A review of George Walker’s “Poem for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra”

 George Walker, who died in 2018 at the age of 96, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer – the first Black composer to have nabbed that prize – and pianist, who was also the first Black soloist to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Curtis Institute’s first Black graduate. And his Pulitzer-winning piece, “Lilacs,” setting a Lincoln eulogy by Walt Whitman, should be a mandated substitute for Aaron Copland’s odiously puerile “Lincoln Portrait.” Below, we travel back to 1987 and my review of a performance by Albany’s Capitol Chamber Artists, who championed Walker’s work.

THERE SHOULD BE A LAW banning frivolous settings of T. S. Eliot’s poems. And there should be a national celebration when a thoughtful setting comes along that does justice to Eliot’s work.

In which case composer George Walker would be hoisted upon shoulders for his brand-new setting of "The Hollow Men."

Capitol Chamber Artists premiered the work this weekend, locally at Page Hall in Albany last night. Walker’s “Poem for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra” is more than just a chamber piece, however. With its surprising theatrical touches and disquieting voice, it is a completely appropriate and thought-provoking interpretation of the text.

Scoring is for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, guitar, piano, harpsichord and percussion battery; in addition to the soprano two speakers (human, not electronic) are required.

Soprano Mary Anne Ross entered in whiteface, an old felt hat on her head, a blanket grasped round her waist. She carried a plastic bag bulging with street-life stuff.

Michael Murphy, one of the speakers, was ragged and unshaven and wore a woolen watch cap. He uttered the poem’s epigraph (from Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”) as the music began.

This isn’t a work that offers its own melodies. The music is lifted from the words in the poem, from the twists that Walker’s ear has discerned. It might not be the music you and I here, but one of the biggest challenges Eliot offers is diversity of interpretation.

The music was fragmented, constantly shifting in tempo. Little bursts tossed from instrument to instrument as Ross began the first stanza.

Each of the five sections shifted a little in character, as the poem suggests. Many violent, unpleasant words are cloaked in Eliot’s elegance, and Walker’s setting sought and realized that violence.

This is the dream-poem of a person too desperately unhappy to put thoughts into words, and that feeling of having ventured into a dream was supported by the eerie shifts in the music, the same sense you have when a high fever causes your thoughts to shimmer into dreams.

In the end, the thoughts are fragmented enough that Janet Rowe, the second speaker, murmured a poetic counterpoint behind the famous closing lines.

It’s no easy task to perform a score like this one: credit goes not only to conductor Angelo Frascarelli but also to each member of the ensemble. Percussionists Richard Albagli and Scott Stacey moved like wizards; Malcolm Kogut was dexterous in his keyboard work as he shifted from piano to harpsichord and back again.

Irvin Gilman and Charles Stancampiano played the wind instruments; strings were Mary Lou Saetta and Douglas Moore. Sam Farkas was the guitarist.

Walker’s “Poem,” commissioned by CCA in conjunction with a consortium of other chamber groups, is a devastating work, deserving of greater attention.

This premiere is one of the more prestigious occasions that Albany has overlooked lately.

The program of this concert took some shifts since it was announced last autumn. Beethoven’s Serenade in D Major, Op. 25, was moved to front of the program, and presented Gilman, Saetta and Rowe on flute, violin and viola in a five-movement work very much in the classical tradition.

It’s a fun piece of occasional music, already showing the whimsy that Beethoven would make the most of in later compositions. It was the right choice, too, to warm the audience up for the Walker work that began the second half.

From there on in it was all enjoyable fluff. Heitor Villa-Lobos seems to have written something for every possible combination of instruments: “Distribution of the Flowers” is for flute and guitar, and Gilman and Farkas had a ball with it.

Gilman, Saetta and Kogut joined forces for two short works: a minuet by Haydn and a rondo by Mozart, the latter a “Turkish dance” that featured Gilman’s sprightly piccolo.

And the conclusion was downright hilarious. Adolphe Adam, a Frenchman with romance in his heart, fiddled with Mozart’s variations on the tune we know as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to provide a soprano showcase, the kind of deal you would have heard at a “society” dinner party as the special guest showed off her tonsils.

With Kogut at the piano, Gilman and Ross took turns (with flute and voice) dancing through these fanciful variations, complete with a voice-busting cadenza before the big finish.

All in all, this was program of contrast and delight.

Shameless Plug

I have composed a collection of songs for church use and have never plugged them before. So, why not.

The book and CD is called Psalms for the Church Year, Volume Ten, published by GIA. If you would like to hear a sample, go to the following link. My favorite is selection ten, Psalm 69: Lord in Your Great Love.

https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/psalms-for-the-church-year-recording-cd429

GIA's venerable Psalms for the Church Year series has a fresh face with this new volume from Malcolm Kogut, who brings his gift for melody and his comfortable jazz-tinged style to this important new collection of psalms.

Malcolm fills some repertoire "holes" with these settings. He has set Psalm 47: "God Mounts His Throne to Shouts of Joy" for Ascension, and Psalm 45: "The Queen Stands at Your Right Hand" for Assumption, along with a mix of other common and lesser-known psalms. Using primarily ICEL refrains and several Grail translations, this volume is a worthy addition to the Psalms for the Church Year series. And, as with the other volumes, it includes reprint boxes of all refrains and a liturgical use index.

How long does it take a pianist to retrain muscle memory to play a new motion?

This is a wonderful question. There is no such thing, literally, as muscle memory. Movement is hardwired into the brain, not the muscles.

New muscle memory movement is very easy to wire into the brain and it can be immediate however, the brain never forgets the old patterns so, as a musician, if you get nervous or your body is cold, or you go into autopilot, it is very easy for the old movements to reassert themselves and take over despite new and more efficient neural pathways having been created since. This is especially true for musicians and also, how and what we play is very important.  This is why musicians often claim they can play perfectly in their living room but on stage it all falls apart. What is happening is the old muscle memory takes over because of environmental factors such as the presence of an audience, different bench height, temperature, nerves, etcetera. 

There is another danger here. Many teachers instruct the student to build strength and endurance to overcome technical deficiencies. This works to a certain extent but also puts the musician on the path to injury. If the musician then learns new and proper movements, the improper muscles used previously will immediately atrophy. This is why improperly trained musicians feel rusty or stiff after missing a few days of practice because the wrongly built muscles will get weak, quickly. Proper playing utilizes fulcrums, alignment, gravity, ergonomics and the laws of physics, not muscle. This is counter intuitive to most musicians and to many teachers who are ignorant of anatomy and physics. Mediocrity is the result of using the wrong muscles, not lack of talent. This is because most teachers have no idea what they are doing. They only know what they know but what they don’t know is what creates injury, tension, fatigue and sloppy playing.

A beginning student may learn a piece of music and there may be flaws in his movement. Over time he gets better and learns new songs and rewires some of the improper movements in his brain. He progresses further and his technique improves and his brain learns newer and even more proper movement. THE DANGER is playing old repertoire because even though his technique improves and he now has proper movements, the brain remembers the lesser or improper movements of previous repertoire from a time when he moved less properly. It is important for musicians to either never play old repertoire or, re-learn each piece with the newer, more proper motions.

The greatest danger is, as I previously said, the improper muscles atrophy if not used. If a musician built improper muscles to play a piece well, then as he progresses and loses that muscle because it is no longer needed since he is more ergonomic now, then he plays that old repertoire, the brain expects that the former muscle is there and tries to play the work “normally.” Since the muscle is no longer present, this is when the musician runs the risk of greatly injuring themselves. This is why a well trained musician can one day, out of nowhere, injure themselves.  Most injuries are actually cumulative and it is one of those "muscle memory" moments that serves as the proverbial "straw that breaks the camel's back."

In addition, rewiring your brain on your instrument isn’t sufficient. You must simultaneously do the same with how you ring a doorbell, tie your shoes, brush your teeth, pick up a piece of paper, type, swipe, wipe . . .

There is no such thing as repetitive strain, only improper movement.  If you move improperly, all movement can become repetitive strain and as I said, it is cumulative.  That is why a forty year old might get out of bed with stiffness, aches and pains while a 70 who has moved properly all their lives can rise with elan and alacrity.  You can take that to the movement bank.

My Quora answer to What are hindrances and obstacles to church growth?

First and foremost is that society doesn’t beleive in the church institution anymore.  Churches are not called to grow but to serve.  When they serve, they begin to grow.  People are not dumb, they can recognize an insincere church right off the bat.  They can discern which ones are ice cold, lukewarm or red hot.  Most are lukewarm and that is their problem.  They won’t grow if they are lukewarm. 

