019-09-13T07:42:22-04:002023-12-10T12:02:56-05:00Digging for Heaven<p>It seems like the people who have the most heavenly stories are the one who've dug deepest into the earth. </p>
<p>Corrie ten Boom lived a war, provided a hiding place, survived a concentration camp, and forgave. </p>
<p>Gladys Aylward boarded a train to go through Europe to China. When it stopped at the edge of a warzone in Russia, she started walking. Both the regularity of her ordinary service to the Chinese and the spectacularity of events that arose from it qualify her story. </p>
<p>Similarly, the most creative people are the ones getting their hands dirty with real stuff. The early Disney animators didn't get their inspiration from watching cartoons (there weren't any!). They had been boys in the early 20th century, and, I wager, that gave them the imaginative kindling they needed to animate their cleverness. Much more recently, Garrett Taylor<a contents=" tells one reason" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.challies.com/interviews/the-incredibles-cars-and-the-pilgrims-progress-interview-with-a-pixar-artist/" target="_blank"> tells one reason</a> he was hired as an artist for Pixar: "To my amazement, the man that chose me for the position said he particularly liked that I had a knowledge of carpentry, and could see that understanding in my portfolio." Carpentry had been his <em>back-up job</em> and the only thing on his resume - but it was this physical craft that made his illustration rise above that of others. </p>
<p>This all reminds me of that writing advice to live first, write next. Douglas Wilson (<a contents='"love him or hate him"' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.challies.com/book-reviews/wordsmithy/" target="_blank">"love him or hate him"</a>) writes in <em>Wordsmithy</em>, "Live an actual life out there, a full life, the kind that will generate a surplus of stories.... Picture your writing corpus as the mouth of a great river, and all the life you have experienced as the various tributaries that feed the river." </p>
<p>And, indeed, modest though they be, the projects that appear here at Vandalia River were inspired by real, regular life. This weekend is the anniversary weekend of releasing <em>Heaven and Earth: Scripture Songs for the Old and New</em>. These songs came about because I had kids; I was going to church with kids; I was living life with folks in church; and I was reading Scripture. I was living life, and life gave me something to write about. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ln4VOoqwnp0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ln4VOoqwnp0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ln4VOoqwnp0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>On Sep. 20 - next Friday - another bit of music will be released that was borne out of non-musical living. This track inspired the whole <em>Battlescapes</em> album I've been working on. Jacob runs. He runs because he likes it, but he really runs because he loves his son, and it's one of the few things they can do together. We know this town, this park, and this community all the better for his running pursuit. One day, as a service to my daughter's cross country team, he took video of a trail route on Schoolhouse Ridge, a series of fields that are part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. He set an early draft of a piece I was creating to the video.</p>
<p>Years later, remembering that video and that piece, I realized it needed to be finished and named "Schoolhouse Ridge." And it needed to be accompanied by other pieces commemorating places linked to our home and story. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/7937229ea4e5c0cc5e83810436379987a196b845/original/schoolhouse-ridge-single-art.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Schoolhouse Ridge. Murphy Farm. Lower Town. The Heights. Virginius Island. The Confluence. I look forward to unfolding what these places mean to me in music. </p>
<p> If you haven't yet, pre-save "Schoolhouse Ridge" on Spotify. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://show.co/social-unlock/5XQO1JX4SiKdH2YwiNtoKu/widget" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>If you like the style of these piano pieces so far, let me know if you'd be interested in a <em>Battlescapes</em> CD. If I get enough pre-orders, I'll be able to print a small batch.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58831492019-09-06T13:19:20-04:002020-02-13T07:00:07-05:00Singing Belongs to You - and Some News<p>This summer a little dream came true. </p>
<p>A handful of acquaintances got together in someone's house and learned an a cappella song together. We were college girls, working mothers, empty nesters, and due this fall (well, one of us). Some of us could read music; others not so much. Some of us were known to be gifted vocalists; others were not known to be so (and in my case, was certainly not). We got together once a month three times - the first time to figure out our parts and suggest songs to learn; the other times to come together and sing what we practiced. We couldn't all show up every time, but when we did, we were smiling.</p>
<p>To learn our parts, we had a notated arrangement as well as the parts recorded singly for those who didn't read music. I recorded the tracks and shared them on Soundcloud, but for a lot of arrangements you should be able to buy pre-recorded tracks. </p>
<p>This was a way to be together and bring music home. This was a way to use the voices we all had regardless of gifting. We didn't produce any record-worthy performances, of course. But that's not why we sing. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ga95ebBk4Kg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ga95ebBk4Kg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ga95ebBk4Kg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>We just might do this again.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p><span class="font_large">And Some News!</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/7937229ea4e5c0cc5e83810436379987a196b845/original/schoolhouse-ridge-single-art.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p>A few weeks ago I sat down during an evening storm and played a piece from the forthcoming <em>Battlescapes</em> set. It's called "Schoolhouse Ridge" and is named for a series of fields nearby that saw action during the Civil War. Schoolhouse Ridge is preserved today as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="n-ojUJV3juY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/n-ojUJV3juY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n-ojUJV3juY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>And "Schoolhouse Ridge" has been preserved in studio. It's coming out as a single on Sep. 20! </p>
<p>If you like it, you can now pre-save the piece on Spotify. </p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://show.co/social-unlock/5XQO1JX4SiKdH2YwiNtoKu/widget" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58717062019-08-30T15:59:21-04:002019-08-30T16:00:23-04:00"Lower Town" Goes Public<p>"Lower Town" is now out where you can get it!</p>
<p>"Lower Town" is an instrumental piano piece named for the most visited part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park: a cluster of old buildings, ruins, shops, and residences hugged by the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. Visitors who approach it from either Maryland or Virginia are impressed by the sight of this point of land, with its spires and stoneworks, descending into the confluence of two great channels.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/ddbcce3d1dcdb4f275e897a8f819057158761112/original/img-20180425-192821873.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br> </p>
<p>This piece captures the energy and pleasantness I felt when first meeting Harpers Ferry, while pausing at points just like I paused to reflect on the somber aspects of this war town's history.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/fbd9e16eecc9348f6fe3d27d20d0c0466886befc/original/hpim0707.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/9f8792682436f7b48ce231ab221f45d0bbcda85c/original/img-20150827-201634542.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/2bbd9cd11b2a7d05655a4479b5ae2c1fc90aae4d/original/img-20180207-164712571-hdr.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Choose your link of choice to listen. If you like it, please share. </p>
<p><a contents="SPOTIFY" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=ryvL020TYWBYxaRxQ64M3Cnzjcf-2FBog3-2FUWhJhN4fRxJvhL2t0eKidUvXk0ItYBt0bvQbpsM-2BsO1MPkgZS-2FI3cZ3D4mfrVqUgyQ3-2FmqJX0bABvXx2Y-2FGmNZJX7NE-2Far0_qIdZmxytW9BGVAjlphp07Stq09ZPoKZZK38kRSAx7lULW0rj44L6Upx0cMJX0kOkQ2YcfNgA0NbQxrt48q6R6HCJrvho4X3-2FKYFne1voiMTURk9WHksnsCxL0n6ooRZ5pbFPP4WKoN7cPqScGFdgesCa-2F-2FO0SBFomcoKJAXVbBS3iw0rGBqGsgPeZIUqIj7dibJFWfDVtK7GAxN9xFmPrA-3D-3D" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a> </p>
<p><a contents="AMAZON" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=AwoUTBXUozLQ05-2FuyICLrrD-2FCTh5g1uF7080c88vRwjzt7RSEswwxbOFoH9n3GS16a9DmaERJ2CBjCQoOJFWU3rOmp7mmr1G6haXBsOdihcUOgZFB-2BMS-2F5UdBUc8POutvq9tRf5FnnOR8XkhLzAkbQ7AFVHlBtossJwPnAy5Ru8-3D_qIdZmxytW9BGVAjlphp07Stq09ZPoKZZK38kRSAx7lULW0rj44L6Upx0cMJX0kOkdl-2BzWjEajeuw4VKDnLurEwe9xD08-2BuAZeN4g8vSD7rw939bMZyS71fV6li1avpivs6E5kn4X5nooxfLK32QKqh7tkzOukx3yflpdqxRBw6maF-2FPss2xvO5oMxCyBgABLFRaZjS2b5wculO2DY9y2fQ-3D-3D" target="_blank">AMAZON</a> </p>
