Recital Concert Program

Reflections: Darkness into Light,
Life to the Beyond...
DMA Conducting Recital
Andrew Minear, Conductor
Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Alumni Memorial Chapel
Michigan State University
Program
(Please hold applause until the completion of each section indicated by roman numerals)
I. Introit
LumenAbbie Betinis (b. 1980); Text: Latin aphorisms
Sechs Sprüche, Op. 79
1. Weihnachten (“Frohlocket, ihr Völker”)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Text: attributed to Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)
II. Opening Prayer and Response
Non nobis, DomineWilliam Byrd (ca.1540-1623); Text: Psalm 115:1
Domine, labia mea aperiesOrlando di Lasso (1532-1594); Text: Psalm 50:15
Faire is the HeavenWilliam H. Harris (1883-1973)
Text: Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)
III. Readings, Psalms, and Canticles
Prose Poem #1: Winter LightLouis Jenkins (b. 1942)
Geistliche Chormusik, Op. 11Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
18. Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, SWV 386
Text: Psalm 19:1-6, Doxology
Alles, was ihr tut mit Worten oder mit Werken, BuxWV 4
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) Sonata
Concerto: Alles, was ihr tutText: Colossians 3:17
Sonata
Aria: Dir, dir Höchster, dir alleine
Text: Anonymous 17th century pietistic poetry
Arioso: Habe deine Lust am HerrnText: Psalm 37:4
Choral: Gott will ich lassen raten
Text: Georg Niege (c. 1585-1587)
Sonata
Concerto: Alles, was ihr tut
Kyle White, Baritone; Katharine Nunn, Soprano
Prose Poem #2: Northern LightLouis Jenkins (b. 1942)
Vesperae solennes de Confessore, KV 339
W. A. Mozart (1756-1791); Text: Psalm 112
III. Beatus vir
Jenna Buck, Soprano; Anne Todey, Mezzo-Soprano; Steve Martin, Tenor; Nick Kreider, Bass
IV. Anthems
Prose Poem #3: Frost FlowersLouis Jenkins (b. 1942)
Vier Notturnos, Op. 22H. von Herzogenberg (1843-1900)
2. Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer
Text: Josef K. Benedikt von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
The Peace of Wild Things
Joan Szymko (b. 1957); Text: Wendell Berry (b. 1934)
Nyon NyonJake Runestad (b. 1986); Text: created by the composer
V. Benediction
Prose Poem #4: FloridaLouis Jenkins (b. 1942)
Good Night, Dear HeartDan Forrest (b. 1978)
Text: Robert Richardson (1850-1901)
Program Notes and Translations
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life
experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
-Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
This afternoon’s program, titled “Reflections: Darkness into Light, Life to the Beyond”, explores the counterpoints of the human condition. The Michigan winter’s late afternoon is
a time of transition from day to evening. This juxtaposition of light and dark serves as a metaphor for the myriad contradistinctions of our lives. Day and Night, Heaven and Earth, Life and
Death, Youth and Adulthood, Contentment and Yearning, In Relationship and Broken Relationship, Elation and the Blues, Here and Home, Now and Before Now, Ignorance and Awareness,
Tension and Release, Crescendo and Decrescendo, Consonance and Dissonance, Our Inner Lives and Our Public Appearance, Ourselves and “That Which is Bigger Than Ourselves”. These
contrasts can be experienced simultaneously (duality) or as “before and after” states that involve a pivotal moment, a passage from one to the other. In addition to pondering these ideas, each
piece in this program has a personal significance and connection to my own biography as a choral musician, teacher, Episcopalian, family member, and seeker of enlightenment.
My musical life is grounded in the years I spent singing with the Cathedral Choristers and the Orlando Deanery Boychoir at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke where for a number
of years I sang an evensong service multiple times per month. Fast forward to my first year of doctoral study in Dr. Rayl’s Choral Literature seminar where we learned about the vast amount
of music composed specifically for the Catholic vespers service (an evensong equivalent), and I found a theme for this recital that brings me full circle as a student of choral music. Evensong
is a highly structured evening prayer service about the transition from day to night. It consists of prayers, psalms, canticles, scripture readings, hymns, and anthems; today’s recital is loosely
based on that architecture.
