I have created a new web page called  Recent Publications so you can read about pieces that have been newly released.  If you click on the "Available from..." publisher link, you can listen to and view the music.
There are several more pieces in the works, so I will keep adding to the page as they are released.
I would love to know about any performances, either live or recorded.

This is an interesting article that says playing music benefits your brain more than any other activity.  Click the link and see what you think.  I'm a poet and didn't...

I am so pleased to learn that the Women's Choir at Xavier College will be recording The Horse, my little piece for SSA and Piano.  The recording will be used in marketing by the publisher, Santa Barbara Music.  No release date info yet.

On Saturday I attended the Handbell Festival at Church of St. Timothy in Blaine, MN.  What an inspiration to experience (hear, see, and feel) the ringing of 80 or so handbell and handchime players being put through their paces by handbell expert, Monica McGowan.  Although the groups were  from different churches, they became "as one."  I was again reminded of the many skills used in ringing in a handbell choir.  it is indeed the "ultimate team sport."  I was also reminded of how handbell players always have so much fun while making beautiful music together.

It was a great day for a Sing-Along last Friday at Walker at Hazel Ridge.  Everyone was in fine voice as we drove the cold away by singing about sunshine and Alabama (something about Susanna).  Someone even had the answer to my riddle, "What do you get when you cross a sweet potato with a jazz musician?  A yam session."  We're still pondering this one:  "If tin whistles are made of tin, what are foghorns made of?"  I was given a couple of requests for songs to sing when I come again in February. In the meantime, keep smiling!

It is hard enough for me to stay in the moment, to be present in the present.  Now I notice that the weather reports on radio and TV are making it harder to stay in the moment.  They seem to hurry past today's weather and tell us about  what to expect tomorrow and next week.


It may be perfectly comfortable today, but when the emphasis is on how cold it will be tomorrow, I start to feel cold already. We hear so much about impending storms or hot spells or cold spells, many of which never happen, that we "experience" them because of all the hype.


If I could just accept and experience the sunshine today, I would not be as bothered about  the clouds that (may) come tomorrow.


I could also stop listening to weather forecasts.  But I can't seem to break the habit.  It is kind of exciting to know that a storm is brewing...Take precautions...load up on staples.  There is probably a place for that, but I could do well to strive to stay in the moment, to be present in the present,  to be ... here... now.  (By the way, it's sunny outside, and cold).

The holidays have been bustling and busy with get-togethers with relatives and friends.  I was pleased to play and lead beautiful Christmas music at Echo Ridge and Walker at Hazel Ridge during December. 

I completed the broad sketch of "Christmas Caroling Party," a collection of 21 carols arranged for 3-part voices.  I am looking forward to Christmas 2015 to have a couple of production and distribution glitches worked out (that nasty Grinch). Thanks for the support, Paul and Dan.

Two more pieces will be released next year, "Chief of Sinners" (SATB, Augsburg Fortress) and "Puer Nobis" (Handbells, Beckenhorst).  And I continue to upload music to a digital self-publishing site.  Here are two new arrangements for string quartet:

• Personent Hodie
  
• Gavotte
  

And I am working with Ruth on some website changes and forays into social media, like Twitter.

After that nice warm December, I guess we'd better accept the frigid January that is predicted.  Stay warm, and I'll try to do the same.