I have written words based on my daily prayers to accompany a short-film in the making. I think of this work as spiritual but not necessarily religious and the images are based on breathing with the standard lotus position. I can’t remember if these choralnet places allow for html links but a few of the images can be seen at: https://librettong.com/2020/12/28/spirit-merge-as-naturestephen-mead/

My films are composed of montages fading into one another and I have roughly 200 in this series. Examples can be found on my YouTube channel of other works to help illustrate how the process works, https://www.youtube.com/user/StephenMead

The copy of the text is below and please feel free to message me should they inspire musical notes/choral voices in your head so we may brainstorm on how to bring this labor-of-love, love-of-spiritual-creativity into fruition. Thank you.

May Our Saying these Words be like Prayers

Namaste
Namaste

(Hold us lotus, hold us, float us
Hold us lotus, hold us, float us

Ethereal

Angel show us this place to go to
when there is too much hate in the world.

Hold us lotus, hold us, float us
Hold us lotus, hold us, float us

Angel, let doves come
& glowing butterflies swirl

Hold us lotus, hold us, float us
Hold us lotus, hold us, float us…) becoming softer background chorus throughout

Good day Ganesha & happy infinity to you.
We hope & pray you are well,
with your ability to removed obstacles undiminished
& continuing to bring you great happiness and bliss.
May this energy be forever replenished
by an abundance of love & gratitude
for all the souls you have helped remove obstacles for
& continue to.
May this energy be like a quietly rising,
buoying effervescent geyser
of champagne-ticklishness
feeding and being fed by secret underground brooks,
brooks leading to pools, nearly still, but quietly rippling,
reflecting, balanced on beauteous harmony.
May the same secret underground brooks
feeding & being fed by these pools
also continue feeding & being fed by the surrounding shores
of verdant, fertile, forever oxygenating green.
May this be your Manna, your Nirvana, your Ambrosia, your home-base,
so we may look to you to feel you looking back upon us
helping us to look back upon you, ourselves & one another
& say sometimes singularly, sometimes in a joyous chorus of unison,
the simply profound words, chant, mantra, concept, phrase:
Namsaste, Ganesha, Namaste.

Angels
Angels

May we all meet up with the most intelligent compassionate angels
to help us with our angels helping us
to stand on our own two feet
in good & healthy & happy ways.

World enough & time

May we all know world & enough & time
to count our daily blessings both big & small,
for even from the smallest blessing
great grace may abound
& the impetus be found
for us to carry on another day
& another night.

Yes, may we pray for ourselves & one another
in regards to our own inevitable mortality
& the mortality of all our beloveds.
Please help us through our grief & our mourning,
stage after stage
the loss & the anger
the anguish, agony & the angst,
the misery & the suffering,
the denial & the bargaining,
(stage after stage…)

Please help us to reach deep down
& bring forth the strongest aspects of our love,
the strength, the grace, the kindness, the patience,
the tenderness, the gentleness, the empathy, the compassion,
the thoughtfulness, the perception, the understanding,
the sensitivity & the insight
so that the one who is going
feels wrapped up & swaddled, cradled by absolute loving energy
as if held aloft
& go without fear, go without pain,
go entirely trusting insuch endless, all-encompassing,
unconditional loving energy
& so that the one who is left on these shores
can build a bridge of faith & belief
from the knowledge of such love
to know that are souls
are yet inextricably connected
& somehow finding the means to communicate
whether there is an afterworld or not.

May we all know deep peace,
breathe it up from the roots of the Earth,
the secret underground grottos & streams,
the root-rich fertility of minerals & nutrients
breathe it up into our own bloodstreams, bones, marrow,
tissues, organs, tendons, neurons, neurological systems,
lungs & cilia, cells, atoms, ions, & protons,
the energy from which all is composed & returns.

May this deep peace help us feel for
all the other countries & continents & bodies of water
in & of this Earth, this Universe,
the moon, the sun, the stars, the planets, the heavens,
life in & on land, all land,
in & on water, all water,
in & on air, all air,
the locked drops arising
for we are all like coppery salmon swimming
through silver & white froth.

May we pray for our extended family of humanity
& all other species & forms of life
whomever & wherever they may be,
gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual,
poly-sexual, transsexual, transgender & intersex,
all aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces & nephews,
grandparents & grandchildren, mothers & fathers,
sisters & brothers, husbands& wives,
all lovers, friends & acquaintances, so many strangers
& so many we may deem as being the enemy
& those who might deem us as being the enemy
because of & despite of our similarities & differences
whoever, whatever, & wherever they may be—–
racial, religious, sexual, ethnic, geographic,
social, national, international, weaponry & natural resources,
the needs, the fears, the wants, the greed, the real & the perceived.

