Monday, November 30, 2015

The winter's wait

by David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy I have become a text-driven sacred musician. I still love to perform and listen to great music, which has not changed since I used to sit on the chancel floor as a preschooler watching the organist play the postlude with her feet. I remember my choir-member father (who always had an after-church tee-time) picking me up by the armpits and saying, “Come on… we’ve got to go.” To this day one of my mentors will tell you that I entered graduate school... Read More
Posted by Dr. David Ouzts at Monday, November 30, 2015
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Monday, November 30, 2015

Veni, Veni: Music for Advent

by David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy Richard Proulx is a name that is quite familiar to Episcopal parish musicians. Choirs have sung his anthems for decades, and our hymnal  The Hymnal 1982  contains some 18 hymns and service music pieces written by him. Truth be told, the Episcopalians and Roman Catholics have claimed  Richard Proulx  as their own, and we have had to share his wealth throughout the years. At his last church post, Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago,... Read More
Posted by Dr. David Ouzts at Monday, November 30, 2015
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Raise the song of harvest home

by David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy I have told this story many times during my 14-plus years at Holy Communion, and I might as well document it here for posterity’s sake. Seeing it in print might happily relieve our choristers and parishioners from hearing me tell it again. I grew up in a small South Carolina town, and each year we attended an ecumenical community Thanksgiving worship service on Thanksgiving Eve. On Thanksgiving Day we would then travel one-hour’s drive to either... Read More
Posted by Dr. David Ouzts at Tuesday, November 24, 2015
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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Happy New Year! (Liturgically speaking.)

by David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy For all intents and purposes, this Sunday (Nov. 22) is “Liturgical New Year’s Eve” for the Christian year. The Feast of Christ the King is the last Sunday feast day of the Christian calendar for those faith traditions that follow the three-year cycle of lectionary readings. The Roman Catholic and many Protestant denominations – Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists – celebrate Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King is also a... Read More
Posted by Dr. David Ouzts at Tuesday, November 17, 2015
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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Canticles, canticles, canticles

by David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy Printed church directories (One of the first true examples of Facebook perhaps?) have been a not-so-blessed necessity in my experience. Of printed church directories, in the church business we often say, “It’s out of date the moment you print it,” which is actually a true statement. Some will say the same thing about our principal worship resources,  The Book of Common Prayer  and  The Hymnal 1982 .There are those on one side of the... Read More
Posted by Dr. David Ouzts at Tuesday, November 10, 2015
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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Requiem: Death is not the end of the story

by David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy For years I have said that all 20th-century organ composers worth their salt have to write their "token" aria patterned after significant organ piece "Aria" by Belgian organist/composer Flor Peeters (1903-1986). Indeed, many have, and we now have lovely organ arias by numerous contemporary composers. Likewise, choral composers worth their salt have to also write their "token" requiem choral mass, and thank God they have throughout... Read More
Posted by Dr. David Ouzts at Tuesday, November 3, 2015
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