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.

Circle of Life

October 17, 2014

We began today with another trip to Jerusalem--this time to work with the Jerusalem YMCA Youth Chorus (mentioned in yesterday's blog).  It was another "back to the future" moment for David--he had sung in the adult Jerusalem YMCA Chorus when he lived here as a college sophomore on the St. Olaf program (see manhole cover below) and now was back as a conductor working with their Youth Chorus.

St. Olaf Lion (actually Jerusalem Lion) in the middle of an Old City manhole cover

David made the connection with the Youth Chorus when he met the director's mother at the October 1 Canadian Thanksgiving celebration at the Mt. of Olives home of Mark and Susanne Brown.  She sent David an email with her son, Micah's contact info.  Micah, a recent music/international studies grad from Yale, founded this chorus a couple of years ago.  He graciously welcome David's email with an invitation to come and work with the choir.  We had a great time with the Youth Chorus. It helped that it was a small group and David was able to learn their names.  He was able to do his vocal foundations spiel with them, then gave them some feedback on music they are working on, with audible improvements that they and their director heard and were excited about.

Jerusalem YMCA Youth Chorus warming up with David

Jerusalem YMCA Youth Chorus singing

We hopped back on a bus for Bethlehem (fortunately catching it at just the right time and place) and got back to Bethlehem.   It was voice lessons and voice studio class today.  It's remarkable how open the students are to trying new things.

Voice studio class at Dar al-Kalima  (the professor, Hassan, is at the piano;  students are using their cellphones for the song lyrics)

At the end of the day, David ran into Angie Sabo (who got her masters' degree at Concordia University, St. Paul and attended Bethlehem Lutheran a few years ago, and now is director of communications for the Diyar Consortium that oversees Dar al-Kalima).  She was ably and engagingly leading a US group touring the facility;  she communicates the tremendous challenges the people face here, but also the great hope that the Diyar programs give to people--sharing her own experience and those of past and current students. 

Angie and David at Dar al-Kalima

Vocal student Ichsan (sp?) singing at the table in the student cafe, accompanied by another student on guitar while Achmed and a US visitor (back to camera) listen

This is the remarkable thing about this place--people are daily faced with injustice, closed opportunities, petty and great obstacles, and even personal pain, yet they still work with a positive spirit and live in hope.  They live out David's confirmation verse:  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope."  (Romans 15:13)   May we all live in that hope!

P.S. We arrived in Jerusalem a bit early for the YMCA chorus clinic, so we stopped in at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in hopes of missing the huge crowds.  We were successful in that the place was nearly empty--but the shrine of the empty tomb was closed for cleaning--not the usual picture one thinks of for one of the major holy places of Christendom, but a rather nice reminder that the Church does exist in this world, and continually needs cleaning out--literally and spiritually!

Shop-vacuuming the Holy Sepulchre

Sweeping yesterday away from the Sepulchre shrine

The Walls come a tumblin down--the Power of Music to break down boundaries

October 16, 2014

We've written a lot about places we've been and things we've seen, but the most significant experiences we've had have truly been the people we've connected with.  Teaching at Dar al-Kalima is obviously the center of that.    Here are a couple of pictures of the school (and, yes, we've been lacking in good people shots thus far, which we'll be correcting soon--it seems that all the times we could take people pictures, we are in the midst of working with the students :)

The entrance to Dar Al Kalima--one of my Music Appreciation students coming down the hill

Dar al-Kalima students hanging out in the cafe (functions just like Pearson Commons at CSP)

Seniors in the high school at Dar al-Kalima letting off steam in the new fieldhouse (There placement exams are coming up very soon--major pressure for them)

The main classroom building at Dar al-Kalima (David usually teaches one floor up)

The basic teaching schedule has been:

Wednesdays--teach a general education Music Appreciation class--translated with the able and insightful help of Najwa Raheb, piano faculty member and spouse of Pastor Mitri Raheb.  So far Kathy and I have led a survey of Western solo vocal music over the past milennium,  a version of the Poehler lecture, and next week a survey of African American Spirituals (tying those into other music that also became part of social protest movements, such as the Baltic Singing Revolution and South African Freedom Songs).

