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News from Vocal Works


A Word of Explanation

As I work with sacred solo music, I occasionally make discoveries that I think would be of interest to the users of this website.  I see these as different from the "Extras" which I expect to keep more or less indefinitely.  Any "News" item will become less relevant in the ensuing days or weeks, so I will purge items on this page frequently. You can find older items in the News Archive.
 

Added 3/26/24: Sondra Elkins' Solo Performed at TMC on 3/24/24

Sondra Elkins, C.S. is a practitioner who lives in Cincinnati, OH.  And as those of you know who heard Sunday's solo performed at The Mother Church, she is also a talented composer.  Having known her for many years, I contacted her about Sunday's solo, and I asked if she might like to have it available in the Solo Bank to go along with the other two of her solos that are in this website.  She agreed and sent me a recording made at her own church.

You can find "All Things Are Possible" in the "Latest Solos" page and in the Title and Composer pages.  Also, the lyrics are available here.  Until she arranges a regular distributor, you can request sheet music from her by e-mail, rselkins@fuse.net.
 

Added 3/18/24: Ordering Music from Carl Fischer Music

My constant mission with the Solo Bank has been to make available sheet music for the recordings or at least track down sources for sheet music.  Music published in Britain (during the 1940s, 50s and 60s) has often been a problem, especially the music of lyricist Edgar Newgass, as well as composers Augustus Lowe, Dorothy Martin, and several others.  Consequently, the "Source" column for this music in the Solo Bank has been blank.

My incorrect understanding was that obtaining this music from the rights holder, Carl Fischer Music, was difficult and required the purchase of multiple copies at high prices.  That was incorrect.  Recently, I've tested acquiring music from Carl Fischer and found prices and service quite reasonable.  The details are here:  https://www.vocal-works.com/CarlFischer.htm.

With new confidence in the easy availability of music from Carl Fischer, I have replaced 34 blanks in the "Source" column with Y's.
 

Added 2/10/24: New Availability of the Music of Patricia Siler

Patricia Siler first contributed her music to the Solo Bank many years ago, and those interested in sheet music have been directed to contact her by e-mail.  Recently, she decided to make her music easier to acquire by allowing me to distribute it for her.  As she said, "My wish is to bless our church community with the musical inspiration and collaboration with others that have unfolded."  For the Solo Bank recordings, Ms. Siler has not sung the music herself, but has enlisted the services of several professional-quality soloists.

Her latest composition is new words to Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" that should work better than traditional lyrics in the Christian Science church setting.  To encourage Solo Bank users to familiarize themselves with Ms. Siler's work, I will send, on request, PDFs of all 6 of her titles without charge through April 30 of this year.
 

Added 2/2/24: New Availability of the Music of William E. Graham

William E. Graham (1923-1999) had a varied musical career, and in his later years was a church organist. At mid-career, he composed for choruses, but between 1982 and 1990 he composed 12 solos, mostly based on the poems of Mary Baker Eddy and hymns from the 1932 Christian Science Hymnal. Of his solos, he once told Louise (Maynard) Cleveland that each solo was based on a healing.

The music was only published in manuscript form and was copyrighted by Mr. Graham personally. He sold the music until his passing, and his wife, Jean, continued the sales briefly thereafter. For the past 20 years, there has been no way to purchase his music, except the few extra originals that I have acquired and have been able to send by postal mail. The copyright has kept me from offering this music as PDFs via e-mail.

Over the years I have expended a lot of effort to track down composers or their heirs in order to request permission to distribute their music. Fortunately, there have been perhaps a dozen cases where this permission was granted. There have also been cases where my research has led me to believe that a copyright has been abandoned by disinterested heirs. Now, I have decided that this is the case for the music of William E. Graham, which has been largely withheld from use by Christian Science churches for the 20+ years since his passing and that of his wife. Accordingly, the 9 compositions by Mr. Graham in the Solo Bank will now be available as PDFs via e-mail. My plan is to add the remaining 3 pieces in the coming months.
 

Added 12/26/23: Collister and Ragsdale on Sheet Music Plus

Besides being available from Watchfire Music, the sacred solos of Robert Collister and Elizabeth Ragsdale are available from Sheet Music Plus.  Advantages provided by the latter, besides digital download, are presentation of 2 or more pages of a score, plus an audio sample.
 
Added 10/23/23: Elizabeth Barber Music Now Available

It was several years ago that I somehow I acquired a collection titled Sacred Classics: 19 Solos for Voice and Keyboard.  Experienced soloist Elizabeth Barber had adapted the music of 19 classic composers for use as solos in Christian Science churches.  She had self-published the collection in 2007, and over the past few years I sang 6 selections in church and added recordings of my performances to the Solo Bank.

It wasn't until a Solo Bank user reported difficulty in contacting Ms. Barber that I realized she had disappeared from all traces on the Internet.  I sent many letters and made many phone calls until I was finally able to locate her daughter, who was unaware that her mother (now in an assisted living facility) had ever published music.  The happy ending is that mother and daughter have granted me permission to distribute music from Sacred Classics: 19 Solos for Voice and Keyboard.  Another mystery solved!
 

Added 7/17/23: Changes in "My Favorites" List ─ Best of "Guest Singers"

In recent years, I've learned that recordings from this website are used in church services or just for listening. Over many months, I've reorganized the "My Favorites" list with those uses in mind.

Also, the "My Favorites" list has only included recordings of my singing.  Yet there are many excellent recordings from other singers in the Solo Bank.  I should have highlighted those long before now, but at last you can access a list of what I consider to be the best 70 or so of the contributions of guest singers.  Here's a direct link.
 

Added 7/13/23: Encourage a Composer You Never Heard of (UPDATE)

I don't know how I got it, but last week I recorded a truly lovely setting of "In Heavenly Love Abiding."  It was copyrighted 1982 by Paraclete Press.  Trying to find how one might obtain a copy, I searched their website (and the rest of the Internet), but got nowhere.  Then I decided to try to track down the composer, Alan MacMillan.  From his website, I found that he composes mostly for organ and choruses.  And although there was no contact information in his website, I did some sleuthing and found his e-mail address.

In his response to my e-mail, he was amazed that his setting of "In Heavenly Love Abiding" had turned up because he had forgotten about it.  He didn't know how to get a copy (legally), suggesting that I write to Paraclete Press.  I just heard from them.

Paraclete Press has authorized me to make 5 copies of this piece without charge.  Furthermore, I have discovered that I can get permission from other publishers to make small numbers of copies for a modest price.  The limitation is that I can't sell these to users of the Solo Bank.  Accordingly, I will note that they are "free solos."  I will print the authorized number of copies and mail them to requestors in the least expensive way possible.  And requestors should not pay me for the service.  It's a clumsy way of distribution in this electronic age, but I'm just glad that many pieces of music, hitherto completely unavailable, can be supplied to those who will appreciate them.
 

Added 6/20/23: Michael Head's "Beloved, Let Us Love One Another"

For years, I have felt that this beautiful piece, copyrighted in 1964, was out of print and unavailable.  In my files, I had only one copy.  Then an inquiry from a Solo Bank user prompted me to do a little extra Internet research, and I found the music in an obscure corner of the Boosey & Hawkes website.  Best yet, it is available for instant download.  So, if you want to add this to your library, here is the link:  https://www.boosey.com/shop/prod/Head-Michael-Beloved-Let-Us-Love-One-Another-Vocal-Piano-in-F-Digital-Sheet-Music/2406201.

With this, another blank in the Solo Bank's source column is filled in.  If you make similar discoveries, please let me know, and I'll pass the information along.
 

Added 5/20/23: The Music of Glenn Heck

I've communicated with the family of Glenn Heck, and to the best of my understanding, they have abandoned their claim to the copyrights on his music.  That means I can send PDFs of the 4 of his compositions currently in the Solo Bank.  I need some help from Solo Bank users, though.

I don't have a copy of his "The Christ Is Here," and I need better copies (original or PDF) of "Our Purpose," "The Promised Comforter Is Come," and his setting of MBE's "Love."  Please check your church music library, and if you can, please consider sending me these items.
 

