The 9th and final day of this adventure was spent mixing tracks in the studio. The variety, beauty and emotion of this new music is rich and soothing. I am just beginning to be able to listen from a perspective that is outside the studio, where piano, vocals, English horn and guitar were all recorded. Here are the 12 tentative track names…Across the Skies, World Of Wonders, Vive La Joye, A Thousand Years, Hymn To Bach, Bread of Angels, For A Lifetime Blessings Flow, Always in Blossom, Be Still My Soul, Shedding Tears With Chopin, Prelude in C and Alleluias Dancing. Six of the greatest classical composers and seven famous hymns are represented in the arrangements, which interweave original composing throughout. Next week the CD mastering will be completed, then music samples can be put up on the website while CDs are being manufactured for the May 20th official release.

Today we recorded the beautiful English horn of Jill Haley. She was also a guest artist on Unveiled and December Peace. Both English horn and angelic vocals will add some unique colors to five of twelve tracks. Will Ackerman also joins them on guitar for a unique version of “All Creatures of Our God and King” that I am calling “Alleluias Dancing” for now. I, along with everyone else involved, am feeling the exhaustion of pouring our hearts into this project to create music that will offer peace, rest, hope and healing to listeners. We also began mixing tracks today, which brings all the sounds of each piece into their final form. More mixing tomorrow, with a final mastered recording to come next week.

Palm Sunday turned out to be Day 7 and was a day of worship (at a small town church that began in 1774) and rest. I hiked up to the top of the ridge, where there is a swing on long cables. When you swing on it it suspends you out over the hillside and you can see for miles into the mountains. This swing was a symbol of keeping alive the child-like faith and joy in my heart as I live each day.

The hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King” was written by Francis of Assisi in 1225. The music first appeared in a Roman Catholic hymnal in Cologne, Germany in 1623. Beginning yesterday evening through this morning and this afternoon, an arrangement of this verse and chorus was inspired that begins in quiet worship and builds to a joy filled dance. It was hard work at times getting all the touches completed in recording the piano, but in the end it was well worth the afternoon hours in the studio. The last minute of the song will symbolize a wedding feast with friends and loved ones in heaven, as vocals, English horn and guitar join the dancing piano. Another amazing day all in all, and such a great feeling to realize that 12 new piano pieces have been created and recorded that will soon offer peace, rest, hope and healing to listeners around the world.

It was a beautiful clear, cool, blue sky day in Vermont. Today was another new experience, stretching my composing to be more improvisational. This happened with two pieces recorded today…the title track A Thousand Years that interweaves original music inspired by Psalm 90:4 with Mozart’s famous Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star melody and the hymn It Is Well With My Soul, and a unique combination of J.S. Bach’s Air on G with the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy. We also listened back and were powerfully moved by the vocals that are being mixed with Amazing Grace / World of Wonders and Bread of Angels.

Today stretched me out of my comfort zone, as producer Will Ackerman and engineer Corin Nelsen challenged and guided me. Two pieces I knew I wanted to record both required more composing in a search of music that would be unique. The first was Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor. This piece expresses the shedding of tears during life’s moments of sadness. It is set between original opening and closing phrases inspired by a passage in the book of Job to represent hope. The second was the hymn Amazing Grace, which is interwoven with an original melody called World of Wonders after Psalm 98:1. It took several hours to discover the final outcome. We finished the day recording the angelic vocal colors of Noah Wilding to accompany World of Wonders as well as Bread of Angels.

With two days of recording completed at Imaginary Road Studio in Vermont, I thought I would share a little more about the process for those who are interested. Each of these first two days began with the piano tuner making fine adjustments to the voicing and sounds of certain notes so the 7 foot Steinway B would be at its best for each session. About 1.5 to 2.5 hours is spent doing multiple recordings of each song. Sometimes this involves particular sections of a song to try to capture the very best work emotionally. The final recorded version combines the best sections from all of the takes. These can include small “mistakes” that are magical even though they were not intended. Final versions are not about creating a “perfect” performance, but more about revealing the imperfect human element while capturing the emotion that each melody wants to speak to the listener’s heart.

It turned out to be a Psalm 16:11 day today . . . “You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Four songs were recorded with Grammy winning producer Will Ackerman and Grammy winning engineer Corin Nelsen, beginning with Vive La Joye, which expresses this Psalm. Also recorded were For A Lifetime Blessings Flow, which combines a unique arrangement of The Doxology with an original melody from Psalm 30:5, Be Still My Soul, which combines Brahms’s Lullaby with this 1899 hymn, and J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C which testifies without words to his belief that “the aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

Started through the Psalms this morning before my first day in the studio. Finished recording three songs today: 1) Always in Blossom (Psalm 1 . . . you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month. Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom), 2) Across the Skies, featuring interpretations on Pachelbel’s Canon in D (Psalm 19 . . . God’s glory is on tour in the skies, His Word vaults across the skies), and 3) Bread of Angels (Psalm 78 . . . They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat). Tired and ready for rest. Grateful for life’s blessings and looking forward to tomorrow.

Today I travel to Vermont to begin recording the new album “A Thousand Years,” inspired by Psalm 90:4. It’s hard to believe this will be my 7th recording, and my 4th with Windham Hill Records Founder Will Ackerman producing. There is nothing like his Imaginary Road Studio. It will be a much needed refuge over the next 10 days, as I create and record new music. I discovered in my thesaurus that another word for refuge is sanctuary. What a beautiful word picture for the simplicity, silence, solitude and surrender that is so vital for peace and rest in this hurried and noisy world.