2003 - Retired in the city

We moved back to Pittsburgh, Shaler Township, in 2003. I had to
quit my gig with the Lutherans because the trip to Kittanning was
just too far to deal with. Instead, Mariann and I went church
shopping for a good choir and director. We eventually found one
at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland. It was nice, and still is, to just sit
back and sing and not worry about the responsibility of it all. It is
so nice to have the option of not getting out of bed or fighting the ice
and snow! Living back in the city, we took advantage of all the culture we had missed while on the farm. We do the Pgh. Symphony, the Pgh. Ballet, and the Pgh. Public Theater. By the way, few probably know this, but the ballet orchestra has no less than three EA alumni that regularly perform there: Bob Skravonsky, Karen Sloneker, and Keith Jackson (now Dean of Music at WVU), and sometimes his cousin, Carl (Kalvin) Jackson...not to mention itinerant percussion instructor at EA..Jan Fung. We sure had our share of talented students at EA over the years.
Some have asked if I am still writing music. I do, but mostly for the choir and organists at St. Paul's. They perform several of my choral works throughout the year, and our organist, Ken Danchik performs some of my preludes for organ. I now have over 20 works published by various publishers. Another project of mine is to create a "Prelude/Anthem of the Month" for around 200 organists around the country. I email them a timely prelude each month in hopes that they will perform it during or before worship. I get so many beautiful emails thanking me for the music and telling me of how the performance went. At any given Sunday morning, I can safely assume that someone, somewhere is performing one of my preludes or anthems. In case you are interested, the list of my preludes is on another blog site at: www.sacredsoundworks.blogspot.com
Next post I'll talk about my grandkids!