Every church has it own challenges and obstacles.  Most of the time the hindrances are the people themselves. Growth comes from many avenues: good preaching, good music, a welcoming community, location, parking, energy level, comfortable space, social opportunities, service opportunity and consistency.

A church once asked me to give them ideas to help promote growth and I gave them a list of 18 activities that they could easily organize over the course of a year.  They said “I don’t like that one.”  “This one isn’t something that fits our community.” “We don’t want to attract those kind of people.” and “Who is going to do all this?”  I told them that energy begets energy, that they must incorporate people of all generational, cultural, economic and educational levels into a comprehensive program and, even if they start small they will grow.  They whittled the list down to three and then they didn’t even do those three.  Survival of the fittest.  Not to act is to act.

I think the church needs to be offering the community at least one activity or event each week.  Even if the unchurched community is not interested in every topic, at least they will see that this church is active and vibrant and may decide to give it a chance. 

I took a church with three services a weekend and after fifteen years we grew to five services and two of them were SRO.  There was no one thing that promoted the growth rather a sinuous network of everything.  Everything was comprehensive.  We got rid of youth, teen and adult choirs and evolved to a family choir.  The youth groups didn’t do their own youthy things but rather plugged into all the ministries of the community and church with the adults.  Our music too became comprehensive and we did away with the folk group, the traditional choir and the praise band.  We did all styles of music at every service and no group owned a particular service.

My suggestions for a church looking to grow are three things; Pastors, get out of your office.  Jesus didn’t keep office hours.  Get out and be with the people.  Establish a beat like the old timey police officer.  Regularly visit diners, bars, clubs, senior centers, nursing homes, jails, courts, be seen and heard.  Approach people and be approachable and wear your collar.  Don’t do it to drum up business, do it to comfort, heal, serve and welcome.  Go to the mall, sit on one of the sofas in the hallway and put out a sign, “I will talk to anyone about anything.”  Pass out your card for further ministering and don’t worry about your homily.  If these things you do, the homily will take care of itself.

Hire a music director who does not worship music, one where music is not his ministry but someone who loves people and music is the vehicle to ministering to them.  This person needs to spend time with the staff to come up with creative and diverse ideas and programs and know how to delegate lovingly and compassionately.  The children of Israel were taken as slaves of the Babylonians and the musicians were forced to entertain their captors but they refused and hid their instruments in the trees by the river.  The Babylonians said play or we will smash your babies against the rocks and they still refused.  Likewise, a true music minister needs to know when to put down their instrument and minister.  Their job isn’t an hour on Sunday morning.  It begins when the service is over and ends the following Sunday when they pick up their instruments to worship - not entertain.

Finally, as I said before, lots and lots and lots and lots of events and activities.  One activity can grow into something big.  I once played weekly organ recitals at noon on a weekday.  We started with about 20 people and after a year there were about 200 in attendance.  They didn’t come for the music, they came because it was the place to be.  My choir started bringing in refreshments.  The parolees in the shelter next door came for the refreshments.  A home for disabled adults started busing in residents to get them out of the facility.  Homeless people came in out of the cold.  The parolees began ushering at the door and cleaning up afterward.  The homeless began passing out flyers in the community.  Pastors, choir members and organists came to network.  Brides came to scope out the building.  A police officer came in regularly to chat with the parolees to see what he could do for them.  Eventually the parolees started to use the building during the day for their AA and NA meetings.  The place was a beehive of activity and people started visiting the church because - something was going on there.  As the psalmist foretells in Psalm 66:  Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

There is another thing, the church needs to give back to the community.  It needs to do something that makes a difference.  It needs to do several things that make a difference.  People want to be part of something that makes a difference, not just sit in a pew and be entertained.  When people visit or join the church, have ministries they can immediately plug into and I don’t mean things like altar guild, choir, usher or woman’s club.  Things like working the food pantry, prison ministry, mission trips, gun buyback programs, homeless shelter, or do something revolutionary like Canada’s safe injection center (drug users can go there to shoot up without fear of arrest but medical care and counseling is provided in case something goes wrong.  These centers have never had anyone die of an overdose while blocks away, people die from overdoses alone and unaided, hmmmph - do something revolutionary and save lives or not?), and, the church needs to tithe to some big program like California’s Housing Works program where they give houses to the homeless.  Yup, GIVE.  It gets them off the street and gives them stable shelter.  A homeless person can cost your county about $20,000 a year in medical care alone because they lack shelter.  With shelter and a place to secure a job from, they will be healthier.  Dollar for dollar, homeless shelters are not cost effective on the whole and are only a band-aid.    Check them out: housingworksca.org.  Start one in your community.

Too bad the church can’t focus on some of these problems rather than worrying about growth and paying the bills.  Pew people are not “customer acquisitions,” they are saints in the making.  Too bad we don’t have institutions that fostered that growth and marshaled those forces.  Oh, we do.  It is called the DSS.  They take care of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the hopeless, the dying, the lonely, the abandoned, the imprisoned, the evicted, the illegal, the incurable, the different, the despised, the abused, the addicted, the forgotten, the neglected, the invisible, the battered and the frightened.  Right there in that sentence is an awful lot a church can set its sights on and grow - instead or arguing over whether to keep the kneelers or not, to put in pew cushions or not, or the new wall color, or renting space to the gay men’s community choir.  Not in my church!  Think of the children.

Halloween Organ Recital

Join the Foothills Methodist Church in Gloversville on Sunday, October 30, at 3:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary for an exciting organ recital featuring a smorgasbord of classics, favorites and surprises. Malcolm Kogut will perform pieces such as the vivid and bristling with energy Dubois Toccata to the ubiquitous Toccata in D Minor by J. S. Bach.  Other music will include Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Boellmann's famous Suite Gothic Toccata, and the tear jerking "In the Garden." The organ recital is free and open to the public.  For a sample medley of the recital, point your browsers to Youtube, here: 

-----------------
One thing Malcolm Kogut loves about living in New England is the endless number of mountain trails there is to explore. Malcolm loves challenging himself and friends to explore a new trail together and he enjoys both the defiance of and going with gravity.  His favorite hikes over the years have been St. Regis near Saranac Lake, Mt. Baker in Washington state and Ice Caves Mountain in Ellenville, NY. Hiking is one of the best ways to get fit and explore nature at the same time.  Malcolm's commitment to hiking is especially important to keeping up his musical pursuits for, hiking gives him something to play about.  After all, nobody lies on their deathbed wishing they worked more.

Why Atheists should Go To Church

A friend of mine suddenly stopped going to church because his teenage son was arrested for selling pot.  Yes, he is a scary drug dealer and probably has connections to Mexican drug cartels and has been involved in murder, abduction and child slave labor.  Actually, he just sold pot to a friend who entrapped him in an effort to have his own charges dropped.  Back to my friend, he was embarrassed and ashamed that this happened to his family and nobody from his church reached out to him.  He admitted to me that he was an atheist and church had no value to him, he was only going out of a Catholic obligation to a nascent guilt.  I disagreed with him that he shouldn't attend because they needed him and he needed them, but he needs to work through this on his own.  However, here are some generic reasons and granted, I am grasping here but indulge me.

1)  Church gives you a place where you can breath.  Many people will say that they don't sing but in your everyday life, you sing.  If you yell, you are using the same body parts and emotion that goes into singing.  If you scream, the same.  Do you speak with inflection such as you would when you speak with surprise, tenderness, comfort, imitation, sarcasm or chiding?  All that is part of the singing apparatus too so, yes, you sing.  The difference between saying those things and singing them though, that is where the difference lies.  When you sing, you are sustaining tones which forces you to awaken muscles between your ribs, your diaphragm, your chest and head.  An added benefit to actual singing is that you are taking in oxygen more deeply and richly than you would only by speaking.  That increased oxygen gets in your blood where it goes straight to your brain and muscles which are nourished and repaired by the newly oxygenated blood.  Singing is healthy.  If you are a health nut, singing should be part of your weekly routine and church is a perfect place to exercise those muscles without the worry of someone hearing you. If your church has a pipe organ, there is even more acoustical space to hide in.  Pianos and guitars have a natural decay and less secure to hide your voice therein.  Once you play a sound on any of these instruments the sound immediately begins to decay, necessitating more fills and chords.  But singing doesn’t work this way, and the continuity of the sung line is often disrupted.  The organ’s sound lifts and sustains the voice of the congregation through each phrase and guiding each breath.  The organ thrives in an open room and it fills the room almost like sunlight through open windows, the organ warmly invites even hesitant and untrained singers to join in.  An amplified band gives you a directional, electronic copy of the instruments. The pipe organ needs no amplification; the natural sound of the instrument itself fills the space evenly and fully with its massive range.  The organ can breathe musical life into any part of the Gospel story and your body.

