Skip to content

BLOG

Tenebrae

Singing again

Through a mask, darkly, cradling hand-written chant in one hand and a tapered candle in the other, I croak my way through the ancient service of Tenebrae.   A ragtag crew of rusty, veteran singers returns to St. Mary Magdalene’s this week to sing the 8 choral services required during Holy Week, the slow and solemn march toward Easter Day.   I am one of that old guard asked to brush up their vocal armour and return to the choir. After two years (or ten years) of non-singing, this Quixotic company of comrades requires courage, and a letting go of… Read More »Singing again

P.S. A Frost Sequence video (with subtitles)

As a quick follow up to my last blog, I am pleased to be able to publish this link to the video of ‘A Frost Sequence’ performed by The Elora Singers under the direction of Mark Vuorinen as part of the Elora Festival Online last summer. Thanks to all who worked so hard in August 2021, under strict COVID regulations, to make this music come to life against all odds : ) Watch on YouTube: ‘A Frost Sequence’ The three pieces are now published as a trilogy by Renforth Music in New Brunswick. You can find all the information here:… Read More »P.S. A Frost Sequence video (with subtitles)

Road Not taken

A Frost Sequence

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…  I can’t count the times those words have gone through my head when walking in the woods, or faced with a tough decision. Robert Frost’s poems have been in my brain since I studied them in high school English class, and sang Randall Thompson’s Frostiana in LDSS choir so many years ago. This Saturday I have the wildly great privilege of hearing my own musical settings of three Frost poems premiered by the Elora Singers for the closing concert of the Elora Festival 2021. Complete information about the concert and tickets is found… Read More »A Frost Sequence

Ink Sticks & Stones

Unusual Times.04: Ink Sticks & Stones

During our COVID19 isolation I’m trying to support emerging artists making music in this very difficult global pandemic. This series ‘Unusual Times’ features some of my own students, but also young musicians whom I have never met in person, but whose music should be heard by you. If you are able, please support them in your own way. Ink Sticks & Stones, aka Ai Rei Dooh-Tousignant, ‘cold-called’ me with her new composition released on Friday. I listened to it first thing, with my morning coffee, and the music left me refreshed and ready for my day. Since I teach music… Read More »Unusual Times.04: Ink Sticks & Stones

Winter Walk

The Year Without Music

When the German critic Oscar Schmitz called England ‘das Land ohne Musik’ that was not true. My blog headline is similarly inaccurate. Yes, 2020-21 has been a year without live music and it’s been devastating. But there has been innovation and creativity bubbling away under the surface. Conductors, patrons, performers, researchers, composers and technicians have been working on projects with confidence that live music will come back into our lives once this blasted pandemic has passed. Solitude does have its advantages. For some people, isolation is fuel for creative fire. I’m one of those for whom hacking out music alone… Read More »The Year Without Music

Tate Pumfrey

Unusual Times.03: Tate Pumfrey

We all know that young musicians have been struggling to have their voices heard this year. But undaunted Tate Pumfrey, a York University graduate student in composition, has been busily creating new music, and has found some excellent collaborators across the globe to perform and disseminate his work.  Tate composes for many genres, but extensively for the organ. What better instrument to perform, record and post on social media during a worldwide pandemic? There are no complicated COVID protocols to implement since one, solitary performer executes all the complex counterpoint and harmony all by themselves, in a large, well-ventilated church… Read More »Unusual Times.03: Tate Pumfrey

Miracle tree

The Miracle Tree: a harrowing tale for All Hallows’ Eve

It began so innocently. Just snap, edit, post. It was back in 2020 in the COVID times, the last weekend of Autumn when it seemed the whole city was out for one last walk on the Cemetery Path: women jogging, kids on scooters, men biking, dogs straining on their leads, panting and sniffing every last bit of decaying matter on the trail, oblivious to the graves deep beneath their greedy paws. The virus had made us humans wary of each other. But here on the trail, in the safety of the outdoor air, citizens gathered to exchange the news, express… Read More »The Miracle Tree: a harrowing tale for All Hallows’ Eve

Berries

Strawberry jam

Making strawberry jam is a ritual best performed in my mother’s kitchen: a sticky, steamy endeavour to preserve summer’s red treasure against winter’s white want. We have our moments of triumph. We embark on a quest to find fruit fresh from the field, and discover the perfect family-run berry farm in Huron County. They offer strawberries specifically suited to jam making; the berries that aren’t so pretty – irregularly shaped, ripened past their visual prime – imperfections which make them unsellable on grocery store shelves. But the taste of this smaller, uglier fruit is Ambrosia: its sultry flavour immortalizing the… Read More »Strawberry jam

Scribe

Stephanus and Maximus consider the plague

Stephanus and Maximus, anachronistic, time-travelling medieval monks, grapple with an outbreak of the plague. Stephanus: Maximus. Maximus! I can see you but I can’t hear you. Can you hear me? Maximus: Turn on your camera. You’ve got to UNMUTE your – oh there you are. Stephanus: Oh hello Maximus. How nice to see your face on Zum. It seems like ages since I’ve seen you. (crunching noise is heard).. Maximus: Stephanus, what, are you eating? Do you have to eat during our virtual meetings? Stephanus: (Crunching) Oh …um… these are pork rinds. It’s all that’s left in the larder for… Read More »Stephanus and Maximus consider the plague

Julia Jacklein

Unusual times.02: Julia Jacklein

Last night, May 9, 2020, would have been the Canadian premiere performance of a new choral piece by Julia Jacklein titled ‘Far from ourselves’ with the renowned chamber choir from Kitchener-Waterloo conducted by Leonard Enns. Da Capo Chamber Choir sponsors an annual choral composition competition, which they will continue to run, even in these extraordinary times. This year’s deadline for entries has been extended to May 29, 2020. I was looking forward to hearing Julia’s new piece since she has just completed her MA in composition at York University, and I have journeyed with her through her creative struggles and… Read More »Unusual times.02: Julia Jacklein