I. Introit
The Introit of an evensong is usually sung in the back of the church before the service officially begins. We begin “in the round”, encircling the audience so that, though we are
separate as performers and listeners, we are together in the experience of this hour.
Contemporary Minnesotan composer Abbie Betinis (www.abbiebetinis.com) set two Latin aphorisms as a four-part canon. In Lumen, the basses repeat the first chant while the
other voices sing the other three lines in canon. Since the first aphorism is often used as a motto for schools, Betinis made it sound like one part is “teaching” the next. As the light grows
stronger with each line, the melody expands with bigger leaps and longer scales. I hope this hour of music-making is a gift of light to you.
Lumen accipe et imperti.
Do ut es.
Receive the light and pass it on.
I give that you may give.
Many motets written in the 19th century contain elements of older music traditions joined with the romantic, expressive sensibilities of their day. The Sechs Sprüche, Op. 79 of
Felix Mendelssohn contains relatively brief SSAATTBB unaccompanied settings written for specific days in the liturgical calendar. He wrote the first, Weihnachten, on Christmas Day
1843 for the Domchor, or cathedral choir, in Berlin. In addition to the religious significance, for me the Christmas story is woven with the birth of my own children, the most profound
before/ after transformational moment of my life. At the beginning of this piece, the contrast of high voices recalls the polychoral techniques of the Baroque period. Primarily homophonic
writing follows, punctuated with two imitative “Halleluja” sections. The polychoral writing and canonical, imitative writing show Mendelssohn’s interest in the style of the Baroque masters. At
the same time, the wandering tonal center and lush 7th chord circle of fifth progressions, the constantly renewing forte dynamic, and the dense homophonic textures sound like they belong in
the nineteenth century.
Weihnachten
Frohlocket, ihr Völker auf Erden, und preiset Gott!
Der Heiland ist erschienen, den der Herr verheißen.
Er hat seine Gerechtigkeit der Welt offenbaret.
Halleluja!
Christmas
Rejoice, ye people of the earth, and praise God!
The redeemer is come, whom the Lord has promised.
He has revealed his justice to the world.
Hallelujah!
II. Opening Prayer and Response
Once the choir is in place, evensong services begin with prayers and responses from the choir. We begin with two prayers that encourage us to give attention not just to ourselves, but
to that which is bigger than ourselves. These are followed by a response in the form of Harris’s setting of a Spenser poem.
The famous Renaissance canon, Non nobis, Domine, is attributed to William Byrd, though no manuscript actually bears his name. Undoubtedly it would have been sung by Elizabethan recusants who, like Byrd, were forced into a duel life: publicly protestant, secretly Catholic. My personal connection to this piece is that we sang it before every meal we shared together
in my years in the boy choir, and it was the first song I taught to my middle school students in my first year of teaching.
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis,
sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory.
The text of di Lasso’s Domine, labia mea aperies is part of the opening prayers of every evensong service (or matins in the Catholic office). This setting alternates between homorhythmic passages and imitative counterpoint. In the last section, di Lasso employs an original style of imitation where paired tenor and bass voices alternate with paired soprano and alto
voices on the words “laudem tuam” (your praise). The large ascending leap on “Domine” (Lord) in the opening phrase directs the listener’s attention up to the Lord, and the octave leap in the
soprano part in m. 9 on “aperies” (open) indeed “opens” up the sound of the choir as the singers suddenly cover a range of two and a half octaves. The disjunct melody at “annuntiabit” (proclaim) conjures “hear ye, hear ye” images of royal heralds or bugle calls.
Domine, labia mea aperies
et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim thy praise.
William Harris’ Faire is the Heaven is a standard Anglican cathedral choir anthem. Composed for double choir, the antiphonal back and forth between sides of the choir is
reminiscent of the cori spezzati (split choirs) polychoral style of the late Renaissance and early Baroque Venetian composers. One SATB choir is positioned to the listener’s left, and the other
to the right. The facing choir stalls of the Alumni Memorial Chapel are typical of the English cathedrals and chapels where Sir William Harris spent his career. The duality of the double
choir represents the contrast of heaven and earth, angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, ordinary and extraordinary.