1a) When you hear music, there are fireworks going off in your brain.  FMRI scans have shown that when people listen to music, multiple areas of the brain light up and when participating, music engages practically every area of the brain at once, especially the motor, visual and auditory cortex.  Strengthening those areas of the brain allow us to apply those strengths to other activities.  This also bridges the activity in the corpus callosum which regulates the left and right hemisphere of the brain. This allows you to solve problems more effectively and creatively in both academic and social settings. Because crafting music also involves understanding emotional content and message, musicians often have higher levels of executive function; a category of interlinked tasks which include planning, strategizing and attention to detail and requires simultaneous analysis of both cognitive and emotional aspects. This ability also has an impact on how our memory systems work. Transubstantiation may become more physical for after singing an hour in church you will leave a different person, more energized, alert and cerebrally attentive.

2)  Along the lines of music, attending the right church is a great place to hear masterworks of choral, instrumental and organ literature from the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century, all in one place.  Sure, you can buy a CD or find classical stations on the radio but hearing it live in the space the music was designed and composed for is much better.  Even if you don't sing, sitting there gives you the opportunity to set aside some time to reflect on your life in a holy space with holy sounds among holy people.

3)  You will be supporting local musicians.  Many musicians in churches are volunteers but a few of them such as the director or accompanist are probably paid.  Many of these people also play in clubs, bands, bars, are involved in community theater, compose and teach.  By supporting them in the church, you are supporting the circle of music in the community.

4)  Going to church also helps you to find community.  My friend, whose son was arrested could have found support, comfort and community but unfortunately his church was also embarrassed about the situation and didn't realize that not to act is to act.  It takes a lot of courageous effort to cultivate that sense of courage to seek and heal.  However, after that courage is marshaled, it will be discovered that it takes no effort or courage at all to heal.  I know of another church whose pastor lives in his own house so the rectory was empty.  When one of the elderly members fell into financial instability, there was no question that she could stay at the rectory free of charge. That is what church communities do for one another.  So, you don't have to go to church to find out what they can do for you, you can go to find out what you can do for them.  It is in serving others that we are served.

5)  Many people, even atheists, have a nascent sense of spirituality within them.  That means it is present but not active.  A friend of mine was arrested (hmmmph, I know a lot of people who were arrested) and he stayed at my house for a week because he wanted to get away and hide from everyone and take time to figure out his future life while it was falling apart around him.  A staunch atheist, he decided to attend church with me on a Saturday evening because I had to play and he didn't want to sit home alone.  Something touched him in the service and he went up for Communion.  He said he felt close to the God he didn't beleive in and it was comforting for him to be there.  He made an appointment to meet with the priest during the week but unfortunately the Roman Catholic priest alluded that he was not welcome there but, God bless anyway.  What a missed opportunity for both.  Most often the biggest problem with the church are its clergy because they lack the courage to do the right thing for fear of being accused of doing the wrong thing.  Not to act is to act and everyone loses.  It is easy to do the wrong thing then blame the one you are ostracizing.   They protest too much.

6)  As I mentioned earlier, going to church may help you find purpose.  An active church can provide you with the opportunity to volunteer to help where it's needed, a way of intentionally focusing on something transcendent and on becoming a more loving person while helping others.  Church's can be a great place for social gathering, too.  People are usually warm, friendly and accepting, at least in a good church! They may have groups that interest you and even have some missions which for you, even as a non-believer, you can participate in toward helping others in need. That is what is most fulfilling in life; having purpose and helping others.   When two hurricanes hit my area I was volunteering to answer a suicide hotline and was moved up to handling a disaster relief hotline for FEMA.  I did that for about three weeks, seven days a week, about ten hours a day.  Albeit exhausting, it was a very rewarding time for me.

7)  The point of the sermon on Sunday of any church is to learn how to apply scripture to your life.  This is a simple concept but many clergy think they have to be creative, gimmicky and entertaining and often miss the mark of breaking open the Word.  Even if you don't beleive that scripture is true spiritually or historically, there is great philosophy in the teachings of both the old and new testaments.  Even if you don't believe in God, you can agree to a lot of the values found in scripture as great truths.  Many of the stories have great lessons and you can find answers to many of your concerns and problems therein.  Our lives become the stories that we listen to and re-tell.  If you don't want to take the time to read the bible, start with the Jefferson Bible which is comprised of only the words of Jesus (the red words).  That can be very inspiring for those without a lot of time to weed through the historical and cultural detritus of scripture.

As long as you are not attending church to cause a disturbance, I would encourage going. The social, psychological, and spiritual benefits of participating in the liturgy and a community can be inspiring. If nothing else, you will get free food and coffee after the service.  That brings up a couple of other more over the top reasons to go.

8) The bible is loaded with good horror stories.  In the Bible, you can find stories of unsurpassed cruelty: murder, rape, incest, torture, slavery, cruelty to women and children, witchcraft, angry gods, natural disasters, plagues, wars, duels, mutilations, crucifixions, more blood than you can shake a stick at, and of course, eternal torment! Much of Hollywood's success comes straight out of the Bible. If you like horror, lust and greed, the bible is a great read.

9) Church is a great place for stand-up comedy.  Practically every page of the bible has something funny, ironic, dry or revealing in it if you look for it.  Preachers are willing to say anything from their pulpits! Many of them start off their homily with a joke and the comedy doesn’t end there either. Seeing some fundamental clerics affirm with a straight face their literal belief in a Noah’s ark, that dinosaurs didn't exist (a distraction planted there by old Scratch himself) or that the sun was “stopped” until some Jews won a battle, is hilarious! Yes, churches can provide hours and hours of knee-slapping entertainment if you know what to look for!

In some churches, you absolutely cannot be a member or be welcome to participate in the liturgy if you are not baptized, a member, affirming or have jumped through some other corporate hoops.  The Roman Catholics have many restrictions, the Episcopalians are more welcoming and lax, some churches require background checks (they don't want sinners), women are second class citizens in some, some are just cold, some don't like gays, while the Unitarians will take anyone.  Do some research, that might be half of the fun.  Visit a different church each week, take pictures and review them on Google or Yelp and talk about the music, homily, people, art, food, windows, flowers, whatever.

In the end, you may discover that some of your hookah-smoking and beer-drinking buddies are church mice.  You can share many a night around a fire-pit with those people discussing the spirituality of STAR WARS, HARRY POTTER and THE LION or THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE or STARGATE.  It can become something you'll never want to give up because even if you still don't beleive, you're a family.  Whatever brings people together is worth exploring.

So, come, all are welcome.  Well, not everyone, everywhere but, try.  If they don't want you, shake the dust from your feet as you leave (That's from scripture.  It was Jesus' polite way of saying, well, I can't say it).

Why the Church is Losing Membership

Running Hawk of the Lakota Nation once said that religion is for people who are afraid of Hell.  Spirituality is for people who have already been there.  Are our churches filled with the first or latter and how does that affect the growth of the church?

People are leaving the institutional church in droves.  Many of the peripatetic people are not taking the time to technically leave, they are just not going anymore.  Despite that, there are a few churches in my area who are boasting that their congregations are bursting at the seams but they are just cherry picking their data.  One church dropped from five Masses each weekend down to two.  The priest at that church reports that his two Masses are packed every Sunday; consolidating five Masses into two is not growth.  Another pastor was interviewed by a local paper where he said that his church has seen significant growth and every Mass is packed.  He failed to mention that the bishop of his diocese closed three other churches in his community and his church simply picked up the people who lost their buildings.  New people where not suddenly going to church, regular attendees just got displaced and had to find a new home.

I have heard all the excuses why people are leaving the church such as society is lost, or they are sexually deviant, they don't beleive in God, they think the church is full of hypocrites, the church worships money, that gays and atheists and politicians and Hollywood have destroyed morality and our society of lemmings is blindly following.  All that may be true to a certain extent but those people are still not the problem, the church is. Ultimately the church is terrible at choosing which battles to fight and how to reach out to those who see the church as irrelevant.

A church was hiring a new music director and the best candidate who had promising ideas and talent turned out to have a felony record.  Instead of hiring him they hired the next guy in line who lacked vision, worshiped music and consequently destroyed their existing music program.  That church chose to die rather than forgive.  They failed to walk the walk and realize that Jesus, a convicted felon himself, while on the cross didn't take an honest man to paradise with him but another convicted felon.  That church lost members who were not only frustrated by the diminished music program but some people left because an unforgiving church was not a church they wanted to be part of or thought they belonged to. Ultimately, churches would do well to replace their staff with people who only have the goals of serving God.

