New Year photos

Taken just before hearing mass and upon getting home, right before our simple New Year dinner.

"It Is The Lord" as performed by the Francisco twins

Mama was in one of her "family videographer" moments, haha! :) Pardon the mistakes, this was an impromptu performance.

Go to my twinnie's multiply page (http://tatatwin.multiply.com/video/item/6) to view our other "MTV video," a cover of SILENT NIGHT. ;) I sing in the 2nd verse of that video.

Here I keep my mouth shut (too busy concentrating on the piano part, haha!) and my twin sings... like an angel, does she not? ;)

Songs from the Labyrinth

I was browsing through the aisles of Music One in ATC with my twin and our good friend, Denden, when I saw :

I've been looking for this album since November of last year!!

Here's what it says on the back cover:

On Songs from the Labyrinth, Sting discovers the music of Elizabethan songwriter John Dowland: "beautiful melodies, fantastic lyrics, great accompaniments." In close collaboration with lutenist Edin Karamazov, he interweaves songs with instrumental solos and evocatives readings from a Dowland letter. Together they create what Sting calls "a musical soundtrack" to the composer's life.

I bought it on the spot and am currently listening to the exquisite tracks. Sting is AMAZING! He even contributed to the lute accompaniment (but most of it is done by Karamazov). Bagay na bagay sa Yuletide season ... especially the songs with "carol" singers, haha! I love the "reading-aloud-from-letters" tracks, Sting has a lovely speaking voice as well as his singing voice.

My favorite, thus far, is Have you seen the bright lily grow by Robert Johnson (1583-1633), the only song on the album that isn't composed by John Dowland (1563-1626). Graaaaaabe... my soul seemed to take flight when Sting sang the opening line...

Have you seen the bright lily groooooooooow

(and he literally "grew," singing an octave above and touching briefly on all the notes but treating them each with the utmost care... ach, so wunderbar!! Sting may have an "unschooled tenor," to borrow his words, but he sings with such intelligence and sensitivity!!!)

Have you seen the bright lily grow

Before rude hands have touched it?

Have you marked but the fall of snow

Before the earth hath smutched it?

Have you felt the wool of beaver,

Or swan's down ever?

Or have smelt o' the bud o' the brier,

Or the nard in the fire?

Or have tasted the bag of the bee?

O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she!

He has a lovely version of Come again, but I find myself partial to Kathleen Battle's version. His isn't half bad... I loved how he sang the last verse:

All the night

My sleeps are full of dreams

My eyes are full of streams.

My heart takes no delight...

To see, to hear, to touch, to kiss, to die

With thee again in sweetest sympathy.

Miss Battle sings all the verses pretty much the same, and colors the words differently for more variety. But Sting goes further... in this, the last verse, the lute accompaniment is stilled and he sings the first four lines (and the four lines ONLY) a capella, oh so slowly, oh so softly. It's indescribable... the beauty of it!! And then the lute comes in, finishing the song for him.

Inspired, simply inspired!

I like Ms. Battle's less adventurous version better, though. To do justice to HER artistic genius would take a blog entry that would take me hours to type! :) Some other time, maybe.

I will defer further rapturous comments over Sting's album 'til I'm done listening to the whole thing, and now it's time to go back to my Peak Oil readings. ;)

COPYING BEETHOVEN: A quotable quote from the movie

"The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speaking to man's soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear His voice, we read His lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing His praise. That's what musicians are."

The best Christmas/ Birthday gift...

... is being with your family. :D

                       We went out for a good old fashioned Filipino dinner at Lamesa Grill...

                            But home is where the cake is... here's Tata & I with The Father

  And here's The Brother with his birthday gift: a bear hug!! (In case you can't tell which one's which, that's me nearly being strangled to death: the one to the left)

Dostoevsky at Christmastime

Half of the Christmas break is over, and I haven't done any of my academic requirements (namely: 2 exams to cram for in Math 2 and EDCO 101, 2 Kodaly lesson plans for MuEd 191, 1 Research Paper on Peak Oil for Env. Sci. 1... oh, the trivialities of an academic life). The past few days is one big blur of shopping, mall-hopping, eating and drinking to one's content, playing Chrismas songs on the piano, and in my spare time: reading.