<p><a contents="ITUNES / APPLE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=rG7qmbchmrD2YIdpFB9-2F0ng8JHw7Ld02LSH1N-2BNOacE-2Bu39990vquvEChLyBjntItrehWvJo-2FOhdGppgZ72C5h6wt632J4VWdzV2NWPiv-2Fc-3D_qIdZmxytW9BGVAjlphp07Stq09ZPoKZZK38kRSAx7lULW0rj44L6Upx0cMJX0kOkQs3eX3ePMNhUY9Gdyzomj00T0Q9NaVHWepCC4ig-2BrmTbO8TdLdNBxHimL9qq-2BSnwMfDzk9SWeq-2FGya2rhGlfbRC9haKJOoxUCCVuBHKnvYS83x82l6CEHNlRy-2FikN-2FYIZfAqHboBotkIrxvcxv5yrg-3D-3D" target="_blank">ITUNES / APPLE</a> </p>
<p><a contents="YOUTUBE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://u648841.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=yC-2FiNb07n8PlA-2F102wIXaaT9isV7-2BlVlOw2OoYR9wMEZvWPQfYxn9G14rg7Y7FCb_qIdZmxytW9BGVAjlphp07Stq09ZPoKZZK38kRSAx7lULW0rj44L6Upx0cMJX0kOk-2BjypL3OEVBGdDlkewdEUXwYIq2fkkKFIBGrM5xSSqDeN1YCgfyZJBlz-2BWm1-2Fft0s9yk2dUvrmHbZJx62i-2FwALZCHbMUbOmeLam3dmBACmE7Yj6MvS72gGdF0FeSsjmHCjRXFfUsmzuKrLDhuDW7HcA-3D-3D" target="_blank">YOUTUBE</a></p>2:10Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58679542019-08-23T15:20:08-04:002019-08-23T15:22:50-04:00Consumer Report<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/6c3498e3c4290fdab10bb3855438cd4f4656767f/original/operationdesperate.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Music </span></p>
<p><a contents="This collection" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1EmMBgVF2Fgbjzdud8C0ch?si=oTQLt-pyQiysHsJqJ_jlGA" target="_blank">This collection</a> of mostly acoustic, guitar-driven songs is really nice in the morning. It is gentle yet cheery, and the lyrics look up and out rather than in and down. </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/1EmMBgVF2Fgbjzdud8C0ch" width="300"></iframe> </p>
<p>Josh Garrels won me over with his new album <em><a contents="Chrysaline" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://joshgarrels.com/" style="" target="_blank">Chrysaline</a></em>. Atmospheric, sincere, worshipful, sophisticated. </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/4nB0hSgVRau0z3smGvzqfA" width="300"></iframe> </p>
<p>Last week I recommended the Classics for Kids podcast. Well, I didn't want to listen to the episodes on John Philip Sousa. A victim of his own success, he wrote military marches that are almost cliché now. But I did listen, and somehow the smartness of his music shot through to me freshly. </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/5N7Wqm3tHp6cfYxzl2R26A" width="300"></iframe> </p>
<p><span class="font_large">Books </span></p>
<p><em>Working with Winston</em> by <a contents="Cita Stelzer" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/working-with-winston-cita-stelzer/1128968712#/" target="_blank">Cita Stelzer</a> profiles several of the personal secretaries who worked for Winston Churchill. Before, during, and after the war they worked their tails off according to his very particular and all-encompassing methods. They had plenty of pluck and intelligence, demonstrated by their Operation Desperate "war memo" commissioning persons to "command Special Mission to U.S.A. for the purpose of exploring the rich resources, believed to exist in the West, of certain vital commodities. These are:-- (i) Silk Stockings (ii) Chocolate (iii) Cosmetics." </p>
<p><span class="font_large">Movies </span></p>
<p>A few personal favorites, chosen for relative obscurity: </p>
<p><em><a contents="A Canterbury Tale" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036695/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" style="" target="_blank">A Canterbury Tale</a> </em></p>
<p><em><a contents="Babette's Feast" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092603/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Babette's Feast</a> </em></p>
<p><em><a contents="Temple Grandin" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278469/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Temple Grandin</a> </em></p>
<p><em><a contents="The Secret World of Arrietty" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568921/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1" style="" target="_blank">The Secret World of Arrietty</a></em></p>
<p><em><a contents="Microcosmos" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117040/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" style="" target="_blank">Microcosmos</a></em> (nature documentary. make sure squeamish family members are present for the kissing snails scene.)</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58599192019-08-16T07:34:55-04:002020-10-13T02:45:43-04:00Four Ways to Bring Music Home<p>I aspire to bring more live music back into the home. Strategically this means bringing music to our kids. Here are four ways that has happened in the Hall house.</p>
<p><span class="font_large">1. Singing</span></p>
<p><em>Singing belongs to you.</em> Some people are knock-out singers, but everybody is meant to sing. I hear about homeschooling penny pinchers who can easily get music literature, history, and theory in their house but, unless the parents are musicians, can't afford actual music lessons. Well, singing makes you an instant practitioner of music. Certainly there's proper technique to it that's not intuitive - but go ahead. Start with the songs you know and like. Start when your kids are young so they don't learn to become embarrassed. Maybe learn some rounds to sing in the car, such as "Scotland's Burning."</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="LwId5o5_1ss" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/LwId5o5_1ss/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LwId5o5_1ss?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Speaking of Scotland, these guys are cool.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="hnSNfxjrwck" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/hnSNfxjrwck/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hnSNfxjrwck?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>But they're not singing a round. Here's another one.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="i8oCqpmoL_w" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/i8oCqpmoL_w/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i8oCqpmoL_w?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This summer a few of my friends got together to form a casual summer a cappella group. We were lucky a trained vocalist could help us find our parts. We learned a two-part arrangement of "Down to the River to Pray," practicing on our own and coming together in a mom's house with kids milling about to bring it all together. It was fun, and we're hungry to tackle something for Christmas now. <a contents="GENE PUERLING CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENTS" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lxjeQHl2A6zQKYpkIm1vkXHvKQg1DKtp4" target="_blank">GENE PUERLING CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENTS</a>, WHERE ARE YOU?</p>
<p><span class="font_large">2. Classics for Kids Podcast </span></p>
<p>Each episode in this podcast is six minutes long, winsomely narrated by Naomi Lewin at WGUC in Cincinnati. Naomi introduces names, places, musical forms, biographical anecdotes, and humorous facts, all interspersed with samples from the composers' well known works. Though meant for kids, it's a serious introduction to music literature that will inform everyone. <a contents="Subscribe" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.classicsforkids.com/more/podcast.html" target="_blank">Subscribe</a>!</p>
<p><span class="font_large">3. The <a contents="Piano Safari" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://pianosafari.com/" target="_blank">Piano Safari</a> method </span></p>
<p>Many piano methods for young children emphasize how to <em>read</em> piano music. Piano Safari focuses on how to<em> play</em> the piano. Not at all neglecting, however, to lay a foundation for reading. By the end of the series kids are reading the grand staff, improvising, playing chords and scales, understanding some chord relationships, and playing folk and classical pieces with deliberate technique. A good teacher can convey these things no matter the method, but Piano Safari brings it all together. The website is a pedagogical hub of resources for teaching concepts as well as supplements for students sticking with a different method.</p>
<p><span class="font_large">4. Routine</span></p>
<p>Routine is magic. If each day has a routine with music practice tucked in the same place, practice happens. For the resident student in this house, piano practice is the last school subject before free play. No reminder needed. And, a little bit of practice every day goes much farther than a lot every now and then. I never cease to wonder at the miracle of incrementalism. No matter how tangled the notes look or how awkward the fingering feels at first, the minuscule gains each day seem suddenly to resolve in a creditable performance.</p>
<p>This carries over to creative work, too. A little bit of regular time devoted to writing music yields results. As I saw songwriter Jon Guerra put it, "Regularity is the mother of spontaneity."</p>
<p>#BringMusicHome</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58521912019-08-08T21:27:20-04:002019-12-16T12:26:04-05:00Battlescapes<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/089737fcc68818a8441a91bd1881af95805ecb76/original/ruins.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The weather was good, we had the time, and my dad liked cycling, so in 2003 we took an excursion from our lodging place in northern Virginia to "thehistoricaltownofHarpersFerry." Unfortunately I was usually rather passive on these excursions, but, as we turned left on Route 340 and approached West Virginia, I was moved despite myself by the view of the Shenandoah River through the trees. It was a wide, shallow, rocky expanse of dappled white-and-gunmetal. We did what most first-time visitors do: walk about the old town, stand on the riverbanks, take pictures. We even carried our bikes down the spiraling staircase to try the C&O canal towpath. Or did we give up when we saw the stairs?</p>
