easter morning improvisations

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I have found improvisation a life-changing spiritual practice - a space of exploration that invites me to trust my intuition and lean into the grace of listening and learning rather than perfection.

So when I woke up before sunrise on Easter morning and felt drawn to the keyboard, I followed my heart and found inspiration in singing birds, rain, and rumbling thunder as a storm passed through. I read a translation of Psalm 46 by Norman Fischer. And Easter hymns found new life for me, not trumpeted out in festive pageantry, but offered in the hushed, sometimes ecstatic improvisations you can hear below.

and he tells me I am his own

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Last spring, I collaborated with mezzo-soprano Kristin Gornstein to present a Mother's Day recital that included two settings of the 19th century Czech poem, Songs My Mother Taught Me.

The poem got me thinking about the songs my mother sang that shaped my musical and spiritual life, and inspired me to compose a piano arrangement of C. Austin Miles' beloved Gospel hymn, In the Garden. Sentimental, yes, but I remember it as one of my favorite lullabies and it's a tune I will always associate with my childhood. The text has also served as an ongoing reminder that I am God's beloved and invited to an intimate, tender relationship with Jesus.

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it came upon a midnight clear

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Merry Christmas, friends! 

I've been reharmonizing and improvising on carols over the past years and the latest is this setting of 'It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.' It departs quite a bit from the original setting but I think the unexpected harmonic turns and moving inner lines express this beautiful carol in a new way.

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