Each day our communities are beleaguered with violence, hunger, homelessness, drug abuse, racism and judgmentalism.  Meanwhile our churches are battling with issues such as, do we take out the kneelers or leave them in?   Should we have background checks to protect our children?  Should we put in pew cushions and carpet?  Do we buy a pipe organ or electric organ?   Should our music be more upbeat and contemporary?  Should we purchase a pool table for our youth group room?

Now to be fair, there are churches who address the big issues of violence, hunger, homelessness, drug abuse, racism and judgmentalism very well.  Most people would very much like to be part of those solutions but when the church bickers about something other, it can be a turn off.  The decision to put in a carpet may not be the reason someone leaves a church but it could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.  Usually there have been a series of disillusionment or a longing for something more.  The church should work on ministry and leave the building issues to the professionals they hire.

I once had a choir member who didn't like the fact that our church, the church she was raised in, was a liturgical church.  She longed for a more charismatic approach to worship.  She said that the church used an archaic and dusty language which didn't resonate with her.  It didn't give her comfort and she said that the message she heard each Sunday wasn't worth hearing.  When she came to me expressing this ache in her heart and that she was interested in the local Assembly of God congregation, I didn't try to talk her out of it.  She was no good to us if she was unhappy and guilt ridden.  I told her to try them out for a few months and if that style of worship made her feel closer to God and the community, then she had my blessing but, our door was always open for her if she ever wanted to come back.  We never saw her again but she became very active in her new worshiping community's food bank and soup kitchen.  She went on to organize a mission trip to South America.  For her and her spiritual needs, she chose right.  She is no longer at war with herself and the church and now her battleground is with poverty.  Who knew this Milquetoast of a person had it in her to become a General in the army.  That is what happens when you have faith and there is an opportunity to turn it loose.

Another reason people may choose another church is for their Sunday production value.  People may have joined their church because of the music but, I don't want people to come for the music.  Instead I want my music to inspire them to action, to be re-energized, to oxygenate their blood, to transform them, to remind them of a Kaddosh moment from their life, to be part of an awakening to a call for action, to feel joy.  Many church organists are just organists.  That is too bad. 

The music we sing should not simply be a song that fits into a time slot like most musical offerings in our worship services are.  It should speak to the needs of the community, not preach to nor entertain them.  Much like the words of an uninspired preacher, music can also speak in a foreign dusty tongue.  Some of our music holds onto dusty words that have no resonance in the ears of society, not realizing that just singing those words louder or faster isn't the answer.  Religious buzzwords and fancy octavos used to work 50 years ago but they don't anymore.  This spiritualized insider-language keeps regular people at a distance. People need the music to speak in a language that they can understand. They long to sing songs that pertain to what is happening in their lives this day.  People don’t need to be dazzled with big production numbers larded with churchy words that are about eschatological frameworks and theological systems or warm and fuzzy theology.

Too many organists don't see how pastoral and ministerial their work is.  I knew an organist who never played the same song twice in a church.  He would date each piece and never repeat it again.  People love to hear their favorite song over and over and if something an organist plays or the choir sings resonates with people, why not use it again?  The same holds true for hymns.  I fell in love with a new song called "You Are Mine" and I thought it would serve my parish well for funeral purposes and decided to use it every week for a month.  The confirmation class liked it and asked if I would play it for their confirmation Mass and the song became a comfort and favorite of the parish over time.  Another song I selected for a whole month was "All Are Welcome."  The city was planning to put up a parole shelter next door to the church and the church was protesting so I thought that the congregation needed to hear that message over and over again.  The church lost the battle and the parole shelter was put in.  Some members left.  All are not welcome.

A lot of churches have drastically changed their gimmicky worship styles to include lights, stages, elaborate sound systems, bands, videos screens, computer graphics, cameras and big production numbers from the praise band.  In reality this is just noise to those who are really seeking an encounter with God.  It is a distraction that has little importance, purpose and applicability to the rest of their week, or for people who are trying to grapple with the painful and confusing issues in the trenches of their real lives.

I have nothing against tech, I use it myself.  I own four cameras, mixing boards, a switch box and the ability to stream live but I don't use those tools other than for recitals.  If my church wanted to move in that direction for ministerial purposes then I'd gladly donate my expertise for that purpose but, the gimmick of a church "rock show" simply doesn't make a difference in peoples' lives.  People can find entertainment anywhere.  Church shouldn't be entertaining.  Church  should challenge us and inspire us to do something with our lives.  Yes, many people who don't know what they are looking for may choose a church that offers entertainment but, that is all those churches may have and it requires a lot of energy to maintain that illusion.  "Ignore the man behind the curtain."

There is a church near me who has a full time youth minister and a youth group budget of about $50,000 per year.  The youth have their own service, plan all the music and readings and no adults are permitted to attend that service.  The music by most standards would be  deemed liturgically inappropriate for they use pop songs in place of sacred music such as "Lean on Me" and "Don't Stop Believin'."  They average over 200 teens each week and despite that, they don't have a collection anymore because it would usually yield about ten bucks.   Their swanky teen lounge sports a pool table, ping pong table, Foosball table, several sofas, a small kitchen, a 54 inch flat screen TV, a game console and WiFi.  Post service activity include copious amounts of pizza and soda.  For a teen on Sunday night, it's the place to be.  When the teens graduate high school, they are not permitted to come back because they are now adults nor do they bother to join the church they don't know.  The whole program is a wash financially and only gives an outward appearance of being spiritually alive, active and having a reputation for success.  I'm sure many will disagree about the efficacy of the program but the numbers don't lie because on Sunday morning the youngest person in attendance at the normal Mass is 60 years old because the kids just don't ever come back.  I bet most youth programs are much the same.  Dollar for dollar, they are not a very good investment. Kids, like adults, yearn for a message worth sharing and an opportunity to act on it and make a difference, but it’s hard to hear that message above gimmicky pyrotechnics.

Some friends of mine heard that message and sent their daughter to Arizona one summer to help build housing for the poor.  She came back a different person, with vision, drive and the decision to dedicate her life in service of the poor.  She really wants to become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church but we know that isn't going to happen.  That's another issue which drives our contemporary society away.  Like many issues, the church is usually on the other side of popular opinion.

I knew a Methodist pastor who wanted to start a satellite church in a strip mall in a poor section of a nearby city.  They would move their food pantry there and offer counseling with meeting rooms and ancillary worship space.  His parish council shot down the idea citing that it would be expensive and they wouldn't have the volunteers to run it.  I applaud the pastor's vision - instead of trying to lure people to the church, to instead go out to where the people already are.  Just because the parish council didn't think anyone in the parish would volunteer didn't mean that once people found out about this ministry they wouldn't take part or join.  Especially people in the community where this vital ministry would have been offered.  The parish council couldn't see past its own building. Ironically this church has a large wooden sign above their front door which can only be seen as you leave the church to the parking lot.  It says "Enter." When you leave the church you are entering the mission field.  The best way to reach the people who don't come to church is to get out of the building and go to them.  Get out of the building!

Churches don't walk the walk.  My dear friend Maggie's husband was arrested for a consensual yet illegal sex crime with a teenager.  They were immediately ostracized from their church (as was the victim, strangely).  When they approached the pastors at several other churches about joining, the answer was always the same; they were not welcome.  Some churches are not very forgiving or loving or welcoming.  That was too bad for the many churches who turned their backs on them as Maggie and her husband are very well off financially and tithe over $100 weekly.  Unable to find a church who accepted sinners, they formed their own little living room church with several friends who were more forgiving and they all left their respective churches to create their own.

When two hurricanes struck my area, I went out with a small band of volunteers to help people with cleanup.  We encountered many people who lost their homes and were sleeping in their cars.  When they called FEMA for help, they were told to call Catholic Charities who told them to call United Way who told them to call Family and Children's Services who told them to call 211 who told them to call . . . FEMA!  Many of these people haven't had a good meal, a shower or clean clothes and were living day by day waiting for help to arrive.  I knew there was nothing I could do to fix their dilemma but I was telling Maggie that I wanted to help them in some small way that could at least give them hope.  That Sunday when Maggie's living room church of about ten people gathered, she raised $5,000.  I then went out with the cash and when I encountered people living in their car or in distress, I gave them $100 a piece and told them to go get a good meal, go get a good night sleep in a hotel, or go buy some necessities.  That little band of ostracized sinners did more for the homeless than a church full of "good" people.