This vacation, my reading list is cut out for me (many, many thanks to those who gifted me with precious tomes instead of trinkets and edible consumables!). Not all of them are light-reading. Take last night, for example. I finished Dostoevsky's THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (a beautiful edition at only 345 pesos in Power Books!) just before leaving for Christmas Eve mass, and was correspondingly morose and troubled for several hours after. If it weren't for the mass and our simple Christmas dinner of hot chocolate, ham, and bread and butter, I would have continued my philosophical contemplative state well into the wee hours of the morning. To call it "intellectually taxing" would be a huge understatement.

These days, it seems, my head is in the clouds more often that it is on the ground. I keep thinking about the "eternal questions," and I must make amends to my family for being more absent-minded than usual.

At the ripe old age of 21 (yes, my birthday is tomorrow), I still do not understand myself fully. I keep discovering a new aspect of my person, and am continuously amazed at my changeable nature.

Perhaps my sheltered life has something to do with it. I think I haven't gone through enough trials to form a noble character. In the words of Emily Dickinson:

       Essential Oils -- are wrung --

       The Attar from the Rose

       Be not expressed by Suns -- alone --

       It is the gift of Screws ...

More and more I believe that the self is not 'discovered,' but 'made,' and can be done so, willfully and purposefully, with God's grace.

Here's to another year of 'self-making' with His Light. 

Christmas Eve Mass 2007

They didn't have a choir, so Sir Jampao "abducted" Tata and I as well as other friends of his from the audience to form an instant choir. Our name? "FRIENDS OF THE GESU," haha!

Considering it was an impromptu performance, I think our choir (naks) sang exceedingly well. (I get to find out later that a couple of guys were from the ACS... kaya naman pala!! haha)

Nothing like singing one's heart out on Christmas Eve mass.

How sweet the moonlight / Inwardness

"How sweet the moonlight" as performed by Andreas Scholl, countertenor.

From THE MERCHANT OF VENICE OST, music composed by Jocelyn Pook.

For some reason, this kind of singing moves me more than the extreme paroxysms of emotional outbursts in opera arias (give me Ombra mai fu any day over, say, Isolde's Liebestod).

My dear friend Miko (whom I fondly call "the best oboist in the Philippines") and I share this common love for Baroque/Renaissance music and the corresponding style of singing. Whenever we sit down for lunch or coffee together, we inevitably end up singing to one another excerpts from our recent musical discoveries. 

Some people find such music "boring" because "it's too simple."  On the contrary!!!! SO MUCH emotion is present even in one sustained note, except that it's subtly expressed and not as "in-your-face" as bel canto arias with fits of conniption present in the madly wavering vibratos.

Oh well. De gustibus non est disputandum.

= = = EDIT = = =

I was thinking that this relates to "love" as well... how some girls demand heroic acts from their suitors, that if they were in a fairy tale they'd say: "Kill me this dragon! Conquer me a kingdom! If you DO love me, prove it."

Then there are those who understand the inward nature of a love that has decided to make duty its highest challenge. For is it not a thousand times more difficult for one to conquer the dragons of boredom and infidelity day in, day out, than to seek to climb mountains, and swim across oceans to prove one's love?

Today we put too much value on external manifestations of love. I've known a couple of girls who choose their boyfriends based on the "sweetness factor," i.e. the number of times he calls them up in a day, the dozens of romantic text messages, the requisite chocolates and flowers. And not a few of them obsess over meanings, as in "if he gives you yellow flowers then you're more of friends than lovers... if he gives you red ones then he's quite passionate about you..."

And they can argue forever on the issue of quantity-versus-quality... chocolates-versus-flowers... when-is-it-a-date-and-who-should-pay-for-dinner and honey-he's-not-that-into-you-if-he-does-this-and-that and so on and so forth...

What kind of a love is it when the girl constantly has to ask the boy to "prove his love?" As if the number and greatness of these deeds is directly proportional to the degree of his regard?