<p>Still, Harpers Ferry never became special to me until Jacob took me there in 2007 and sat us down on a stone ruin atop the river. To my astonishment, he proposed. Then our giddy selves hiked up past Jefferson Rock and sat down with our backs to the setting sun and our faces toward the confluence of the rivers between the heights. Below our feet was a descending hill of gravestones. I can't think of a better thing to do than consider a graveyard after you've pledged your life to someone. We sat, cried, smiled, and wondered what legacy we would have by the time we had our own stones.</p>
<p>We didn't then think we would one day live in Harpers Ferry, but this November will mark our sixth year here. The place is now linked to the themes and events of our lives. But, just like our lives, it's fraught with memories of conflict. John Brown's would-be insurrection was here. The town changed hands at least seven times between North and South during the Civil War. We've dug up heavy white lead bullets from our own backyard.</p>
<p>Every day, literally and figuratively, we see battlescapes. So much beauty, so much battle, neither ever completely safe from the other.</p>
<p>Last Saturday, we spent several hours at a studio tracking six piano pieces commemorating Harpers Ferry. This collection is called <em>Battlescapes</em>, and I can't wait to share it. Quite soon, I will announce the release of a single from this little album. I wish I could give you hard dates, but there's a bit of back-end prep to do first. Rest assured the site and social will be updated when there's more to tell.</p>
<p>Thanks for following this journey.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58455332019-08-02T13:45:59-04:002020-02-13T07:23:52-05:00What We Want Is a Christian Poet<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/f2b6534f1aeae8da3fd8e60a10acf83563fbe9ef/original/david.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Brett McCracken at the Gospel Coalition shared a playlist of "<a contents="14 Quality Christian Artists" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/quality-christian-music-14-artists-watch/" target="_blank">Quality Christian M</a><a contents="Quality Christian Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/quality-christian-music-14-artists-watch/" target="_blank">usic</a>." He writes, "Often accused of being derivative, sugarcoated, and samey-sounding, 'Christian music' as a genre has become such a liability that many musicians understandably avoid the label like the plague. Is some of Christian music’s poor reputation deserved? Certainly. But the case against Christian music can be simplistic and overstated. The truth is there is a lot of artistically interesting, quality Christian music being made today—it’s just not always easy to find."</p>
<p>I appreciate Brett's optimism and taking the time to highlight newer artists. I must say, I often hear the complaint he describes and am never satisfied with it. For one thing, our pond is too small. The discussion of "good Christian music" tends to stay within the pop music genre (that includes pop, most rock, folk, and country here). It's like arguing between vintages of the same wine (and let's not get snobby toward folks who like the cheaper years.) Christians are free to expand their horizons to all genres - and to all times available to us. We can learn to enjoy oratorios, choral hymns, loads of instrumental music, and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Having said all that, I do think there is a valid reason we still desire quality <em>pop</em> Christian music. It's not just that we want good Christian music - we want a good Christian poet. </p>
<p>Modern poetry is a thing apart from song, but there's always been a connection between the two. The poet is ancient. The Greeks had several. Homer opens the Odyssey, "Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story." The Hebrews had poets, most notably David. An Old English poet gives us <em>Beowulf</em>, in which a Scandinavian poet (<em>scop</em>) sings for clansmen about past victories and tragedies - to celebrate as well as warn the hearers in the hall.</p>
<p>We want our own poets to put our life experience in words. We want it in song so there is vent to the emotions of existence. We want it in our language so we can know it is true for us. We want the music to be familiar so it can feel relatable. </p>
<p>Think of the most legendary singers and songwriters of the last forty years (Bob Dylan for one?) - they were entertainers to different degrees, but they wore a poet's mantle, too. Christians long to interface their experience of life with God's truth. Christians have sincerely experienced, in different degrees, revelation that brings warning, hope, reasons, and purposes to our lives. So there is a unique call for a Christian poet to bring all this together in song and word. </p>
<p>I think this is why Andrew Peterson, Sara Groves, and Rich Mullins - to name a few - are well loved. Skillful, yes. But also sincere, eloquent, and believing. Their lyrics assure you that they too see the world with open eyes, but they've seen the Lord, too, and they reach up for him. For the Christian poet - just as it was for David the psalmist - the continuum of art is able to encompass expression of mere experience as well as overt worship of the Lord. (Brett's playlist, by the way, has artists that tend toward the latter emphasis.)</p>
<p>There will always be a desire for new "quality Christian artists," because there will always be new people and new experiences that call for a twist on familiar styles. There will always be a demand for sincere Christian poets to strum our mortal cords.</p>
<p>Let's sing and tell the Story.</p>
<p><em>Thanks to my dad for sharing the TGC article.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58415672019-07-30T11:00:05-04:002019-08-01T14:27:26-04:00Surprise<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/e841b6565e03e48a37fbe7f443ee1cb1e90d5a4b/original/new-music.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.png" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">A few weeks ago there were no plans to distribute "Pensée No. 1." </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Surprise! </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Plans have changed. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">It's now on Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, and a number of other platforms. This means you can now follow Vandalia River on Spotify, too. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="Hear on Spotify." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5SASd9pLEtzzqUGL3NAxbZ?si=twtqRrHmRqiyyMCWhUeGCg" target="_blank">Hear on Spotify.</a> </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="Get on Apple Music/iTunes.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/pens%C3%A9e-no-1-single/1474195302" target="_blank">Get on Apple Music/iTunes. </a></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="Hear on Amazon.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Pens%C3%A9e-No-1-Vandalia-River/dp/B07VQN66NJ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=vandalia+river+pensee&qid=1564159223&s=gateway&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Hear on Amazon. </a></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">YouTube (please note, this video is not under Vandalia River's YouTube page, so if you subscribe you won't be subscribing to me):</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="OvWfkMVkXKg" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/OvWfkMVkXKg/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OvWfkMVkXKg?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></span></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417562019-07-19T07:27:11-04:002020-02-12T15:55:17-05:00Becoming Vandalia River<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/61d9e6fbabd5f33e56d89156ee0c26d921626272/original/vr.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>The Vandalia Room began as an umbrella for a number of pursuits: original music, audiobooks, and a blog. "Vandalia" refers both to home - it was once a contender as the official name of West Virginia - and the woman who bought the piano that is now in my living room.</p>
<p>Since beginning this platform, I've recognized that much home recording is an inefficient use of my time. There won't be more audiobooks anytime soon; and instead of testing and re-testing mic set-ups and mixing techniques I'll focus on writing - and finishing - music to record. New music will be shared under Vandalia River. Why? There are already a couple like-minded groups that use "room" in their name. I like "river" in part because it evokes a sense of natural flow. The creative output of Vandalia River flows from a domestic life. I'm not out to reach some new echelon of brilliant art. My vision is to capture the art that can be distilled from whatever life already is. I guess, in a sense, all creators do just that. But the music teacher in me wants to beat this drum so onlookers can be inspired to produce art in their own way, even if modest. This is why I write about house concerts and classical composers and recipes and how music speaks to us in our circumstances.</p>
<p>So pardon the dust as the site and social get reworked. Vandalia River is now on Instagram, by the way. R. Hall, as a former social media exile, still has some catching up to do, but follow along <a contents="@vandaliariver" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.instagram.com/vandaliariver/" target="_blank">@vandaliariver</a>!</p>