So, if Jesus spent his time with prostitutes, murderers, thieves, lepers and outcasts, why can't the church?  Hate begets hate and when the church hates, they lose but, they don't know it.  They don't know what they don't know.  In reality, all are not welcome in our churches despite the pastors regurgitating it on Sunday.  That is part of the reason people are leaving the church because some of us are honest to admit that we are sinners and know that the "good" people in our churches would not accept us if they knew the truth. So you see, the people who don't go to church are not the problem, the church and its "good people" are the problem. If they would stop praying, preaching, judging, diagnosing, denying and just simply welcome, that would make all the difference.  This doesn't necessarily mean that people are walking away from faith, it just means faith is more attainable somewhere else. Maybe if the church pulled its praying hands apart, their arms would be open for embracing and welcoming rather than denying.

Occam’s razor (developed by Ockham) is the law of parsimony. It is a problem solving principle which posits that it is pointless to do something with more when it can be done with less.  In other words, simplicity is your best bet. When faced with a decision on which is the most likely strategy to be successful, generally, the most simple choice is the most efficient.

Here is an example of Occam's Razor in my life.  I volunteer for a cable access show each week and it took my predecessor an hour to set up the studio while it only takes me about half an hour.  The difference is when he put away microphone stands and camera tripods he would loosen them, fold them, tighten them then put them in their respective corner.  I would just leave them extended and put them in the corner, saving a significant amount of time setting up and taking down.  They weren't in the way and nobody else used them during the week.  Likewise, all the cables going to the cameras are about 50 feet long and he would unravel them then have to roll them up after the show.  We only need about fifteen feet of cable so I taped up about 35 feet and now I only need to uncoil and roll up fifteen feet.  He would always put out 25 chairs for the audience but if we only have six guests on the show, I only need to put out six chairs.  If they bring a friend, I can always go get another chair.  Simplicity is your best bet.

The church desperately needs to be aware of the law of parsimony.  Especially when it comes to forming committees.  The problem with a committee is that all it takes is for one person to not like an idea or say it can't be done and it probably won't be pursued.  Much worse is to assign a task to someone and they either don't get it done or do it poorly.  Committees usually have a religious agenda, an argument to win, a point to make or a cause to defend and while these may keep the church running, they are also the bane of many a church.  As a member of the staff, my preferred method of work is to meet with the pastor, toss around ideas then implement them. I spend the week talking to people about it, getting their input, researching it, then being a master of delegation, I either call people whom I trust or catch them at Sunday coffee hour and assign them a task.  Implementing deadlines and followup with each person is crucial.  I can get more accomplished in one day than a committee can get done in three months and it is the simplest route.

My pastor once charged me with the task of organizing a haunted house because our church youth group attended one and I commented that we could do better so he said "Then do it."  I researched haunted house ideas, mapped out a route for our three story rectory and spent the year casually gathering materials. Several months later I contacted people and groups in the parish asking them to be responsible for whatever haunting I planned for each room.  Nobody said no, I had over 80 volunteers and the program was a huge success.  Several hundred visitors filed through in a two hour period commenting that it was the best haunted house they've ever visited and we made several hundred dollars from donations.

Showcasing parish leadership was key.  One year the pastor was in an open coffin and the choir served as mourners. I saved flowers from funerals for the whole year and that funeral room was decked out with dead flowers, wailing choir members and creepy organ music.  Another year the pastor and associate pastor's heads were mounted on a fake wall and the secretary, wearing a pith helmet, stood proudly next to her trophy collection.  People came every year just to see what the pastor would be doing in his room.

After I left that parish a lay person took over the haunted house.  With no vision and waiting until the last minute to plan, she formed a committee where anarchy reigned, tempers flew and people who had no idea what they were doing shot down idea after idea.  The haunted house was a disaster, half the rooms didn't have anything in them.  It failed miserably and they never had one again.

Occam’s razor can serve an individual very well also and this is where I think Occam’s razor can come into play for the person who is disillusioned or disgruntled by their church, the institution, the politics or anything else that leaves them yearning for something more: Withdraw your membership. Leave the church, leave the apathy.  Form a small bible study group with family and friends.  You don't need much to run a home church, a bible and a place to sit is all.  Churches are failing across the country and they need to crumble more before we can begin to rebuild.  Many pastors need to get real jobs instead of pretending to serve the community and we need to let the money serving churches fail.  Church people are notorious for worshiping music, buildings, organs, groups, committees, activities and money.  One parish council I sat on discussed the need for attracting new members to the church - to help pay the bills.  That is totally the wrong reason for a church to exist but churches are businesses, institutions, corporations and are run by like minded lay people.  How does growth for the sake of having more money to pay the bills serve the poor, naked, hungry, dying and imprisoned?  So what do you need from a church that you can't find in your living room surrounded by like minded worshipers?  The church needs to be reminded of the commandment “Thou shall have no other Gods before me”.  This is Occam’s Razor at its best. When the church teaches love, joy, forgiveness, death, peace and God, the people will listen.  That is all they need.  Continue with worshiping other things and soon the church will be an empty room.

A big problem in our churches is poor leadership and people who lack vision.  Something I try to do with all my ministry projects is to network to organizations and people out in the community in addition to the diverse organizations within the church.  When I organized the aforementioned haunted house I made sure every organization in the church had a room to haunt, likewise, I invited local community theater organizations to haunt a room.  I asked a funeral home to donate a coffin and a local contractor to build me a working guillotine.  The people who were not part of the church were excited to see their labor being part of something bigger and they even visited the church on Sundays thereafter.  They also never said no to future requests.

I once went to a Christmas party at a home where the host hung foil stars from her ceiling and I thought that would be a good idea for the church.  I asked the pastor if we could decorate the church that way for Christmas and he said if I thought I could pull it off, do it.  I bought 300 various colored and sized stars and spent two days building a fishing line grid then hoisting it up to the ceiling from a ladder.  When I entered the church that Saturday for Mass, I was horrified to see that our forced air heat was causing the stars to wave and twinkle, thinking they would be a distraction.  When people began to arrive for the four o'clock Mass, you could hear the gasps, oo's and ah's as people entered.  The following week attendance grew by 25% at every Mass.  The stars became an annual attraction with many volunteers looking forward in taking part with the hanging them and, the pastor even purchased a lift for the project.  Now I don't know if people joined our church because of that new ministry program but, more fallen away members began attending again because something new was going on.  It also didn't hurt that the pastor used the stars in his homily for weeks to come.  The true success to that program was socializing and networking as I was able to use that program to make contacts for other programs.

At another church I offered a weekly organ recital every Tuesday at noon.  I dropped off a flyer at that new parole shelter and some of the men started attending (probably for the free coffee) and eventually began volunteering to set up, pass out programs and clean up.  They eventually asked the church to use a room for their daily AA and NA classes.  In return they provided electrical, plumbing, carpentry and painting services to the church.  A few of them joined the church, got married and had children.  People often find our churches in the most unexpected ways.  That is why we need to network and be willing to step outside of our comfort zones and areas of expertise and hire people with vision and courage.  Someone may not ever think of approaching an organist to talk to about their problems but if that organist also skis and they encounter them during a coffee hour and begin discussing the new parabolic technology, it opens a whole new dimension of relationship which can be tapped into later.  Like my disgruntled choir member, acorns can become oaks.

A woman found out that I answered a suicide hotline and she joined the choir.  It took her five years to approach and talk to me about her suicidal thoughts.  She said she never wanted to talk to me about her issues, she just wanted to be near someone who would understand and care. It was a "hem of the garment" encounter for her and for her it was all she needed to keep going.

I once inherited a church with a lot of problems. What church does not have problems?  There were three music groups; the traditional choir, the folk group and a youth choir.  There were three directors for each group and they all hated one another and worse, they planted the seeds of hate among their individual membership.  I met with each of the directors asking them what their vision for the parish was and I remember the folk group director said "Vision?  I just come in and play every Sunday.  What do I need vision for?"  So I created programs where no group had ownership but all three could participate in, together.  It took about five years before wounds began to heal and I'd say it took fifteen years before all hate was abolished. The secret wasn't in creating musical opportunities for them to participate in.  It was in the creation of non-musical activities for them to socialize in where they discovered one another outside of what they were competing with.  I organized a Living Stations of the Cross service and asked a few members from each group to participate by writing and reading personal meditations based upon an assigned station. When they heard testimony about each others fears, pains and struggles, they began to see each other for who they really were: broken and frail human beings.  When I saw them spending time together at the coffee hour, I knew healing had begun. Soon they began attending each other's concerts and Masses.

