For Christmas Music Sunday in 2011, our Sanctuary Choir sang two choir pieces written by D. Buxtehude and J.S. Bach. These great composers are important musicians to me for two reasons. J.S. Bach is the greatest composer in western music history, as many people may agree, and Buxtehude may be the most important one Bach learned a lot from. He once traveled 300 miles to listen to Buxtehude’s music on a couple of weeks of vacation and stayed there for some months instead! This was very unusua...

When I played for funeral services, sometimes I heard Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 read, which is about a time for everything. Whenever I listened to these verses, it let me think about where I stand at the moment, and it gave me a kind of mysterious comfort. According to this message, we don’t have to be too sad and hopeless when we are in trouble. On the other hand, we should not be arrogant when we are successful.

When I started serving First Presbyterian Church in 2011, I was in a difficult tim...

Music is around us all the time. We celebrate our birthdays with music and send our people to heaven with music. We sing and play instruments when we are happy and we do the same thing when we are sad. God wants us to praise Him with music and God wants to communicate with us through music as well.

While writing this article, I am looking forward to Music Dedication Sunday on September 23. Our Celebration Ringers and Sanctuary Choir will play and sing during service. We will also introduce ...

While letting a fun summer go, another fruitful autumn is ahead of us! Are we ready to enjoy this beginning of the new church year?

Our first choir rehearsal will be on Wednesday, September 5. I am in the middle of selecting music for both Celebration and Sanctuary Choirs. Planning is a time-consuming job, but it’s a most happy and imagination-filled job for me. Actually, the good results of our music ministry usually starts with this planning process. Without careful and sincere planning...

Summer seems to be divided into three parts to me: exciting entrance in June, peak of enjoyment in July, and closing the season in August. Now, we are entering the phase of closing and preparing for coming seasons of school, work, and church year.

I have enjoyed some out-of-state activities in June and July this year: Handbell Festival in Rochester, MN with our bell choir members, and American Guild of Organists National Convention in Kansas City, MO with Miah. As a non-musical activity, I ...

I was in Rochester, MN June 22-24 with our Celebration Ringers participating in the Area 7 Handbell Festival Conference. This event happens every other year, and our ringers’ enthusiasm for this event has always been strong. After 2014, this year is my second time going to the event, and I enjoyed it again with our ringers. Learning some new things about the instrument and technique may be important, but personally, learning to be a player in a group, in this case a BIG group of about 400, ...

When I think of a break, there are two types in my mind. One is productive and voluntary. The other one is wasting and passive. In the scriptures, we can find these two examples. Jesus often took breaks in between his very busy ministries during his last years on earth. When he withdrew from his disciples and the people, he took time to pray and rest to recharge Himself for the next steps in teaching and leading the people around Him. The other case of break I found is when all of Jesus’ di...

Last Sunday (April 22), our choirs and I finally gave our annual Spring Concert. More than any other year, we encountered some unexpected obstacles during our preparation for the concert. The most shocking one was that our beloved Skinner pipe organ suddenly stopped working a few weeks before the concert. Luckily, I had planned a way to have the concert without using the main pieces that greatly needed the organ this year. But, we still needed our organ for Bach’s cantata and some other pie...

It was a cold and snowy day when I was alone playing the piano in our sanctuary, working on J.C. Bach’s piano quartet in G major, one of the pieces for our 2018 Spring Concert. Johann Christian Bach is one of Johann Sebastian’s sons. I was so happy when I found this piece while preparing this year’s Spring Concert. This piece is like an amazing combination of his father’s Baroque style and the style of the next generation, the Classical period.

I recognized, in the middle of playing...

 

This is a puppy doll I gave Miah as a gift for our anniversary last week, and I put it next to a turtle doll I gave Miah for her birthday a couple years ago to take a good picture. They look like good friends with each other, and I felt like they were talking about how they ended up living here with us. It seems amazing that we feel affection for these dolls even if they aren’t alive.

This year, Ash Wednesday is on February 14, which happens to be Valentine’s Day. Ash Wednesday is foll...