III. Readings, Psalms, and Canticles
Following the opening prayers, evensong services continue with a psalm, readings, and canticles. In place of scripture readings, over the course of the program we will read four
prose poems by Louis Jenkins. Among many honors, Jenkins’s poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry (2003), the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival (1996), and on A Prairie
Home Companion. Prose poems are in paragraph form, brief, and without the usual emphasis created by the separate lines and stanzas in traditional poetry. Jenkins begins each poem with
vivid details of ordinary images that cause distant memories to resurface mysteriously out of the depth of your experience; then he invariably pivots, sometimes in a surreal way, to something
extraordinary. His poetry lifts the veil on every day life and with his droll humor leads us somewhere new and unexpected.
Our Psalm setting is by the great Heinrich Schütz. The motet Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes comes from a collection entitled Geistliche Chormusik. The text comes
from Psalm 19 in which the psalmist eloquently paints a picture of the eternal passing of days and nights. Geistliche Chormusik was published in 1648, the final year of the devastating
Thirty Years War. By this time, later in his career, Schütz was reflecting back on his life, and thus these motets illustrate his interest in the older style, or stile antico. Having studied with
Venetian masters Gabrieli and Monteverdi, Schütz displays a mastery of contrapuntal writing as well as grand passages of syllabic and homorhythmic textures. He employs the Venetian style
of timbral contrasts between high and low voices and between small group and full choir.
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes,
und die Feste verkündiget seiner Hände Werk.
Ein Tag sagt’s dem andern,
und eine Nacht tut’s kund der andern.
Es ist keine Sprache noch Rede,
da man nicht ihre Stimme höre.
Ihre Schnur gehet aus in alle Lande,
und ihre Rede an der Welt Ende.
Er hat der Sonne eine Hütte in derselben
gemacht;und die selbige gehet heraus,
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words; no
sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. In the
heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
and the same goes out
wie ein Bräutigam aus seiner Kammer,
und freuet sich, wie ein Held zu laufen
den Weg. Sie gehet auf an einem Ende des
Himmels und läuft um bis wieder an das
selbige Ende, und bleibt nichts vor ihrer Hitz’
verborgen.
like a bridegroom coming out of his
chamber, and rejoices like a champion to
run his course. It rises at one end of the
heavens and makes its circuit to the other
end, and nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Ehre sei dem Vater, und dem Sohn
und auch dem Heil’gen Geiste,
wie es war im Anfang, jetzt und immerdar
und von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever
shall be forever and ever. Amen.
Alles, was ihr tut by Dieterich Buxtehude, known as the “Epiphany Cantata”, exemplifies many salient features of the chorale cantata style of the generation preceding J. S. Bach.
Bach once famously walked all the way to Lübeck just to learn from the master composer and organist, Buxtehude. Within our quasi-evensong framework, the multiple text sources of
this cantata provide another psalm, a scripture reading, and even a brief sermon in the form of pietistic poetry (sermons are rarely, but occasionally, heard at evening prayer). One defining
characteristic of a chorale cantata is the use of a chorale melody and text as the basis of the work. The particular chorale text he chose fits the social realities of class and rank in 17th-century
Lübeck. As the organist at St. Mary’s and the most important musician in the city, Buxtehude interacted with town leaders, but he also understood that musicians were considered a lower
class in society. The words of the chorale sum up the duality of his position: “So I stretch forth my hand and take up with elation the work that in my station I do by his command.”
Buxtehude supplements the chorale text with words from scripture and pietistic poetry. Though some poetry of this genre is considered overly-sentimental, Buxtehude (perhaps a
great poet himself ) selected only the best examples of the genre to be set to music. Setting these chorale, scriptural, and poetic texts to music serves an exegetic or interpretive function. The
cantata expounds on the sermon or scripture readings of the liturgical season. The cantata may not have been a part of the Abendmusiken, the important music series Buxtehude produced
in the following years, but does provide an example of what some the Abendmusiken may have been like. Buxtehude attempts to appeal to a wide audience with mostly homophonic writing,
German texts, strophic forms, and concertato style contrasts between vocal and string textures.
Concerto
Alles, was ihr tut mit Worten oder mit Werken,
das tut alles im Namen Jesu,
und danket Gott und dem Vater durch ihn.
Concerto
Whatsoever ye do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Arioso
Habe deine Lust am Herrn,
der wird dir geben,
was dein Herz wünscht.
Arioso
Delight thyself also in the Lord;
and he shall give thee
the desires of thine heart.
Aria
Dir, dir Höchster, dir alleine,
alles, Alleshöchster, dir,
Sinnen, Kräfte und Begier
ich nur aufzuopfern meine,
Alles sei nach aller Pflicht
nur zu deinem Preis gericht.
Helft mir spielen, jauchzen, singen,
hebt die Herzen himmelan,
jubele, was jubeln kann,
lasst all’ Instrumenten klingen.
Alles sei nach aller Pflicht
nur zu deinem Preis gericht.
Vater, hilf uns Jesu willen,
lass das Loben löblich sein
und zum Himmel dringen ein,
unser Wünschen zu erfüllen,
dass dein Herz nach Vaterspflicht
sei zu unserm Heil gericht.
Aria
To thee, most high, and to thee solely,
All things, all highest, for thy sake,
Will, mind, strength, I undertake
To sacrifice unto thee wholly,
In all duty all my ways
Be directed to thy praise.
Help me play, exult and sing,
Lift my heart to heavenward,
Whate’er rejoices, join our laud,
Let all instruments ring out,
In all duty all our ways
Be directed to His praise.
For Jesu’s sake, Lord, help us still,
May our praise praiseworthy be,
Penetrate to heaven and thee
Our desiring to fulfill;
In father’s duty that thy heart
Our salvation may impart.
Choral
Gott will ich lassen raten,
denn er all’ Ding vermag,
er segne meine Taten,
mein Vornehmen und mein Sach’,
den ich’s ihm heimgestellt,
mein’ Leib, mein’ Seel, mein Leben,
und was er mir sonst geben:
er mach’s, wie’s ihm gefällt.
Darauf so sprech ich Amen,
und zweifle nicht daran,
Gott wird uns all’ zusammen
ihm wohlgefallen lan.
Drauf streck’ ich auf mein Hand,
greif an das Werk mit Freuden,
dazu mich Gott bescheiden
in mein’m Beruf und Stand.
Choral
To God I leave direction
For He can do all things.
May He bless all my actions
My works and my dealings;
For to Him I release
My body, soul and breath
And all else He bestoweth
To do with as He please.
Amen to that I tender
And doubt not that God’s might
Each one of us shall render
Well pleasing in His sight.
So I stretch forth my hand
And take up with elation
The work that in my station
I do by His command.
Potens in terra erit semen ejus;
generatio rectorum benedicetur.
His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches will be in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
non commovebitur
donec despiciat inimicos suos.
He will not be afraid,
Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.
Dispersit, dedit pauperibus;
justitia ejus manet in saeculum saeculi:
cornu ejus exaltabitur in gloria.
He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor; His righteousness
endures forever; His horn will be exalted
with honor.
Peccator videbit, et irascetur;
dentibus suis fremet et tabescet:
desiderium peccatorum peribit.
The wicked will see it and be grieved;
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked shall perish.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper,
et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to
the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning
is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
Concerto
Concerto
Alles, was ihr tut mit Worten oder mit Werken, Whatsoever ye do in word or deed,
das tut alles im Namen Jesu,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
und danket Gott und dem Vater durch ihn.
giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Beatus vir qui timet Dominum:
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who
ab auditione mala non timebit.
He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
delights greatly in His commandments.
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
in mandatis ejus volet nimis.
Paratum cor ejus sperare in Domino,
Gloria et divitiae in domo ejus:
et justitia ejus manet in saeculum saeculi.