Judgmentalism, ostrcisation, fear, anger and separation slowly and insidiously breeds distance.  A woman in adultery, a doubting follower, a rebellious prodigal, a person with a record, a demon-riddled young man with substance abuse issues or mental health issues; they all need a Church which will love them, nothing more.  People who are hurt and confused feel God's love when they are cared for. They take shelter in God's love when they look with gratitude at all the beauty they see.  A church who offers all that, they will feel it too. So if their problems are growing like a bacteria, if their money problems are a concern, if they lack vision and membership is falling, they have nothing to lose by embracing grace, mercy and forgiveness and everything to gain.  Like someone caught in a rip tide, they need to stop flailing, take a deep breath and just float.  Like the boy in the story about Jesus feeding the 5,000, they must offer all they have.  Like the people in my church who left through the back door because a parole shelter moved next door, God provided and more people entered through the front door.

God works through people. The church moves forward rhythmically like a clock ticking. The key is to remember, it’s the Lord’s church. Churches should focus on this truth. When they do, time heals wounds. Conflict embraces resolution. Anger gives way to joy. Emptiness surrenders to fullness.  But first we need to forgive and not judge. Is the church willing to do that?

Society is becoming more enlightened and many good people recognize that they are sinners and are still searching for a place where they can be known and belong. A place where it feels like God lives, and the people of that church are the ones who can show it to them.  Maybe we do live in a sinful, deviant and disbelieving society but it is those people whom the church is supposed to be reaching out to.  So, for the love of God; reach.  Step out into the neighborhoods around you and partner with the amazing things already happening in the secular world and all the beautiful stuff God is already doing there.  As C. S. Lewis once said, "We're going to be really surprised who actually makes it to heaven."

Halloween Organ Recital Q&A

When?  Before everyone else, on October 18th, 3:00 p.m.  2015

Where?  Trinity Lutheran Church, 42 Guy Park Ave, Amsterdam, NY 12010 (the United States one, not the other one where pot is legal).

Is there a Cost?  Only my blood, sweat and tears.  All others, free.

Will there be refreshments?  I wouldn't play otherwise.

Is the church handicap accessible?  Yes, there is a spacious elevator located on the parking lot side entrance. If need be, I will carry you up the stairs (I've done it before). Watch the end of the demo video, I show you how to find it.

What kind of organ are you playing?  It is a newly installed three manual tracker, built by a local builder. There will be a dedicatory recital in the upcoming months.  Come to find out when and all the other pertinent deets.

I hate organ recitals, they are boring, arcane, esoteric, stuffy, recondite and they all sound alike.  What are you playing?  I hate organ recitals, too.  I will be playing the ubiquitous, standard "scary" organ music such as the Chopin Funeral March, Bach's (sic) Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Boëllmann's Toccata  plus a few novelty songs and pieces arranged by me.

The organ is currently lounging in it's summer tuning estate but, here is a demo video of me at my first practice session getting to know the instrument and finding my arm weight. Here I demonstrate the en chamade and the full organ (which distorted my camera's microphone).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lldWqEhIkbs

See you then.

-Malcolm (The pastor wants a bio) Insert pretentious crap about myself here)).

Malcolm, a true Capricorn, is actually not funny. He is just really mean and people think he is joking.  He is a lover of ice cream and a runner - because of all the ice cream.  Malcolm is a Nomad in search for the perfect burger and is an especially gifted napper with killer abs (want proof, check out "Mount Baker Glacier Clips."  Do not judge him before you know him, but just to inform you, you won't like him.  He is not on Facebook and most likely wouldn't friend you anyway so this is all you are ever going to get.  Malcolm feels sad for seedless watermelons because, what if they wanted babies?  The humanity.

Better Late Than Never; Halloween Organ Recital

Do you think organ recitals are long and boring or that organists can be uninspired, uncreative, they play safe or all sound alike?  Are you afraid the music will be stuffy, long haired, or worse - like Sunday church organ music?

Then you should come to this one which I promise will be unique, fun, engaging and filled with surprises.  Come experience "The Scary and Fugal Side of Nursery Rhymes" May 3, 3:00 p.m. at the Foothills United Methodist Church on 17 Fremont Street, Gloversville, 12078.  The price is freeeeeeeee!  So that you won't suffer from organ indigestion, in addition to the organ solos there will be guest singers, singing bowls and instrumentalists.


Here are two samples of what I will be playing (the second half of each video BTW, is of Len Anderson who took my collection of arrangements and improvisations then rearranged each piece for his saxophone quintet):
http://youtu.be/0GMUG7Wr5RA                BINGO in Fugue
http://youtu.be/h-ZWaiXVnLY                     Old MacDonald Had A Farm

Did you know that there are dozens of diseases a human can catch from a lamb?  There are orphan children buried alive in the pillars of the London Bridge?  Ring Around the Rosie is about the plague? The original lyrics to "Ten Little Indians (which is still not politically correct)"  was also racially offensive?  Come discover what other creepy, rapey and phobic topics our joyous childhood songs are really about.

The church is handicap accessible with an elevator but it is squirreled away in a closet.  Here is a short video tour showing where the elevator is hidden within the building:
http://youtu.be/qXO5NFGKo9c

-Malcolm.
After watching his parents murdered by a mugger in a back alley, Malcolm Kogut grew up vowing to become the world's greatest crime . . . wait, that's Batman.  Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Mr. Kogut stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator . . . no, that was Sam Beckett.   After being bitten by a radioactive spid . . . uhm, Malcolm suffers from nefelibata.  Truth.

The Illiterate Musician; How To Transpose

Infants first learn a few words through repetition and imitation.  They then learn a few more words because they understand that the words have meaning and can get them something.  Then they are taught the alphabet and they learn to spell small words and sound them out.  As their vocabulary increases, they are able to put together more complex sentences and mix and match the words to convey a message or to get what they want. 

Once they are able to read, spell and write, they are able to create and communicate ideas and feelings which opens up new worlds of possibility for them.  Some children are able to make up or improvise their own stories using their imagination, drawing from their experiences or using concepts and ideas from other stories or people.

Sadly, some children never advance beyond the stage where they are taught to speak.  Due to either a learning disability or behavioral issues they can't comprehend the concept of breaking down the words to their base letters so for whatever reason they don't learn to read well.  They acquire a basic vocabulary just enough to meet their needs and have no interest in expanding beyond that.

Musicians are like that, too.  Some only learn to read and repeat the notes on the score and like words, don't grasp how or why they are "spelled" as they are.  For those who learn basic music theory, the notes on the page may appear as blocks of phrases, scales or chords to them without the music student actually understanding how each note is used in each phrase or harmonic block.  Furthermore, despite maybe having a musical vocabulary, they don't know how to use all the theory they do know or how to create or manipulate the music with what they do know. There is a disconnect.  A musical autism.  They are like a TTS (text to speech) computer program which robotically  reads back the written word without understanding the words or meaning or spelling. 

Most musicians are taught to read music and that is all they need or think they need.  Others are taught music theory but are never taught how to apply it. Others teach themselves to "play by ear" and hope for the best.  They are constantly taking chances, may not know what they are doing, can't duplicate it or their playing can easily come crashing to a sudden halt because they don't know what they are doing or don't know where to go next.

A high school teacher friend asked me to help do tech for her at a recording studio for a school project.  She brought in the biology teacher to accompany her at the piano and he introduced himself as a musician, too.  I thought to myself, no you're not, you're a biology teacher.  He let it slip out a couple of times that he had a music degree from Juilliard saying things like "They taught us to do that at Juilliard," or "My teachers at Juilliard would be aghast at me playing such simple music," or after a compliment, "That's what four years at Juilliard can do for you."

At one point my friend asked him to transpose the piece up a third and he couldn't.  He asked if there was an electric keyboard available and there wasn't.  My friend asked me to step into the studio because she knew I would be able to do it.  The biology teacher said, "I'm an artist, not a technician." I'm not sure but I think I was insulted.  But, I think it was more him trying to save face because he realized he was not as smart as he thinks or has been told he is.

So, that is why I wrote this blog and made the accompanying video on how to transpose.  Because this guy has the musical IQ of a four year old or someone with a severe learning disability or can only regurgitate what he sees on the page, like a TTS program. 

Actually, it is not his fault.  He only knows what his teacher taught him and their teacher before them and their teachers before and before.  Somewhere along that lineage, none of those teachers had a teacher who could teach them the open secret of numbers.  Here is the video:
http://youtu.be/JrMrYbViCIw

Singing Tips

While watching the battle rounds of THE VOICE with some friends, we were sometimes at a disagreement over which singer was superior.  I always won but that doesn't mean I was always right.  Listening is in the ear of the beholder.   In these reality competitions, sometimes the eye.

