Author: mystro2b

Bring Us O Lord by Peter R. Hallock sung by The Compline Choir

Words: John Donne (1572-1631), from A Sermon Preached at White-hall, February 29, 1628. Revised and ed. Eric Milner-White (1884-1964).
Music: Peter R. Hallock (1924-2014), 1991.
Recording: The Compline Choir, CD “Night Music,” 2001.

Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening
Into the house and gate of heaven.
To enter that gate and dwell in that house,
Where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
No noise nor silence, but one equal music;
No fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
No ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity;
In the habitation of thy glory and dominion,
World without end, Amen.

Today is the eighth anniversary of my membership in The Compline Choir. Before The Pandemic kept us from gathering in large groups, every Sunday night our choir of 23 singers would gather to sing the office of Compline at 9:30pm…

Compline has developed a lasting popularity of almost mythical proportions, unlike any other worship event in the Pacific Northwest. The service continues to attract a diverse congregation upwards of 300 people, who come to sit in the quiet and dimly lit nave, to listen to words and music, and to be renewed and comforted by this ancient liturgical office. Classical KING-FM 98.1 estimates that 10,000 or more listen to weekly radio or internet broadcasts.

https://www.complinechoir.org/about/history/

We still gather each week, but now as a rotating quartet of singers taking care to observe a Covid protocol that involves rehearsing in masks before the service and standing ten feet apart to sing and chant the office in an empty cathedral…

What is Compline?
In short, Compline is a sung prayer service. As is characteristic of monastic offices, Compline consists of psalms, short passages from scripture (chapters), an office hymn, a canticle (Nunc Dimittis), a litany, collects and additional prayers. Compline is offered when the work of the day is completed, and the quietness of evening settles over the hearts and minds of those who have come together in thankfulness for the blessings of the day which has passed, and in anticipation of God’s gift of a new day. At first, Compline was offered primarily by the monastic communities, but as Christian influence spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean area, the offices found a place in local liturgical settings.

https://www.complinechoir.org/about/office/

Last year, the choir took a pilgrimage to the UK where we were Choir in Residence at Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral, two significant places in our choir’s 64 year history:

In August 2019, the Compline Choir will make a pilgrimage to two of England’s most storied and historic cathedrals: Canterbury and Salisbury. Canterbury is significant because it served as a spiritual home and place of learning for our founder, Dr. Peter Hallock, during his formative years as a musical leader of the Episcopal Church. Salisbury is home to the Sarum rite, including many of the prayers and chants which imbues the Office of Compline we chant weekly. 

It has been devastating for many of us who can’t sing together each week. This is a new reality for so many choral and instrumental groups- we are tired of just listening and singing on our own. Virtual choirs may look and sound appealing, but none of those singers is hearing anyone else in real time. Making music with a click track is getting old…

Dissidents by Thomas Dolby

I just discovered that Dolby has a memoir: The Speed of Sound: Breaking the Barriers Between Music and Technology: A Memoir

Starting out in a rat-infested London bedsit, a teenage Thomas Dolby stacks boxes by day at the grocery and tinkers with a homemade synthesizer at night while catching the Police at a local dive bar, swinging by the pub to see the unknown Elvis Costello and starting the weekend with a Clash show at a small night club. London on the eve of the 1980s is a hotbed for music and culture, and a new sound is beginning to take shape, merging technology with the musical energy of punk rock.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28260471-the-speed-of-sound

In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel

Symphonic pop goodness.

Deacon Blues by Steely Dan

When you wonder why this song is so great, but can’t articulate it to your friends, get some insight from Fagen and Becker at the studio listening and taking you through the song, isolating each element one fader at a time:

Drinkee by Sofi Tukker

I dig the guitar riff because I can play it and teach to all my guitar students. Still working on singing the lyrics and playing at the same time…

Driven to Tears by The Police

Sting wrote this in 1979 after seeing television reports of starving children. By this time, he had traveled extensively with The Police and experienced many cultures. The images he saw of people living in extreme poverty led him to write the song.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-police/driven-to-tears

Funk #49 by James Gang

The James Gang is best known for their guitarist, Joe Walsh, whose playing on this track helped establish him as a superstar axeman. Walsh joined the Cleveland-based group in 1969 after making a name for himself as one of the top guitar men in Ohio. He replaced Glenn Schwartz in the band, who Walsh considers a mentor. They were a 5-piece when Walsh joined, but were down to three (like popular acts Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience) when they released their second album James Gang Rides Again.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/james-gang/funk-49

Giant Steps by John Coltrane

Ever wonder what the notation for this crazy solo looks like? Watch and be amazed:

I Can’t Quit You Baby by Otis Rush Blues Band

Rush influenced the playing of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmy Page, and it is no coincidence that Page put his unique stamp on perhaps the most celebrated cover version of the song, which appeared on Led Zeppelin’s 1969 eponymous debut album.

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/otis-rush-thrilling-cant-quit-you-baby/

Pocket Calculator by Kraftwerk

The Bee Gees Rhythm Machine was manufactured by Mattel in the wake of Saturday Night Fever. According to Q magazine, this portable battery-powered mini-keyboard branded with a Bee Gees logo never made it onto any records by the brothers Gibb, but it did find a place on Kraftwerk’s song “Pocket Calculator.” The innovation was immortalized in the lyric: “By pressing down a special key, it plays a little melody.”

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/kraftwerk/pocket-calculator