And For Your Listening Enjoyment...

If you go to the Beckenhorst Press new issues site (http://beckenhorstpress.com/new.asp) you can listen to my three just-released pieces: The First Noel; O Come, All Ye Faithful; and Winter's Waltz. You can also check out the rest of the new Beckenhorst lineup of both handbell and choral pieces. As always, the Raleigh Ringers did a fabulous job for the promotional recordings, and I can't thank Dave Harris and the rest of the Ringers enough for their hard work and exceptional talents.

Also saw last night where Il Est Né will be one of the featured pieces at the Florida Holiday Ring, which, since the state is so huge, has two parts: a Holiday Ring North in Pensacola, and a Holiday Ring South in Cape Coral. Looks like November 7, 2009 will be a big day -- it's also the day With Heart and Soul and Voice will be one of the pieces played at the Capital Area Handbell Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, an event sponsored by the Raleigh Ringers.

It always strikes me as odd how news in the handbell world seems to come in fits and starts. Back in September and October, I had a two- to three-week-period where I had about 6 pieces accepted for publication. Then, for the next several weeks, nothing (or almost nothing). It feels like things are starting to gear up again, so I hope and pray that means more good news on the horizon. As always, as soon as I know any news -- good or bad -- I'll be sure to post it here. Have a wonderful rest of your week, and a great start to May!

An Even Dozen

Just heard back today from Alan Lohr at Soundforth, and he wants to publish my piece Portraits of the Cross which is a medley of four "cross" tunes: Jesus, Keep me Near the Cross; In the Cross of Christ I Glory; Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone; and The Old Rugged Cross. It marks my 12th piece accepted for publication, and my first with Soundforth. I should have some more exciting news (well, exciting to me, at any rate) before the weekend is out, so be sure to check back soon.

Something Old, Something New

Well, the three pieces are old to me since I wrote them months ago, but they're brand new and available on the Beckenhorst site. They probably won't show up on some of the retailer sites -- Jeffers, J.W. Pepper, Stantons, etc. -- for a while, but if you want to see the new pieces, you can go to the Beckenhorst Press New Issues page and check them out. No recordings or PDFs as of yet, but that should come in the next week or two.

Oh, the new pieces are The First Noel, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Winter's Waltz. Enjoy!

Double Take

Checked at Jeffers today, and not only is O Sacred Head, Now Wounded up on the Hot 40 list, but Celebration has joined it! That makes it the first time I've ever had two pieces on there at the same time, and now three different pieces (out of five in print) I've had on the list. Considering my handbell composing career didn't really start until two years ago, I'm pretty pleased with that accomplishment!

Also heard today that I should be finding out some news about some other submissions later this week from Bill Griffin at Beckenhorst, so hopefully I'll have some news to share before the weekend hits.

Hot 40

I checked earlier today and discovered that O Sacred Head, Now Wounded is on the Jeffer's Handbell Hot 40 list for the third week running. It's always humbling that, of all the pieces people could be buying, they're buying one of mine.

Also, sent off The Holly and the Ivy to Doug Wagner at Lorenz and subsequently received my fastest ever rejection -- under 90 minutes. Still, that let me turn around and send it to John Behnke at AGEHR ... who acknowledged the submission later Saturday evening. I mean, yes, it's good to hear back from people ... but why are these handbell editors working and sending rejections and acknowledgements on the day before Easter??? Oh well ...

For now, I'm just thrilled that I and my choir and handbell choir survived Easter service. I really don't know what the next project will be, but I'm sure something will present itself here shortly.

Proof positive

Well, I've finished with both proofs -- Kum Ba Yah and O Come All Ye Faithful -- and have them sent back off to the respective publishers. Even though it's exciting, what with this being the penultimate step in the publishing process and all, it's still a tedious, oftentimes mind-numbing activity, going through note by note, articulation by articulation, measure after measure, page after page. It's made worse by the knowledge that if I should miss something in the step of the process, it's all on me, and will go out in the world as one of those things we musicians look at and thing, "Good merciful heavens, how can they not get this right?" (If you've ever played in a musical theatre production, you know exactly what I mean -- the number of musicals I've played in where all the instrumental parts have been totally correct could still be counted on my fingers and toes if I had them all amputated after a bout of frostbite.) I've already had one of those experiences -- the tempo on We Three Kings -- and it was enough to teach me my lesson.

What with our Spring Break ending tomorrow and it being Palm Sunday, I think I'm on a brief hiatus from handbell composing for a few days, but rest assured, I'll be back at it before long. Until then, have a blessed Holy Week and, should I not write until then, a Happy Easter.

O Come All Ye Faithful

Received the proofs for O Come, All Ye Faithful from the Beckenhorst main office in Colombus, OH yesterday. They look good -- only a few corrections, nothing major. It also looks like the percussion part will be available for purchase separately. I hope to finish up looking at both this one and Kum Ba Yah for Lorenz tomorrow, then send them out electronically before the weekend's out. It looks like The Holly and the Ivy will have to wait until next week or so to be finished -- I think in the past week, I've practiced about ten hours on the organ, meaning there just wasn't the time I needed to get the piece finished. I am, however, set to play for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services, something I wasn't sure would happen when I became Interim Music Director back in January.

While the composing hasn't gone quite as planned, I have, however, got five or six texts I'm considering trying to set for chorus, something I've been wanted to do more of for a long time. I figure things are going well with handbell composing, so it can't hurt to branch out and try other ensembles. I likely won't get to much until summer, but I figure if I have things lined up, it'll be easier to get into it for InMuWriJu (I'll explain what this is as we get closer to June).

Also saw my bio up on the Lorenz site, which seems a little weird since they haven't yet, strictly speaking, published any of my pieces, but whatever. I won't complain.

Have a great weekend!