Fridays--co-teach voice lessons and a voice studio class with Hassan, a fine musician and young faculty member

Saturdays--co-teach more voice lessons and the music ensemble with Hassan

The students have been delightful to work with, and very responsive.  Voice students are open to trying new things, and they all have improved.  I'll leave names out right now, as I haven't asked their permission to talk about them.  Snapshots--one is a very hard worker, and taps into online programs to help her learn how to play the piano and read music.  Another is a passionate singer with a big voice--he was a winner in the school's version of "Palestinian Idol"  a couple of years ago.  Another young woman is a skilled performer who is singing in concerts on her own already.  Another is quiet and shy at first, but has blossomed into a bigger voice that is revealing color.  Another is a young Muslim girl with a colorful voice that has approached me to get some extra lessons--and I hear her singing on her own as she walks between classes.  They are all eager and look to the future with hope--several have asked me about coming to the US to study with us at Concordia--would be delightful to have them.

The ensemble is very interesting.  The students possess skills in Arabic music that I could never hope to match, but need work on reading and--something not part of their culture--singing in harmony.  We've started learning a spiritual ("Keep Your Lamps"),  an African song (Uya i mose)  and a canon ("Now I walk in Beauty").  They are eager to learn and love the progress they are making.

The Music Appreciation class is very interesting.  The language barrier is even bigger in this subject, but they are attentive, ask good questions, and raise interesting insights.  Yesterday in the lecture I gave on church music and the impact music can have on society, they latched onto the story I shared of the Baltic Singing Revolution--the enormous singing festivals of hundreds of thousands, and the Baltic Chain of 1-2 million people in 1989 of people holding hands across all three Baltic countries in one long chain as a protest.  Prof. Raheb related with them her experience in Germany and seeing the Berlin Wall, and the students immediately related to the wall in the Occupied Territories.   They were deeply moved by this, and I'm going to pursue this area more in next week's talk (my last with them.)

After class, another student who obviously has a deep heart approached me with his best English and talked about how music can touch the heart and change people--and how most people there want to love each other and live together, regardless of religion or race--and saw hope in how music can help bring that about.  I let him and other students know about a choir I'll be working with in Jerusalem tomorrow morning--the YMCA Youth Chorus that brings high school aged Palestinians, Arab Israelis, and Jewish Israelis together in one chorus (here is a Huffington Post that includes a Youtube link to a project they just did:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/ymca-jerusalem-youth-chorus_n_5968274.html

The Dar al-Kalima students were thrilled to hear about this and wanted to know much more.  Right now, it would be impossible for most of them to go the six miles to Jerusalem to participate in this chorus, but maybe someday it will be possible--hopefully music can help to bring down the walls--even if it is simply the walls in our hearts.

Magnificat at San Salvatore

October 13, 2014

After a day to recoup from Galilee, two full days of very successful teaching--David is a hit at Dar al-Kalima--and Sunday service music contributions, we were able to go to Jerusalem to make contact with another prominent choral director in the area--proving to be one of our best days among many great ones already.

If we enter the New Gate of the Old City (Northwest corner of the wall), take an immediate left, and pass under an archway with the words "Terra Sancta" above, we come to one of the sweet surprises of this ancient city.  Here we find some of the property of the Franciscan Order, the Catholic "Proprietors of the Holy Land."  One this property is the Italianate church of "San Salvatore,"  a wonderful gem and the heart behind a wonderful music school.

Sanctuary of San Salvatore Church

Organ at San Salvatore

Over thirty years ago, an Italian Franciscan priest arrived at San Salvatore to be organist for one year.  Father Armando Pierucci is now about to turn 80 and never did return home to Italy, spending the years to found and nurture a music academy.  One of the children of the church, Hannia Soudah-Sabbara--baptized, confirmed and eventually married in this lovely place,  later became director of the program--the Magnificat Institute School of Music, Jerusalem--and its lead choral conductor, growing it into five choirs and 250 students in music lessons on all instruments.  The music school is largely supported by donors from Italy.  It serves Palestinian children, training them in music of the Christian Arab tradition, melding it to the Western polyphonic heritage.  The students reach a high level--particularly in piano and organ.  They have developed a curriculum using Arab melodies as the basis for teaching music reading, arranging them for voice, solo piano, and four hand piano.  Graduates of the school are now instructors and conductors themselves in the program. 