And what kind of love is it when there is jealousy? Like poor Mitya who imagines the worst of his lover Grushenka and thinks that the instant his back is turned, she bestows her sweet favors on no less than his father. But even if this were so, he'd be willing to forgive as long as she begged and promised prettily that this was in the past, that he was her one true love from now on. For isn't jealousy a mark of the absence or lack of trust?

Why am I rambling on about relationships? Maybe it's because I came across the blog entry of an ate of mine from CMu, and found out that she's already engaged. :) She writes down her love story, and it is antithetical to soap-opera-plots. She has love, pure and simple... sans the frills associated with the courtship period but not necessarily meaning that it is any less romantic. And I am so happy for her!

I  am striving to develop the ability to go past the superficial, to look beyond the decor, to the essence of things (whether it be in Music, Love or mundane objects). Someday,  I hope to overcome my prejudices and be able look past the outward shell of people, and love them unconditionally AS THEY ARE... as He does.

Weihnachtsoratorium: A Personal Reflection

I'm a lucky, lucky girl. I know not what presents I'll be receiving this year (not that it really matters, since to think of Christmas time as "the-season-of-gifts-and-parties-galore" is quite un-Christian and completely misses the point of this season of Grace) ... but I have no need of any when I already had the rare opportunity to listen to the ENTIRE Christmas oratorio performed LIVE. I never had the chance to listen to it before the MMCO BACHxes project, but because I sat in most of the rehearsals I was able to familiarize myself with the work in its entirety.

I won't go into an indepth analysis of the music, of the complex harmonies/fugues side by side simple yet majestic chorale pieces. But for those who are unfamiliar with the work, here's a short intro from an online review of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields recording:

Bach created his Weihnachts-Oratorium during 1734 for performance in church over the ensuing Christmas period. It consists of six cantatas which between them tell the story of the Navitity and the events of the following week or so. The first of these cantatas, which should be performed on Christmas Day itself, tells how Joseph and Mary travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfil the decree of Caesar Augustus and how, when they arrived there, Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus in; a stable, there being no room at the inn. The chorus opens this cantata by exhorting Christians to be joyful and ends it with a lullaby to the new born babe. The cantata for the next day opens with a Pastoral Symphony, thus setting the scene for the story of the shepherds who, while keeping watch over their flocks by night, suddenly saw an angel proclaiming that a Saviour had been born that day in the city of David. Much of the recitative sung in this cantata by the soprano (taking the part of the angel) and the tenor uses the same biblical words that Handel set in the Christmas section of Messiah. During the cantata, for the following day the shepherds make their decision to go to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus, whom they eventually find lying in a manger. They then return home, glorifying God and telling everyone about the wondrous things they have heard and seen.
As the fourth cantata deals with the naming of the child and his circumcision, which took place when he was eight days old, it should be performed on New Year's Day. The next cantata is intended for the following Sunday and is the one which tells of the three wise men who came to Jerusalem asking where they could find the new-born King of the Jews, for they had seen his star in the East. This request caused King Herod great anguish so he called together all his chief priests and scribes to ascertain where the child could be. In the final cantata, the one for the Feast of the Epiphany, Herod charges the wise men to go to Bethlehem, find the child and then come back with news of his whereabouts, for the King says that he too wishes to go and worship him. The wise men follow their star and when they have found the young child they kneel to worship him and offer him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod they go home another way. At the end of this cantata the chorus sings - to the same chorale melody that was heard in the first cantata - of how sin, death, hell and the devil have all been vanquished now that God has sent his Son to earth.

A performance of Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium in our country is a breath of fresh air from the season's usual Messiah by Handel. Both are towering works of genius in their own right; they are both capable of "transporting" their listeners through an internal pilgrimage of sorts. But my spiritual journey through the Bach has been more profound.

I would be sitting in my chair, exhausted after a long day of attending my classes in the morning and rehearsing with the orchestra in the concert venue, still feeling the effects of not having enough sleep because of a rehearsal the night before... but as soon as the music started, all the exhaustion melted away. The world itself vanished, and I was in another time, a better place. Immersion in the music brought me to a holy plane. I could SEE the events unfolding in my mind's eye as we joyfully sang of his birth and what it meant for mankind. There were moments during the performance itself that I felt I was was positively glowing with ecstasy!!!  Especially as the choir sang the last piece, with the marvelous trumpet solo that brought to mind 1 Corinthians 15:52 :

The triumph is completed,

Our Saviour, Christ the Lord

has vanquished and defeated

the Fiend and all his horde.