<p><em>P.S. How do you listen to music? Pandora? YouTube? Downloads? Getting ready to record some instrumental piano music, and I want to put it where you can get it. Let me know by e-mailing post @ vandaliariver.com.</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417572019-07-12T18:49:33-04:002020-02-14T07:20:06-05:00Pachelbel Rises from Grave and Claims Royalties; Bankrupts ASCAP/BMI for Canon in D<p>Furthermore, Beethoven's PRO has sent an elite selection of bouncers to his grave, according to people familiar with the matter. "They're very concerned about 'Ode to Joy' and 'Fur Elise,'" sources said.</p>
<p>Hahaha, I know that's not how it works. In case you feel left out of this half-developed joke, let's start over.</p>
<p>When an artist writes and publishes a song today, he is owed money when the song is performed - such as on the radio, television, at a venue, etc. If he has a publisher for his song other than himself, the publisher is owed 50% and the songwriter is owed 50% for the use of the composition. Lots of songwriters self-publish and can therefore get 100%. Where does the money come from in the first place? The fees those venues pay for the right to broadcast. (So a songwriter wouldn't get performance royalties from, say, a house concert.) To collect what is owed, the songwriter should register with a performing rights organization (PRO). ASCAP and BMI are the best known PROs in the United States. You might have seen those initials in the copyright footnote of a lyric slide at church.</p>
<p>So this post's headline is a joke about composers who aren't around anymore to profit from their runaway hits. But, according to a <a contents="music distributor" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/en-us/articles/204499905-What-are-mechanical-and-performance-royalties-" target="_blank">music distributor</a>, "There is no set rate for performance royalties – they vary quarter-by-quarter depending on variable factors, such as the total amount of license fees collected by the Performing Rights Organization." So even if Pachelbel did a Lazarus and overcame public domain law and showed he'd been registered with a PRO the whole time...no bankruptcy imminent.</p>
<p>Let me continue to guide you, however, into the labyrinth of how recording artists and songwriters get paid. Be warned, we might never emerge. (Please e-mail corrections if you spot errors.) I wanted to move backwards from the song - "When a song is downloaded on iTunes, X gets Y% and T might get V%." If such an analysis is possible, I don't have the time to make it.</p>
<p><strong>[UPDATE: Songtrust has a very clear guide to a lot of this<a contents=" here - check it out" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.songtrust.com/hubfs/The%20Modern%20Guide%20to%20Music%20Publishing%20%5BJune%5D.pdf?utm_content=9390726&utm_medium=Email&utm_name=Id&utm_source=Actionetics&utm_term=Email" target="_blank"> here - check it out</a>.]</strong></p>
<p>So let's put it this way. The songwriter and publisher should get revenue for the composition everywhere, whether streamed, downloaded, played on the radio, licensed to TV, sold on CD, or covered by somebody else. If a songwriter is his own publisher, boo-yah. Whoever owns the recording ("master rights") gets royalties whenever the recording is streamed, bought, or aired. For many big names, that's the record label. Indie artists generally own their own recordings, so they get to keep this share, too. What about the featured performing artist who didn't write or publish the song? He or she gets a cut of streaming license fees and download revenue. There's also a distinction made between interactive platforms (e.g., Spotify) and non-interactive platforms (e.g, regular Pandora).</p>
<p>To collect all these sources of revenue, artists, songwriters, publishers, and labels often use music distributors (such as CD Baby or Distrokid); PROs (ASCAP/BMI); and SoundExchange for Internet radio, depending on their role in the music making process and agreements with other parties. So if you write, perform, and record your own music by yourself, you're due a whopping percentage for your work. Then again, if you write, perform, and record your own music by yourself, it's possible no one knows about you.</p>
<p>Other sources of revenue include licensing to film, TV, and churches. The film-and-TV strategy is known as sync licensing. "The experts" say it can be very rewarding for even obscure artists, but it requires quality, research, and hustle. CCLI partners with songwriters, labels, and publishers to give churches a simpler and legal way to use songs in their worship services. This is why you might have seen a CCLI # on your church lyric slides. By the way, has your conscience ever troubled you about watching unofficial YouTube videos with other artists' songs? Actually, music distributors and YouTube (and Facebook, and Instagram, etc.) have a way of attaching a digital fingerprint to the song so that anywhere it is played on those platforms the rights holders get credit.</p>
<p>Of course, there are all sorts of other ways artists can profit from their music. They can sell CDs at creative prices and work out their own performance opportunities. Because the direct retail connection to their music has been lost, more and more artists are embracing a micro-patronage model in which fans are supporting them with voluntary payments for merchandise, shows, Kickstarter campaigns, or just because they love their work so much. See JJ Heller's breakdown of one of her songs here.</p>
<p>For further information:</p>
<p><a contents="All your music revenue sources (and how to collect the money)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/all-your-music-revenue-sources-and-how-to-collect-the-money/" target="_blank">All your music revenue sources (and how to collect the money)</a> - CD Baby DIY Musician Blog</p>
<p><a contents="How to Get All Your Music Royalties" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://aristake.com/post/what-is-soundexchange-ascap-bmi-pros-hfa-mechanicals-and-how-to-get-all-your-royalties" target="_blank">How to Get All Your Music Royalties</a> - Ari's Take (may contain foul language)</p>
<p><a contents="The TRUTH About Music Licensing with Michael Elsner" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://rickbarker.com/the-truth-about-music-licensing-with-michael-elsner/" target="_blank">The TRUTH About Music Licensing with Michael Elsner</a> - Rick Barker podcast</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417582019-07-05T07:18:58-04:002020-02-12T16:00:25-05:00Another Kind of Anniversary<p> </p>
<p>We tried another piano rig this week that involved lining one mic to the interface with a 1/4" patch cable. I warned the others the cable might give us issues cause I've had it since I was thirteen.</p>
<p>Then I had a moment of reflection. Yes, I've had that cable twenty years. It was twenty years ago this summer that my dad took me to Sam Ash in Cleveland, Ohio, with my piano teacher and two of my friends to buy a keyboard. I only expected something portable with several piano and pad patches for me to start playing at church. My dad as usual was considering more possibilities. We went home with a Roland XP-60, keyboard amp, and accessories. The XP-60 had over 400 programmable patches and an onboard sequencer - so I could lay down different tracks and record my own compositions right in the keyboard. It got saved to a ::drumroll:: floppy disk drive. I asked my dad why he'd get something with a sequencer. "Don't you think you'd enjoy it?" he said.</p>
<p>The whole package may have cost $1300. It felt incredibly extravagant. When we got home, I was a little dizzy with wanting to make the most of such a versatile tool, but not sure how I would learn it all. My dad reassured me he had no expectations for me to produce certain results, just to enjoy it.</p>
<p>I did. Though to this day I feel I only ever used a quarter of that keyboard's potential, numerous ideas got tracked to a red floppy disk named "Hibiscus," which I still have. I haven't given up on a few of those ideas. The XP-60 was my stage partner at church for about ten years. Its LCD screen was crushed about ten years ago, so only the corners are readable, but by then I could almost navigate the sounds blind.</p>
<p>Someday I hope to have space to keep it set up alongside the 88-key weighted controller I use. For now, it's wedged out of sight. Kind of a big thing not to use in a small house. But not as big as the gratitude I have for the vision and hopefulness of my dad.</p>
<p><em>Note to parents</em>...there's no need to go buy a $1300 gizmo for your kid, but junior high and high school is a fantastic time to have stuff at home they can explore. They have time to figure out things that could possibility accelerate certain pursuits in the future. If your kid likes tinkering with music and you have a Mac, let him loose in GarageBand - extra points for connecting a cheap keyboard via MIDI. If she likes writing and designing the look of things, you might be surprised what she'll figure out in Word and graphic design apps. Most of all that can be done without the Internet and without paying anybody to teach them.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417592019-06-28T20:28:10-04:002020-02-13T07:21:06-05:00Bootstrapping Pensée No. 1<p>Here's a new little piece written in part to test using three microphones on the idiosyncratic grand piano.</p>
<p>Two problems have haunted previous piano captures: Piano sounds too brittle and distant Too much room noise A warm, close piano sound with resonant bass has eluded me. In the past I was limited to two microphones, but we just got a gizmo that lets us interface with more. So I placed three borrowed mics basically in the three corners of the piano. A large diaphragm condenser mic went into the high end corner; another one was placed above the bass strings at the far back corner of the piano; and a small diaphragm mic was pointed on the left corner toward the low- and mid- range of the piano. I was hoping this would give me more low end flexibility to balance out the brightness of the higher notes. A heavy afghan was placed underneath the piano to diffuse reflections off the hardwood floor. Then a heavy blanket was draped over the lid to reduce some sound escaping from the top.</p>
<p>So, since I used three microphones, I had three audio tracks after recording the raw audio. The ReaFir plug-in in my software reduced some room noise. Then I opened an EQ plug-in. On the track that captured the high end of the piano, I reduced low frequencies; on the low end tracks, I scaled back the higher frequencies. I guessed this would help each track stay in its own lane and enhance clarity. ("Guessed" is a good word; true sound engineers are snickering at me now.) Panning the tracks created some width. What's panning? Well, you know how sometimes you hear sound coming from the left or right on your headphones? There's a knob you can turn on each track to produce that direction. The low end track was panned hard left; high end, hard right; and the low-mid track left in the middle. Maybe I should have used compression, but I didn't want to flatten the dynamics of this piece. The dynamic range, while important, was not that wide any way. I basically used compression in the end by using a limiter plug-in to raise the overall volume. If you ever tried to record something yourself, you probably noticed your recording was quieter than the normal music you listen to. Audiophiles, correct me if I'm wrong - the limiter squashes the loudest parts of the audio so that it can turn up the volume on the whole thing without having parts that are too loud. Here's the track before making any of these changes.</p>
<p>Here's the track now. I think panning made the biggest difference. I have no plans to distribute this piece - it was hurriedly done and the sound isn't where I want it yet.</p>1:33Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417602019-06-21T16:20:28-04:002020-07-11T03:49:59-04:00Lyric Pieces from the Labyrinth<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/f742ef678ebeaa7b0effa3db157aac26cb04c22d/original/boyedvard.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Hmmmm....who is this person?</p>
<p>He's a birthday buddy with my sister-in-law and niece (June 15), for one thing. He became a composer. When I was a kid, I first heard his music in an extended TV commercial for a classical CD collection. It played a snippet of one of his most memorable pieces. Some time later my piano teacher dropped an arrangement of it in front of me. I squealed. "Ohhhhh, I heard this on a commercial and loved it! It's so - powerful!!"</p>
<p>But I never listened to his actual piano music till after one fateful day at Bierce Library. Bierce is a hulking piece of architecture in the middle of the University of Akron. It was a dated but busy place by the time I frequented its foyer in 2002. I never finished finding some new corner, study closet, or half-hidden table in that storied building. (Dad: happy Father's Day - that pun is for you.) Rumor was that somewhere in Bierce was an audio library. My piano professor wanted me to choose my own pieces to learn, so I went in search of records to inspire me.</p>
<p>I did find it - a smallish room filled with CDs. Beethoven sonatas....check...what is this? Lyric pieces for piano? I'll borrow that CD, too.</p>
<p>That CD enchanted me.</p>
<p>They were called lyric pieces because they were shorter song-like works that evoked a character, story, or emotion. They were steeped in the folk sound of the composer's home country. The music was as full of personality as some of its titles: "Elfin Dance," "March of the Dwarfs," "Little Bird," "Homesickness." My piano professor was delighted when I told him I wanted to learn "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen." Troldhaugen ("Troll Hill") was the name of the composer's home.</p>
<p>The name of the composer was Edvard Grieg.</p>
<p>Grieg's lyric pieces represent to me not just a set of charming music but a place where I belong. They are homey, folksy, near, and accessible and yet glittering all the same. Grieg had these words for himself: "Artists like Bach and Beethoven erected churches and temples on the heights. I only wanted...to build dwellings for men in which they might feel happy and at home."</p>
<p>That is my vision for the Vandalia Room. To reap the art of the commonplace - to capture the soundtracks of home - to distill the beauty of whatever life is around me - and to encourage others to do the same in their own way. (By the way - the Vandalia Room might be changing a little bit soon. More on that later, I hope.)</p>
<p>P.S. Troldhaugen is maintained as a museum to this day. <a contents="Wouldn't you love to hear a performance in its music hall!" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://griegmuseum.no/en/about-troldhaugen" target="_blank">Wouldn't you love to hear a performance in its music hall!</a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417612019-05-31T15:14:47-04:002020-02-14T06:34:17-05:00Soundtrack from a Yesteryear<p>"Appalachia Waltz" enters my life the year 2006.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="DFgYWpLT0Hs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/DFgYWpLT0Hs/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFgYWpLT0Hs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Whether it was duly bought on iTunes, lifted from my dad, or given by a friend, it appeared in my music library and became a soundtrack to my dorm room. At age twenty I was disenchanted with most pop music and did not have access to many other records that suited the every day. Yo-Yo Ma's collaborations were a gateway, bringing exquisite skill and elevated composition to familiar styles. <em>Appalachian Journey, Appalachia Waltz, </em>and <em>Obrigado Brasil</em> were the albums of my twenties.</p>
<p>Around the time Yo-Yo's projects entered my life, so did another man who played the cello. Jacob and I started dating fall of 2006. On paper, we looked good. In full reality, we were messed up. We ended things five months later. But, it so happened that just as we ended things I took a job in the same office as he. We were routinely around each other more than when we'd been dating. In that low-pressure culture of normalcy, something new happened. I didn't realize it, however, until he shocked me at the end of the school year with an invitation to get together again. In fact, I said no. But then I shocked myself by feeling happy all day that he was still interested in me. I took the weekend to sort out what was going on and finally understood that the second time around would be different from the first. We were good friends now. We were driven by faith, not fear.</p>
<p>So. May 2007 - together again.</p>
<p>May 31, 2008 - married.</p>
<p>The bridal processional at the wedding: "Second Time Around" performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="4WaLkD9LJmY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/4WaLkD9LJmY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4WaLkD9LJmY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>P.S. "If music be the food of love" - eat!</p>
<p>Hall Wedding Cake (Fig Preserves Cake)</p>
<ul> <li>1 1/2 c. sugar</li> <li>2 c. flour</li> <li>1 tsp. baking soda</li> <li>1/2 tsp salt</li> <li>1 tsp. nutmeg</li> <li>1 tsp. cinnamon</li> <li>1 1/2 tsp. allspice</li> <li>1/4 tsp. cloves</li> <li>1 c. oil</li> <li>3 lg. eggs</li> <li>1 c. buttermilk</li> <li>1 T. vanilla</li> <li>1 c. fig preserves</li> <li>1 c. chopped pecans (optional)</li>
</ul>
<p>Mix dry ingre. in lg. bowl, add remaining ingre. and mix at medium speeed with hand mixer until well blended. Pour into greased & floured bundt pan. Bake 350 for about 60 -70 min. until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 min. & remove from pan. Buttermilk Glaze 1 c. sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 c. buttermilk 1/2 c butter 1 T. light corn syrup 1 tsp vanilla Bring all ingre. except vanilla to a boil in saucepan on med. heat. Boil 4 min, stir constantly. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Cool a couple minutes & then pour over cake.</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417622019-05-29T07:45:54-04:002020-02-14T06:36:48-05:00B - A- C- H spells polyphony<p>Yesterday I played the last piece in one of my piano student's lesson books so she could get a glimpse of good things coming. It was Prelude in C by Johann Sebastian Bach.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="PXMVkQ70I88" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/PXMVkQ70I88/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PXMVkQ70I88?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>You've heard it before, perhaps under the title Ave Maria. After Bach wrote the prelude, the French composer Charles Gounod added a theme and the Latin prayer, and it's been a hit for weddings and other formal occasions. Fortunately for Gounod, Bach had long been in the grave; otherwise the devoted Lutheran might have had some Luther-esque words for imposing a "hail Mary" on his work of art.</p>