We were inspired by the visit and are eager to share the materials with Dar al-Kalima.  Hannia has invited David to come back and work with her choir next Saturday (and offered to drive us back after the rehearsal since the busses will all be done.)  

After meeting with Hannia, we got a lamb schewerma, falafel, and fresh squeezed mango juice from our now-favorite "fast-food" place in the souk down from Damascus Gate, and fought our way through the massive crowds converging on the Old City for Sukkoth.  We got out of the Old City for a quiet visit to the Dormition Abbey Church (the traditional burial place of Mary).  In the crypt there were some beautiful mosaics, including pictures of Old Testament women, including one of David's favorite characters, Ja-el (He wanted to name Susanna that;  everyone objected, so she has a name that means "a lily,"  as opposed to an axe-murderer).

Ceiling mosaics of Miriam with her tambourine and Jael with her tent peg (for driving through the enemy Sisera's head)

When we got back to Bethlehem, we enjoyed dinner together in the cafe of the Christmas Lutheran-based International Conference Center of Bethlehem  (ICB) with Pastor Mitri Raheb and his wife, Najwa (who teaches music at Dar al-Kalima).  It was a lovely evening to a great day.

 A sculpture of David with his harp in the entrance to the ICB

Around the Sea of Galilee and up to the "city on a hill"

October 7, 2014

Galilee is the green(er by comparison) agricultural area of Israel.  There are still mountains and rocky outcroppings, but expansive fields form a patchwork in the Jezreel Valley.  Palm trees were heavy with bananas. 

Kathy (with her trusty sun "parasol"--she'd given David her hat, as he'd left his in Jordan) at the top of the Cliffs of Arbel overlooking the Plains of Magdala next to the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee

It was good to think of Jesus growing up and spending much of His ministry here, though it was a time of military occupation, tension and oppression (rather like the present),  there was wonderful natural beauty that offers opportunities for refuge and renewal. 

On our way back to Tel Aviv/Jerusalem/Bethlehem, we drove around a smooth and shimmering Sea of Galilee, where we visited some of the Biblical sites and even took a little sunrise swim. 

Sunrise at the Sea of Galilee

After our swim (where we realized we had slipped in to a private hotel beach, but no one stopped us :)--one of those easier to ask for forgiveness than permission times.  

Perhaps the best part for us was driving up partway, then climbing the remainder to Hippos/Susita, the "city on the hill" cited in Matthew 5.  David's Concordia colleague, Dr. Mark Schuler, has led an archaeological dig at this site for more than ten years, uncovering a Byzantine era church on the site. Our youngest daughter, Christine, participated in this dig for two summers while in college. 

David on the way up to Hippos (in the background) wearing Kathy's hat and looking like a jolly Emperor Palpatine.

Kathy walking past the back of the apse of the Byzantine Church (which blocked the road) at Hippos.

The Church of the Transfiguration on the top of Mt. Tabor in the Jezreel Valley.

Galilee Day 1--Ups and downs, and angels for sheep unaware

In the early hours of Monday, October 6 we walked through the strangely quiet streets of Bethlehem to board a bus for Jerusalem to obtain a rental car.  Thankfully, we did start out early, because, as it turned out, streets were already being closed for a Formula One racecar event through the streets of Jerusalem, and we got out of town just as they were shutting the area down.  David had made contact with an Arab Israeli choir director living in Shefar'm between Haifa and Nazareth in Galilee.  We were driving north to meet with him and work with a couple of his choirs.

The drive up included a stop at the ruins of King Herod the Great's seaport city of Caesurea,

Kathy with BigFoot, sighted at Caesurea

great confusion driving around/through Haifa, and an abortive attempt to visit Akko (we did see funky "statue" of Napoleon at the top of the hill while winding our way out of a traffic jam.)   As it turned out, this was not our best travel day. Our initial weeks in Israel coincided with multiple religious holidays--the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, followed by Yom Kippur, Christian Thanksgiving, and the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha (someone here likened Eid here as being the same scope to the Western Christmastide). Hot on the heels of these holidays, the Jews celebrate Sukkoth (Feast of the Booths) for a week.  All of these involve multiple days off and complications for anyone in need of groceries, banks, car rental, buses, travel, etc.  With some local advice, we thought we had fit this trip into a gap between the holidays.   Instead, we hit closures, huge vacationing crowds, and traffic snafus. 