I was listening for dynamics, enunciation, good phrasing and singing off the page.  Some people would call it soul, or tone and the judges often called it "in the pocket."  Randy Jackson used to call it "the 'It' factor."   I'll break it down on my personal technical level.

Singing with dynamics is easy to comprehend.  The singer gets louder and softer while singing phrases.  It adds a contour to the phrase or even the entire song.  In this instance I was listening for more inner dynamics.  More than within a phrase but, including within a word.  If they were singing a vowel on a whole note or a note held for a while, I was listening if they did anything with that note.  If they held note at the same volume, I was bored.  If they got loud or soft on it, they piqued my interest.  One of them evolved the diphthong and that was cool.  A diphthong is a vowel which has two vowel sounds such as in the word "eye."  A trained singer would sing it sort of like "ahhye" or maybe "ahhhh."  "E" is a harsh sound and can cause a singer to lower their soft palate and raise the tongue.  What is bad about that is it diminishes a clear, full and open tone.  An untrained or maybe a country singer would sing, "ah-eee."  Try it yourself.  Sing the letter "i" and notice how quickly you want to sing an "ee" and raise the tongue.  That's a diphthong.

A second dynamic I listen for is what they do with repeated words.  Let's say you fell and broke your leg.  You would yell for help.  If no one answers, you yell a little louder.  No answer?  You yell LOUDER.  Try it (but softly in case someone hears you).  The same thing would happen as you lose hope.  You yell "HELP!"  Then maybe "help . . . " then "hel . . . "  So when one of the singers sang "I love you, I really do love you, yes, I love you." each repetition about love needed to be different every time.

Poor enunciation is, well, singing without consonants.  A singer can't be understood and what is the purpose for singing if it is not to share words?  In other words, wi  ou  onso an  ,  ou  an'  e un erstoo.  I zone out on singers who make me work to understand them.  If they mumble their lyrics, clearly they are not important to them, why should I listen then?

Phrasing is when a singer takes a breath.  It is the commas of the musical line.  Some singers can be artistic with this such as Adam Lambert who while competing on American Idol would sing long phrases without taking a breath.  I loved that.  Others, take lots, of breaths, all over, the, place.  For me the worse sin-(breath)-gers are the ones who take breaths in the mid-(breath)-dle of words.  Those of you who go to church, listen the next time a soloist sings the song "Ave Maria."  Many soloists will sing "A (breath) ve, Mareeee (breath) eee (breath) ya."  Cracks me up every time.

Singing off the page is a simple concept.  It is nice when a singer adds a run but often, the run is just ornamentation and has nothing to do with the lyric.  Too much meaningless ornamentation can be tiresome.  I prefer singers who throw in bent notes.  These are also known as crushes, scoops, gliss or blues notes.  They are notes that are just slightly off pitch but resolve to the correct pitch.  It is very satisfying.

Another factor is something called entasis where the singer is just slightly off the beat.  This isn't the same as dragging because they only do it on a few beats every few bars.  It is a way of accenting words and saying to the listener that these words are important so I am giving them a little more time.  Jazz pianist great Erroll Garner was a master at playing off the beat and he would often do it for a whole song.   Our brains crave the unpredictability of entasis.  Just listen to any MIDI file where the notes are quantized perfectly on the beats and you'll hear how boring perfectly-on-the-beat music can be.

A great performance is often filled with purposeful uncertainty.  Those musicians who can do that are called artists.  With music, as with all things, your mileage may vary.  How perfect is that? 

Church Musicians: Get Out Of The Way

When a church focuses on sin, they focus on what the church is not called to be.  When they focus on forgiveness, mercy, grace and compassion, they focus on what the church is called to be.   Where can we learn this if not from the pulpit?  Our music.

A friend of mine was hired to oversee a large music program at a church with about 2,000 families.  One of the groups in the church which he didn't have authority over was the folk group.  This group consisted of several singers who sang back up to a soloist.  The soloist was a very active wedding singer and the drummer in her band was also the drummer for the folk group.  They also had a saxophone player who improvised a blizzard of 64th notes on every song. 

The "audience" loved the music.  The music was alive, vibrant and energetic.  Everyone clapped along, it was very entertaining, they listened and they loved it.  Each and every Mass was a concert of the highest caliber.  The new priest noted that nobody at that Mass was singing, they just listened.  Many people, especially musicians, would not be alarmed at this as long as the people were happy but, the sweetest sound a pastoral musician can hear is that of a congregation singing while fully and actively participating in the liturgy, not just listening. 

If you were to attend the ritual of a birthday party for someone you cared about and right before you were all to sing the song Happy Birthday, someone hijacked the singing by doing a campy, over the top or stylized version of the song, the focus would be on the singer/performer, not the person celebrating the birthday.  Liturgy is much the same.  The congregation participates in the ritual by singing and if a band does it "to" them, the congregation doesn't need to do their part as the "actors" of the liturgy, it is done for them and they are the "audience."  In the theater model, God should be the audience and the congregation the actors.   The musicians would assume the role of prompter.

In my friend's church, the sax player was asked to play only the melody so that his torrent of notes didn't get in the way of the congregation's  participation but he replied that the priest was trying to stifle his creativity.  Therein is the confusion.  The liturgy and music is not about the musicians.  It is about the people.  Musicians are not there to do the work of the people, they are there to support the participation of the people.  If we need to show off our musical ability, there are bars for that.

Why Singing Is So Important:  Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. 
There is an old African saying that "We are the stories that we tell."  We are what we believe and stories are the foundation of our identity.  There is a saying among pastoral musicians that "We are what we sing."  That is why singing in church is so important.   Singing scripture gives us the opportunity to enflesh the Word.  Singing is not only "praying twice," but combining scripture with melody and rhythm further helps to get it in our brain, heart, sinew and soul.  I think it is interesting that medical science calls breathing “respiration.”  The root of respiration is SPIRIT – re-spir-ation.  We re-spir-ate,  take in Spirit.  Singing oxygenates our blood and brains with spirit.

If I were on an airplane and it hit turbulence, I might think of a psalm text I have sung hundreds of times (Psalm 27) "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, of whom shall I be afraid?"  If life is throwing me curve-balls, I may remember the scripture from Psalm 42, "Why do I mourn and toil within when it is mine to hope in God?"  If your memory is like mine, I can't remember a name I just heard but I can recite hundreds of lyrics.

Consider the gay teenager who is thinking about suicide, might he think deeply when he sings the words "Will you love the 'you' you hide if I but call your Name?" from the song "The Summons," or what about the person filled with hate and prejudice when he sings "See the face of Christ revealed in every person standing at your side," from "We Remember."

Our songs and hymns are a treasure trove of philosophy, scripture and poetry which has the power to change and transform life and, singing it is one powerful way to quickly and lastingly get it into our bones, sinew and brains.  If we are distracted by musical proficiency, performance and technical artistry, the moment of being in the moment may pass us by. 

Musicians, back off from the mike, let the people sing, carpet living rooms not churches, and revel in the sound of their congregation.

Musicians don't know what they don't know and it is the churches fault for not hiring pastoral musicians or not educating and training the ones they do hire to be pastoral.  It may be appealing to hire a young person with an advanced degree, who can play or direct well and build a quality music program, but does a church want a quality music program or a congregation lusting for justice, conversion, proclamation, respiration or community?  Many music programs are like a Texas longhorn; a point here, a point there, but a whole lot of bull in between.

People are changing, society is changing, churches must change, too.  People no longer look to the church for social activity or entertainment.  They thirst and hunger for something more, something the church isn't giving them.  More than entertainment, they want a sense of sacred, they  thirst for simplicity and a relationship with God.  They can only grow by facing and navigating the difficulty of life - together.  That takes an apostolic church rather than an entertaining one.  Instead of feeling still and empty the way the eye of a hurricane must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding action - which is where real life is at.  Every condition of our lives, good or bad, wonderful or horrible, is merely the support system for the journey.  There are always people who wish to deny us our humanity but if we tell our stories, there will always be someone who wishes to restore it.   Any church which has a focus on sin, they focus what the church is not called to be. 

Additionally, music ministry is a parish wide ministry, a community wide ministry, not a Mass time centered ministry.   This is not to say that musicians need to put all their feelings into their music.  Musicians should not be burdened with the responsibility of expressing themselves and demonstrate how much the music and God means to them.  That is important but whatever gift you have, it has to be used to support what the music and Word itself is saying, not inflict a personal view on it.   Feelings should not be injected into music as if through a syringe.  You can find that in a lot of churches and it can be distracting.  Musicians must learn to PROCLAIM the word, not interpret it. Leave interpretation to the Holy Spirit.

