December 16, 2009: Along with all my warmest wishes for a joyful and safe and carol-filled Christmas season, here's my Christmas Card Carol for the year... kinda! (It was supposed to be last year's, but my Perfectionist Alter Ego won and it had to wait for this year.) It's titled "My Gift, My Offering." There's a demo with vocals by James Loynes, and an accompaniment track as well.

Happy Christmas!

November 22, 2009: 'Tis the season to be grateful... I'm thankful for kids who get to come home for the holidays, a new calling (yep!) as Primary Music Leader, good friends, beautiful voices and generous spirits.

I just finished working up all the material on James Loynes' new album titled, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" -- a very apropos title for an album by this amazing vocalist!-- so there are quite a few new things this time. Again I'll do this list-style to keep it simple:

The new scores are:

• The title track, "How Can I Keep From Singing," a beautiful old American folk-style song that James and I arranged together, with voicings for Solo, SATB, SSAA and TTBB;
• "Heaven's Embrace," a song about the comfort found in prayer, voiced for Solo only;
• "Everywhere I Go," my contribution in support of the 2010 Youth Theme, voiced for Solo, Duet or two-part chorus.

Then there are a few new arrangements of existing material:

• "Write Thy Name Upon My Heart," for solo or men's voices, with a new accompaniment and a new set of obbligatos for flute and cello;
• "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," also for solo or men's voices, also with a new accompaniment and flute obbligato, with the addition of two new verses--one about prayer and one about service;
• A new set of obbligatos for oboe and cello for "I Have Not Seen, Yet I Believe;"
• "A Believer's Prayer" for TTBB, with a new obbligato for a low C instrument.

Other tracks on the CD include: "For Me Alone;" "I Come To Him;" "Abide With Me;" "Cast Your Burden On the Lord;" "Whole Again;" two duets with Allyse Smith Taylor, "How Great Is the Miracle" and "Because He Lives;" and "Sweet Is the Work." The melody and arrangement for "Sweet Is the Work" is James' creation, so the recording and score are available from his site at www.jamesloynes.com

James is one voice I never tire of listening to. Treat yourself to a few of these recordings, or listen to them all on James' playlist. Accompaniment tracks for each of the selections are available, most as MP3 downloads, and all on CD.

As you can probably guess, these things have kept me busy enough! But I have managed one small offering for the Christmas season--an obbligato to Hymn #208, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, for one or two flutes.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving week (US), and a wonderful week full of thanksgiving wherever you are!

 

October 22, 2009:  Wow... does that really say October? This year has gotten away from me. New this time is... well, a whole bunch of stuff. :) Over the summer I spent some time working with LDS singer Allyse Smith Taylor, pianist and arranger Marvin Goldstein, and many other talented musicians to help Allyse produce her latest album, "My All Is Thine." This is a really lovely collection of her interprations of quite a few songs found on this site--some old, some new. Since there are so many, I'll do this list-style:

Here are the new songs:

• The title track, "My All Is Thine," written especially for the project. It's available for solo, SATB or SSA.
• "Anthem Of Praise," which is a setting of the words to "All Creatures Of Our God and King" by Francis of Assisi, combined with a few additions of my own and a new melody. It's available for solo or SSAATB.

These existing songs were used on the album, and new MP3 recordings are available for each:

• The Master's Voice
• How Great Is the Miracle (duet with James Loynes)
• I Glory In My Jesus
• Write thy Name Upon My Heart
• This Is How I Know
• If I Listen With My Heart
• Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire
• Gethsemane
• Whole Again
• Because He Lives (duet with James Loynes)

Allyse also included "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" on the disk, though it appeared on her last album, because, she said, the album wouldn't be complete without it.

Because this is a commercial album, most of the tracks are not downloadable free. The price of producing such a project is amazing, and the artists who are brave enough do it need to recoup their costs. The recordings are, however, downloadable for a nominal charge from Allyse's website. (Allyse wanted to offer a track as a gift to my site visitors, so the recording of "I Glory In My Jesus" is downloadable free. Thanks Allyse!)

Treat yourself to a few of these beautiful tracks, or if you want to listen to them all, try Allyse's MP3 playlist.

(Before you ask... Marvin's arrangements of these songs are not yet available. Rumor has it, a songbook is in the works, and I promise to let you know when/if it happens.)

 

March 10, 2009: A couple of odds and ends this time:

--An Angel To Watch Over Me, arranged for Men's voices--although the arrangement will also work for any solo voice. A demo recording with vocals by James Loynes is available, as well as an accompaniment track.

--He Sent His Son has a new obbligato part for two C instruments, added for the YW broadcast at the end of the month. There's also a new demo recording with vocals by Denise Pearce, along with an accompaniment track.

February 4, 2009: New this time is a song titled "A Believer's Prayer," written to support the 2009 Youth Theme: "...be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12) It's voiced for solo or unison, with optional harmony for equal voices. There's a demo recording with vocals by Jessica Nielsen Ebersohl (a beautiful young woman whose voice I first heard while she was a missionary in my area), and also a piano accompaniment track.

Also new is a lovely recording of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" performed by Allyse Smith Taylor and Marvin Goldstein. I think you'll love Allyse's beautiful voice and Marvin's superb interpretation--I did!

December 16, 2008: It's been a snowy couple of weeks, and though snow is certainly very Christmassy, it tends to keep me home by the fire (usually with hot cocoa to warm up the inside too) not getting much accomplished. So I spent these particular snowy days concocting this arrangement of "Once In Royal David's City" for intermediate solo piano. It's a bit late to be useful for performance, but you pianists can still play it for fun.

There are also several new recordings for your Yuletide enjoyment:

"Beautiful Savior," performed by Heather Prusse;
"Baby In a Manger," performed by newcomer Denise Pearce; and
"Born Is the Light Of the World" and "Love Knows No Borders" performed by the Sydney Chamber Choir

I've also made available some new MP3 playlists for those of you who like to listen radio-style. You'll find links to them on various pages throughout the site, as well as on the new "MP3 Playlists" page.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas season!

*****

Addendum: Since this update, I've also added two new recordings (in Spanish) by singer Arnaldo Heresmann of Viña del Mar, Chile--"O Ven, O Ven Emanuel" and "Escribe Tu Nombre En Mi."