Sin, Death and Hell and Satan

the Faithful may defy,

God summons His elected

to Him in Heaven High.

I fully agree with what Bernard Labadie and Lucie Rinaud said in their article on the Weihnachtsoratorium:

"At the end of these six cantatas, listeners will feel as though they've been on a journey and completed an itinerary, rather than having heard a sequence of movements...

The Christmas Oratorio... was a truly operatic expression of faith for the Christian of Bach's time. Therein lies its strength today: it doesn't try to convert the world, but touches a deep human chord that vibrates forever."

Merry Christmas everyone!

~gabitwin~ (My Old Blog)

http://gabitwin.blogdrive.com

Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium

The past two weeks have been among the busiest/ most stressful ones of my life.

I now know what it feels like to have only 4 hours of sleep before waking up early to catch a 7 a.m. Env. Sci. exam (which I probably flunked, I almost fell asleep several times... drat those chemical reaction series! I just wanted to say: "Sir, I am not a chemistry major...") because I performed the night before, and was predictably puyat and exhausted.

That unpleasant experience aside, I am very grateful for the tremendous honor afforded me: to sing in the Christmas Oratorio of J.S. Bach.

So many memories... oh, where to start? I shall always remember with fondness:

* the wonderful rehearsal of the U.P. Camerata which I got to listen to backstage, before performing Parts 1 & 2. And to think it was a FIRST READING!?!?! Mga henyo ang mga college mates ko!

* the time that we "made takas" to eat dinner in Red Ribbon (which was only a block away from the performance venue, so it was ok). Kuya Cholo and Cat Cheng were the only ones talking since Apol, Ervin and I were on voice rest, haha! It was as if we were from the Institute of the Deaf and Mute, communicating mostly through charade-like gestures and hastily scrawled messages on tissue paper

* the beautiful way that Kuya Marz Taylan fixed my hair (it was SOOOO gorgeously done, my mom wouldn't let me take it down when we got home. "Paano niya ginawa yan?" she asked, and all I could say was: "Mama, I don't know. Nakatalikod ako nun." She even took pictures so she could "analyze" it daw)

* the way Sir Arwin and Joel Aquino were dancing backstage before performing Parts 5 & 6. I couldn't quite reconcile the image of THE Sir Arwin (infamous for being the "terror" prof. handling the History of Western Music classes at our college) making like a Rockette, haha, with Kuya Joel keeping him company. Think Highschool Musical worthy actions being done by *ahem* mature and formerly-known-as distinguished individuals, haha!

* the way Sir Arwin told us all to SMILE! SMILE! and kept everyone's spirits up ... he was so positive and full of tireless energy! I love "energizers" like him

* the magical way Sir Chino conducted the MMCO. I could watch him forever. *sigh* Plus he's so kind and fatherly; he never shamed anyone who wasn't performing up to his standards. And I never saw him lose his temper even during the most stressful of times (There was this one time he said the S word, but that was the worst, and it was understandable because it was during the run thru for the super-duper-beautiful yet super-duper-difficult tenor aria Ich will nur dir zu Ehren leben in Part 4; which incidentally has GOT to be one of my favorite pieces from the entire work). He would always deliberately lengthen the timpani part at the end of the encore piece, a medley of Christmas songs. He did this in all 3 performances and it never failed to crack me up, hahaha!

* the rehearsals at Miriam where Ma'am Chinggay would always treat us with so much grace and warmth; I felt so special and take care of! :)

* the wonderful sunset in Ateneo which we got to enjoy while chatting with some MMCO members. We were munching on N.Y.Fries, food is really more delicious when it is shared! There was a Dulcinea as well as an Ice Monster stall nearby, which caused Apol and I to experience a great deal of heartache since we had to reconcile our cravings for churros con chocolate and mais con hielo with the fact that if we chose to eat these 'forbidden foods,' we wouldn't be able to sing come performance time. Our iron wills won out... just barely.

Will post additional memories when I'm feeling more up to the task.

