We want to share our Christmas joy with you this year with you by sharing some of our favorite liturgical church hymns. They aren't all Christmas songs, but since this will be our last year together as a family, as we anticipate John heading off for college next fall, we wanted to get together and sing one last time.
I will intersperse the songs with news about the family, so you can read while you listen...
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #1 - Magnification for Nativity, Byzantine Tone 1, arranged Frederick Karam
First item of new news: Paul got accepted at Sacred Heart University where he will be studying in a Masters of Applied Psychology program beginning this January. But thanks to modern technology, we will not need to move...It can all be done online with his small class of 20 participants. We are very excited about this new direction in Paul's life and have already been learning a lot about psychology because of his current reading. We are still waiting to hear from St. Vladimir's Seminary where we are hoping to attend this fall. The two fields will dovetail nicely together.
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #2 - Trisagion ~ Kievan Chant
"Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal..."
Nancy continues to homeschool the kids, though the oldest three are attending the high school choir, which meets for practices at least 4 times a week and often more when they are preparing for special concerts. Already this year, they have participated in the Borough Honor Choir in Soldotna and John and Rachel were selected to go to All State in Anchorage as well. Freshman, Herman, was selected as an alternate, which was quite an honor also.
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #3 - Christ is Risen in Aleut
John just heard back from Carnegie Mellon (today on Christmas Eve), where he applied as his first choice in the fall as a double major in voice and computer programming. He has been selected to participate in a live audition, based on his performance in the recorded audition tape he submitted this December. He has had a very busy but rewarding year because of his participation in the Homer High School Swing Choir and DDF club (see more info below). The swing choir has been busy performing Christmas carols all around town, and Paul and I had the privilege of hearing him perform at a special Candlelight, Carols, and Desserts evening last week where we got to hear them sing for almost two hours! It was a lot of fun, and the songs were very impressive.
Here is a sample of a Swing Choir piece that we especially enjoyed: the percussion is done by a talented singer all with his voice/mouth...
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #11 - Ding-a-Ding-a-Ding, Gilpin
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #4 - The Lord's Prayer, N. Kedrov, Jr.
Rachel had a busy summer with her first job at the Sourdough Express Bakery in town interspersed with horseback riding and jumping lessons. During the school year, she has been a serious choir member as well as taking private art lessons with a local artist who has some amazing pieces up all over town. Rachel tried her hand, for the first time, in acrylic painting. If you want to see some of her pieces, you can see them in my Facebook photos. She has also taken on the huge project of reading medieval philosophy with her Great Books online class among all of her other studies, which keeps her quite busy!
Here is Rachel singing also in one of her favorite All State Treble Choir pieces:
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #12 - In Magna Symphonia, Joshua Shank
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #5 - Rejoice, O Virgin, Rachmaninov
Herman, as a freshman in high school, has his hands full with academics this year; but still he took on the extra-curricular activity DDF (Drama, Debate, and Forensics), a club where he practices debating, solo, duet, and small group acting with some of his best high school pals. He then competes in these activities in various tournaments in Anchorage with the other area high school clubs. His other most challenging class of late is Great Books, in which he has read the Iliad, the Odyssey, Herodotus, etc... Interestingly, this has been his most enjoyable class, though difficult with the heavy reading load. His teacher is very inspiring!! :) He is also playing guitar and continuing both classical guitar and acoustic guitar with his amazing teacher, Eric Fenger.
Here is a small sample of his classical playing.
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #10 - Estudios Sencillos, Leo Brouwer
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #6 - Cherubic Hymn, Kastorsky
Sergius is growing by leaps and bounds this year and has been loving his SWIM team! His favorite stroke is the Butterfly, and we've enjoyed watching him race at the various swim meets. He has his eyes on Junior Olympics and is working on his "qualifying times" for that and for "age groups." He also is working on trumpet on his own (no teacher at this time) and will be starting some art lessons this January with a local artist who is an expert at carving wooden instruments out of driftwood, using a drummel and/or chisel to make faces in all sorts of wood scraps and bark, makes decoy ducks, paints, etc. Sergius loves working with his hands and is already working on making walking sticks and various presents for his friends and siblings with his new jigsaw. He has decided that he can make anything with a jigsaw!
Here is a joyful Christmas piece played by Sergius on trumpet:
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #9 - Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #7 - All of Creation Rejoices
Hymn to the Theotokos, Liturgy of St. Basil, Galician Chant
Patrick has been busy with his piano lessons from long-time Homer resident and music lover, Mary Epperson. She has inspired him to throw himself lovingly into playing piano and enjoys practicing arpeggios and scales at increasing speeds! This winter he performed in his first recital, playing a Christmas Medley that he and his teacher invented themselves. Patrick also is immensely enjoying his Swim team and the many friends he sees at practice each week. He is also a Butterfly fan and is improving his speed and stroke skills with diligence. Another highlight of Patrick and Sergius' year was their participation in the production of Romeo & Juliet (30-minute rendition) at our local Homer Council on the Arts. Patrick thinks it would be fun to do more acting some day soon.
Here is Patrick's recital piece:
Gabcast! Christmas 2010 Music #8 - Patrick's Christmas Medley
Thank you, Everyone, for your various Christmas greetings and cards. Truly this is a joyous time of year when we celebrate one of the two most momentous events in the history of our world: the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May He bless you in the coming year and fill you with His peace. Our love to you all!
The Hannans: Nancy, Paul, John, Rachel, Herman, Sergius, and Patrick
Thank you all. Your talents are outstanding. May they be used to the glory of God througout your lives. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteLove in Christ
Archimandrite Juvenaly