A Marvelous weekend of music

October 18-19 in Bethlehem and Jerusalem

Saturday, October 18 began with a full schedule of teaching private lessons and music ensemble.  David started the day with an extra lesson with a young Muslim singer, Ichsan.  She has a remarkable voice--can sing in the Arabic style marvelously, but also has a lovely voice for Western classical--and a huge range!  She sang with color to a low G and up to a high F (think Mozart Queen of the Night).   She hadn't explored that range before--she asked David to teach her how to do "whistle register" and we explored and found these high notes that were easy and beautiful.  We also did some physical motions that helped her move from low to high register without a break.  She is one of the students who has asked about coming to Concordia to study.

Ichsan in our lesson (photo of Dar al Kalima musicians in background) and singing a traditional Arabic song in the video below:

 After a few more voice lessons that day, we finished up with Ensemble.  Today Hassan took just the instrumentalists, and David took the singers, building on the last two weeks of teaching SATB harmony, and adding a canon, "Now I Walk in Beauty."  The class was visited by a delegation from the German state church, including their bishop and a camera crew.  David had them all sing with the class--they said they would rather stay and keep singing than move on with their business :)

Some of the singers in the Dar al-Kalima Ensemble in four part harmony

 Hassan, the professor of the Ensemble and voice teacher, then took us with him on a shorter route to Jerusalem, which included going through a major security checkpoint, but was quicker in the long run.  We had a light picnic supper outside the Old City before going on to the evening clinic with the Magnificat Institute choir.

Jerusalem at sunset looking past Jaffa Gate outside the Old City Walls.

 We were delighted to rejoin our friends at the Magnificat Institute, who, after we visited last Monday, invited us back to lead a choral clinic with their adult choir (one of four choirs in their program.)

Hania Soudah-Sabbara (conductor/leader of the Magnificat Institute), Kathy, David, and Father Armando Pierucci (founder of the Magnificat Institute and lead organist at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) 

 We got to hear the end of one of their children's choirs in rehearsal--delightful--and then David did and extended warm-up and worked with the Adult choir on a few of their pieces.  Once again, the conversation continued with several singers after the rehearsal.

The Magnificat Choir with David in rehearsal

 Hania and Father Armando proved to be wonderful hosts;  tea and chocolate after the rehearsal provided us with a pleasant conversation about the joys and frustrations of church music--with the added complications of politics in the Holy Land.  Hania shuttled us back to the checkpoint, and another member of the choir from Bethlehem drove us back to Star Street.

Sunday morning was a special service for us at Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.  We again joined their choir, led by Ewa and Boulos, and there were guest groups from Germany, the UK, and two from the US.  

part of the choir of Christmas Lutheran Church (Adel Nasser, tenor and calligraphic artist,  Boulus and daughter with his music director wife Ewa,  Christy from the US, Kathy and David)

The organist played Vaughan Williams "O How Amiable" as a procession, and the congregation once again sang up a storm.

the organ at Christmas Lutheran Church

The German group sang an American Christian contemporary song with guitars in German and Arabic, and Kathy and David performed Schutz for a prelude and a spiritual, "Religion is a Fortune" towards the end of the service, which went over really big  (Pastor Raheb thanked us for our contributions, with a note the next day that the music was"special").  We finished by singing a hymn to the melody of Beethoven's Ode to Joy--a marvelous eclectic mix for a traditional worship service.

The congregation singing up a storm (choir in the front)

Chancel at Christmas Lutheran Church (Pastor Mitri Raheb on the right)

 After the service, the coffee hour was packed, with lots of visiting and connecting.  It was a wonderful weekend of music making and building relationships in worship and art.