Added 5/5/23: More of John Jones Music Added to the Solo Bank

Until today, you could only listen to 8 of John Jones' solos through the Solo Bank.  Now you can listen to 8 more, all of which are available from Watchfire Music, www.watchfiremusic.com. You'll find that these compositions are all extraordinarily diverse, nearly all scriptural, and professionally produced.
 
Added 2/11/23: Secular Music from Carolyn Kardinal

“Oregon Glory” is the name of an album of Carolyn Kardinal’s music that was published in 1995 in cassette and CD formats. I believe this was before she began publishing her sacred sheet music and albums. Recently, I was able to buy the cassette on eBay (no longer available there), and Amazon has what appears to be a single copy of the CD offered at $99.99.

I was completely unaware of this album until I got the cassette. I’ve listened to it at least a half-dozen times in the past week, and to me, it’s delightful. Carolyn wrote the music, with titles like “Old Growth Forest” and “Backroads of Oregon.” She and her brother Roger Kardinal did the vocals, with help from children family members, plus light instrumentation and even sound effects ─ all professionally produced, to my mind. I’d describe the style as folk music, with memorable, frequently toe-tapping melodies. Overall, the songs glorify nature, conservation, and Oregon heritage.

Although the physical media may be hard to acquire, all 12 tracks of the album are on YouTube. You can search for “Carolyn Kardinal” to find them interspersed with recordings of Carolyn’s sacred music. They were posted by someone named Armitage Soulshroude, so the easiest way to access all the tracks is to subscribe to his channel.
 

Added 2/8/23: Discovery of the Music of Julie C. Foskett

In 2002, I bought 2 songs from Julie Foskett, then of Edmonds, WA.  The following year, I sang her setting of "Feed My Sheep," and it has since been one of my favorite settings of that poem.  Late last year, I realized I'd never sung her setting of "Love," and I was curious whether she had written any other music.  Since she also lived in Washington, I asked Carole Baldwin whether she knew anything about Ms. Foskett.  Carole made many inquiries, including finding that Ms. Foskett had passed on, and eventually she connected with Alan Venner, who was close enough to Ms. Foskett to know how to contact her daughter, Laura Ely.

Initially, Laura told me that as far as she knew, those were the only two songs her mother had written.  Then, a week later, she wrote to say that she had found 3 more settings of MBE poems, copyrighted, but in manuscript form.  She sent them to me, and I was delighted to find that they were as appealing as the two songs I had bought 20 years earlier.

Laura also gave me permission to distribute this music, and now all 5 of her mother's compositions are available and recorded in the Solo Bank.  I'm thrilled that all the work of this inspired and talented composer is now available.
 

Added 1/24/23: New Music from Peter B. Allen

I think I know what Peter B. Allen was doing during the pandemic:  he was compiling a new collection of vocal solos titled Sixteen Sacred Solos.  I'm guessing the part about the pandemic because his introduction to this collection is dated November, 2020.  These solos are slowly being added to the Solo Bank.

The full list of these new songs is in Peter's website at www.pbamusic.com.  Using PayPal, you can purchase the songs individually or the whole collection at once ─ for instant download.  You can also listen to Peter's albums published between 1994 and 2007, and see videos of performances of a number of songs, including a few from this new collection.  And of course you can purchase his earlier vocal works.
 

Added 1/13/23: Carolyn Kardinal: An Appreciation

I just learned of the passing of Carolyn Kardinal last October.  For almost 2 decades, she has been my favorite composer of music for Christian Science services.  Along with my gratitude for her inspiring and beautiful compositions, I am deeply saddened that there will be no new Sunday solos from her.

Carolyn's legacy is her prolific body of work over the past 2 decades:  81 wonderful songs.  Sheet music and accompaniment tracks for all are available from Watchfire Music (www.watchfiremusic.com), and recordings of 80 are available here in the Solo Bank.  Also you can hear Josh Henn sing 8 of her songs on his CD "Open Mine Eyes" available at this link.  Or hear him sing 7 more in his "God So Loved the World" CD, available at this link.

Carolyn wrote so much music that I imagine that no one reading this has heard each of her compositions, so I'm starting a special feature ─ "81 Days of Carolyn Kardinal" ─ one of her songs featured on this site each day until April 3, 2023.