With my 39th Birthday coming up in a week (luckily coinciding with my wife’s Spring Break – hiking time!), and a momentary pause in the flurry of activity that the last month has contained . . . I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some of the highlights of 2011 so far.
I began the year with a goal to clear out my backlog (complete or delete) and work on one project at a time. So far this is working out pretty well. I’ve managed to make a big dent in my unfinished composition projects and deleted some that were not going to go anywhere. Many of the completed projects have been posted on this site or on http://choirworks.com.
Utah Voices 2011
I worked along these lines until I got the poems in from The American Fork Arts Council Press’ Utah Voices 2011 project. I agreed to set a number of the poems as art songs and help to organize a release concert for their new anthology. This has been consuming all my spare moments since I got the poems. So the backlog is on the back burner at present. I’m really excited about this event though – exactly the kind of thing that I want to be working on. I’ve set ten poems which will be sung by myself and five other singers at the concert on April 29th, 7pm at Historic City Hall in American Fork. In addition, they commissioned local artists to do their interpretation of 10 of the poems which will be on display that evening. More information to follow . . .
Ongoing Projects
By focusing on one project at a time this year, I’ve managed to get a lot more done than in the past. It feels great. Of course this excludes things that are ongoing or that cannot be done in an extended session:
- Directing the American Fork Children’s Choir – a weekly commitment that I have grown to love. The kids are progressing so well. In our concert choir, we’ve moved from unison and rounds to 2-part singing, and have written 3 songs this year in class.
- A month ago I started working with Utah Opera’s education program, helping classes to write their own opera to perform. I go in and guide them through writing the melodies and then complete a piano accompaniment for them. Great work.
- I’m the ‘new’ volunteer organist for my LDS congregation. I’ve only been doing it for about six months and I am slowly getting better. I try to practice daily.
- I got a Ukulele for Christmas and have been learning to play it. It is immensely rewarding, and so refreshing to not have to depend on a pianist or a minus track for my accompaniment. I intend to get very good and have been practicing pretty regularly.
- Health – I’ve pretty much stalled out on my weightloss since the beginning of the year, but I have managed to maintain. I continue to watch what I eat and record my exercise. Fortunately, hiking season is upon us and I think I can jumpstart my loss again. I feel so much better than I did a year a go. I want to continue this journey.
- I’ve created and been editing a new LDS Music Magazine, which requires a lot of corresponding.
The List
I’ve been working to keep a pretty good list of what I’ve accomplished since the beginning of the year. It is a reminder to me, in those moments when I get depressed and feel like I’m not going anywhere, that I am actually accomplishing good things. So here are the highlights of the year so far (not chronological):
- Several articles and blog posts for Classical Singer Magazine.
- Completed a 2-part arrangement of “the Crocodile” that the American Fork Children’s Choir performed on their Animal concert.
- Overhaul of http://ChoirWorks.com for better site navigation.
- Updates on http://thirteenforhalloween.com.
- Logo creation, site design and editing for http://ldsmusicuniverse.com : I’ve had some really great articles submitted and wrote an article myself on Gospel Harmony and Music.
- Continued my exploration and experimentation with whole-food, gluten-free baking and have discoved some wonderful combinations for bars, oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter cookies and more . . . some have yet to be posted here.
- Performed in an opera scenes program, including a scene from Pirates of Penzance as the Pirate King (one of my favorite operettas).
- Posted numerous new works to this site (see the menus above for genres you’re interested in), and to http://ChoirWorks.com.
- Released the Piano/Vocal score for “Abinadi” for the first time.
- Organized music for our local LDS Stake Conference (I’m currently the stake music chairman here in the Hillcrest Stake of American Fork). Got the go ahead for a brass choir for next stake conference.
- Made preparations for Dixie and I’s 10th wedding anniversary and celebrated.
- Attended an Arkansas song festival with Lynn Keisker and Venicia Wilson where they sang my cycle, “All Heaven and it was One Hour Old,” based on poems by Katherine Tynan.
- Finished setting the 10 poems for voice and piano for the Utah Voices 2011 concert with the American Fork Arts Council Press and arranged for performers.
- Set up my studio (including some soundproofing) to record the above Utah Voices album which will be called “Three Floors to the Grass” after a line in one of the poems.
- Attended the new Utah Musical Theater Writer’s Workshop organized by my friend Rick Mortensen, and presented a selection from the opera I am currently working on, The Giant’s Heart.
- Organized details with the AFCC board for Choir Camp.
- Set up a Ukulele Choir Camp I will be teaching this Summer through AFCC.
- Hiked a section of Grove Creek Canyon with Dixie.
Well, as I said, that’s the highlights. This week I’ll be recording the singers for Three Floors to the Grass : Utah Voices 2011 compilation CD. Next week, I hope to do a lot of hiking. Then, it is back to work on The Giant’s Heart.