To the church who is afraid to forgo entertainment in favor of liturgy, consider the media; they only write about the sinners, crime and the scandals, but that's normal, because a tree that falls makes more noise than a forest that grows.  That church needs to have faith.

My friend in the opening story, after they disbanded their folk group who refused to modify the entertainment model of ministry, there was a flurry of nasty emails, all the folk group left the church and the church even lost members who supported the folk group.  Two years later after creating a more pastoral music program, they have tripled the number of people they had lost.  One of the long time members said, where once he knew all the faces he encountered during the passing of the peace, today he is met with many and new faces.  That is something to sing about for a congregation doesn't sing because they're happy; they're happy because they sing.

The Funeral Organist

Some funerals are joyful celebrations of life while others can be like - funerals.  Organists are the greatest offenders of the latter.

New organists often ask what kind of music to play for funerals.  All too often they think they have to play slow, soft and with lots of whole notes.  I hate hearing the organ played that way for any occasion but especially at funerals.  Having grown up in a 19 room house where my parents operated a rest home for elderly woman, I experienced a lot of death but mostly the love of life. 

I doubt any of us would want flat, boring, sad, subdued and dirge-like funerals upon our passing.  I suspect many organists play this way because they are too afraid to sound any other way because they think that is how funerals are supposed to sound and the books out there currently offer nothing but dirges. 

For the prelude, or gathering period, I would mostly improvise so that I could keep an eye on the pastor and watch what everyone else is doing and I could quickly respond to assembly dynamics as they were gathering.  My music was always joyful, often fast but light in registration.

In my previous parish I was also charged with the task of meeting with the family of the deceased  to help them choose readings and music.  I would also meet with those who were asked to do readings to instruct them, give them copies to practice and explain what was going to happen.  I would ask the family if they wanted the mood of the service to be subdued or a joyful celebration of life and they always chose the later.   It didn't hurt to have a pastor whose funeral homily was consistently about death being a birth into new life.

During the funeral, since the console was only about 15 feet from the front pew, the family always looked to me for cues and when I played something with a joie de vivre, they would look at me and smile.  During the Communion procession they would pass by my bench and most of the time, touch me on the shoulder or whisper a thank you.

Here are examples of how I would play both slow and fast.  Again, nothing from books - so that I could be in the moment:
http://youtu.be/VhhO6DAe2A0
http://youtu.be/QN40wHW6s2g    (actually a little bit slower but with the same gist)

For the Offertory (Preparation of the Gifts) or Communion, if we were not singing a song or hymn, I would play like that.  There are dozens of books out there with music intended for funerals but anything from classical or contemporary literature works well.  They don't have to have slow and quiet.  As I mentioned earlier, if the organists improvises, they can be in the moment and respond musically and dynamically to mood of the room.  In many cases, can even influence the mood in the room.  A skilled and cognizant organist can even control the talking and even volume of the assembly's discourse. 

Have you noticed that at a lot of funerals people will use humor about the deceased to help them get through the pain?  Music can serve in that capacity, too.  Not by playing "funny," but by playing joyfully, excitement, varied dynamics and registration changes. 

Funerals are for the living.  Here is a little story for the organist who is too afraid to play with joyful expectation because they thing funerals should be soft and slow:
God said to his people,
"Step toward the edge."
and the people replied,
"No, it is too high."
God repeated his command,
"Step toward the edge."
and the people replied,
"No, we are afraid."
God then said,
"Do not be afraid.  Step toward the edge."
So the people stepped toward the edge,
. . . and God pushed them.
. . . and they flew.

Close the book.  Step toward the edge.

-Malcolm.

Where are Our Artists Borne Today?

Having had the opportunity to work with young musicians for a few decades, or more, I have noticed that they are becoming more technical and less artistic.  Although many vocalists do a noble job at emulating their favorite pop singers complete with scoops and runs, they lack the passion, life experience and awareness of the emotive qualities which created those artistic expressions in the first place.   If someone has never experienced pain and loss, how could they effectively sing about, and with those emotions thereby touching their audience who have experienced those feelings?

I accompanied a singer who sang the song "Here I am, Lord."  I asked the singer if he knew who and what the song was about and what the circumstances of the song were and he said that he didn't.  Again, although he performed a nice rendition, it lacked meaning and substance.  When we came to the refrain, I tried to force a ritard and a change in timbre but he wasn't even listening to me and emotionlessly crashed through the transition.  Though, he had nicely placed runs and scoops.

That particular song is about Isaiah, being whisked up to heaven in a dream and witnessing a massive choir of angels singing praise and adoration to God.  Isaiah knows he is a lowly sinner and not worthy to be there but  the overwhelming glory and majesty of the scene causes Isaiah to have a metanoia moment.  God was seeking a helper and it just so happens that He made His plea right there in front of Isaiah immediately after Isaiah was offered forgiveness for his sins.  While God’s righteousness and forgiveness were still fresh on Isaiah’s mind, God says, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Isaiah then bravely musters the courage and says "Here I am, I will go."

How many parents who give birth to their newborn child have had that same moment where they were holding this tiny new miracle in their arms, having a metanoia moment and made the decision to dedicate their life to that child and give them everything?  How many children have lost a parent to a disease and then dedicate their life to promoting awareness and fighting that disease?  How many children lost a basketball game and immediately go home and begin practicing to improve for the next one?  And, how many singers sing this song, devoid of understanding and and its attendant emotion, and how many of their listeners tune them out because they know the singer is not trying to impart a message but is merely a carbon copy performer? 

There are several reasons why our youth are uninspired and are simply copycat technicians.  One of the reasons I'd like to address is that they don't have the performance outlets we used to.  The Beatles claim their success was due to being able to perform from 1960 to 1962, seven nights a week while in Germany.  It was the opportunity to perform night after night where they honed their performance skills, song writing skills and musicianship. 

Many a jazz musician such as Art Tatum and Fats Waller used to play a gig from seven to midnight, then go to another club to play for a few hours more, then hit yet another club around three a.m. and sit in with other musicians until five a.m.  Their life was consumed by music and other musicians and nothing stood in their way to live a life abundant with music and people and experiences.   They sought to live a life of music and not to seek what music could give to them.  They didn't make music because they were happy, they were happy because they made music.

When I was a teen, I was lucky to live near four bars and restaurants whose owners gave me the opportunity to go in and play whenever I wanted.  I was usually paid in free food and wine.  Nobody enforced the alcohol laws in those days.  I wasn't a drinker as my childhood friends could attest for when they stole liquor from their parents liquor cabinets, I rarely partook.  In the bars however, I did drink whatever the customers bought me out of gratitude and respect. 

Being able to play out in a club in front of a live audience was important.  For an improvisatory musician, if you can get a lick out during a live performance, it was yours forever.  One performance was worth ten rehearsals.  Performing coupled with real people in the audience and the interaction between other musicians make a huge difference, too.  While in the bar, if I played "Tiny Bubbles" when Walt entered the establishment, that would yield free pizza or ten bucks in my tip cup.  If I played "If He Walked Into My Life," the bartender would get weepy as it was his mother's favorite song and I'd get a glass of wine or a Mudslide out of that number.  More importantly, when these people two died, those songs held a greater meaning for me and today I play them with great reverence and a sense of loss.  It is those nascent connections which define where artists come from.  It is those emotions coupled with technique and the struggle to overcome emotional roadblocks during performance which give meaning, struggle and purpose to those scoops and runs.  Others copy them from CD's and sing them devoid of root or purpose.  They become mere ornamentation for young copycat singers.

Kids today don't have performance outlets anymore.  Because of DWI laws, smoking laws and a poor economy,  they no longer have these places to cut their teeth and woodshed.  Instead, young musicians imitate those before them who did have those outlets but, the struggle and pain of growth, and paying their dues is gone and they remain mere imitators rather than originators. 

There still are a few coffee houses and cafe's where young musicians can go to sit in or perform but they are far and few between.  If the public were to frequent and support these small clubs, it would give young musicians an opportunity for growth and experimentation.  It is also better for the listener.  Sure you can buy a CD and listen to its perfection in the comfort of your own home but if you attend a live performance, you will be present in the current moment while resonating with the excitement of the performance, you will be fully alive in an aesthetic experience where your senses are operating at their peak, there will be surprises, there are less distractions than at home, you are supporting art and a business, you will be surrounded by other people feeding off the performers kinetic reaction and energy of the performance, the performer will feed off of and respond to your approval and presence.  It will be a win/win/win.   Or, like many of our children, you can be home taking your Ritalin.