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Carols from Hell!
Merry Eve of Christmas Eve, everybody! Tomorrow is a big day for me; I have not one, but two Christmas Eve church gigs! Since tomorrow will be all about the musically sublime, I thought it would be fun...
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Post-Holiday Blues + End-of-Decade Anxiety = Give Me a Funny Video NOW!!
Happy Eve of New Year’s Eve, music nerds! Didn’t get quite what you wanted for Christmas? You’re not alone! Garfunkel and Oates: nerdy comic geniuses, n’est-ce pas? Look for more on them in an upcoming...
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A Playlist Revisited: Have a Very Nerdy New Year's Eve!
Two New Year’s Eves ago, I posted A Nerdy Playlist for New Year’s Eve. I thought it might be fun to tweak it a bit, in the spirit of out with the old, in with the new! 1. To get us in the mood, Ella...
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Miss Music Nerd Goes Green!
No, I haven’t bought a hybrid or installed solar panels… I’m a very conscientious recycler, though! What I mean to say is… Happy St. Patrick’s Day, music nerds! McDoc and I both have plenty of Irish in...
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Happy Easter Monday, Music Nerds!
Well, I did it! I got through my first Holy Week and Easter in my new organist-choir director position! Feel free to share this badge of honor with any church musicians, clergy, altar guild members,...
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Music for Juneteenth!
Happy Saturday, music nerds! Today was a busy day; McDoc and I went to a graduation party for one of his fellow residents (that’ll be McDoc two years from now!), and I spent most of the rest of the...
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Sing Handel in Boston, Bring Healing to Haiti!
JP Concerts presents: Sing Messiah! Saturday, December 11, 8 p.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church 1 Roanoke Avenue, Boston (map link) $10 Donation includes score rental Happy Holidays, Music Nerds! ‘Tis...
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Mission Accomplished: Holy Week and Easter!
Happy Easter Monday, Music Nerds! Happy Passover and Happy Spring, too! I’m tired but content today, having successfully completed another Holy Week in my role as church organist/choir director (Here’s...
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Friday Nerdy Music Links: Mardi Gras, Lent, & Elephants, Yeah!
Happy Friday, music nerds! It’s been a quiet week at Music Nerd Central, as McDoc and I both needed a little R’n'R after our respective travels. There was no gallivanting in the streets for us this...
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Happy Easter Monday, Music Nerds!
And Happy Passover to everyone still celebrating! A few years ago when I began my church organist job in Boston, I started a tradition of making a Badge of Completion to share with everyone involved in...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar!
Day 1: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Happy December, Music Nerds! I hope all you U.S.-based music nerds had a lovely Thanksgiving. I know I have a few extra calories to work off, but it was worth it! I’ve...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 2!
Day 2: J.S. Bach, Chorale Prelude on “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” BWV 645 Sleepers, Awake! That was a hard instruction for McDoc and me to follow this morning, since it was the first morning back...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 3!
Day 3: Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson, “Christmas Time Is Here” I’m one of those purists who laments what I call “Christmas creep,” that is, the marketing blitz in the U.S. that seems to start a...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 4!
Day 4: Benjamin Britten, “This Little Babe” from A Ceremony of Carols A Ceremony of Carols by English composer Benjamin Britten is a well-loved and frequently-performed choral work for the Christmas...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 5!
Day 5: The Specials – “Nelson Mandela” I was out running errands today when I got the news that Nelson Mandela had died. Whenever I hear his name, I hear the unaccompanied voices at the beginning of...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 6!
Day 6: Christina Rossetti/Gustav Holst – “In The Bleak Midwinter” Snow and sleet came to Pittsburgh today, and that reminds me of the classic Christmas hymn, “In The Bleak Midwinter.” The Gustav Holst...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 7!
Day 7: Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith – “Winter Wonderland“ McDoc and I both grew up in California — he in Orange County in the sunny south, and I in the Napa Valley in the frequently foggy north....
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 8!
Day 8: Franz Biebl, “Ave Maria” I grew up in the Lutheran Church, which explains my love of hymns, as well as a few of my endearing personality quirks. McDoc, on the other hand, was raised Roman...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 9!
Day 9: “Let all mortal flesh keep silence” Confession: I sorta have a thing for eerie, somber music. I’m not an eerie or somber person, but there’s just something compelling about music that delves...
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Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Advent Calendar, Day 10!
Day 10: Kim Gannon, Walter Kent and Buck Ram, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Shortly after our wedding, McDoc and I loaded my car with a few fragile wedding gifts, enough clothing to last until the...
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