Author: artsyhonker

Jubilate Amen

Byartsyhonker October 20, 2014 0 Comments
Just a simple sleepy little piece, this -- almost a hymn rather than an anthem, and almost not a hymn in that it straddles the line between describing worship and participating -- to some words by Thomas Moore: Hark! the vesper hymn is stealing o'er the waters soft and clear; nearer yet and nearer pealing and now bursts upon the ear: Jubilate amen! Farther now, now farther stealing soft it fades...

Composer in Residence?

Byartsyhonker October 17, 2014 0 Comments
I've been thinking a lot lately about how to continue building some kind of career as a composer of choral music, especially liturgical music. I do most of my publicity online, and church music is still a largely-offline world. I do love our small-but-mighty choir at St Andrew's Leytonstone, but realistically, they can't sing my SATB work, and the unison/two-part/flexible music I write for them...

Sweet Spirit, Comfort Me

Byartsyhonker September 1, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this in 2012 for a competition at St Paul's. Clerical error on my part meant I wasn't even in with a chance! But I am happy with what I wrote. Thanks to Matthew Curtis I now have a recording on YouTube: You can download the audio from Soundcloud and the sheet music from the Choral Public Domain Library. In the hour of my distress, When temptations me oppress, And when I my sins confess,...

Pied Beauty — recording

Byartsyhonker August 17, 2014 0 Comments
@pmphillips suggested this text to me when I was looking for something a bit creation-y for a unison/2-part community songbook. I didn't set it for that project, but instead in SATB. It's short and sweet, and might be suitable for an introit at a Harvest Evensong or similar. I'm pleased to be able to offer a demo recording of this, both at Soundcloud (where you can download the recording) and,...

Passing Notes 2014-08

Byartsyhonker August 12, 2014 0 Comments
The August 2014 edition of Passing Notes is online. The idea of this newsletter is that people who don't want to subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter, but do want to be informed of musical developments, can subscribe. Roughly once a month you'll get a sort of link soup with current projects, things I've released in the past month, plans for the next month, and some stuff I like. I might...

There is just one flesh we can wound

Byartsyhonker August 11, 2014 2 Comments
I am discouraged that it seems necessary to say "don't kill Palestinians" or "don't kill Christians in Iraq" or that there is outcry over the plight of the Yazidi. How about "Don't kill people"? It isn't the Palestinian identity, the Christian faith, the Yazidi culture that makes it important not to kill people: it is their humanity. I struggle to understand why this isn't obvious, but apparently...

Christ Has No Body Now on Earth But Ours

Byartsyhonker August 5, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this in 2009 for the Rev Dr Catherine Dowland Pillinger. Before she was ordained she was the Head of Student Services at Trinity College of Music. She was a great support to me while there, and I wanted to thank her in a way appropriate to her new role. I agonised over the text: I had no desire at that stage to call myself Christian, but I also saw clearly that her care for the students...

Postcard 5

Byartsyhonker July 30, 2014 0 Comments
Over at Patreon I have a few different “rewards” for different levels of funding. The idea is to thank my patrons for their support, while also doing things that are musically useful or relevant. If you want to learn more about Patreon I've given a brief explanation. For pledges of $3/work or more, if patrons disclose their postal address, I send a hand-drawn postcard with a short, unique...

Postcard 4

Byartsyhonker July 28, 2014 0 Comments
Over at Patreon I have a few different “rewards” for different levels of funding. The idea is to thank my patrons for their support, while also doing things that are musically useful or relevant. If you want to learn more about Patreon I've given a brief explanation. For pledges of $3/work or more, if patrons disclose their postal address, I send a hand-drawn postcard with a short, unique...

Love (III)

Byartsyhonker July 27, 2014 0 Comments
At St Andrew's Leytonstone we had the final service of our much-loved parish priest, Fr Duncan, this morning. I've interrupted the Song Cycle pilgrimage to come back and play. He is retiring and we will all miss him loads. I wanted to do something special for this service, so I asked him for a favourite poem. When he said "Love bade me welcome" by George Herbert, I was delighted; and I had...