It seems like the changing of the seasons always comes to us suddenly before we can accept them. From last week in the middle of October, continuously rainy days started and the temperature suddenly dropped. Now I am worried about the baby grass that started growing after a week or so after I put seeds on the damaged spots on the side of my yard. When I look around, many houses were in the process of remodeling or maintaining. People are also cleaning up their garages and gardening equipment....

Again, the season of fall is coming back. Fall is supposed to be a harvesting season, and it seems to be especially true in Iowa.

When I eat my favorite, pork belly or fresh side pork, the Korean perilla (perilla leaf) is essential with lettuce. The strong aroma from the leaf goes wonderfully with oily pork meat. But, it’s not available at any nearby stores. So, I decided to grow it myself four years ago. I bought the seeds for this plant but they failed to grow.  The next year, I put the s...

We recently had our staff retreat, which was Thursday through Friday, August 17-18. This was my first overnight church staff activity out of town. We had a very exciting, fun, and meaningful time together thanks to Amy’s well-planned program, everyone’s active participation, great location, the wonderful facility of the retreat center, and our new staff member Stephanie, who joined us this year.

On the return trip, I was thinking about the retreat. What was the most important lesson I l...

A long time ago, I was chattering with a lady who was a school music teacher as well as church musician.  She said one of her school band students quit band recently, and she asked me if I could guess why.  On my puzzled face, she said the student's mom said she valued her family time, and her son's practicing took away from it. After a brief pause, we laughed out loud together for a while.  The conversation, though, didn't seem like just a light joke to me after I thought about it more deepl...

Our trip to Bremen, Germany was a great experience for many reasons. First of all, it was the first time I put my feet on the soil of a foreign country, except for when I came to the USA from Korea 20 years ago. Miah and I were part of the delegation that represented Americans after becoming US citizens just six weeks before the trip!

During the three-day conference and the closing worship with three different languages (German, English, and an African) on the third day of the trip, Miah an...

Doing our best to make our life worth each day and every day should be our goal.  After a while, though, we should also have a pause and look back, to remind us where we are from, and look forward, where we will walk onward. This will help us see the big picture so that we will not lose our identity and can set the right direction to keep going in our long life journey.

I had a great chance to review the history and the current situation of Korean Christian churches at First Congregational ...

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:16—NIV)

On a Friday afternoon after finishing my work, I was leaving the church using our new elevator. Right before opening the door going outside, I suddenly wanted to recall the old building structure around the current entrance doors and the elevator. I walked around the fire doors and looked around the stairs going to the kitchen area. I tried harder to picture the ...

The day I am writing this article is the first official day of spring on the calendar.  During the last Spring Concert in May, I proudly announced that we were going to have a new elevator to welcome more people to this church.  Now we have it and our musical groups with some guest musicians are preparing our 6th Annual Spring Concert on Sunday, April 30 at 3 p.m.

The concert will be performed by both Celebration Ringers and Sanctuary Choir with some guest vocalists with brass, percussion, d...

With witnessing the ongoing struggles and debates among people around the presidential campaign of 2016, I have been thinking about how hard it is to understand other people’s thoughts and to be in their shoes to see the world.

As a musician, my efforts to understand others has involved pursuing a variety of music for our services and concerts. For the last several years since 2012, our choir has sung repertories from the time of the Renaissance to contemporary music. Language-wise, we ha...

The year of 2017 should be a memorable point in my life in many ways. I started my 50’s this year in January, this is my 20th year since I came to the USA, and I am almost completely sure that I will become an American citizen this year. Whether others recognize it or not, many things have changed inside and outside of me. But, there are things that will not change; God and me, and the relationship between us and God.

There is a movie, among many, that I will remember my entire life: “C...

A few days ago, I found an interesting YouTube page provided by a young American man who is currently teaching English in Korea. His name is Oliver and first of all, his amazingly fluent Korean was so impressive. His many fun clips should be very helpful to many Koreans who want to learn English and more about America. While enjoying them, one video stood out to me strongly.

