Interchange

Kids! Just in time for the start of summer's jubilance, this episode is sure to be a perennial favorite. There's nothing more refreshing, grounding, and inspiring to hear these young voices imagine out loud for a bit, ruminating on the questions of why they like music and what they think God sounds like. Honestly, take a listen. The kids say it better than I ever could. 

Special thanks to the kids from across several states who participated in the fun! And of course, to the parents and teachers who are right by their side, cheering them on and honored to do so.

Music in this episode includes selections from Chris de Silva's piano collections, Colours (G-8560) and Colours II (G-9737). Grab your copy of the printed music or the recorded albums at www.giamusic.com

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 1 in 5 adults have experienced a mental illness in the past year. Certainly, struggles with mental health are a part of every faith community, one that needn't be feared or stigmatized any further than we have already allowed. How does music serve to support us in these struggles? How can we accompany one another better?

In light of the month of mental health awareness, join us for this conversation about music and mental health as these two musicians and faithful people wrestle with their own diagnoses and belovedness in God's sight. And maybe take a moment, step back, and allow ourselves to ask: how are we doing, really?

Bio: Fr. Stuart Wilson-Smith, CSP (Fr. Stu) was ordained for the Paulists in 2017 and soon after began his first assignment in campus ministry at The Ohio State University. He most recently served as Associate Pastor of Old St. Mary’s Church in Chicago. Before entering the Paulists, Fr. Stu studied history and philosophy at the University of Toronto, backpacked abroad, and worked as a drummer and singer-songwriter, both of which he still enjoys today.

Born and raised in the Maritime region of Canada, Fr. Stu has felt blessed to serve the last decade as a missionary in the United States. Fr. Stu is the assistant director of the University Catholic Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Music in this episode:

The music of Stuart Wilson-Smith can be found on Spotify or for purchase here: https://stuartws.bandcamp.com/

O God Behold Your Family Here: https://giamusic.com/resource/o-god-behold-your-family-here-print-g5588

Hymn writing, Mennonite Culture, Incarnational God, imposter syndrome, community building: join Adam Tice, GIA’s Editor for Congregational Song for a conversation that weaves through the contexts that provide the frame work for our vocation to music, tending and tilling the soil all around us.

Bio: Adam M. L. Tice was born in Pennsylvania, and grew up in Alabama, Oregon, and Indiana. After graduating from high school in Elkhart, Indiana, Adam went to nearby Goshen College, a Mennonite liberal arts school. He majored in music with an emphasis on composition and completed a minor in Bible and religion, graduating in 2002. He began working as a church musician and choir director while still in college.

Adam took his first course at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in the fall of 2003, which led to the writing of his initial hymn text. In 2004, Adam was named a Lovelace Scholar by the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. He served as a member of the Society's executive committee from 2007 to 2010.

He was Associate Pastor of Hyattsville (Maryland) Mennonite Church from 2007 to 2012. He now lives with his family in Goshen, Indiana. He is text editor for the 2020 Mennonite hymnal, Voices Together. In early 2020 he joined GIA as Editor for Congregational Song.

CW: pregnancy loss

Description: It’s Women’s History Month, and while women are worth celebrating each and every day of the year, this is also a lovely time to lift up one incredible music maker who lives a life surrounded by the melodies of the story-telling that has reverberated in the uniqueness of human bodies and human experiences, those long studied and those whose experiences have been coded or sidelined. Hilary’s nuance of language around identity and proximity to power structure lays a firm foundation on which we might dream ourselves into honoring whatever comes next. A gift of vulnerable conversation between two women draws a through-line between treasured stories of scripture and current contexts that allows for meaning-making and hope to shine in even the darkest corners of life.

Bio:

Hilary Seraph Donaldson is a church musician and researcher based in Toronto, Canada. She holds a Master of Sacred Music in Choral Conducting from Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) and a PhD in Musicology from the University of Toronto. Her research interests are centered on the intersection of English musical modernism and the sacred in the music of Benjamin Britten, music since 1900, the BBC, intersections in music and theology, and hymnology and congregational singing. Hilary serves as Director of Music at St. Andrew's United Church in downtown Toronto. She is passionate about expanding the singing repertoire of congregations and fostering practices of learning, vulnerability, and praying through the music of the global ecumenical movement in worship. She shares resources on enlivening congregational song through her website and web video series Break into Song. She is Immediate Past President of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

Song: I Know God Holds You, Text: Hannah C. Brown, Music: Kate Williams

Guests: M. Roger Holland, II and Dr. Kim R. Harris

M. Roger Holland, II is a Teaching Associate Professor in Music and Religion and Director of The Spirituals Project at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he received the Master of Divinity degree, Roger also served as Artist-in-Residence and director of the Union Gospel Choir for over 13 years. In 2015 Union awarded him the Trailblazers Distinguished Alumni Award, the first given to a graduate whose ministry is music, for his contributions to the legacy of African American music. He received a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, also in New York, and completed his undergraduate work at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where he majored in Music Education with a concentration in piano and voice.

