I like the Narnia movie soundtracks and have all of them on CD.  I also like the soundtracks of the Star Trek movies and TV shows and movies such as Oliver and The Sound of Music. Listening to soundtrack music separately from the movie or television show it was written for is a different experience since there is no dialogue to distract you and you hear the music as it was actually composed. And of course the music as it was written deserves your full attention. 🙂

Our church is considering starting a choir. I was in a couple (one for school and another a community). Our school choir was mostly girls, so I sang the second soprano part. In the community, I sang alto.

I'm either an Alto 1 or Soprano 2, otherwise known as "mezzo-soprano".

Our old church did a condensed version of Handel's Messiah for a Christmas program. I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with it, may have seen it or at least have listened to it. Even though it's often associated with Christmas, it was actually first performed around Easter. George Friedrich Handel wrote The Messiah for Easter. But it's often performed around Christmas time. The best known piece is "The Hallelujah Chorus." You're very likely to hear it on the radio or at restaurants or even at shopping malls during the Holiday season.

For our church, we might have some women sing the tenor part. There isn't always enough men to do it. Nothing has been decided, but our church is considering it.

@jasmine_tarkheena 

My church had a choir many years ago when people were willing to give their time to volunteer for it.  It’s rather sad that people have lost interest in such things as church attendance is also declining. People have lost their interest in giving time to the church, and the musical instruments are unused much of the time. The church organ and keyboard are seldom used and the piano is usually the only instrument used during the services.  This may be because the instruments are expensive to maintain and for the most part people who had the talent for music have passed away or have lost interest in playing them. Today the working schedules require weekend hours, which explains the decline in church attendance, and today many do not feel obligated to go to church for every service. Sadly, it is different than it was years ago, when most people who were members of a church were more motivated to participate in church activities.  🙁

@narnian78, I, too, find it very sad that many churches do not have choirs anymore. There is such glorious choral music written through the ages, including some modern pieces, such as the very beautiful and moving "Is He Worthy?", based on Revelation 5, as well as pretty much anything by the wonderful John Rutter. A friend and I were seriously thinking of starting a choir in our church a few years ago, but, sadly, that church went 'under', which was a massive disappointment.

I really hope your church can move forward with a committed choir, @jasmine_tarkheena. Please keep us posted on this.  

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

Our old church did a condensed version of Handel's Messiah for a Christmas program.

One of my (many) favourites! I grew up attending Handel's Messiah every year in a concert hall with my family; this glorious oratorio is part of the very fabric of my being. Then, in post-secondary school, I toured with a choral group, in which we sang highlights from the Messiah at various venues around southern Ontario. I could hardly sing at times because of the utter joy of it all. A taste of heaven, methinks!

My singing voice is quite low, so I focus on the lower alto, or even tenor. I took voice lessons when I was younger, but then focused on the piano, eventually majoring in music/piano at university, but I have always loved singing and harmonizing.

I cannot imagine life without the immense blessing of music.

@jo 

John Rutter and The Cambridge Singers have produced many wonderful recordings of choral music. I have much of it in my CD collection. King’s College Choir and Trinity College Choir are also well worth listening to and fortunately there are many CD recordings available of their performances for those who live in the U.S. I especially like to listen to choral music during the Christmas season.  🙂

Posted by: @narnian78

@jo 

John Rutter and The Cambridge Singers have produced many wonderful recordings of choral music. I have much of it in my CD collection.

Me too! One of the most memorable pieces I ever sang in a choir (the Box Hill Chorale in Melbourne, back when I lived there) was John Rutter's Requiem. I have that on CD (not our performance, a professional one by the choir of Clare College!!), along with many other recordings of Rutter's music or of him conducting choral pieces by other composers. My favourite Christmas album ever is a CD I bought just last year, The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album, with Rutter conducting them in a great range of Christmas carols and hymns from Britain and western Europe. Their version of Personent Hodie just gives me chills down my spine!

I even once got to meet John Rutter in person at one of his "Come and Sing" days, which he does from time to time in both the UK and North America, and sometimes other countries as well, going by his website! That was ace fun, as he's quite hilariously funny when conducting an informal group rather than a serious performance — cracking jokes in between the singing, jumping around and waving his arms everywhere while conducting, and yelling "YES!!!" whenever we'd given a good performance!  Seriously, if any of you love singing in a choir, have a look online and see if he's holding any events near you — he obviously travels about a lot!