It was about the reality of America (literally interpreted as “the real face [without makeup] of America”), and h...

I am writing this article after watching a movie with some of our church children within our choir and chaperones. I showed a picture of our group I took there to one of my sisters in Korea. She said, “Wow, various races are in this picture!” Yes, we all may be different in color, but we are all the same as children of God. We had a fun time together that evening.

Now we are going to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. During this wonderful time of year, I again think ab...

Miah and I had another “Miah and Friends” concert last Sunday, October 23. It has been five years since 2012, and we have had lots of fun with many musician friends through these annual events. After this exciting concert, I thought I was going to get some rest for at least a few days.

On Monday morning, though, I realized that I couldn’t do so. Just look at all the fallen leaves in front and back yard! To make things worse, the weather forecast said we were going to have some rain fr...

This summer, I spent many more days traveling than I have any other year. It’s been three years since I visited Korea with my family in 2013, and I spent time with my family again because my father passed away pretty suddenly and unexpectedly. Since then I got to see my old church families in Ann Arbor, Michigan again after 15 years and in Mt. Clemens after six years.

I still appreciated the precious moments I had when I saw old friends and my own family after so many years, and that’s ...

Last week, I drove about 2,000 miles for a four-night, 5 day-vacation with my family. Our first destination was Niagara Falls, and we went through the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. On the road coming back home we visited two locations, Ann Arbor and Mt. Clements in Michigan, to meet our Hope Korean Church family and our First Presbyterian Church family. As time goes, relationships with people in the past become more and more precious and the desire to go back and visit them w...

What a month I have had in June! On June 2, I took a quick trip to Korea for my family, who mourned and comforted each other after my father passed away after 10 days in a hospital with two surgeries. He went back to heaven without too much pain or worry, and I believe that he had a pretty enjoyable life too. On the second day of my return from Korea, I had a last rehearsal with our ringers before the Handbell Festival in Sioux Falls and they left for the event two days later without me due t...

The annual Spring Concert this year in May at First Presbyterian Church will be the fifth one since 2012. In my own history of music ministry in the USA, it has been 16 years. I started this annual concert at St. John’s Episcopal Church of Westland, Michigan in 2000, and I have not skipped a single year. I believe it benefits church music ministry in various ways. First of all, it gives us an opportunity to maintain and develop our musical skills, and also shows us musical goals to achieve....

Recently I have witnessed so many musical events that have been taking place in our community. Among them, the Cedar Valley chapter of the American Guild of Organists hosted “January Jubilee” last month.  The event was mainly to encourage and support part-time church musicians, including our local musicians.  Over 40 people, including some people from nearby cities and other states, participated.  The organization will have another big event, “Pipe Organ Encounter”, in June.  This tim...

If you have ever spent time on the phone, answering numerous recorded questions, and finally get the chance to hear a real human voice to talk with, you know how important it is for us to spend time with real people instead of machines.

One day, I made a mistake and responded to a suspicious email message regarding one of my bank accounts.  I recognized that it was a scam email right away and I called the number on the back of my bank card.  After spending a long time with the recorded voice, ...

When the time of letting the old year go and opening a new year came around, I spent some time thinking about what really matters in our lives.  What can really make our lives fruitful, enjoyable, and meaningful to ourselves and to others as well?

Right after the Christmas eve service, which was the last service I prepared this year,  I enjoyed several days of vacation.  During these days, I could have my favorite kind of time, which was to explore potential music for next year.  While doing...

"I am not lost. I am exploring." 
 
This is from a bump sticker message I saw this morning on someone's car. This car was in the parking lot of Creighton University in Omaha, so the car was probably a student's.  Grace is applying to a couple of pharmacy schools, so they are pretty good words she needs to keep in mind too. 
 
In the journey of life, we sometimes have no clear idea where we are or what step we should take next. During that kind of situation, people's advice or our trust on God...

In 8th century Korea, there was a monk who wrote "Song in Memory of a Deceased Sister."  The poem starts with this sentence, "Here are the ways of life and death, and you happened to leave even without being able to say 'I am leaving.'  Like leaves, falling down here and there from the wind in early Autumn , we don't know where we go even though we were born on the same branch...."   He was a Buddhist monk, so he might see life after death a little differently to our beliefs  as Christians.  ...

In Korea, there are two big holidays when families get together to celebrate:  the beginning of Fall (super moon day)and lunar new year.  As an immigrant family from Korea, my family and I happen to enjoy these holidays along with Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  It depends on how  Miah and I take these holidays.  It can be double the excitement or double the loneliness for us because we don't have our parents and siblings here in the USA. 

This evening Miah talked with her parents over the p...

A couple of weeks ago, I started driving lessons with Solomon. It reminded me of the early years of my driving. I remember that small differences between each car seemed huge, such as size of the cars and the sensitivity of brake and engine. After some years of driving, I recognized that those differences do not affect my driving that much.

During the American Guild of Organists convention in Indianapolis I attended with Miah in July, I enjoyed many concerts performed by excellent organists w...

From late spring to early summer, I usually see many houses open their yards for garage sales.  Warm weather conditions may make people want to clean their houses and get more space to relax and breathe more air.  Cleaning up and organizing are activities we should never stop throughout our lives, but this is the season when we do them more.

I think this is the season we need to clean up our minds and spirits too.  This is the time when we reflect on our past and reconnect our relationships wi...

The season of sowing has come back, and I put some seeds of my favorite vegetable, green perilla, in a pot.  It is not a well-known vegetable to most Americans but is a necessity on Koreans’ dining tables, especially for pork dishes.  Its smell is so attractive and also helps get rid of the bad smell of pork.  Because it’s available only at Korean grocery stores and the nearest town I can go to is Iowa City, I decided to grow it myself.  Last year, I tried and got only weeds. This year, I...

May is the last month of the church choir year.  After our annual Spring Concert on May 3, we will start to get ready to close this choir year.  As I recall our year of 2014-2015, many good memories make me smile. Among them, I especially feel happy about our children’s choir group, Praise Ringers. The children have sung and played bells regularly throughout this year.  On Sunday, April 12, they played bells and showed us the signs of important words of the song, while Sanctuary Choir suppo...

If someone asked me what the most important task and consistent challenge for my work as a music conductor is, I would say "listening" during each rehearsal and performance.  There are many things to learn and equip myself with to be a better music director, such as working hard on copies of music, developing communication skills, and finding more and more repertories of fine music.  But, if there's one most important fact, which distinguishes ordinary music directors from excellent ones, it'...

I once read a report saying that elderly people were more optimistic about the future than younger people were.  Maybe part of the reason is there will be less time left for old people than for younger.  But that does not explain it fully.  I believe that experiences we have throughout our lives prove that most of the difficulties we have in our lives are not that bad compared to what  we usually predict beforehand, and there have been ways to overcome those troubles beyond our expectations.
...

During the Christmas holidays, I watched a movie, "A Christmas without Snow" on cable. These days I watch movies mostly on Netflix and Amazon. This way, I can more effectively search and find movies according to my interests. So, finding and watching this movie on television felt a bit old-fashioned.

The setting of this movie was a church and its choir. One of the most memorable scenes happened right after the audition to select soloists for the Handel's Messiah concert.  One soprano, who th...

The last month of the year 2014 is coming soon .  Around Thanksgiving and Christmas it's the time to remind ourselves of the importance of family because of the fact that we will gather with our families during this season more than any other time of the year.  Why is family so important to us? 

Good relationships with people, especially with our families, give us confidence and courage in challenging times and comfort in difficult times, and they generally allow us to be ourselves in most s...

When I see falling leaves around this time of year, I can't avoid thinking about the span of our lives.  We have a few steps or elements in our lives; birth, learning, working, marriage (skipping this stage has became more common these days though), and death.  

The season of fall reminds us about death.  And even though fall itself can be categorized as a harvest, full of grace and thanksgiving, and the peak of happiness in our lives, falling leaves and cooling temperature give us the idea ...

