Interests:Currently studying with Terrance Fullerton at St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church in Vancouver. Expertise:CRCCO Occupation:Organist, Pianist, Choir direc Industry:Church Music and Organ
It is holiday time and that is can be noticed on the Internet too. It's good to take a break! We've had a good time with our family from the Netherlands, the weather was much more "summerish" here than over there .
Musically it's a break too and that generates many more musical ideas and thoughts. On Sunday I'll be in Surrey playing the Maranatha organ. It's will be an interesting experience now I can compare it to our own new organ in Langley.
Back to vacation... Altough there are many tips that I can give you about where to go based on personal experience, there is one place that I just got recommended through email. I will pass on the entire e-mail, so that you have it all. This is located in the area of Hope, British Columbia, Canada. Notice the end date: August 2!!! (Please note the disclaimer of the pastor that there were some statements that we do not agree with.)
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Dear Church Family,
We were informed by the Seventh Day Adventist Churches that on their campground "Camp Hope," there will be a full-scale replica of the Tabernacle of the Wilderness on display from today (July 25) till next Saturday (August 2).
This exhibition will be open to the public every day from 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.
Admission is free. Guided tours of "Messiah's Mansion" (the official name of this exhibition) will be conducted at 15 minute intervals throughout the day-in other words, every 15 minutes a new tour begins. The tour takes a good hour.
This morning Adam Slingerland and myself visited this exhibit, and were favorably impressed by the presentation of a capable tour guide. The essential truths of the gospel were clearly articulated. There were some statements we could not quite agree with, but they constituted but a small percentage of the total presentation.
I would encourage you to visit this exhibit if you have the time. (Pictures are attached!) It will give you a wonderful sense of the actual size of the Tabernacle and all its pieces of furniture, and it will enable you to read Exodus 25-40 with a sense of "having been there."
Camp Hope can be accessed from Hwy 7 several kms before you get to Hope itself. Driving from Chilliwack, it will be on your left hand side.
Highly recommended!
Pastor B. Elshout Heritage Reformed Church of Chilliwack, BC
Messiah's Mansion is a life-size replica of the Mosaic Sanctuary that God gave instructions to Moses to build in the wilderness. Everything is to scale and a copy of what it would have looked like to the children of Israel to the best of our knowledge. Through guided tours, people are able to see the plan of salvation and bring it to life with the visual aid of the sanctuary furniture.
Here are the pictures:
Who's behind this?
Mr and Mrs Leinnewebers have been traversing America in a semitruck setting up their replica since 2003. Before then, they owned a restaurant and bakery. They take winters off because the cold weather is bad for turnout.
Clayton Leinneweber teaches sophomore and junior Bible class at Oklahoma Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Harrah, Okla. His students learn to set up the mansion and give tours as part of their curriculum.
By comparison the sanctuary is small, but it was made to be carried across the desert, with each family responsible for packing a particular piece. Fully loaded, the Leinneweber's semitruck tips weigh station scales at more than 68,000 pounds.
Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. (Rev 21: 1-7 NIV)
It feels like a rollercoaster; the last seven weeks went by fast and intense. From renovations in the church, to the installation and now the voicing and tuning.
These two weeks I have been in the church every day to discuss the progress with the voicers. The first week was the slowest. The first thing that they did was to find out the acoustical behaviour of our sanctuary, which they call 'room'. The sound is different in a lot of places: in the center, versus the sides, underneath the balcony or out in the open, on the balcony centered or the side wings of the balcony.
If the sound is optimal/best at any place in the room, they first needed to understand what people are hearing wherever they would be sitting. And our room has quite a few variables with the balconies, support beams, and sloping and angled ceilings and floors.
Then they were voicing the organ. Not all pipes of the same rank sounded equally (e.g. bright/dull) and not every pipe was equally quick in response. This means that they were looking at/istening to every pipe individually... 1,250 times.
There is a system/method for voicing (and I am sure that different voicers have different methods). Starting with the Principal ranks, they first voiced the octaves, then the fifths, then the fourths and thirds, as far as I understood. They don't use any electronics, they only use their ears. And I am convinced that electronics can't do what their ears can do.
Tonight they finished their work and it is ready to be used and heard. Sunday morning will be the first Sunday we can use the organ.
My first impressions from tonight are:
- Very clean sound of the individual stops - Very nice strings - Excellent Cornet on the Great for accompaniment and leading the singing - Bright and transparent sound, great for baroque music - Full trumpet with body and character - The 16 foot Doucaine on the Swell gives the full organ a solid foundation - And much more...
We accepted the organ. It is excellent in sound, technically, and in appearance. Yesterday night (Wednesday), after playing the organ, I had a few requests for changes/modifications of the sound. They were all finished today, but therefore it became quite late for the final testing, 11:00 PM. This organ is a jewel and will hopefully serve the congregation for many more years, and will allow for a lot of music and song to be heard in our church!
Sunday we'll hear the organ for the first time, but I will be playing it carefully.
The formal "Dedication Recital" is scheduled for September 12 or 13 or 14, Deo Volente. We plan for a Sunday Evening Music Program that weekend, with other instruments.
Psalm 150 NIV
1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Tonights performance of the choir was nice. We had a good audience. After a challenging season, this 'performance' was a good ending. Now we take a break.
Some pictures:
We could obviously not use the organ yet, but with the piano it went well.
Now we have to schedule our annual BBQ...
We hope to have a larger group next season, starting in September DV.
(PS This might be long to continue with a choir - at least that is what some people told me. In Utrecht (NL) I directed the "Stichts" Choir. They did hire me and in the agreement I received 2 months summer vacation, one week off with Christmas and one week off with Easter. That means singing until the end of June, vacation July and August and back on the job first week of September. That worked well and people stayed in good shape with such short breaks. )
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