It was the kindness of strangers that saved the day.  We were warmly welcomed by Rahid Haddad, the choir director of the Sawa choral program in Shefar'm (based in a Catholic community center) late Monday afternoon.  Visiting with him in his office we were refreshed with chilled bottled water, sweet green tea, and cakes. 

Rahib Haddad and David before the evening clinics

Rahib conducts several choirs.  This Monday evening it was the Youth Choir from 6-7:45 and the Adult Choir from 8-9:45.  As with the students at Dar al-Kalima, the reading of music is almost non-existent.  Rahib has worked hard to develop their ability to sing in choral harmony while maintaining an Arab tone;  he has dreams of developing choirs in five other cities.

Rahib is an Arab Christian with Israeli citizenship because he lives in an area that Israel won in the 1948 war that began the state of Israel.  His citizenship is a mixed blessing.  While he enjoys some priviliges not allowed the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, he is an alien to both Jewish Israelis and to his own less privileged brothers and sisters living under occupation.  He has been successful in setting up some collaborations with Israelis, Palestinians, and Arab choirs in the region, but has also experienced rejection. 

David's time with the choirs was enjoyable, and seemed to be mutually beneficial.  In their comments after the clinics, a couple of the boys enthusiastically thanked him for helping them grow, the overall attitude was that they enjoyed being pushed and challenged, and another said "you are so cute!"  (In her English, that meant he was energetic and fun.)    Adults commented that they enjoyed hearing the analysis of singing technique, and how the application of physical energy to their song improved everything.

By the time we were headed out from a late supper with Rahib after the rehearsal, it was nearly 11 p.m.  We had called ahead, but once in Nazareth (15 miles away), our directions simply weren't working, and the language barrier added to our difficulty.  It seemed we would be sleeping in the car that night. Finally we found a restaurant in the Old City with an owner who knew English.  He drew us a little stick map to the Fauzi Azar Inn--only a short distance, but many lefts and rights away.  We left the car and ran in and out through the quiet neighborhood. To our amazement, we found the small green door of entrance--and it was open!  Linda, the receptionist, was just about to go home (she had waited an extra 45 minutes for us);  she spoke English, she smiled, and checked us in.  We managed to retrace our steps back to the car, and with some further (though less) trauma, we made it to the parking car several blocks away, where the parking attendant had also waited for us to arrive--over an hour late--and greeted us cheerfully and pointed us back to the charming Fauzi Azar Inn for a short, but restful night.   The Inn was a family mansion from the Turkish Ottoman days that was renovated about a dozen years ago by a Jewish couple  that wanted to help revive the Nazareth Old City (they succeeded--and they also helped set up the backpacking "Jesus Trail" in Israel).  A very remarkable place that brought peace and closure to a challenging, but also rewarding day. 

Kathy and David the next morning at the Fauzi Azar Inn "little green door" entrance they crawled through the night before--much happier and ready for a great day in Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee area (next blog).

Back to the Future--Nazareth meets Poland meets Chicago O'Hare--October 5

October 5, 2014

After our Thanksgiving Feast, we went for a nice walk through the neighborhood, ending up at the Church of the Nativity.  It was quieter that afternoon than the first time we visited.  As we were at the crypt of the birth, a group of pilgrims came through with great reverence.  They started singing a song, and we recognized it as the beloved Polish Christmas lullaby, "Lullajzhe Jezu Nyue"--the same carol that the Christus Chorus sang for the beleaguered Polish people in 2000 when we were all stranded together at Chicago's O'Hare airport--a song that, by those Pole's own words and actions, "brought peace."   Their song did the same for us, giving a wonderful connection to the past in this far away land.

The site of the original entrance to Bethlehem on Star Street 

(traditional site for entry of Mary & Joseph--see Santa Clause above the door)

The traditional site of Jesus' birth enshrined at the Church of the Nativity

Polish pilgrims singing Lullajzhe Jezu Nyui at Nativity Church.