Viewing: de la Guagua at TLCofNYC - View all posts

Making "Let's Make Christmas" 

Demo recordings can be a proof of concept.

         Let’s Make Christmas picks up in the middle of a story. Maybe it’s part of a larger musical. Maybe it just captures a moment. Early Études, vol 8: Christmas Musical Workshop features two sketches of the song.

The version with one voice, and Horace Beasley on the piano, gives an idea of the accompaniment.

The duet version, “Let’s Make Christmas” is an authentic demonstration of the values behind the song: cariño, rich cultural context, vocal lyricism of family singing together.

It was me and my cousin Cindy at a piano on the sidelines of a family Thanksgiving. It demonstrates what the song’s about: making it work. We only had a few minutes while Cindy’s three daughters were otherwise entertained, to study and capture the song.

Sunday 9/12/21, Praying with a Saint of 9/11/2001 

Classes were cancelled as we got word of the attacks, on the morning of 9/11/2001. The head of the dance department assembled students in one studio. The first thing she said was, “You must realize, we are going to war.” 

How might the last twenty years have been different if, instead, the first thing we said had been, 

“Lord take me where you want me to go. 

Let me meet who you want me to meet. 

Tell me what you want me to say, 

And keep me out of your way. 

Amen.” 

-Prayer of Father Mychal Judge OFM, FDNY Chaplain, first recorded casualty at the WTC, 9/11 2001. 

I learned his story from Saint of 9/11.

This Sunday, we remember and we pray at TLC of NYC. Music Director Horace Beasley and I will perform my setting of “Mychal’s Prayer”:

Sunday 9/12/21, 11Am Eastern

Trinity Lutheran Church 

164 W 100th Street in Manhattan 

and 

https://www.facebook.com/TLCofNYC/live 

From Love to Love to Love- 

Yo soy de la Guagua, 

Marcos