The Sing-Off

This week, NBC is airing a little contest called The Sing-Off. The premise of the show is a competition between several acapella singing groups from across the country. If you like choirs and good harmony, you'll (probably) love this show. Each group sings two songs and is judged after each song. At the end of the night, the judges eliminate one team.

Each team brings with it, various styles and influences that make their performances unique. What's extra neat (for me anyways) is that one of the groups is actually Voices of Lee, a student-led group from Lee University.

It's on tonight at 8:00 EST with the finals being on Monday the 21st.

I went to a Christmas program and an episode of Glee broke out.

That may be the longest title I've ever used for a blog post.

Anywho, our church had a Christmas program over the weekend titled "The Cradle That Rocked the World." Searching that phrase on youtube will only give you a hint at what actually went on Friday night. It was like a normal Christmas program, but with dancing and pom-poms.

It was very different. There were different styles of music represented with a simple storyline propelling the audience through the program. As has become the norm, there were live musicians playing the music. If I find a clip of the program, I will definitely post it here.

I left the building that night with the hope that creativity in worship is still alive. If there's ever a writing position that opens up on the production team, I'd like to see if I can try my hand at something like that. We shall see...

For you Sara Groves fans

Her newest album, Fireflies and Songs, is available for $5.00 as an MP3 download on Amazon.com.

Streaming Crowder

New DCB album streaming here. I suspect it's temporary, so listen soon.....

Christy Nockels New Album - Cheap!!

Hey everybody! If you dig Christy Nockels, her new album is currently available as a download from Amazon.com for only $2.99!! I'm not sure how long it'll last, so move fast if you're interested......

Hillsong United - 01 June 09

Last night, I drove down to Columbia, MD to see Hillsong United. From what I know of them, they don't do a lot of touring so I wanted to try and see them when they were in the "two-hour drive" area.

Good stuff. I drove down without a ticket and ended up getting into the show with a free ticket. God is good! And obviously, there was some great music. It was thoroughly refreshing to be worshiping the Creator of the universe with thousands of other people.


And not only was their some great music, but there was a great word. The youth pastor shared how we as Christians are to be "agents of change" here on earth. How we should be constantly striving to bring heaven to earth, not just in our actions, but in our mindset as well. He talked about the peace that we should have amidst all that's going on this world. We need to be medicine to the world around us. To let people know that there is a better way. We don't need to worry. The only fear that we should be in our hearts is the fear of the Lord. A good word indeed.

If you get a chance, check out their new record "A_cross/the Earth." It's good.

Hillsong United

Anybody local interested in going to this show? They're playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD.

Two opera posts in less than six months!

As you may recall, my first trip to the opera occurred this past fall when I went to go see "La Boheme" (recap here). While flipping through tv stations tonight, what should I come upon, but the very same "La Boheme" being performed at the Met! But it gets better!

They are actually close-captioning the opera with English sub-titles! So now I actually know what people are saying!! Turns out that this opera had more comedy in it then I was led to believe. You miss so much when you don't speak Italian...

So watching this on the telly made me realize that the Center Stage Opera has another production coming up. So I'd like to take the opportunity to plug "Don Giovanni" which will be performed next month. Details here. Hopefully, I'll be at one of the Camp Hill performances.

C-SPAN usually gets a bad knock.

So most people don't watch C-SPAN. I do. And tonight, I'm watching something really fun. They're showing tape of the White House Children's Holiday Reception from this past Monday. There was a band that played at the reception called the Sweet Heaven Kings.

These guys were awesome. If you can imagine Christmas music with a New Orleans jazz swing, you're pretty close to what they played. I wasn't able to find out much about them on the internet (they do not appear to have a website of their own). However, they're playing at the Kennedy Center this week and you can read some info on them as well as view their performances from years past here. Definitely worth a peek to the musically-minded among you.

Ding Dong Merrily on High

The bells are sweetly ringing! 'Tis the season for multiple opportunities to attend Christmas hanbell concerts.....

The Grantham Ringers will be ringing at Grantham Church on the 21st. They will be joined by several other choirs and ensembles. More information here.

One of the Camp Hill United Methodist bell choirs (I think maybe the Chancel Bells?) is playing at the governor's mansion this Sunday, the 14th at 1:00pm. They'll also be playing on Christmas Eve. More info on the Christmas Eve service here.

And finally, I got this email tonight from the Hershey Handbell Ensemble. They normally have several holiday concerts, but this appears to be the only one this season.

The Hershey Handbell Ensemble, a thirteen-member auditioned community group, will present a free concert on Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 12:00 PM at Strawberry Square Shopping Complex, 11 North Third Street, Harrisburg.

The concert will include arrangements of holiday music and transcriptions of classical works for handbells. The program will feature music of Bach, arr. Gramann; with carol arrangements by Cynthia Dobrinski, Cathy Moklebust, Terry Price, and Valerie Stephenson. Also included will be several selections for handbell duet and piano rung by Ruth Dunnewold and Susan Stiller. Visit the program page of the website for complete details.

The ensemble, under the direction of Shawn Gingrich, was formed in 2004 and is committed to advancing the art of handbell ringing through performance, education, and community, while uniting people through this musical art.

Ensemble members are: Maggie Beatty, Holly Brubaker, Ruth Dunnewold, Cindy Fair, Laine Heltebridle, Laura Henry, Dawn Herring, Liz Kielley, John Kilheffer, Natalie Sandel, Susan Stiller, Gay Wells, and Janice Wilson.

For more information visit www.hersheyhandbellensemble.org or call Shawn Gingrich 717-583-1922.

Fiction Family

Fiction Family is coming to Grantham! January 25, 2009

The one where I go to the opera

Tonight I went to the opera. There is a local opera company called Center Stage Opera. They put on a performance of La Boheme.

Having never been to an opera before, I only knew that all the dialogue was sung. What I didn't know that it would all be sung in Italian. That was new and different. However, they summarized each act in English before the act began, so you at least had some idea what was going on. I was also suprised to see the vocalists being accompanied by a 17-piece orchestra. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was definitely not that.

I thought the performance was great. True, I really didn't understand a word they said, but the vocalists definitely knew how to sing and they did a great job acting. And I thought the orchestra did a top-notch job on musical end of things.

So I think I'd consider going again. I'd be much more interested if they sung in English. Do they have English Opera? Or is that called a musical? Anywho, there weren't a lot of people in attendance, which is unfortunate, but hopefully the word will get out. Keep an eye on their schedule for next year and see if there's anything that you'd be interested in.

Give me Your eyes

My small group has started a series on poverty and what it encompasses and how the Church should respond. So I've been thinking about poverty a bit.

I was a show on Saturday night at the alma mater featuring a variety of artists, one of whom being a young guy named Brandon Heath. I was able to hang out with Mr. Heath for a bit and he's a really good guy. He's got this song that's been getting a lot of airplay called "Give Me Your Eyes" and I've taken quite a liking to it. I found myself singing the chorus frequently over the past few days. So I thought I would share it with you.

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breathe in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
Wasn't it far beyond my reach?
Give me Your heart for the one's forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Yeah Yeah
Yeah Yeah

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide whats underneath
Theres a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?

I've been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all alone
-Brandon Heath

Percussive Awesomeness

Check out this video from Musical Furnishings. Then consider buying one for me.