<p>Bach fascinates me. He signed his finished compositions with S.D.G. for <em>soli deo gloria</em>. Sometimes so-called believers can throw around religious words like incantations, but we have other evidence that Bach took his faith seriously, such as Bach's own study Bible. His handwritten notes and marks are found throughout the three volumes. Wonderfully, this set is housed not across the ocean but across the river in St. Louis, MO, in the library of Concordia Seminary. You'd better believe I'll stop there if I ever get the chance.</p>
<p>You hear many of Bach's works on pianos today, but the modern piano was not developed in his time. His keyboard music was written for the organ and harpsichord. This was great for his multi-voice way of thinking, but those keyboard instruments did not accommodate the dynamic expression that string instruments and the modern piano are capable of. Have you ever heard the piano called <em>pianoforte</em>? <em>Pianoforte</em> literally means soft-loud, because it was the first keyboard instrument that you could make softer or louder just by how hard you pressed the keys.</p>
<p>I heard mixed opinions in college on how to interpret Bach's keyboard music. My professor added instructions so I would play it expressively; but then another professor commented that Bach wouldn't have played it that way on his instruments, so it's no big deal. My little-researched pet theory is that, had Bach had a modern piano, he would have milked its expression for all its worth. His harmony and texture are so powerful it just begs for volume gradations.</p>
<p>I just used the term "multi-voice." Bach was king in an era of polyphonic music. What's polyphonic music? Well, listen to this.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="dQDrcK7pIco" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/dQDrcK7pIco/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQDrcK7pIco?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Now listen to this - it's an example of homophonic music, the opposite of polyphonic.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="3ciP1_jkPGw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/3ciP1_jkPGw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ciP1_jkPGw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Polyphonic music has multiple voices - multiple lines of music - that are fairly independent but still go together. It can be played on keyboard instruments and, I suppose, in a more limited way on guitar and harp; otherwise, multiple instruments or singers are required. </p>
<p>A form of keyboard music that supremely displays polyphony is the fugue. That's what's in the above video example of polyphony.</p>
<p>The fugue was going out of style when Bach visited Frederick the Great. The latter was an avid musician and fan of homophonic music. He created a melodic line that sounded impossible to turn into a fugue and challenged Bach to do it - which he did, right then and there at Frederick's new-fangled piano. It was a three-part fugue. So Frederick then challenged him to turn it into a six-part fugue. Bach sent him the piece a few days later.</p>
<p>Bach lived in a time when methods of tuning instruments were being perfected to enable 12 different, evenly tuned keys. To reinforce modern methods, Bach wrote a fugue for each of the 12 keys. Actually, he wrote two fugues for each key: one for the major form, one for the minor. And, actually, he wrote another piece called a prelude to go with each fugue. And, actually, he did all this twice. Hence, <em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em>, Books I and II. The fugue in the video above is from Book II.</p>
<p>Bach died before he finished another collection called <em>The Art of the Fugue</em>. The last work in that set, unfinished but lengthy, is based on the letters of his name, using the notes Bb-A-C-B, which in Germany were rendered as B-A-C-H.</p>
<p>What is considered his very final, <em>completed</em> work is an organ chorale. Of this chorale Gerhard Herz writes the following:</p>
<p><em>If we count the tones of the first chorale phrase...we arrive at the number 14 which represents Bach's name: B A C H (2+1+3+8). The remaining three chorale phrases are declaimed in 27 notes. The total of the tones of the hymn tune 14+27+41 stands, in accordance with the number alphabet of Bach's time, for J. S. Bach. (9+18+2+1+3+8). Finally Bach sustains the last note of the hymn tune for three and one half measures or 14 beats which throws additional light on the two times 14 statements of the chorale phrases in the alto, tenor and bass parts. In this organ chorale...Bach uses his name in a most intimate and mysterious way. With the 14 notes of the first chorale phrase Bach puts himself into the merciful hands of God ("I herewith step before thy throne"). With the 27 notes of the three remaining chorale phrases he recommends his soul to the Trinity. He signs the whole composition humbly as J. S. Bach by the 41 notes that comprise the complete hymn tune. This seems to be the hidden personal message of Bach's last chorale, of his finale [sic] creative effort. </em></p>
<p>If you found these notes interesting, <a contents="watch this documentary hosted by British conductor John Eliot Gardiner" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4888862/" target="_blank">watch this documentary hosted by British conductor John Eliot Gardiner</a>. You might also enjoy this <em>New York Times </em>exploration with audio samples: <a contents="There's More Religion Than You Think in Bach's 'Brandenburgs'" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/arts/music/bach-brandenburg-concertos.html" target="_blank">There's More Religion Than You Think in Bach's 'Brandenburgs'</a>. And more about his meeting with Frederick the Great: <a contents="Bach's Smackdown of Frederick the Great" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2009/10/bachs-smackdown-of-frederick-the-great/" target="_blank">Bach's Smackdown of Frederick the Great</a>.</p>
<p>Hat tip for several points of history: Gene Edward Veith</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417632019-05-17T12:44:24-04:002020-12-04T01:04:36-05:00Life, the fruit. Beauty, the wine. Art, the vessel.<p>Life is the fruit of the vine: picked, broken, pressed, and subdued. Beauty is the wine - whose recipe requires violence and stillness. Art - art can be the vessel to bring that beauty to the mouth. It may be bejeweled like a royal chalice or plain like a Baptist communion cup. The point is what's inside.</p>
<p>This is why a short, low-budget video can be powerful. Even a short, low-budget video is a work of art. Even it can capture the beauty bound up in life.</p>
<p>Years of loving a boy with a profound disorder seem interminable and disappointing. Just days of it make one feel picked, broken, pressed, and subdued. But here is a little chalice - here is a little cup of the full-bodied love for and inside this little boy and his dad.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="SSNCmk6gM_g" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/SSNCmk6gM_g/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SSNCmk6gM_g?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417642019-05-10T14:54:56-04:002020-06-27T08:22:23-04:00On Mother's Day<p>On Mother's Day, a rose in hand was laid <br>For her whose years were fewer but by one <br>Than all the fingers round the rose that played. <br>At once she saw not rose but reed, and sun; <br>And water at her feet and water on <br>The cheeks of one whose arms let go a form, <br>Which, patched with pitch and weave, did hold her son, <br>Whose breath and arms still moved with skin still warm. <br>The mother hid and could not look, but fled. <br>The girl stood by and saw another hand <br>Outreach to calm the crying boy. She said, <br>"His nurse I'll find if he returns to land." <br>Among the reeds moved impulse womanly. <br>There was not only one mother, but three.</p>
<p><em>- R Hall</em></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417652019-05-06T07:32:52-04:002020-02-14T06:44:02-05:00Casting Bread<p>I once sat in vendor meetings as my employer evaluated proposals for a new website. One vendor had flown four or five staff members across the country to pitch their brands. They delivered a confident, eloquent, and polished presentation and left the room.</p>
<p>When someone on our team commented on their product, another team member groaned, "What product?" He had discerned that although this vendor envisioned smartly named software to execute our website, the software didn't actually exist yet. There was no way my budget-conscious (and burned) employer was going to throw money at that.</p>
<p>I don't want to be that vendor, but alas, I love talking about my dreams. I talked eleven years ago about a dream for an album. Nothing has come of it. I talked last summer about getting set up to record in the home, only to learn that most home recording would be too inefficient for my time of life. So this year has been about discerning what is in my power to finish, and finishing.</p>
<p>I can write music and play the piano. So that's what I've been doing. CD Baby is running a sale price on complete album distribution. So, I cast my $49 upon the waters. If it returns to me, I'll be sure to let you know.</p>
<hr><p><span class="font_large"><em>"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."</em></span> John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach</p>
<p><span class="font_large"><em>"Make great stuff.... Work to publish.... Publishing is deciding to stop when you want to keep working.... When you work to publish, it's selfless, it's outward-focused, it's about results and giving back to the world and contributing."</em></span> Jack Conte</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417662019-04-26T13:52:04-04:002020-07-03T22:49:36-04:00A Kids Biblical Mixtape<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0eD3qGpjXb1fd2f7k3G9Bn" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>I've been pulling together songs that are 1) tied strongly to Scripture 2) would appeal to children (nursery to 6th grade or so) and 3) wouldn't annoy parents much. Whereas the other general listening playlist had a very folk tendency, the songs collected for this one follow a more contemporary pop style, simply because that's what's out there.</p>