My bed beckons *sighs with pleasure at the thought of getting a blissful 6 hours of sleep*

We still have MuEd 191 class tomorrow morning, haha! To all those lucky enough to be on Christmas Break Mode: Enjoy!!!

Weihnachtsoratorium (5 & 6) at St. James the Great, Alabang with Novo Concertante

I got reunited with Ma'am Ella Baarde, who taught my twinnie and I for one summer at RCTMS (waaaay back in 2001, wow!).

Also got reunited with Miss Panaligan, who is the conductor of the De La Salle Zobel Chorale (my twinnie and I were members 2000 -- 2003).

Thanks so much to Kevin and Denden for coming to watch!

A Reflection Paper I submitted for EDCO 101

         There are some movies whose stories stay with you for a long time after seeing them. Munting Tinig (Small Voices) is such a film. It was not a big-budget production, nor did it have amazing special effects associated with Hollywood films that audiences line up for in the cinema. And yet it reaped accolades and awards galore when it was shown in film festivals abroad. Why was this so?

I am no film critic, but in my opinion it couldn’t have been because of the acting (the actors were above average but not Meryl Streep material), nor the directing (some parts were a little boring and more than a few would have said the movie tended to drag a bit), not even the music (being a Music major, I detected some “anomalies,” but I am not here to criticize).

Why? Why did this humble film project touch so many people, and is now being considered as a Filipino modern classic?

It is because of the STORY. Others would say it was formulaic and predictable. So what? Seeing it unfold before me was still an experience to treasure, to immerse myself if only for an hour and a half in the world of a public school teacher working in a tiny village school in a far-flung rural area.

The movie touched on several issues. I shall tackle a few one by one and comment on them separately.

“Only the intellectually inferior become teachers.” This is a common attitude found amongst even fellow UP students. And the sad thing is, certain Education majors themselves think this way! I’ve talked to a couple of Education majors, and when I asked, “Why take Education?” The common reply was: “This was the only course I could take, I didn’t pass my first couple of choices in the UPCAT. And I’m not very good in anything else.” This is a terrible, terrible thing… to demoralize oneself in this manner. They do not see that they are in a most precious vocation.

When you ask people from one or two generations ago, you will find that only the best and the brightest became teachers in the good old days. And teachers of old could teach EVERYTHING, not like now when a teacher specializes in a certain subject. My father recalls a former teacher of his with great fondness, and said that she taught everything, from Music to Math to Science… “And she spoke impeccable English, too.”

We teachers-in-training today should take it as a challenge, to raise the bar once again and prove those who think the worst of us wrong.

Then there is the case of teachers going abroad to earn dollars. So many things have been written on this. For myself, I am fortunate to belong to a middle-class family (my sister and I will be the third generation of educators) so I do not think I will be forced to make the agonizing choice that Ms. Pilar (the teacher that Alessandra de Rossi’s character substituted for in the film) had to make: to leave the children she so dearly loved to teach in order to earn a better living abroad. And I would be the last one to stand on a pulpit and preach against the millions of OFW’s who more often than not are forced by circumstances to seek greener pastures abroad. I can only speak for myself when I promise that should I ever leave the Philippines, it will be only for a couple of years to further my studies. I will most definitely come back, because this country is my home and it has everything that I hold dear. My parents, being teachers, raised me with a strong patriotic sense of duty. I could not bear abandoning the Motherland, the country that nurtured and raised me, so that I could spend the most productive years of my life contributing to another country.

This movie has special meaning for me because I am training to become not just any teacher, but a music teacher, like Melinda (Alessandra de Rossi’s character). I felt so affirmed in my choice of vocation, because the movie clearly illustrated the power of music, of singing, to uplift spirits and brighten even the darkest and saddest of lives.

I could relate to this movie on so many levels, and I have seen firsthand the issues that Melinda took offense with (for example: teachers selling candies to students for extra cash… it DOES happen!). I did my classroom music teaching practicum last sem, and I had to teach in two schools: one private and one public. I was able to experience both worlds, and it was a very valuable experience for me. Now, when I say I want to be a teacher, I no longer say it with eyes closed. I have SEEN what it is to be a teacher, and I have had a taste (if only for a little while) of what a teacher’s life will be like. And I choose it gladly.