"Praise the Lord.  How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him! - Pslam 147:1 NIV) "

In the year of 1997, I came to the United States in April, 7 months earlier than Grace and Miah for Miah's remaining classes and final exam to achieve her master's degree in organ performance.  During those 7 months I missed them a lot, especially it made me feel so painful not to witness the quick growing up moments of 3 year old Grace at the time.

One day, she left h...

After Sunday morning service on May 25, many people approached me and said my piano offertory was so touching.  Among them, three ladies had said the same comment, "It was my mother's favorite!"  That was "Whispering Hope", arranged by Kohlmann.  I got his music book of arrangement collections for the piano, printed in 1944, while digging in a bunch of old music books that a retiring music professor put beside his office for students.  I have played these old hymn tunes for our senior church ...

I am wring this article on the evening of Easter.  We had a great Easter morning service with  guest organist Dr. Karen Black of Wartburg college.  Before the Easter service, I had good experiences and many thoughts throughout holy week morning services at 7:30 a.m.  With a few people who attended, I had chances to talk with them after each service and we shared our own life stories, issues about our education to the immigration system and many other things happening around us.  I have not ha...

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice" - Philippians 4:4: (KJV)

In a way of participating in the church's endeavor as staff through new vision planning, we are having book discussions on Tuesdays with a book, titled "Memories, Hopes, and Conversations" by Mark Lau Branson.  This week we are reading the 3rd chapter, and it's about our thanksgiving and gratitude of what God has given us.  Many writers in the Bible such as David and Paul show us that they thanked God and praised ...

When preparing musical concerts, music directors usually spend a significant portion of preparation time in finding good copies of music for the program.  Especially if it is old, historical music, finding a good edition for an authentic interpretation will be important.  An accurate copy of music without errors also saves a lot of rehearsal time and performers' energy too.

English Baroque composer Henry Purcell's anthem, "Rejoice in the Lord alway" is one of the pieces for the upcoming Spring...

The talent show we had on Sunday, October 13, was successful.  We enjoyed many people's talents in music, dance, and many jokes our children and youth group presented made the whole show go smoothly.  So, I would like to start my "Take Note" with some jokes for this month.

A man was complaining to God, "Oh my God. I have kept praying to give myself a chance to win the lottery. Why didn't you give me that luck?"  God's answer, "Son, why don't you buy a ticket yourself first and pray?"  Here'...

There’s an interesting and unique piece written by American experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992). The title is 4’33” (four minutes, thirty-three seconds). It’s for any instrument or combination of instruments, but the performers will not play anything during the total duration of the piece. John Cage said that, in his opinion, it is his most important work. I think the  composer’s idea of this piece shows us one of the many aspects of live performances.

In regard to convenie...

During one of the days when Grace was in her early years of elementary school, Miah and I found her doing an interesting job around a potted plant. She held a radio and played some music for the plant. When we asked what she was doing, she explained that this music would help the plant grow well. We didn’t know where she got the idea, but it seemed quite impressive. Music is also recommended for our pets. Many veterinarians recommend music for our dogs when they get stressed or too excite...

“Big boys don’t cry.” It seems like an old-fashioned statement meaning that to control your emotions in public is a virtue. The equivalent for girls may be “Big girls don’t frown.”

After 16 years in the USA, my family had a good time with our family in Korea. Most of them met Solomon for the first time and Grace was three years old when they last saw her. Even with this circumstance, we saw only laughter and smiles we shared together.

When the time came to say our last good-bye ...

Summer is a season when we get out of closed spaces to a widely open world. We enjoy catching up with our neighbors and friends and making new friends during the summer. Busy school and church schedules get more relaxed and we can take a deep breath until Fall.

Around the time you are reading this article, I will be in Korea with my family. There’s a Korean proverb, that says, “The time of a decade can change even the shape of mountains and rivers.” I want to check how much sense thi...