<p>As of now the order opens with gentler acoustic numbers by Rain for Roots, Nichole Nordeman, Chris Rice, and yours truly. Then we get a little more high octane with Shai Linne, Seeds Family Worship, and GroupMusic, which produced a couple VBS songs my daughter still loves. It closes out with a softer set again a la Scripture Lullabies and Christy Nockels. But there are more artists in the mix, bringing you a playlist almost two hours long.</p>
<p>A few highlights:</p>
<p>a pure Scripture track</p>
<p>an old children's classic rounded out with more rich lyrics</p>
<p>an allegorical story to point toward the biblical one</p>
<p>an old praise song from my childhood. the "kids" album" below was made in 2004, but "Who Is Like You" was being sung by churches in 1990!</p>
<p>I had my doubts about how this playlist would flow, but listening it to afresh - it works!</p>
<p><a contents="Spotify Link" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0eD3qGpjXb1fd2f7k3G9Bn?si=zy4fd0qLTQm4B8oxitssZw" target="_blank">Spotify Link</a></p>
<p>Send me any additional suggestions.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/f659bd2d3d0ea76848f096527fd80aa5878c8445/original/kids-biblical-mixtape.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417672019-04-20T07:50:30-04:002023-12-10T13:09:34-05:00The Cross Taught All Wood to Resound His Name<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/98bf069fdfb8eb70428ddc40888760009a1c2f03/original/maxime-favier-wdqc56ah4ta-unsplash.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><em>It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.</em></span> - Gospel of Luke</p>
<p> </p>
<p>An Anglican priest named George Herbert was near death in 1633. He gave a manuscript of poetry to a friend, asking him to publish it if he thought it was any good. It's gone down as one of the major collections of British poetry. Here is an excerpt from "Easter," which contains a wonderful musical metaphor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise <br>Without delays, <br>Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise <br>With him mayst rise: <br>That, as his death calcined thee to dust, <br>His life may make thee gold, and much more just. </em></p>
<p><em>Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part <br>With all thy art. <br>The cross taught all wood to resound his name, <br>Who bore the same. <br>His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key <br>Is best to celebrate this most high day. </em></p>
<p><em>Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song <br>Pleasant and long: <br>Or since all music is but three parts vied <br>And multiplied; <br>O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part, <br>And make up our defects with his sweet art.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@maximefavier?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=photographer-credit&utm_content=creditBadge" rel="noopener noreferrer" style='background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px' target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Maxime Favier"><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewbox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title></title>
<path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">Maxime Favier</span></a></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417682019-04-13T13:43:01-04:002020-06-25T01:25:42-04:00A Kids Playlist that Won't Drive You Nuts<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/379550/d5ecaa2a6c491f29cace3f956c2d32ede2a02b1b/original/folksy-kids-music-that.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/2Q2qbz0T7WhUvVsPvkPS7K" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>This playlist has a decidedly folk bent. Instead of dated synth effects and dissonant children's choruses, you will hear mostly acoustic instruments with talented vocalists. The songs won't wear off after the second listen; in fact, many have lasted for generations.</p>
<p>Thanks to my friend Joni for great suggestions! I'm looking to diversify it even more, so write in with your favorites if you don't see them here.</p>
<p>The playlist includes Dan Zanes, the Beatles, Frances England, Cake for Dinner, Art Garfunkel, Woody Guthrie, Doc Watson, and a bunch of tracks from Charlie Hope and Elizabeth Mitchell.</p>
<p><a contents="Here's the link to it on Spotify." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Q2qbz0T7WhUvVsPvkPS7K?si=rYY5r8TsShWRHSEae2GT2w" target="_blank">Here's the link to it on Spotify.</a></p>
<p>Highlights:</p>
<p>Charlie Hope's "Train Song" deserves to be put on repeat. I love the musicality of the Beatles. Somehow I never listened to them growing up and never heard "Blackbird" till last week. Frances England made me cry twice listening to "Fast Train to Grandma's." Both sets of my daughter's grandparents have lived far away, but one set just moved less than a mile up the street. Grandparents deserve this song. My sister-in-law taught this one to my daughter so it was fun to discover Cake for Dinner's track.</p>
<p>Hope you like the songs!</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417712019-03-22T21:26:07-04:002020-02-14T07:07:28-05:00Start Where You Are<p>Four weeks ago I wrote about eight things that helped me produce music. I must confess, that post sometimes feels like a joke. At the least, it would give away my inexperience to any professional looking on. So I'm comforted by the advice I'm hearing time and again from successful people: start where you are. But do start. Here are some of those words. Perhaps they're what you need to hear for your own aspirations.</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"Everybody starts from point zero." </span>Robby Davis, pianist</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."</span> Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"One of the excuses we use is, 'Well, I'm not good enough...' and it's really because we'd rather quit than lose."</span> Cathy Heller, songwriter</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"Make great stuff.... Work to publish.... Publishing is deciding to stop when you want to keep working.... When you work to publish, it's selfless, it's outward-focused, it's about results and giving back to the world and contributing."</span> Jack Conte, founder of Patreon</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"Write a lot of songs. Learn how to finish songs. Just barrel through. At that beginning point it's not about quality, it's actually more about quantity."</span> Jess Cates, songwriter</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"'Is it quality or quantity?' I'm like, it's always quantity. Just get it out, because over time...your craft is getting better just by the practice of doing."</span> Kabir Sehgal, Grammy-winning producer</p>
<p><span class="font_large">"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."</span> John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach</p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417722019-03-16T14:37:27-04:002020-02-14T07:12:18-05:00There's a Place for Bum-clock Investing<p>TurboTax is coming out of the box today. While money is on our mind, I want to point out that there's a place for bum-clock investing. Let me explain. </p>
<p>There's an Irish folktale in which a poor widow tells son Jack to sell the cow at market. He goes and sees a man who has a mouse, a bum-clock (cockroach), and a bee that plays the harp. When he whistles, the bee plays the harp and the mouse and bum-clock dance - and everybody and everything else can't help but dance, too. Totally charmed, Jack trades the cow for the bee and harp and goes home. "Money?" Mother asks. "Not money, but value!" says Jack, and the mother agrees - for the few minutes that the whole house dances. Then everything settles and she's furious. She sends him to market again with the second cow. The mouse comes home. "Not money, but value!" Same delightful dancing followed by the same wrathful scolding. Of course, the mother sends him yet again with their very last cow. Of course, he comes back with the bum-clock.</p>
<p>This time Jack sees his folly and penitently wanders from home. Fortunately, his wanderings lead him to a joyless princess whose father will offer her in marriage to anyone who can make her laugh. Well. What else would a bee, a harp, a mouse, and a bum-clock be good for? Of course he gets the princess and all connected royalty and riches.</p>
<p>This tale might remind you of "Jack and the Beanstalk," but the Beanstalk investment was 100% speculation. The Bum-clock investment had immediate pay-off. Jack saw value in the product itself. He saw beauty. Not money, but value.</p>
<p>Now, I'm not advocating frivolity, either for the poor or rich. There are dire needs that must be met before many a pleasure. But let's not forget that part of being human is enjoying what is beautiful and not just what is necessary.</p>
<p>Charles Ingalls did not forget this. If you read the <em>Little House</em> books by Laura Ingalls Wilder you will be impressed by how hardscrabble the settler life was. Pa Ingalls excitedly leaves one farm so he can take a job that will pay him $50 a month and give him an early shot at picking a claim. Laura is wide-eyed about her first teaching job which will pay her $40 for two months. But just a couple years later, after several such teaching jobs, Pa asks her if she could help him buy an organ. For. One. Hundred. Dollars. </p>
