OFF THE PRESS: Sing the Stories of God’s People: Thirty More Songs for the Youngest Singers is available now from Augsburg Fortress. The songs are based on stories from the Hebrew scriptures, almost all of which may be found in the Revised Common Lectionary. For each song there are creative suggestions for teaching the texts and tunes to children ages 4 to 7.  The book will be useful in church school and music programs for younger children.  The CD included with the book contains both vocal and accompaniment tracks and may be duplicated to send home with the children.  This volume is a companion to our earlier collection, Sing the Stories of Jesus: Twenty Five Songs for the Youngest Singers.

Summer Conferences
John will be working with the older elementary choir (grades 3-6) at the Music and Worship Arts Week sponsored by the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians at Lake Junaluska, NC, June 20-25, 2010.

Mary and John are two of the clinicians for the 2010 Conference of the United Church of Christ Musicians Association to be held on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI July 19-22, 2010.  Mary will be teaching a three-session course on hymn-writing and John will be doing an anthem-reading session on music for children’s and youth choirs.  Together they will be speaking at a plenary on ways church musicians, educators, and clergy can work together to involve children and youth in worship, and introducing Sing the Stories of God’s People and Sing the Stories of Jesus in a session on teaching music to young children.  They are also offering a read-through of their cantata, If they Could Speak, as an “extra” during free time the first day.  For information, go to www.uccma.org

Articles. 
John’s article, “One Voice Among Many,” appears kin the Spring 2010 issue of Worship, Music, & Ministry, the journal of the United Church of Christ Musicians Association.  In it John tells how he has taught vocal technique to preschoolers, a group of adults in his church, and an adult class in a community arts center.  Mary and John also collaborated on an article for the Fall 2009 issue this magazine.  The article, “Commissioning A Hymn: A Retreat Model,” described the process they used in writing a hymn for the 115th anniversary of Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, MD.  The text and the tune for “Sing of A People” were included with the article.  (You can download the hymn on our free hymn page.)

Hymn Studies.
Mary and John co-authored a series of hymn studies for The Chorister, a bi-monthly publication of Choristers Guild.  Each study included background material and teaching suggestions for the leader and a page for the chorister with the text, melody line, and some activity to do.  At the request of the editor, they used their own hymns for the second and third studies. The October/November 2009 issue featured an Epiphany hymn, “Spirit-Child Jesus,” and the December 2009/January 2010 issue included “We Sang Our Glad Hosannas,” a hymn for Palm/Passion Sunday and Holy Week. The hymn study for the February/March 2010 issue was “That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright.”  The last study, “Like the Murmur of A Dove’s Song,” appeared in the April/May 2010 issue.

Lenten Recitals.
During Lent John played a series of half-hour Wednesday noon organ recitals at his church, Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, MD.  Like his Advent series, the organ and instrumental pieces for each recital were variations on a different hymn for the season. The pastor provided related scripture readings, and the congregation sang the hymn during the service.  John also helped plan and carry out a service for the Stephen Ministries group at his church.  The theme was “A Time to Listen…A Time to Serve,” and the service included organ and and instrumental music, hymns, scripture readings, and prayers.