18.8.03
Wow. It has been awhile. Teaching at camp for a week, surgery to repair a hernia, maintaining my sanity during recovery (both from the surgery and from my addiction). Time has slipped away. I haven't completed as much as I was hoping I would this summer. It was really hard to get myself going. I've always had a problem with self-discipline when it comes to sitting down and working. I wonder if I may have a touch of ADD. It would make sense, because it was a problem even before the troubles of my last couple years of undergrad. I've done some reading on the Old Testament; just some books on beginning study of the OT. Really intriguing, yet daunting. I am still unsure if I should be doing this, given my deep-seated love of music. But when I read, I am drawn in and don't want to stop...until my suspected ADD kicks in and I get antsy.
I've done some reading for the piece I want to compose for my music ministry project. The book is "The Day That Christ Died" by Jim Bishop. It deals with the last 24 hours in the life of Christ. Most of it is storytelling on the part of Bishop, but the dialogue is from the Gospels. It is a very intriguing read because the storytelling fits amazingly well with the texts of the Gospels. Bishop puts the reader in the Last Supper, in the house of Ciaphas, in the room of Pilate and shows the reader the various themes and dealings of those short hours. The object of my composition is the day of the Crucifixion, starting around the sunrise. I am trying to set to music the setting and the feelings of the general public. The sections I have in mind are even titled: Silence at Sunrise, The Tension of the Morning, The Calls to the Event, The Via Dolorosa, The Ascent of Golgotha...and that is before the text begins. The text I have chosen is the Samuel Wesley hymn "Behold the Saviour of Mankind" The text struck me when I read it for the first time in undergrad, and I keep coming back to it. Each stanza builds the pain, the torment, the anguish of Christ and His followers must have felt. THe last stanza holds the hope and the promise of Christ's triumph over death. I'll post the text my next time in.
It is an ambitious project. Very ambitious. But one I feel compelled to do. I feel my faith depends on this piece. I am frightened because I want to write it, I want to write for God, for Jesus, for everyone. But, I never did well in composition classes at ISU. I basically could not produce the quantity they wanted. It is tough for me to just write stuff down. I have a perfectionist streak when it comes to writing. If I don't like it, how could anyone else like it? I am trying to just write something so I could get material down. I'd like to see if I could get even a small hint of instruction from NU, but I don't see that happening. Hell, even if I could sit down and have discussions with some of the comp students at NU, I'd be happy. My big hangup is I don't know if I can write because I don't have a whole lot of training with actual teachers. I mainly have just read books. I need to have a mentor, someone who can guide me.
I've done some reading for the piece I want to compose for my music ministry project. The book is "The Day That Christ Died" by Jim Bishop. It deals with the last 24 hours in the life of Christ. Most of it is storytelling on the part of Bishop, but the dialogue is from the Gospels. It is a very intriguing read because the storytelling fits amazingly well with the texts of the Gospels. Bishop puts the reader in the Last Supper, in the house of Ciaphas, in the room of Pilate and shows the reader the various themes and dealings of those short hours. The object of my composition is the day of the Crucifixion, starting around the sunrise. I am trying to set to music the setting and the feelings of the general public. The sections I have in mind are even titled: Silence at Sunrise, The Tension of the Morning, The Calls to the Event, The Via Dolorosa, The Ascent of Golgotha...and that is before the text begins. The text I have chosen is the Samuel Wesley hymn "Behold the Saviour of Mankind" The text struck me when I read it for the first time in undergrad, and I keep coming back to it. Each stanza builds the pain, the torment, the anguish of Christ and His followers must have felt. THe last stanza holds the hope and the promise of Christ's triumph over death. I'll post the text my next time in.
It is an ambitious project. Very ambitious. But one I feel compelled to do. I feel my faith depends on this piece. I am frightened because I want to write it, I want to write for God, for Jesus, for everyone. But, I never did well in composition classes at ISU. I basically could not produce the quantity they wanted. It is tough for me to just write stuff down. I have a perfectionist streak when it comes to writing. If I don't like it, how could anyone else like it? I am trying to just write something so I could get material down. I'd like to see if I could get even a small hint of instruction from NU, but I don't see that happening. Hell, even if I could sit down and have discussions with some of the comp students at NU, I'd be happy. My big hangup is I don't know if I can write because I don't have a whole lot of training with actual teachers. I mainly have just read books. I need to have a mentor, someone who can guide me.
