California was an adventure. Of course we went for the international sacred a capella music symposium, called Ascending Voice, at Pepperdine, but we were able to sneak in a few other things as well!
I kept the kids in the mornings and some afternoons and then we had a couple of Pepperdine girls help watch the kids during the other times so I could go to the conference. The conference was very eye-opening to the fact that our fellowship is not the only people who practice a capella music. It was not a "Church of Christ" conference exclusively. There were people from the Mennonite, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and other churches.
Each evening a professional a capella group would perform. These styles ranged from Byzantine chant to more lyrical Gregorian chant to choral concert literature to folk songs! The groups were very specialized in their styles and each did them very well. It was obviously for a highly academic audience, and the audience was just that. We felt very inferior to many people there! Other big names who were there included Mike Cope, Jack Reese, Jack Boyd (ACU), Ken Starr, Rick Mars (Pepperdine), Cliff Ganus, III, Arthur Shearin (Harding), Gary Wilson (Lipscomb), and many others whom I'm sure I should know. And then there were John and Kim Hodges ... Which one of these is not like the others?
Harding, Lipscomb and Pepperdine each had a select group of chamber singers who performed. I only heard Harding's group, and they were outstanding. I was so proud to be a Harding grad at that concert! John heard the other two groups, and he said that he thought Harding's was the best and most professional. :) We thoroughly enjoyed the classes and the performances.
In our free time, we went to the beach, did Universal Studios one day and made it to downtown Hollywood. Here are a few pictures from the trip. (The rest are on facebook.)
Poor thing. It was so windy! The sand was blowing in her eyes!
Sand angel!
It was so beautiful ... a little chilly, but beautiful.
We had to fight for our turn, and then those women wouldn't get out of the way!
We really were there!
It was a whirlwind trip, but very good. It's always good to be home, though!
4 comments:
Glad to hear you had such a great trip. So will the praise team be doing a Gregorian chant on Sunday? That will go over big time!
I am proud to hear that the Harding group sounded good!
...love the beach pictures. I'm glad you got to have a little fun while you were there! XO, mom
As soon as I started reading about the Gregorian chanting, I wondered if Dr. G was there. :) Glad you had a good trip!
Looked like you had a great trip! One of these days, we'll get out of California!
I know all about people getting into photo shots - we had a few of those at Disney World. It drives me crazy!
Take some time to relax these few days while you're home! Sound like you have a big summer ahead of you!
How beautiful! Glad you had a good time and were able to get a few sessions in yourself. These are such great memories for your family. Your comment about a capella singing and those groups participating was interesting. Hadn't thought about that. How can there be anything, that, when you put God in it, it becomes wrong? Never have understood that one.
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