This is a film that every Filipino teacher-in-training should watch. It is not a movie for those seeking mindless entertainment. See it to understand that we aren’t just teachers. Henry Adams put it perfectly when he said, “A teacher affects eternity… he can never tell where his influence stops.” And that is why they say that “to teach is to touch lives forever.”

Weihnachtsoratorium (3 & 4) with the Ateneo Chamber Singers at the Church of the Gesu

Weihnachtsoratorium (1 & 2) with the UP Camerata Voices

Dec.11, 2007: J.S. Bach's CHRISTMAS ORATORIO Parts 1 & 2 at the Santuario de San Jose, Greenhills.

Kuya Jonaf! Apol! Ervin! You guys are the best.

The MMCO under Sir Chino Toledo is simply MAGICAL. 'Twas my first time to hear them and I was blown away by the beauty of their playing. Ang galing nila, GRABE.

The U.P. Camerata Voices were sooooo good also, I had the privilege to listen in to their 1st reading of a piece (haha, they had an impromptu rehearsal in the dressing room backstage) and boy oh boy, it was already PERFORMANCE LEVEL! With all the nuances and perfect sight reading. Grabe... Genius college mates!! Congrats to all of us!

For more pics, go to http://aaannaaa.multiply.com/photos/album/106/Christmas_BACHxes
http://kriskatayag.multiply.com/photos/album/28

Not all "romances" are junk, after all

Just wanted to share this excerpt from Grace Livingston Hill's "A Girl To Come Home To".

It seemed to Diana as they penetrated into the green depths of that lovely woods, that she had never seen such beautiful quiet remoteness.

Rodney made a delightful escort. He found pleasant walking for her feet, and when they came to rest while he arranged a seat from hemlock branches, and when they were seated in the beautiful stillness he finally said, looking into the greenness above him, where little glimpses of sunlit blue sky were visible:

"Isn't this great? It seems as if this must be one of the places in which God delights, doesn't it? It seems as if He were here with us. Or-- don't you feel that way?"

Diana looked up fearsomely, and half shuddred:

"Oh," she said in a little frightened tone, "I don't know much about God. But you --" she paused and gave a shy look toward the young man, "you seem to know Him so intimately." Her tone was almost envious.

Rodney looked down and smiled:

"Yes, I do," he said pleasantly, as if he were owning to an earthly friendship, "but no better than you may know Him too, if you want to. I was brought up to know all about God when I was a child, but I didn't get to know God until I met Him out in the air over enemy fire."

"Oh!" said Diana. "Tell me about it please, if you don't mind."

Rodney smiled. "No, I don't mind. I love to talk about my Lord. Since I've met Him and know Him so well, it gives me great delight to talk about my Lord."

And so he began to tell the thrilling story of how he started out in his own strength to fight the enemy, and began to realize that Death was waiting just ahead for him, and perhaps the end of things down here. And then as he drew nearer and nearer to his doom, he heard the Lord calling to him through all the thunder of shells and planes. And the words he called were the same words he could remember his father reading at family worship... They were words that God spoke: "Fear thou not: for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

... "And over and over again when I grew fearful, there was my Lord beside me... And that's how I came through. Do you wonder that i feel I know Him, that I can talk with Him as if a man were talking with his friend? He's my friend!"

There were tears on Diana's cheeks as he was telling this.

"Oh that is wonderful!" she said. "But does one have to go through death to know Him?"

"No, oh no! Not if you will take Him without having to be shown that way."

"But you were taught when you were very little. You sort of grew up knowing Him, didn't you?" There was almost a hunger in Diana's tone.

"Yes, I knew about Him. I knew His history, the story of His life and death, and that it was for me, but I never took it to my heart until Death drew near, and I had to fly for refuge. Many times at home when I was young I might have got to know Him, and didn't. I just couldn't take time. I knew it was all true, but I'd never looked into His face before. Not until He took me up there in the sky alone with Himself and menacing Death just below, and all around. Then I looked up, and I saw Him. But that is something that cannot be described. You have to see Him yourself to understand. You have to know Him."

