Songs for my grandchildren, Psalm Offering 1, Opus 8
My grandchildren (from left to right): Cody (a cousin), Alyssa, Sydney, Owen, Aidan (missing, Oliver)
My grandchildren are my delight and my joy! For Christmas, I composed six songs for piano for my grandchildren: Alyssa, Owen, Aidan, Sydney, and Oliver. I have been giving piano lessons to Owen and Aidan and my initial intent was to compose piano music they could play at their level of competence. The first two songs fit into that category, and then, I got carried away composing music that was beyond their present playing level. The excuse I give is that eventually if they practiced, they will be able to play at this level of competence.
With the exception of the last song, all of the songs are dedicated to all my grandchildren. I figure that way they are not stuck with a song dedicated to them that they might not like.
Psalm Offering 1: This is the most rudimentary of the 6 piano compositions. For those of us who remember beginning band, this would be the “Hot Cross Buns” piece of the 6. This both Owen and Aidan can play with ease. It is in simple 3 part A-B-A form.
(c) 2017, by Deacon Bob Wagner OFS. All rights reserved.
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Deacon Bob
I am a composer, performer, poet, educator, spiritual director, and permanent deacon of the Catholic Church. I just recently retired after 42 years of full-time ministry in the Catholic Church. I continue to serve in the Church part-time. I have been blessed to be united in marriage to my bride, Ruth, since 1974. I am father to four wonderful adult children, and grandfather to five equally wonderful grandchildren. In my lifetime, I have received a B.A. in Music (UST), M.A. in Pastoral Studies (St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, UST), Certified Spiritual Director. Ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in 1991. Composer, musician, author, poet, educator. The Gospels drive my political choices, hence, leading me toward a more liberal, other-centered politics rather than conservative politics. The great commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us, as well as the criteria he gives in Matthew 25 by which we are to be judged at the end of time directs my actions and thoughts.
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