May we pray for all our passed on beloved & ancestors
somewhere in our hearts, our souls, our systems,
whether we even knew or liked one another or not
& those where the love was palpable
if not articulated.

May we meet again in absolute bliss, happiness,
lightness, energy & love.

May our saying these words be like prayers
beyond all negativity & toxicity,
prayers beyond suicide, depression & self-hate,
prayers beyond rage & loathing & anger & disgust,
prayers beyond cruelty & viciousness, contempt & scorn,
jealousy, envy & spite
prayers beyond indifference, complacency & apathy,
bitterness & cynicism,
prejudice, pestilence, impoverishment, & violence,
natural & man-made disasters,
genocide & wars.

May our singing these words be faith for hope & kindness,
mercy & tenderness, gentleness, humility & patience & thoughtfulness,
empathy & compassion,
& passion without madness,
prayers for true open-hearted sincerity for the sake
of true unadulterated goodness, mercy & charity
prayers for energy, ebullience & radiance,
harmony & health,
prayers for peace, love, hope, faith , grace & ruth,
prayers for peace, love, hope, faith, grace & ruth.

Graphite is proud to welcome Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth to our roster. Dr. Voth is a well-established composer, with works in print by many leading publishers. Her music is known for its craftsmanship, sophisticated texts, and accessibility.

Voth’s choral work “Across the empty square,” for mixed voices and piano, is a monument to current times. But the themes are also universal and timeless. The text, adapted from a larger poem entitled “Lockdown,” transcends the global pandemic and explores how we can make progress against hate, fear, and isolation. Voth embeds traditional melodies into the piece with a seamless and integral nature. Fragments of the traditional hymn and tune, “How Can I Keep from Singing” gradually emerge from the piano. She further embraces the global nature of the pandemic by including a Chinese folk melody. The global crisis also provides an opportunity for healing. Voth says, “The power of the text is that we can reach out and sing, even though we are separated. We can always take the step to embrace the arts as a source of healing.” “Across the empty square” is also published for piano and C instrument.

Voth’s art song “As night and morning meet” is an example of how she chooses texts carefully and wisely so singers find a point of contact. The song has many-layered meanings that both the performers and audiences may explore. There are multiple meetings: lovers, night and day, sea, and the sand. Dr. Voth is an accomplished pianist and has composed an accompaniment evocative of a rippling sea. She expertly integrates the piano and voice into a synthesized whole. The longing of the lovers becomes a casting into the bigger philosophical questions of life.

Voth’s music is immediately accessible and is thoughtfully crafted on many levels. She carefully considers how to interpret texts rhetorically and structurally. Her music can be considered from multiple viewpoints. It is like a fine wine that you open, smell, swirl, and ultimately, taste. The experience is complex, enjoyable, and ultimately edifying.

About the composer

Active as a conductor and composer, Ellen Gilson Voth composes works that reflect her passion for and commitment to high standards of artistry in writing for the human voice. Praised for music that is “superbly crafted for singer and accompanist,” Voth’s works have been commissioned and premiered by a wide range of professional, semi-professional, and amateur choirs across the US, and featured at regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and College Music Society. Her art song and short opera works have garnered national attention as well. An experienced educator and clinician, she regularly presents workshops and coaches emerging composers on the art and craft of composition. Voth received her DMA degree from The Hartt School, University of Hartford, and currently lives with her husband and daughter in West Hartford, CT. To learn more about her work, visit www.ellengilsonvoth.net A monument to current times, the themes are universal and timeless. The wonder of the natural world and the hope of a new day.

With the pandemic still underway, some community choruses have begun to dip their toes back in the water with in-person, live rehearsals and performances. From drive-in choirs, to outdoor chamber album recordings, to socially-distanced sings at wineries, choruses are getting really creative with the ways they can come together in person while simultaneously mitigating the risks of COVID-19 transmission.

I interviewed a handful of choruses that have returned to in-person rehearsals to hear more about what their decision-making process looked like. Here are the results!

Tucson-based True Concord’s Founding Music Director Eric Holtan has assembled a Playlist that conveys comfort and assurance in the face of adversity, and features music of Bach, two settings by Moses Hogan of beloved hymns, excerpts from Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Will Todd’s glistening and atmospheric Among Angels, and Leonard Bernstein conducting excerpts from Bloch’s Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service).

Listen and learn more: https://www.trueconcord.org/2020/04/09/playlist/.

To hear the playlist on YouTube, click here:

Click here to listen on Spotify: