It’s a grand night for singing. And playing. And blogging.

It has been a frenetic semester: I have tackled countless projects and programs and have made many new friends on the road. I have seen a drum set in the chancel of a church where I thought a drum set would NEVER be found. I have heard hair-raising playing in the Charlotte chapter AGO/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists. I have worked furiously to keep up. It is Spring in Boone, and I can see the end of the semester in sight. I predict that no parent or grandparent will be smiling as wide as I at Commencement.

I am getting into the mind of Dupré, and that is a fascinating place to be. “Bell and Brass” played his Poème Héroïque on March 27. Students are playing the g minor Prelude & Fugue and the Symphonie-Passion. And now I’m in the middle of the Stations of the Cross, to be played at First Christian Church, Wilson, NC, on Good Friday. The greatness of Dupré as an improviseur is one thing, but his greatness in being able to commit all that to paper after the fact is another. I have studied Dupré many times, but this time around has been particularly fruitful and poignant. I suppose one finally “gets it” after a while!

I’m about to launch several “sermon series” in the blog. Subjects such as recruiting, weddings, and console care/abuse will be picked clean in horrific detail. And of course, I still have plenty to say about the silly things that go on in church and behind the scenes at churches.

Meanwhile, Happy Spring, Happy Easter, and happy exams and summer!