Roger toured nationally and internationally with The Boys Choir of Harlem, working with them as a conductor, pianist, instructor and arranger for several of their recordings. Roger served as Minister of Music for Our Lady of Charity Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, NY for 12 years and is Liturgical Music Consultant for the New York Archdiocese Office of Black Ministry, acting as Music Director for their special Masses at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Roger is the newly appointed editor of the In Spirit and Truth series published by GIA Publications, Inc., which reflects the aesthetic of Black Catholic worship. Commissioned works include The Dream and The Dreamer, The Tribulation Suite, and The Call. Original music collections published by GIA include “Building Up the Kingdom,” featuring the single “Worthy God,” and his recent collection, “Honey from the Rock, Vol. 1-4” He has played for the Broadway productions of Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple and the Tony award winning show, Memphis. In November 2016 Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York presented Roger with the Pierre Toussaint Medallion for service. Dr. Kim R. Harris is the Associate Professor of African American Thought and Practice in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. In addition to teaching courses on Black liberation and Womanist theologies, Harris leads music in a variety of liturgical and academic settings. She is a liturgist, composer and recording artist, presenting lectures on the music of the Black Catholic experience, the spirituals of the Underground Railroad and the freedom song of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Harris is a member of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium and the North American Academy of Liturgy. She is an academic member of the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as well as a liturgical consultant for the Archdiocese of New York Office of Black Ministry. A gifted cantor, leader of song and a passionate cultural advocate, Harris earned a PhD in worship and the arts from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In fulfillment of her degree, she composed Welcome Table: A Mass of Spirituals, one of the complete Mass settings included in the Lead Me Guide Black Catholic hymnal second edition (GIA Publications Inc).

Music from this episode:

Honey from the Rock, Entrance and Communion Antiphons for the Church Year, Arr. Holland

https://giamusic.com/resource/honey-from-the-rock-volume-1-print-g9233

Welcome Table Mass, arr. Harris/Holland

https://giamusic.com/resource/welcome-table-a-mass-of-spirituals-print-g8225

All of Me, Holland

https://giamusic.com/resource/all-of-me-print-g10512

Who inspires you? Perhaps it is this week’s guest, Tony Alonso. This conversation explores the bravery, audacity, but above all the invitation that calls us toward this sacred vocation of music ministry. How is God speaking to you? Through desire, gumption, curiosity? Through the voice of another? Through mentors, teachers, models, examples? And how do you know when you’re on the right track? What difference does it make? Settle into this conversation and reflect on your own vocation and path. 

Guests: Tony Alonso

Tony Alonso is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer of sacred music and a theologian whose work responds to the diverse needs of the contemporary church. 

A Cuban-American Roman Catholic, Tony's compositions embrace multicultural musical expressions and reflect a commitment to strong ritual song. His music appears in compilations and hymnals across Christian denominations throughout the world. Tony’s Mass of Joy and Peace is one of the most widely sung Mass settings in the United States. In 2015, his compositional work was recognized with an invitation to compose the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the United States. In 2020, he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for his groundbreaking album Caminemos con Jesús.

Tony's scholarly work lies at the intersection of liturgical theology and cultural studies. In 2019, he was awarded the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for new scholars for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition by the Catholic Theological Society of America. His book Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life was awarded the 2021 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize. Tony is Aquinas Associate Professor of Theology and Culture with tenure at Candler School of Theology at Emory University where he also serves as the inaugural Director of Catholic Studies.

Songs heard in this episode: 

G-4293, With the Lord There Is Mercy, from We Are God’s People, Cotter

G-10077, Caminemos Con Jesus, Alonso

G-8675, I Will Lift My Eyes, Alonso

As we celebrate Christmas Eve, Kyle Cothern reflects on Psalm 96. Featuring music by Chris de Silva ("Silent Night" from Colours) and Richard Proulx ("Christmas Mass at Midnight: Psalm 96") both published by GIA Publications, Inc.

As we light the fourth candle of the Advent Wreath, Jennifer Odegard reflects on Psalm 80. Featuring music by Chris de Silva ("Silent Night" from Colours) and Paul Hillebrand ("Lord, Make Us Turn to You: Psalm 80") both published by GIA Publications, Inc.

As we light the third candle of the Advent Wreath, Ed Bolduc reflects on Isaiah 12. Featuring music by Chris de Silva ("Silent Night" from Colours) and Aaron Thompson ("Cry Out With Joy and Gladness") both published by GIA Publications, Inc.

As we observe the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Sidran Olson reflects on Psalm 98. Featuring music by Chris de Silva ("Grace" from Colours) and Kiran Young Wimberly ("Sing to the Lord") both published by GIA Publications, Inc.