A Sonnenberg Christmas

I am so pleased to be ushering in the Christmas season with you this year as the director of Sonnenberg Station. It has been years since we have had the opportunity to shift our fall concert schedule back into the Christmas season. We are aiming for this season to be a Christmas meditation for all of us, complete with scripture and carols, old and new.

I have been with the group for 7 years now as an accompanist and fill-in director, and I couldn’t be more excited to step into the role of director. As a music educator in the public schools, it is very refreshing to keep the music going with these gentlemen who are all in various stages of their lives. I am lucky to be directing choral veterans and talented newcomers alike!

While the Christmas season is always a special time, I am even more excited this year to be celebrating with all of you at our concerts and with my growing family at home. My wife Brittani and I will be celebrating our son Lyle’s first Christmas with him.

We hope to see you this December!

Tim Yoder

The Last Goodbye

Our next five Sonnenberg Station concerts are going to be good ones! I’m going to be savoring every note and memory because this will be my last season serving as its director. A dozen years ago, I was asked to bring leadership to a fledgling male ensemble, and I’m so glad I agreed! I’ve been able to be with some amazing men who are strong, funny, tender, and talented.

In checkout lines, restaurants, and other places where people gather, I’ve been the lucky recipient of affirmations from total strangers that come to our concerts faithfully and say how much it means to them; not just the music, but by seeing grown men doing something life-giving with unashamed passion and beauty. Music is important but developing a culture of active music making is even more important.

I’ve always wanted to have the counter-intuitive wisdom to leave when things are going good, not bad! It is going very good, and it will be in safe hands with Tim Yoder taking over as director next fall. Perhaps I will sing in the future, but, for right now, I am looking forward to focusing on my school’s choirs next year as I return to teaching. Thanks to the thousands of people who have attended our concerts, and be sure to make one of the next five!

Tim Shue

The Spring 2018 Season: A Word from our Director

I have been involved with Sonnenberg Station for the past 5 years. I joined as a second tenor and took over the accompanist role once Kevin Himes stepped away from the group. Choral music has always been a passion of mine and Sonnenberg Station is how I keep it in my life, considering my occupation as an elementary music teacher. Tim Shue was feeling as though he needed his spring seasons to be less hectic, so the idea was floated that I direct the group for the spring seasons; it was an offer I couldn’t refuse!

There are many different ways a choral concert can be planned. From light-hearted to deeply moving, Sonnenberg Station has been singing a varied repertoire from the beginning, and this season is no exception. We have our fair share of folk tunes, instrumental pieces, sacred choral works, and even a sea shanty.

I am excited to work with the group on the variety of sacred choral works that we are singing. There are a few pieces in our repertoire this season that I have been wanting to conduct or perform for years. One of them, “O Magnum Mysterium,” is a deeply beautiful and complex piece. It has harmonies that create a very intricate and delicate mood while still maintaining a soaring melody. Choirs that sing this piece are often challenged by its difficulty when trying to sustain proper vowels and intonation, all while singing 5 or 6 parts! Near the end of our concert, we contrast "O Magnum Mysterium" with a spiritual called, “Plenty Good Room.” Moses Hogan helps us show our range by switching the mood in a finger-snapping tune that encourages us all to settle into our seat in our “Father’s Kingdom”. There should be something for everybody!

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Aside from being excited about directing a choral group, I was also excited about the possibility of arranging some songs for the group. I arranged a piece for this season called, “The Old Churchyard.”  You’ll hear it near the beginning of our concert with Nate Gundy on the guitar and Bill Seymour on the penny whistle. This song is a revised version of an early 19th century Scottish Song called, “The Old Kirk yard.” “Kirk” is a Scottish word that means church, or even more specifically can mean “the Church of Scotland.” I learned of this piece when I heard  Offa Rex (British singer Olivia Chaney coupled with The Decemberists) performing it on their new album of traditional English songs. It was a very haunting and beautiful song that I thought would be a wonderful choral piece if it were arranged properly. The words speak of the process of grieving. The song acknowledges the pain that we feel when a loved one is lost but also rests in the hope that on one bright day “sunshine will burst through these prisons of clay, and old Gabriel’s trumpet and voice of the Lord, will wake up the dead in the old churchyard”. Such a powerful message that is oftentimes painful to hear when grieving a loved one. We hope to do it justice! We look forward to seeing you.

-Tim Yoder