Music and Choir (Composers and Lyricists)

The choir has begun it’s year and we are off and running.  What an exciting year this promises to be.  Each week we offer music to the glory of God.  We hope your worship is made better for our offerings. Are you interested is joining one of our groups? Choir meets most Thursday evenings September through mid June, 7:00 – 8:30  Instruments meet as needed and as group schedule accommodates. Please call the church office to let us know of your interest.

 

Music, It’s Composers and Lyricists:

In this area will be giving you an opportunity to meet some of the men and women responsible for the music we sing.  These are people with incredible stories.  Their walk with God is interesting and inspiring.  I hope you enjoy them and will come back often to see who is new for you to meet. 

David Ashley White’s secular and sacred compositions are widely performed and published.  He has received numerous commissions throughout his career, including most recently from the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston/Houston, and the Royal School of Church Music in America.  Since 1980, ASCAP has recognized him with an annual award for his activities in composition.

Scott Cantrell, writing in the Dallas Morning News, described White as having a “natural feel for vocal line, but also a keen ear for glowing harmonies.”  Lindsay Koob, in The American Record Guide, wrote, “His music reveals a distinctly Anglican ring and spirit…yet its Yankee heritage shines through as well.”  

In 1998 White was composer-in-residence at the Evergreen Church Music Conference in Colorado.  He was the 1993 winner of the composition contest sponsored by St. Paul United Church of Christ in Chicago for his festival anthem Cantate Domino, published by Paraclete Press.  Other first prizes have come from the Virginia Bandmasters Association, the Texas Federation of Music Clubs, and the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

In addition to the extensive publication of White’s choral and instrumental music, his hymns are readily available through a number of sources including hymnals of the Episcopal Church, Methodist Church, Church of England, United Church of Christ in Japan and the Chinese Christian Literature Council.

With a Bachelor of Music in oboe performance and a Master of Music in composition, both from the University of Houston, White, a seventh-generation Texan, earned the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.  He is currently director of the University of Houston Moores School of Music and holds the Margaret M. Alkek and Margaret Alkek Williams Endowed Chair.

 

Allan Robert Petker

Allan Petker is a composer I have been getting to know over the past several years ago as I have attended the Zephyr Point Choir Directors Conference (recently renamed Tuning at Tahoe).  Allan was raised in Bakersfield.  His mother is the retired Organist at First Presbyterian Church here in Bakersfield and his father has been involved with the travel business in town.

The following is part of his official biography:

Allan has conducted choirs of all age levels in festivals, honor choirs, workshops, and tours throughout the U.S.  and abroad. In 2008 he completed his 15th season with Consort Chorale, an ensemble of 40 select voices from the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1995 he was the American guest conductor/composer for the Cathedral Choir Tour in England. He was invited back to England in 2003 as the featured guest for the National Association of Choirs (UK) annual conference. From 1999 to 2006, he conducted the College and Community Choir at Marymount College (Rancho Palos Verdes). He is currently the Minister of Music at the First Presbyterian Church, San Pedro. In 2004 he became the Artistic Director for the Santa Clarita Master Chorale, a 60-voice auditioned choir.

Allan is a published composer and arranger with over 250 published works with numerous publishing houses.  As a composer for hire he has written original scores for live performance and has penned a number of original TV commercials which have appeared on the CNBC network.

He has been involved in the choral music publishing industry for many years. In 1977 he became the Director of Publications for Fred Bock Music Company.  In 1989 he established his own choral music publishing company, Pavane Publishing.
As an instrumentalist (viola), Allan has done free-lance studio work and occasional concert playing. His specialized understanding of both instrumental and choral music enables him to be a sensitive and communicative conductor. Allan holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from California State University at Northridge in music, specializing in viola (BA), voice and choral conducting (MA).

 

Joseph Martin

In the next couple of weeks our choir will be singing “A Servant’s Song” by Joseph Martin.  Here is some information about him:
Joseph Martin, a native of North Carolina, has earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance.  Joseph taught for five years in the Piano Pedagogy Department of the University of Texas. While studying at Furman University, he was accompanist for choral director and composer Milburn Price and, inspired by his teaching, Martin began to compose.

He is a member of the staff of Shawnee Press, Inc. as Director of Sacred Publications, with responsibilities for overseeing the editorial and creative direction of the company and also coordinating the recording and production aspects of future sacred publishing efforts.

Joseph has performed solo piano recitals and has been the featured artist with symphony orchestras in the United States and Mexico.  Though he continues to perform in concert, he now devotes his efforts to playing in churches and for conferences of church musicians
 
His first solo piano recording, American Tapestry, was nominated for a Dove Award. This album, along with his other recordings (Songs of the Journey, Celtic Tapestry, and A Christmas Tapestry) has been enormously popular in the sacred and secular markets. He has composed hundreds of commissioned works and has over a thousand compositions currently in print.  The list continues to grow.

Along with Mark Hayes and David Angerman, Joseph has co-authored a fully graded, progressive piano method for the Christian student called Keys for the Kingdom.  His major works include 25 choral cantatas and Song of Wisdom, a choral tone poem based on the best-selling children's book, Old Turtle.

His music can be heard in such diverse locations as Carnegie Hall in New York City; the Lawrence Welk Theatre in Branson, Missouri; and in hundreds of worship services in churches across the United States and Canada.  He continues to surprise audiences with the variety and scope of his compositions and arrangements.
 
Joseph lives in Austin, Texas with his children Jonathan and Aubrey and his wife Sue.

Previous Composer for September

Fannie Crosby

Fannie Crosby has a legacy that lives on. This tiny lady was born in 1820 and died at the age of ninety-five.  Through the blunder of a physician, she lost her sight when she was just a few days old.  She entered the School for the Blind in New York City at the age of fifteen, and ten years later, became an instructor at the institution.  In 1858 she was married to Alexander Van Alstyne, an associate teacher with her in the School for the Blind.  She was the author of more than 8,000 poems and hymn texts. Most of the Christian world is familiar with hymns set to her texts.  Among the most popular are Blessed Assurance, I Am Thine, O Lord and To God Be the Glory.  Because she was so prolific, it is not surprising that some of her texts have only recently been published, and many of these have never been set to music. In September, our choir will be singing one of these later texts.  The tune occurred almost instantaneously to the composer, John Ness Beck, as he read the poem.  The tune and choral voicing are directed toward keeping our focus on the power of the text.