Fun Times at Seminary

Most of you know that I teach Early Morning Seminary, right? Well, yesterday, I asked one of the boys to return something to the library and gave him my building keys. After class I could not find the keys anywhere. I figured the boy slipped them into his pocket and forgot to give them to me. Of course, by the time I realized I couldn't find them, the students were already on their way to school.

It's a short walk and I wanted to catch the kids before they got to school. So I jumped in my car and sped down the road looking for the boy. He happened to be on the corner near his school just about to cross the street with a bunch of other students. I yelled to him from my car but he didn't hear me, so I started yelling and gesturing to all the students.

By this time, other parents in other cars who were there to drop off their students began to notice the crazy lady screaming and yelling at the kids. The students themselves just stared at me with wide eyes, apparently not understanding what I was saying.

Finally I got the boys attention. I could tell he was weirded out by my display, but I had no choice. At last he said he had left the keys on the table and hurried away.

I went back and carefully went through everything on the table. Someone had put them in the pencil box and closed the lid so I didn't see them.

I would not be surprised if a parent wrote down my license plate number and reported me to the police. I can just imagine the headline: "Seminary Teacher Arrested for Stalking Students."

That's one way to make a difference in their lives.

=0)

Called to Serve piano duet ready for download

A young man in our Ward wants to play a duet of Called to Serve with his Grandma for a special musical number in our Ward. Because I have so much going on right now - (I am an early morning seminary teacher, Ward Organist, Ward Choir Director, Ward Music Chairman, professional genealogy researcher,) I went to all my favorite music sites hoping to find a fairly easy arrangement for them. Nothing. OK, I said, I'll write one for you, but it will take a couple of months.

Then I sat down at my piano and started playing with the melody and chords and the arrangement practically wrote itself!

The playback is not the greatest. The end is supposed to slow way down and my playback won't do that. Also the Primo is way too loud and drowns out the Secondo when it has the melody in the second verse. So...make allowances for that.

Yes. I know there are programs out there that could do a better job, but they take time to research, buy, download, learn etc. And time is at a premium in my life right now. (See above)

So, here it is, a week later. Not too hard - I'd say it is intermediate level - but fun!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

A Clitch Corrected

If any of you tried to access freewardchoirmusic yesterday, you might have run into a few glitches. We were working to secure our domain name. Proof that just because you can write music does not necessarily make you a tech genius.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Faith

I just tweaked the SA arrangement of "Faith." I extended the music from three to four pages in order to make it easier to read. Hope you like it!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Be Still My Soul Piano Solo

I have just posted Be Still My Soul as a piano solo. I also tweaked the SAB arrangement slightly. I feel the beginning is calmer this way. (And isn't that the message of the hymn?) The women sing words at the end of verse two instead of oohing the entire verse. But you can sing it the old way if you like that better.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Beautiful Savior SAB Ready for Download!

It was suggested that Easter Hosanna and Beautiful Savior would make a nice medley. But after working on it for a while, I decided that Beautiful Savior should stand alone as it's own arrangement. It is SAB again for small choirs. But has an optional children's choir/solo.

Remember, this arrangement like everything on freewardchoirmusic.com can be varied for your particular choir or singing group.. Nothing is set in cement. Tempo, dynamics and holds can be added or varied to meet your needs. Parts can be sung unison or as a solo. Accompaniment can be simplified by leaving out octaves, etc.

In other words, take the music and run with it!

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

What to Sing for Easter

Christmas is over and Easter is just around the corner - at least from a Ward Choir director's point of view. Hmmm. Something nice but not too difficult. OK, How about a nice arrangement of a couple of beautiful children's Easter songs? Easter Hosanna in the key of D minor flows nicely into He Died That We Might Live Again in the key of F major.

And let's make it SAB for small Ward choirs with some unison singing to make it easy to learn.

Anybody got a any other good ideas?

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!