At 9:00 a.m., staff singers Lucas Jackson and Alex Young, along with her violin, join bassist Peter Strening and me on this last Sunday of Eastertide. Spiritual songs from the rock/pop idioms and an offering from the organ will be heard at this eclectic early morning service.

At 11:00 a.m., a tango for organ on the Ralph Vaughan Williams hymn tune to the Spirit "Down Ampney" opens worship in a setting by Mark Sedio. The Chancel Choir sings a rousing arrangement of the spiritual "I Wanna Be Ready" by esteemed composer Rosephanye Powell featuring soloists Lucas Jackson and Alex Young. Flor Peeters' "Festival Voluntary" closes the service on a note of majestic joy and triumph.

At 9:00 a.m., a little morning chamber music by cellist Lucas Jackson, double bassist Ovella Huddleston, and yours truly.

At 11:00 a.m., organ works by French Romantic composer César Franck and Tudor-era English composer John Redford, also organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. The Chancel Choir offers the pop-centric anthem "You Sing Over Me" by Heather Sorenson.

At 9:00, we share the spiritual essence of songs by George Harrison and Paul McCartney and others. Guitarist Alan Skowron joins us for a service of Easter Alleluias and thanks.

At 11:00, the organ offers two works inspired by dance: a jig and minuet by composers Dietrich Buxtehude and Léon Boëllmann. The Chancel Choir sings a contemporary setting of the George Herbert hymn text "Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life" by Thomas Keesecker.

On our yearly walk down Emmaus Road we seek to encounter the Risen Christ in our own lives as those disciples experienced long ago. An Easter flashback this Sunday morning.

At 9:00, cantor/cellist Lucas Jackson and violinist Harmony Tucker and I explore the life-giving message of Eastertide with songs from the English folk and Italian traditions with  a touch of eccentricity.

At 11:00, the organ ushers in worship with a neo-baroque setting of the 16th century German Easter hymn "Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" (Appeared Is the Splendid Day) by Heinrich von Herzogenberg. The Chancel Choir sings of the resurrection in an ambitiously eccentric hymn setting from the Episcopal 1982 hymnal in "Look There! The Christ, Our Brother, Comes" by idiosyncratic American composer William Albright. The organ speaks one final time in a blistering toccata on the hymn tune "Gaudeamus Pariter" most associated with the Easter text "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain."

Songs of pilgrimage and discovery—hopeful for enlightened paths ahead.

The anticipation of summertime and nature's complete transformation after the budding spring is the topic of the 16th century German chorale "Herzlich tut mich erfreuen die liebe Sommerzeit" ("My faithful heart rejoices; the summer comes at last"). Johannes Brahms' final work, the Eleven Chorale Preludes of 1896, contains a lovely and passionate setting of this tune. The melody plays clearly above a swirling accompaniment figure gently interrupted by tender fleeting interludes.

"The Road Home" by esteemed composer Stephen Paulus is based on the early American melody "Prospect" with text by notable poet Michael Dennis Browne. Originally a four part choral anthem, soprano Blair Carpenter presents this solo version with the message of a wayward traveler finding the way back to truth—home.

The lively Welsh hymn tune "CWM Rhondda" (pronounced "koom rahn-duh") is given a Handelesque treatment by famed composer of hymn tune settings Paul Manz. The ode- to-the-Baroque opening fanfare appears throughout this chorale prelude between sections of the tune played loudly by the Festival Trumpet stop.

Join us at the 6:00 p.m. service with visiting scholar Wesley Granberg-Michaelson and American/English folk tunes telling the tale of travel on the road. Guitarist Bill DeMarco joins in on this Sunday evening pilgrimage.

What's in a name?

Musical titles that simply state their intended purpose or form can come across as somewhat lazy and, well, boring. Titles such as "Prelude in E Major," "Postlude in D MInor," and — wait for it—"Offertory" are classic examples heard in a church setting. But what if these seemingly banal titles offer a vital clue to the composition's reason for even being and deepens the listening experience? Well, that's different then!

"Opening" from Glassworks (1981) by Philip Glass begins the morning services in a lush inviting cascade of hypnotic polyrhythms. Glass intended the six movement chamber work for a general audience— accessible pop-oriented art music suited for the masses.