(Oh my word, I have just seen he's going to conduct a concert of his Magnificat, Te Deum and Requiem later this month at Bath Abbey — one of my favourite churches in one of my favourite cities in England — on a day that I just MIGHT be able to get off work... )

@courtenay 

It must have been great to meet Mr. Rutter in person.  I have many of his CD’s, and I love every one of them. Choral music is one of my favorite kinds of classical music, and I wish more people would appreciate it.  I also like Ralph Vaughan Williams music and especially The Lark Ascending, which I think may be the most beautiful music ever written for a violin.  That’s just my opinion and my taste even though I am no expert on the subject. 🙂

Posted by: @narnian78

@courtenay 

It must have been great to meet Mr. Rutter in person.  

It was! Of course I didn't get much chance to "meet" him directly, as there were lots of people there at the event — I just shook his hand and got him to autograph a couple of his musical scores that I'd bought. I would have loved to sit down for a cup of tea and a proper chat with him, but so would everyone else!! If you look online for his videos where he discusses some of his music and what inspired it, he's very interesting to listen to.

I also like Ralph Vaughan Williams music and especially The Lark Ascending, which I think may be the most beautiful music ever written for a violin.  That’s just my opinion and my taste even though I am no expert on the subject. 🙂

That's my opinion and my taste exactly, so I would say you're a total expert on the subject!!  The first time I heard The Lark Ascending, not too long after I first arrived in England — and immediately realised it was both the most beautiful piece of music and the most quintessentially English piece of music I'd ever heard — all I could think was "... and THAT is why I want to stay in this country forever." (And that did come about, but that's a long story.)

Do you also know RVW's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis? That's another amazing piece for strings, and one that to me somehow manages to sound both ancient and modern — and utterly thrilling — at the same time.

Posted by: @jo

There is such glorious choral music written through the ages, including some modern pieces, such as the very beautiful and moving "Is He Worthy?", based on Revelation 5, as well as pretty much anything by the wonderful John Rutter.

Is this song "Is He Worthy" by Andrew Peterson? I've been a fan of his music and books for several years.

I personally like the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, Celtic, and orchestral music. I do have difficulty finding good music in the latter two of those genres though.

@courtenay

I think Fantasia is on one of the CD’s I own. And there are some other works of Tallis on the CD’s of King’s College Choir.  Some of the CD’s are anthologies of that kind of music by different composers.  They are not very expensive, and I think they are a real bargain.  🙂

Posted by: @azog-the-defiler

Is this song "Is He Worthy" by Andrew Peterson? I've been a fan of his music and books for several years.

It is, indeed! Such an amazing, beautiful, rich song.

Over the past few years, I have been getting to know his Resurrection Letters, and, wow-wow-wow! Such depth in AP's writing, both lyrically and musically.

The Lord of the Rings soundtracks, particularly The Complete Recordings are out of this world. Even though Peter Jackson did a fairly good job of capturing the essence of Middle-earth ('though some non-canonical scenes would not be Tolkien ... or Jo Hobbit-approved ), I found Howard Shore captured the depth, richness, and heart of JRRT's world even more. The book by Doug Adams, The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films is a treasure. A large, extensive, comprehensive volume, it is absolutely filled with M-e musical wonder and goodness.

Posted by: @jo

Such depth in AP's writing, both lyrically and musically.

I agree, especially since I have found that very little music has good messages nowadays.

Posted by: @jo

I found Howard Shore captured the depth, richness, and heart of JRRT's world even more.

I agree. The music from the movies felt nostalgic the first time I watched it even though I had been reading the book a while before actually seeing it. The music does truly capture the heart of Tolkien's world.

Posted by: @jo

The book by Doug Adams, The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films is a treasure.

I should consider reading this since I've wanted to understand how they made the music as good as they did.

There's a song called "In The Secret." I learned it at the first VBS (Vacation Bible School) I attended in the first grade. Then a few weeks back, we sang it in our church.

Do you like Pachelbel’s Canon?  I have always loved it and own a CD with eight different versions of it. I have often wondered why people have loved a piece of music with so much repetition in it. But I have listened to it so many times and I never tire of hearing it. 

I really like this version of it with a piano and a cello:

This video is simply wonderful. 🙂

Brian Sauvé's new EP Hearth Songs was released today!