Exortum est in tenebris lumen rectis:
misericors, et miserator, et justus.
Unto the upright there arises light in
the darkness; He is gracious, and full of
compassion, and righteous.
Jucundus homo qui miseretur et commodat;
disponet sermones suos in judicio:
A good man deals graciously and lends;
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
quia in aeternum non commovebitur.
In memoria aeterna erit justus;
Surely he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be in everlasting
remembrance.
In place of the typical evensong canticle, the Magnificat, Mozart’s Beatus vir, the third movement from his Solemn Vespers, concludes this portion of the program. Composed
in 1780 after Mozart returned home to Salzburg to serve as court organist for the Prince Archbishop Colloredo, the Solemn Vespers exhibit Mozart’s contrapuntal genius, mastery of form,
and powerful sense of drama. Vespers is the Catholic equivalent to the Anglican evensong. The word “solemn” in this case indicates that Mozart scored this to include orchestra. This third
movement shares many qualities with his writing for opera, especially the soprano solo and solo quartet writing. The full choir sections often sound like an opera chorus, and each stanza of
the psalm is set to music that matches the affect and drama of the text.
IV. Anthems
The final section of the evensong service is the performance of one or more anthems with texts related to the readings of the day. Vier Notturnos (Four Nocturnes) by the Austrian
Heinrich von Herzogenberg was originally written for solo quartet and piano, but like much vocal chamber music of the period is often performed by choral ensembles today. The second
movement, Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer, begins in remarkably similar fashion to Brahms’ “O Schöne Nacht”. In fact, Brahms liked Herzogenberg’s composition so much that he copied
the key, the tempo, and the piano introduction almost exactly. The poem connects the night, the sea, the clouds, and the human heart; there is a sense of yearning for the unattainable while
acknowledging the complexities of real life. Herzogenberg’s setting typifies the complex harmonies and soaring melodies of the Romantic period.
Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer,
Lust und Leid und
Liebesklagen Kommen so
verworren her In dem linden
Wellenschlagen.
Night is like a quiet sea: joy
and sorrow and the laments
of love become tangled up in
the gentle throbbing of the
waves.
Wünsche wie die Wolken
sind, Schiffen durch die stillen
Räume, Wer erkennt im lauen
Wind, Ob’s Gedanken oder
Träume?
Desires are like clouds
that sail through the quiet
space: who can recognize in
the mild wind whether they
are thoughts or dreams?
Schließ’ ich nun auch Herz
und Mund, Die so gern den
Sternen klagen, Leise doch im
Herzensgrund Bleibt das linde
Wellenschlagen.
Even if my heart and mouth
now are closed, that once so
easily lamented to the stars,
still, at the bottom of my
heart there remains the
gentle throbbing of those
waves.
Joan Szymko’s gorgeous setting of the Wendell Berry poem, The Peace of Wild Things, depicts the distinction between the human condition and the natural world. The
composer’s setting includes two threshold moments, one when the poet transitions from despair to the seeking of peace in nature, and the other when he becomes aware not just of the things
in his immediate vicinity (birds, water), but of the greater beauty of the universe. With that perspective, the poet feels free in the midst of it all, if only for this moment.
Jake Runestad is an award winning composer from Minnesota. He describes Nyon Nyon as a lively exploration of the sounds that one can produce with the human voice. The
composer created original words to achieve a variety of colors and mixed-and-matched them within the ensemble to produce a diverse sonic landscape. Incorporating effects similar to a
flanger, wah-wah pedal, synthesizers, and drum and bass turns the choir into a full-fledged vocal orchestra. This piece serves as a contemporary counterpoint to the historical repertoire of this
program. Choral music is at the same time ancient and constantly pushing new boundaries.
V. Benediction
Dan Forrest composed Good Night, Dear Heart in response to his brother and sister-in-law’s tragic loss of a soon-to-be adopted little girl. His search for a suitable text led him
to a tombstone in his home town of Elmira, NY bearing the epitaph for Mark Twain’s daughter, Susy Clemens, who also died prematurely. Twain adapted the original poem by Robert
Richardson. We finish the program with this stunningly beautiful setting. From darkness into light, from this life to the beyond, from what is to what could be, music has the profound power
to capture it all. We enter the chapel in light, we leave as darkness begins to envelop us. May we all be comforted through the night by the beauty that surrounds us, awed by the complexity
of the human condition, and inspired by that which is bigger than ourselves.