Missions-Impractical: that was the title of the devotion, based on the story of five loaves and two fish in Mat-thew 14:16-17, I read to our Sanctuary Choir members during our second Wednesday rehearsal this year. The question I had after reading it was who will determine whether God’s a mission is impractical. If we determine some mission and try to figure out if it’s impractical or practical, will that decision be reliable? If the mission is given by God and led by His plan and will, it...

The Messiah concert on Sunday, December 9, that First Presbyterian and First Congregational presented in our church sanctuary was well received and successful. More than 400 people sat in the pews and about 50 people on the stage made a beautiful atmosphere while we glorified God in unison.  The power of music is really a gift from God! 

After the concert, I started thinking of the many other ways we can serve the people around us.  Music is one of many tools we can use to lead people to Chr...

If someone asks you which is more important,  the beginning or the end of each year, what would be your answer?  You might answer that the beginning is more important because a good start will more likely lead you to good results.  Or, you will say that the end is more important, because good results are your final goal even if you start badly.

However, it is not easy to identify the clear points of beginning and ending in our life.  The concept of the beginning and ending of each year is on...

Many people make resolutions for the New Year, in preparation for what’s to come.  But how often do we take the time to review the previous year in order to see how far we’ve come?  It’s good to look back over our past to see what we have accomplished and examine how we can build in the future.

When the temperature gets cooler and the leaves begin to change color, I start thinking back to the early days of each year.  At the beginning of 2012, I was so appreciative of my new calling at...

I heard a story of a farmer who had a winery from his ancestors.  Someone asked him why he was working so hard to make new wine even when he was so old and might not get a bottle good enough to sell in his lifetime.  The answer from him was that it was because he had gotten those good old wines that his father and grandfather put in storage a long time ago.  When we work hard, sometimes it's not just for ourselves but for the future of our children and grandchildren.  Without those efforts of...

My daughter, Grace, left home for college last Wednesday.  I thank God for this opportunity and the new chapter of life for her.  While getting back from Iowa City after dropping her off at the University of Iowa, I recalled all 18 years that I have shared with Grace.  The question that returned to me again and again was "What would be the most helpful thing I can give her as a parent for her life?"

As church musicians and an immigrant family, we have not enjoyed a financially rich life.  But,...

In the middle of summer, I had a good chance to refresh my body and spirit by attending a conference for church musicians at St. Olaf College. It was a heart-touching moment to see Dr. John Ferguson playing the organ during the worship service for the last time in his tenure at the college. Everyone gave him respect by clapping for a long time. He was a well-known organist, composer and music educator. Dr. Anton Armstrong, choral director at St. Olaf College, also gave us many thing...

One word that can have very opposite meanings in different situations is "contagious."  If it is used with the name of a disease, it will mean making the situation more serious, and we want to prevent it from happening.  But sometimes it can mean passing our emotions and feelings to other people.  In this case, contagious can make either positive or negative results depending on what is conveyed. 

The second Sunday of June was the first day our Summer Choir sang for service during this summ...

Whoa! This choir year is almost over! When I started serving in the middle of the church choir year here at First Presbyterian, I started without much preparation. My previous experiences as a church musician helped me out a bit. Without the patience and warm-hearted team spirit of our choir members, and encouragement from church members, however, I couldn't have survived up to this point. I thank the God for you! (This was the anthem we sang on Mother's Day Sunday.)

Now we enjoy the outdoors ...

Throughout about 20 years of my music ministry at many churches, I have insisted that my church choirs  have at least one or two public concerts during a church year.  There are two important reasons: one is we should have experience to some suitable degree of difficult projects regularly to maintain our interest in music and develop our musical skills further.  It might be similar to the case that students need to take exams on a regular basis to check if their learning process has been succ...

Two weeks ago, my whole family and I visited Michigan State University for Grace, who was participating in the MSU alumni distinguished scholarship competition.  Regardless of the results which will come later, we decided to focus the value of the time we enjoyed on visiting our old home town and finding fond memories at the campus during the stay in East Lansing. 

While participating in the events, I could not hide my pride as an alumni of the school because of how organized they were in p...