The Musical Offering is my minimalist arrangement of the communion hymn "Come With Joy" played by the Plymouth Ringers. The joyful treatment of this  tune from the Southern Harmony (1835) recalls the message of unity and love in verse 3: "As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends. The love that made us, makes us one, and strangers now are friends."

"Festival Voluntary" (published in 1958) by Flor Peeters is an excursion into the classic English cathedral tradition. A prominent Belgian organ pedagogue and recitalist, his compositions often employed characteristics of Renaissance music and contemporary polytonality and polyrhythms. This more straightforward work was dedicated to his close friend Reverend Father Canon Titus Timmerman.

At 6:00 p.m., cantor Lucas Jackson joins us along with minimalist piano offerings by composers Philip Glass and Michael Nyman.

Off into the Baroque on a path less traveled by.

A pastorale is a music form intended to convey nature—the pastures of shepherds and their flock. Though often associated with the Christmas season, we hear at the Prelude a sectional work in this style by Italian composer Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726.) Zipoli interestingly became a Jesuit missionary who spent his final years teaching and composing among the Guarani people in Peru.

The Musical Offering brings us to the French Baroque with the dance-like "Gavotte" by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). A leading music theorist and composer for opera and harpsichord, this fanciful work for violin and keyboard is an excerpt from his 1745 opera-ballet, "Le Temple de la Gloire" (The Temple of Glory). Violinist Harmony Tucker joins.

Sending us out into the world is a Postlude technically not from the 18th century but composed in that idiom with faithful accuracy. Based on the German Easter hymn "Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" (Appeared is the Splendid Day), this 19th century setting by Austrian composer Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900) employs common Baroque compositional techniques such as canon, imitation, and the use of the cantus firmus (i.e. the hymn tune) in the pedal. As a devotee and champion of J.S. Bach's music, the Master's influence is easily felt throughout this chorale prelude.

At the 6:00 p.m. service, bassist Peter Strening and cantor Blair Carpenter lead songs of the Good Shepherd and offer sounds of jazz and an inadvertent song of the Easter season by the band Coldplay.

Spring and Eastertide are intrinsically linked in my mind, even if Easter Sunday comes early in a particular liturgical year. They are seasons for new beginnings, growth, transformation—resurrection! So back to the lush greenery of Ireland we go for musical inspiration.

It's been said a fiddle is nothing more than a violin with a good Irish beer spilled on it. This week, that definition will do! Fiddler Abigail Morgan offers "Sí Beag, Sí Mór" (Small Fairy Mound, Big Fairy Mound) attributed to 17th century harp composer Turlough O'Carolan. The title refers to two small hills thought to be burial mounds in the northern region of Ireland. The traditional Irish tune "Be Thou a Smooth Way" is given a reading with the services ending in a collection of traditional jigs and reels, mostly.  

This Sunday morning we worship in the style of our 6:00 p.m. service! Spiritual songs of joy and praise reveling in the images of God will be experienced at the 11:00 hour.

Kacey Musgraves' "Rainbow" was released in 2018 and soon became an anthem for all who have struggled. Especially embraced by the LGBTQ community, it has now resurged as a balm in this pandemic era, recently performed by Kacey on the Global Citizen "One World:Together at Home" benefit concert. The chorus offers these words of comfort and optimism:  "Hold tight to your umbrella, well darlin’ I’m just trying to tell ya, that there’s always been a rainbow hanging over your head.”

"No Longer" is a hymn text about unity written by a fave here at Plymouth, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Paired with the traditional Yigdal melody "Leoni," this musical offering will receive a jazz-inflected reinterpretation.

"Yahweh" is a song by the Irish rock band U2 appearing on their 2004 album "How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb." Described as a "closing prayer" to the record, the song took on a new life in the recording process when lead singer Bono spontaneously sang the lyrics and melodies in one take. He further noted, "I had this idea that no one can own Jerusalem, but everybody wants to put flags on it. The title's an ancient name that's not meant to be spoken. I got around it by singing. I hope I don't offend anyone."

Guitarist Alan Skowron and bassist Peter Strening join Blair and I for this "6 at 11" worship experience. We hope you may be present with us as well. Selah.