Warm summer sun,
Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind,
Blow softly here.
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night.
Musicians
Soprano
Meredith Bowen
Megan Boyd
Jenna Buck
Anna Doering
Katharine Nunn
Lindsay Snyder
Alina Tamborini
Andrea VanDeusen
Alto
Kalli Allen
Jessica Glaser
Elizabeth Hermanson
Molly Khatcheressian
Christine Le
Holly Lewis
Erika Senecal
Anne Todey
Tenor
Mark Adams
Daniel Albert
David Anderson
Matt Eldred
Zachary Lindquist
Steve Martin
Kristopher Schave
Brandon Williams
Kyle Zeuch
Bass
Scott Emelander
Stuart Hill
Nick Kreider
Colin McCarthy
Aaron Petrovich
Logan Raney
Brandon Smith
Kyle White
Violin I
I-Pei Lin
Kyle Venlet
Lena Seeger
Violin II
I-Hsuan Tsai
Liz Loayza
Jalen Adams
Viola I
Nicholas Mowry
Dilek Engin
Stefanie Bilidas
Viola II
Chi-Jui Lee
Isaac Sarver
Alyssa Moskowitz
Cello
Helena Ranck
Michelle Cho
Double Bass
Billy Poulos
Bassoon
Hannah Reilly
Organ and Piano
Judy Kabodian
Conductor
Andrew Minear
Narrator
Stuart Chapman Hill
Andrew Minear is a University Distinguished Fellow, Graduate
Teaching Assistant and DMA student in Choral Conducting at
Michigan State University. He also serves as the Chancel Choir and
Bell Choir Director at Central United Methodist Church in downtown
Lansing. Mr. Minear’s teaching and choral directing experience
includes university, high school, middle school, children’s choir,
community choir, and both youth and adult church choirs; he was most
recently the Director of Choral Activities at Dr. Phillips High School
in Orlando. Choirs under his direction have performed for State,
Division, and National Conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, the
FMEA Conference, and have consistently received Superior Ratings at District and State
Music Performance Assessments. He twice conducted the Florida Ambassadors of Music on
performance tours of Europe, and this summer will again direct the SATB choir at the Blue
Lake Fine Arts Camp. Mr. Minear has served as the Florida ACDA R & S Chair for Senior
High Choirs, Women’s Choirs, and Children’s Choirs; he has also served as District 8 Chair
for the Florida Vocal Association, coordinated district and state honor choirs, and served on
the Orange County Choral Leadership and Curriculum Writing Teams. He is a frequent
honor choir clinician, conference presenter, and adjudicator. Mr. Minear received his MME
and BME from the Florida State University.
Judy Kabodian is a 1982 Michigan State University graduate
in organ performance. She has been the organist and pianist for The
Peoples Church for twenty-one years and has been playing for church
since she was eleven years old. She accompanies multiple choral
ensembles and many vocal soloists at Michigan State University and is
known for her skill and artistry at the keyboard.
Acknowledgements
Thank you family for your love and support, especially: Ashley Minear, Clara, and Emilia
Thank you teachers: Dr. David Rayl, Dr. Jonathan Reed, Dr. Sandra Snow, Dr. Judy Bowers,
Roy Delp, Rodney Eichenberger, Scott Evans, Dr. Kevin Fenton, Trey Jacobs, Jeff Johnson,
Dr. Cliff Madsen, Murray Summerville, and Dr. André Thomas.
Thank you colleagues: I love being in school with you all, friends!
Thank you singers: I will forever be appreciative of your generosity.
Thank you to others whose support helped make today possible: Anne Simon, Matt Forte,
Steve Aiken, Benjamin Johnson, Zachary Lindquist
Thank you to all former students: for everything you have taught me.