Operatic soprano/voice teacher/therapist Patricia Martinez, who's based in the Kansas City area and performs with the musical collective Sacred & Secular, discusses how her interest in music began, what led her into teaching music and her spiritual journey.  She also sings an aria from "Adriana Lecouvreur," an early 20th-century opera (music by Francesco Cilea, libretto Arturo Clautti), performed at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and later mixed by Nick Sanabria. 

Notes:

• Patricia Martinez has two websites where she can be reached. The one mentioned during the episode is https://www.artistcounseling.com/. Her other website, which includes her career bio and wasn't mentioned, is www.patriciamartinezsoprano.com. 
• For additional samples of Nick Sanabria's work, visit http://www.nicksanabria.com/.
• For more information about composer Francesco Cilea, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Cilea. 
• For more information about librettist Arturo Colautti, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Colautti.
• Original music featured in this episode: "Midnight Moonlight Meditations" and "St. Adele's Waltz" (For Piano), composed by Shawn Roney, performed by Sacred & Secular. 
• "Midnight Moonlight Meditations" is available for streaming in its entirety on multiple platforms, including Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/track/3GYwlyzQ052uoRhSZU2Kgp.
• "St. Adele's Waltz" is featured on "In Solitude," Sacred & Secular's debut album,  available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube Music. To listen to the song in its entirety, visit https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3y6GK0Edn-Q&feature=share. 
• To stream "In Solitude" in its entirety on YouTube Music, visit https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n_78QgdhLloJ4Fof5j2lXEqC1bnfyCaCU.  

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Host Shawn Roney offers New Year's wishes for 2021. 

Notes:

• Music: "Auld Lang Syne," traditional, arranged by Shawn Roney, performed by Sacred & Secular. 

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Podcast host Shawn Roney shares what's new with Sacred & Secular, the music collective he founded, and muses briefly on his decision to include Randy Newman's work in the collective's repertoire. 

Notes: 

• Music featured: "St. Adele's Waltz," composed by Shawn Roney, performed by Sacred & Secular, included on the forthcoming album "In Solitude"; "Silent Night," music by Franz Xaver Gruber,  included on the Dec. 10, 2020, episode of "Ray County Voices."
• Here are some links to the outside material under consideration for recording by Sacred & Secular:  "Suzanne," written and performed by Leonard Cohen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svitEEpI07E; "Burn On," written and performed by Randy Newman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUo4AzZ90qg; "Angel from Montgomery," written and performed by John Prine, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cagWYTGCY;  "Jesus," written by Lou Reed, performed by the Velvet Underground, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7MztmsG7E.

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Host Shawn Roney shares some future plans for the show and his musical collective, Sacred & Secular.

Notes: 

• Music featured: "St. Adele's Waltz," composed by Shawn Roney, performed by Sacred & Secular; "Minuet for a Melancholy Guardian Angel," composed by Shawn Roney, performed by Sacred & Secular.
• Phillis Wheatley's poetry is easily accessible online. I encourage you to check it out. Links where you can read her work include https://www.poemhunter.com/phillis-wheatley/ and https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley.
• For more information about Barnaby Bright and to listen to music by Nathan and Becky Bliss as Barnaby Bright, visit https://barnabybright.com/.
• To check out "Ray County Voices," also hosed by Shawn Roney, visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/996223. #RayCoVo

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Unlike typical "Songs, Spirituality and Stuff" episodes, which run about 30 minutes, this one is brief, featuring an update on a Sacred & Secular project and the recitation of a John Donne poem being considered for musical adaptation by program host/Sacred & Secular founder Shawn Roney.

Notes:
For text of Donne's sonnet, visit https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/holy-sonnet-xvi-father/.

The music featured in this episode is an excerpt from "St. Adele's Waltz," an original composition by host/Sacred & Secular founder Shawn Roney.

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• Phyllis Hopper, a member of the musical collective Sacred & Secular, shares how she came to play the cello and the instrument's positive influence on her life. Other topics include her faith journey and her projects outside of Sacred & Secular.
• Host/Sacred & Secular member Shawn Roney shares an excerpt from a collaborative work in progress between Ms. Hopper and himself, inspired by poet Emily Dickinson. He also discusses plans for the music, pending a decision by Harvard University Press regarding whether the work is under the copyright claim of HUP or in the public domain.

Notes:

• Check out Phyllis Hopper's arrangement work at https://phroglis.wixsite.com/mysite.
• For more information about Emily Dickinson, visit https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/. An excellent essay on Dickinson's relationship with faith is posted here: https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-dickinson/biography/special-topics/emily-dickinson-and-the-church/.
• To listen to the Andre Previn-Barbara Bonney rendition of Aaron Copland's adaptation of "I felt a funeral in my brain," the poem mentioned in this episode, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLAJyMUvNrg.
• Writer and scholar Rebecca Balcarcel offers a fascinating analysis of "I felt a funeral in my brain," including an alternate way of interpreting the work. Her analysis, posted on YouTube, is in two parts. For part I, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ISE11zqic. For part two, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6B6nCnpc0U.

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• Wichita, Kansas-based musician and composer Craig Owens shares how he entered the world of jazz and the Baha'i faith, and how his faith has influenced his music.

Notes:

• To view the Craig Owens Wild Child Bodo Ensemble's 2018 concert at the Fisch Haus in Wichita mentioned near the end of the interview, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT047d31H_Y&frags=pl%2Cwn.
• "The Seven Martyrs of Tehran" by Craig Owens and the Bodo Ensemble, also mentioned during the episode, is available on multiple digital platforms, including Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5oD9ntxp9qSVu2PbMthpPy.
• To view the CBS News report on the Baha'i faith, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmNWatW17kc.
• The music featured in the episode is from "Midnight Moonlight Meditations (Baring My Soul Version)," composed by Shawn Roney and performed by a solo incarnation of the music collective Sacred & Secular. To stream the composition in its entirety, visit https://open.spotify.com/album/0LtrrcY9XJuBy0K9eiFaZp.

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• Speaking from his country home near Polo, Missouri, Sacred & Secular member Robin Harvey discusses his spiritual journey, how his faith shapes his music and his involvement with the Bob Boerger Band, whose other members include Jerry Sprouse, and Sacred & Secular member Sandy Myerchin.
• Robin and host Shawn Roney play a duet of the "Ode to Joy" theme from Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Opus 125.
• Uses of "Ode to Joy" in 20th- and 21st-century history are discussed.

Notes:

• Check out the Colorado Symphony's performance of "Ode to Joy" while under quarantine here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p09hpKAv9Jc.
• Listen for Sacred & Secular's performance of "Ode to Joy" in the "Ray County Voices" podcast series.

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• Sacred & Secular founder and podcast host Shawn Roney shares some details about his spiritual journey and "Songs, Spirituality and Stuff."
• Sacred & Secular member E.E. Pointer discusses the influence of Buddhism on his art, particularly in his ongoing work with the River Cow Orchestra.
• Shawn shares an excerpt of "Miles the Monk, Minister of Musical Mantras," featuring E.E. on trumpet and Shawn on bass-programmed keyboard.

For more information about E.E. and his art, visit http://www.eepointer.com/.  

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