First Post

Five years ago, when we burned 50 CDs of my first informal collection of 6 “new children’s songs for the missional church,” I would have laughed in your face if you’d told me I’d be doing what I’m doing now.

But here we are, and this music ministry has become my work on a flexible full-time basis. I like to say that I’m in “bi-vocational ministry” - as a home-maker and a music-maker. It is in many ways a dream come true – or it would be, if I’d ever had the nerve to even dream of such a thing… How did this happen?

Well...

I could trace the “history-so-far” of SmallTall Music by recalling key conversations... Conversations that helped to encourage me, challenge me, knock me down, pick me up, re-orient my thinking, open up new possibilities, close down other ones… Conversations with friends, with family, with church leaders, with children and grown-ups and youth…with the community(ies) of faith that surround me…with God…

I am profoundly grateful for all these conversations, and I literally don’t know where I’d be without them. I’m glad that, with some of you, I’m able to keep in touch and continue the conversations on a regular basis. I only regret that, with many others, that’s very hard to do…

That’s where this blog comes in.

My hope is that this blog can be a way to continue and extend these conversations. I see it as a way to communicate with friends and family, with the households and congregations that have become members of SmallTall Music, with supporters and allies and co-conspirators (and “enemies,” if you’re out there…)… with anybody who wants to stop by now and again.

Here’s what I figure on bringing to the conversation: regular posts (weekly or so), with musings on the steps and missteps on this unfolding journey… a window into the creative process/wrestling match as songs take shape… occasional barnyard updates…random thoughts from what I’m reading and seeing and hearing and wondering…in short, “miscellaneous meanderings of a musical ministry…”

I look forward to hearing what you want to bring to the conversation as well!

More to come…