<p>An organ? Not seed? Not a machine? Not stock? An organ? </p>
<p>Pa saw in the organ not money, but value. Laura's sister Mary would come home from college, forced by blindness to live with her family the rest of her days. But she could play the organ. It was pleasure for her, beauty for them. Not money, but value. </p>
<p>They bought the organ.</p>
<p>Pa and Laura funded beauty from near-poverty. Let's look at someone who funds it from wealth. A fascinating NOVA documentary highlights Michael Scott, who was the first CEO of Apple. Today he invests in color. Color. He has a state-of-the-art gem lab. In <em>Treasures of the Earth: Gems</em>, NOVA says Scott has built "the world's largest database of minerals, their structures, their properties, their optical characteristics, so we understand this rich realm, the kingdom of minerals, in much more complexity and completeness than we ever have before." </p>
<p>What will this knowledge do for humanity? Haven't a clue. But, "knowledge is never wasted," I heard a man say. You never know how the knowledge gathered in following your interests will help others. </p>
<p>Now in each example, both parties saw value that only they had the power to assess. The next Ag bill wasn't going to give settlers subsidies for organs. I'm less certain whether modern-day research foundations would fund Scott's gem lab. But I don't think it's likely with competition from energy, cancer, and climatology.</p>
<p>And this is a reason I gladly consent to capitalism and laissez-faire economics. Capitalism enables the everyman to patronize beauty.</p>
<p>There's a lot of confusion as to what capitalism actually is. I don't mean cronyism. I don't mean a system engineered to give privileges to Corporate America. Capitalism is not an engineered system at all. It is a description of what naturally happens when individuals control their money and property. When individuals have personal economic freedom - and are protected from suppression, whether of the government or other private parties - the mechanisms of supply-and-demand and free competition begin to form the river of a diverse economy. </p>
<p>An engineered system like socialism dams up the river so the water can go to places by design. Problem is, it also dams up the source of the flow by removing incentives to innovate and work. This is why socialism can look good at first when implemented in a rich country. It has a lot of resources to distribute. But over time it will exhaust them, and you'll see the lines get longer and longer for goods and services. Moreover, those "goods and services" are decided by a smallish group of people contending with layers of regulations and politics.</p>
<p>So if economic incentives to be industrious are dried up, leaving people dependent on government programs* (by nature inefficient), and those government programs have to prioritize <em>necessary</em> things, then the average person will not have the means to finance beauty.</p>
<p>How do you think the average independent artist will fare in such an economy? If his potential fan base is less able to make and find work? If it must hand over much of its money to a bureaucracy that will use it first to fund itself and second distribute food stamps and health care?</p>
<p>Now, free market capitalism, just like democracy, will not make a people <em>better</em>. It's up to individuals and institutions to educate and elevate. But if we want a free society, what alternatives to the free market actually work?</p>
<p>So. Everybody. Indie artists benefit from capitalism. Because it lets everyone be free to do their own bum-clock investing - not for money, but value!</p>
<p><em>*Certainly there is still a place for public welfare programs from both a humane and public safety perspective.</em></p>
<hr><p><i>P.S. This post has some huge terms that beg to be defined and more thoroughly defended. I know. I have to leave it as is for now.</i></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417732019-03-08T15:37:43-05:002020-06-22T06:34:06-04:00Keep It<p>Few things make me fear like this fact: knowing wisdom doesn't make one wise. doing wisdom makes one wise.</p>
<p>We have voracious appetites for information. We consume books, podcasts, counseling sessions, blogs, Bible studies. Our kids have an abundance of colorful, theological books made just for them. So much of it is good, but it's all for naught if we do not <strong>do</strong> what is wise, what is right, what loving.</p>
<p>This a theme Jesus brings up in multiple speeches. ("Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?" Luke 6:46). Proverbs also underscores this truth. Tim Challies once posted a reader's question about the Proverbs 31 woman: basically, why is she almost wholly engaged in worldly concerns, with little mention of devotional practices? I think a big reason is because she could pray every day, memorize the Torah, sing psalms, and prepare lawful sacrifices but still be foolish. In fact, the adulteress of Proverbs 7 prefaces her invitation to sin by saying she had offered sacrifices and paid her vows! Proverbs 31 shows a woman not just paying lip service but practicing the proverbs.</p>
<p>So, listening to this Scripture songs album won't be enough to prepare anyone for eternity. It's another merely consumable product. But - the truths of God's word mean everything to us when we keep them. For this reason, I can't think of a better capstone for <em>Heaven and Earth</em> than Luke 11:28.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="aCS3cteTlb0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/aCS3cteTlb0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aCS3cteTlb0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Vandalia Rivertag:vandaliariver.com,2005:Post/58417742019-03-02T09:11:32-05:002020-02-14T07:16:20-05:00A Three-Strand Word<p>One morning I came across a reference to a Hebrew word in Proverbs 3:3. The word is <em>hesed</em>, and it is powerful. Hesed unites three concepts in one quality: love, strength, and steadfastness.</p>
<p>Think about it. What is love worth if it's impotent? Or fleeting? And steadfastness devoid of love is cold loyalty. To capture its fullness, the ESV Bible often translates <em>hesed</em> as "steadfast love." You might see it in yours as "loving-kindness."</p>
<p><em>Hesed</em> appears 240 times in the Old Testament, such as when</p>
<ul> <li>God remembers Joseph in prison (Gen. 39:21)</li> <li>Abraham's servant appeals to God's hesed to help him find a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24:12)</li> <li>the Lord comes to Moses on Mt. Sinai and introduces himself as "abounding in steadfast love" (Ex. 34:5-7)</li> <li>the psalmist sings that God will fulfill his purpose for him, [because] his steadfast love endures forever (Ps. 138:8)</li> <li>the prophet grieves for broken, sinful, destroyed Israel and yet knows "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning" (Lam. 3:22-23).</li>
</ul>
<p>It is God's steadfast love and faithfulness that led him to provide a way of salvation while "we were still sinners" (Rom. 5:8). <em>We owe our souls to God's</em> hesed.</p>
<p>Yet Scripture enjoins <em>us</em> to practice <em>hesed</em> also. "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy [<em>hesed</em>]?" (Micah 6:8)</p>
<p>What does that look like? I have some ideas,* but I want to suggest one practice in particular: <em>keeping your word</em>. Interestingly, <em>hesed</em> is often paired with <em>emet </em>and <em>emunah</em>, which respectively mean "truth" and "faithfulness." And "truth" can be rendered as "reliability." God's <em>hesed</em> is often demonstrated as an act of keeping his word. He says he'll do something, and he always delivers. He is reliable.</p>
<p>Is my word reliable? Big or small, when I say I will do something, I should do it if it remains in my power. Being flaky isn't a personality trait, it's sinful and shows a lack of<em> hesed</em> toward people. You should go to that party if you said you would. You should invite that person over if you said you would. If you told your church you could teach Sunday school next week, don't plan a trip to the beach because you got a crazy deal on airfare (unless you can arrange a substitute yourself). If you told your daughter you'd do something with her "in a minute," do it with her in a minute! I get being kind. It's not hard to make a friend. But what about<em> staying</em> kind? What about <em>keeping</em> friends? Too often my love has not embodied the fullness of <em>hesed</em>. So that's why the Proverbs 3:3 song uses a translation that renders<em> hesed</em> and <em>emet</em> as "love and faithfulness." It was the most singable way I could find to capture the richness of those words. As a composition, this one is one of my very favorites on the album.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Lee7zrfK5yY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Lee7zrfK5yY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lee7zrfK5yY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>"Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart."</strong> </p>
<p><em>*Some ideas: remembering the lowly and poor; persistent prayer for your people; regular visits; determination not to stay offended; remembering birthdays; letting love cover a multitude of sins; not avoiding people you shouldn't avoid...</em></p>
<p>Information on <em>hesed</em> is sourced from <em>Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words</em> (Thomas Nelson, 1985).</p>Vandalia River