"Oh!" said the girl disappointedly. "Then I'm afraid there is little likelihood that I could ever understand. I can't go overseas and get into combat."

"No, you're wrong," he said. "You don't have to go overseas to see Him... If you long to find Him He will come to you. The only condition is that you believe. That is, believe that He took your sin, and took your place and suffered your death penalty. Take Him for your personal Savior, that is. Are you willing to do that?"

"Why yes. I could believe because I have seen the faith in your face, I have heard it in your words, and in your wonderful prayer. Is that the right kind of belief? Because I don't really know much about Him, only the set stories that churches talk about, and I never paid much attention to them before. But I'd like to know Him now."

"That's great!" said Rodney with a joyful ring in his voice. "Shall we tell Him so?"

They were sitting on a smooth bank of lovely moss, under a great tree. The young man bowed his head, and Diana, awed at what might be coming, almost frightened again, bowed hers.

"Lord Jesus," said Rodney in his conversational tone, "I'm brining this little girl to You because she wants to know You and says she will take You for her Savior. Please show her how You love her, how she needs You, and to understand what You have done for her... will You let her see You as You are, and get to really know You, and love to serve You in her daily life.

And now will You listen to her while she tells You waht is in her heart? Thank you, my Father."

There was a long pause in the still greenness of the woods, while a thrush trilled otu some high sweet notes of praise, and then Diana's little frightened voice trembled on the air:

"Dear God, I want to be saved. I want to know You, as Rodney does. Won't You please show me how? I do believe, as far as I understand."

Into the silence that followed this brief prayer came Rodney's ringing Amen, and after a moment of silence he reached over and took her hand in a strong firm clasp.

"Welcome into the family, little sister!" he said tenderly. She looked up into his eyes and her own were filled with tears of joy, and there was a smile on her lips....

A Follow Up Post: Schiller's ODE TO JOY

I found the English translation of Schiller's poem, which was wonderfully set to music in Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Just wanted to share.

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,

Daughter of Elysium,

Touched with fire, to the portal,

Of thy radiant shrine, we come.

Your sweet magic frees all others,

Held in Custom's rigid rings.

All men on earth become brothers,

In the haven of your wings.

Whoever succeeds in the great attempt

To be a friend of a friend,

Whoever has won a lovely woman,

Let him add his jubilation!

Yes, whoever calls even one soul

His own on the earth's globe!

And who never has, let him steal,

Weeping, away from this group.

All creatures drink joy

At the breasts of nature;

All the good, all the evil

Follow her roses' trail.

Kisses gave she us, and wine,

A friend, proven unto death;

Pleasure was to the worm granted,

And the cherub stands before God.

Glad, as his suns fly

Through the Heavens' glorious plan,

Run, brothers, your race,

Joyful, as a hero to victory.

Be embraced, you millions!

This kiss for the whole world!

Brothers, beyond the star-canopy

Must a loving Father dwell.

Do you bow down, you millions?

Do you sense the Creator, world?

Seek Him beyond the star-canopy!

Beyond the stars must He dwell.

Truly a fitting choice for a Christmas concert. ;)

NOLI ME TANGERE: Kuya Armin Comon's Grad Recital

Congratulations, Kuya! Natapos din! ;)

NOLI ME TANGERE
Dec.6, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
U.P. College of Engineering Theater

For more pics, go to http://princessfeona.multiply.com/photos/album/65/It_is_finished.

U.P. Sangkil Karasak: Singaporean Visitors

A couple of fellow LSAI arnis practitioners from Singapore came over to train with the club this past week. Here are a few pics from Thursday's training session (I just dropped by the dojo for several minutes, didn't train because I had to run to Kuya Armin's recital, NOLI ME TANGERE).

Christmas Time!!

More than the chilly weather, and more than the parols that light up every house in the city, the thing that best tells me that Christmas season has finally arrived is the MUSIC.

It's everywhere! The piped canned music in the malls to serenade you while you shop, or the several concerts being performed left and right.

Which brings me to the real subject of my post: SHAMELESS PLUGGING!!!

