Middle school chorus

Briggs was able to take chorus this year. It sort of went along with him singing with the band at church at our early service. The holiday concert took place at our church, but there was a fall concert before that at the school. The picture above, I think, is some of the boys (Luke, Zack, Jason, Neehar and Ayden) that night. That one may be from 2015-2016. After the start of the new semester the director (Katie Stephens) asked Briggs to participate in all-county chorus, which he did. He took ill the first of the two day-long practice sessions (First Baptist, Asheville), but was able to attend the second, and be part of the closing concert. Definitely 2017. The picture below is from that event. Pretty cool.

Maryville Pics

Pictures from our concert event last Friday.

Smokey Mountain Brass Band

Eli and I went to hear the Smokey Mountain Brass Band this afternoon. I heard them on public radio on Thursday and thought Eli might enjoy it. He did. They are in the British brass band tradition: cornets and euphoniums, (two tubas) plus percussion. They gave a nice concert with proceeds from a free will offering going to polio eradication sponsored by Rotary International. I never played with a group that large, but it did take me back to Mt. Sylvan UMC days and our little brass ensemble and George, Charles, Rick and my dad and me.

In another life

If I weren't a musician I might be a chef. Or I might be a furniture restorer. Or maybe a painter (as in houses). When I was a kid I went through all the usual phases: I wanted to be an architect and a veterinarian. Then I wanted to be a preacher. My degree is in psychology, so something all that line was always a possibility. I wound up a musician.

Rod Dreher comments today about his passion. He's a journalist but imagines life as a chef.

Plenty of amateur musicians comment to me that they wonder about changing careers and doing music professionally. I ponder leaving music (regularly). When Libby and I got married, folks used to wonder wistfully what it must be like at our house with two accomplished musicians living together. My pat answer was that it was very, very quiet. After a day of music, usually the last thing we wanted around the house was more music! Now with three boys we regularly get, "are they musicians?" To which I reply, "God, I hope not!" In reality Eli is making his own way as an inquisitive percussionist; Briggs is a break-dancer; Calvin can sometimes clap to a beat.

The thing is I suspect that once we are doing our dream job, it is no longer a dream. All the headaches that go with the job come to roost when we have to earn a living at it. I don't know if it's a case of trying to catch clouds, or out of the frying pan into the fire, or the grass is always greener, but it's some melange of all that.

I've got a friend/colleague who is an excellent trumpet player. She took her time finding her niche, but seems to have settled on chef-ing. (Her culinary school team placed third in a recent national competition.) I suspect she's wondered off and on about which career path to follow. She obviously does both things well. For my part I've told her to go with the cooking thing and let trumpeting take second place. I told her I would drop her name whenever I could to music colleagues looking for trumpeters in her new location (Raleigh, NC).

I usually tell folks wondering about the magical life of music-makers to stick to their day job and let music be a nice hobby, so that it can continue to bring the same joy for many years. I'll most likely do the same: slogging away at making music and helping others find bliss in it, and wondering what life would be like as a pirate captain.

Missionary Musician

I recently finished reading an autobiography by Dr. Kenneth M. Scott, M.D. Around the World in Eighty Years tells the story of this amazing doctor/musician. Dr. Scott is affiliated with the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, where his son, Ken Jr. sings in the choir and daughter Betsy (with her family) attends. Dr. Scott Sr. is an organist in addition to being an MD. He played organ to help pay his way through school, en route to being a medical missionary in Korea and India, before settling in Swannanoa, NC. Dr. Scott gave Libby and me this book as a welcoming gift. What a delight it is. It is in the missionary genre, telling stories of work in the mission field as an encouragement to other missionaries and all Christians. Being a travel buff as I am I was enchanted with the stories of people and places around the world. The added connection with Dr. Scott being an organist was a happy bonus; there are couple of tales that are universally familiar to organists and pianists on the run! Dr. Scott worked during the incredibly exciting era of Christian expansion in the early to mid 20th century. Call it Christian imperialism if you must, but Dr. Scott reveals a mindset that is humble, devoutly earnest and brave. Published by Providence House (ISBN 157736077X) the book will be hard to find on the shelf at your usual bookstore. Best to order through a Christian bookseller. Dr. Scott recently wrote a new tune for the text "Take my life and let is be" by Frances Havergal. The choir at church was pleased to sing the first stanza recently at worship; we hope to teach the tune to the congregation in the coming weeks.