I shall be singing as one of the soloists with the Metro Manila Community Orchestra (under Conductor Josefino Chino Toledo) in the Philippine premiere of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (Yup... THE Weihnachtsoratorium), all 6 Parts! ;)

Do come and watch on the following dates and times, if you can!

(Admission is free for Parts 4-6; for Parts 1-2 they will be selling tickets to raise funds for the church's roof-building project)

Parts 1 and 2: December 11, 2007, Tuesday, 8:00 p.m.

                     with the U.P. Camerata Voices under Kuya Cholo Gino

                     at the Santuario de San Jose, Greenhills

Parts 3 and 4: December 14, 2007, Friday, 8:00 p.m.

                     with the Ateneo Chamber Singers

                     under Sir Jonathan Velasco

                     at the Church of the Gesu, Ateneo de Manila University

Parts 5 and 6: December 17, 2007, Monday, 8:00 p.m.

                     with Novo Concertante under Sir Arwin Tan

                     at St. James the Great Parish, Ayala Alabang Village

Oh, and last night I watched Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed LIVE in its entirety, by my collegemates. *sniff* Am so proud of my college! GO CMu!?!?!?!! Ang galing galing ng choir (siyempre, under Sir Eudy e)!!!

I can't decide which of the four movements I liked best. Sayang lang, I think the orchestra was under-rehearsed. But all things considered, they did a pretty good job.

They also performed excerpts from Messiah by Handel, namely: the 2nd part of the Sinfonia, and the choruses: And the Glory of the Lord, For Unto Us A Son Is Born, and the Hallelujah Chorus (but OF COURSE!).  

The highlight of the evening (for me) was after the community sing-along of 6 Christmas songs, when the orchestra and choir sang U.P. NAMING MAHAL and invited the audience to join in. T.T

Graduating student +  the alma mater song = P.O.I.G.N.A.N.T. moment!

Waaaaaa, so many emotions were running through me the whole evening, I was ranting and raving the whole time we drove back home. Napuyat ako but I didn't care. 'Twas well worth it.

Congrats to all the perfomers! 'Til next year!

~ ~ Am quite nervous about the week to come. I'll be "making puyat" every night with all the rehearsals and performances, and on top of that, I have 7 am class everyday except Wednesday (9 am, 2 hours reprieve) which I can't miss because next week is 1st Exam week. Waaaaaa ~ ~

The First Couple of Weeks (2nd sem, A.Y. '07-'08)

Ate, you are a blessing to me and to so many others

I haven't had the chance to upload these pics until now.

Below are pics of:

1) Ate Glenda's Birthday Party Pic (thank you so much, Bechie Babies, for inviting me!!!)
2) CMu People
3) My mom, Tita Mary Anne and myself having lunch at Tiendesitas
4) Rehearsing for NOLI ME TANGERE, Kuya Armin's Grad Recital

Rediscovering a Wonderful Song

I was fixing my music files over the weekend and found the score to one of my favorite songs of all time, Jose Mari Chan's IT IS THE LORD. It has new meaning for me now... maybe the fact that I can now accompany myself while singing the piece helped. Or maybe it's because of the recent renewal of that most precious of relationships... that of Creator and Handmaiden.

 

IT IS THE LORD

Words by Ma. Cristina Ansaldo Estrada

 

Slowly, the light unfolding,

Softly the dawn approaching.

Anxious frightened souls

Seeking hope, seeking hope.

 

Stumbling through the sad desolation.

Wond'ring with frightened confusion

Towards a dark gaping tomb,

a buried hope.

 

Gently, an awareness of a loving presence,

His words: "Do not be afraid."

His message: "Peace be with you."

"Rabbi!" Remember,

it is the Lord!

 

At the tempest and the storm,

in the kindnesses that keep us warm.

Even through the pains and betrayals

of life's crucifixions.

 

Rejoice, dear souls,

for peace, it is the Lord!

Soothe, it is the Lord!

It is the Lord, now and forever.

Amen.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How to describe the feeling that came over me after singing/playing this beautiful song?? There are no words...

"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." -- Ephesians 5:19-20

At Lola's 80th birthday party

Tita Mary Anne was there!!!! We haven't seen for her ages! :)

U.P. Sangkil Karasak

http://sangkil.org
Our club's web site. Do check it out!