Reflecting in Gratitude Series 2019-2020/4
How did LSM impact you in high school?
LSM choir director, Craig Hella Johnson blew my mind. We were packed into the choir room on that summer morning at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, singing an A-flat in unison. He prompted us, the LSM festival choir, to sing incrementally to an A, the next half step up.
For some reason up until this moment, I thought there were only A-flats and A’s, and I suppose this is understandable because on a piano it LOOKS like there is nothing in between.
From that moment forward I grasped the infinity between two notes, whose sound for whatever arbitrary reason, we have agreed are called A-flat and A. We agree on a standard and yet we are still free, especially as a choir, to intonate in pure intervals which means finding the spaces and allowing the natural laws of physics to cause RESONANCE. Two in-tune notes will miraculously produce further perceivable frequencies: overtones or undertones or both. Thus, the result is greater than the sum of the parts!
I am so grateful because it was in my high school years that I began to understand that despite all appearances, there is space with infinite potential between everything.
In our LSM schedules packed with rehearsals, lessons, meals and practice sessions, we still found time to laugh and draw and make up silly skits. I now remember to look for the little gaps in my schedule that allow me to share in the joys and sorrows of my fellows, or just to breathe. Then returns the faith that I both care and am cared for, which comforts and strengthens me. In our adult lives shuttling between our work, our children’s lessons and the grocery store, there is space for a quick game of UNO, or to observe the grey December light dancing on the trees dropping their leaves, or to dance around the kitchen.
An A is an A because we agree it is. We are friends because we agree we care. LSM impacted me in high school because I began to understand that we work well when we agree on certain standards and then within this, we courageously explore the infinite possibilities and find the relationships that resonate.
Thank you to those who shared with us in the last gratitude survey. You demonstrate in your friendships that once we agree on the underlying standard that we care for one another, there is a result which overcomes both the passage of time and geographical distance. Inside this space, our relationships flourish.
Please take a moment to share with us how LSM impacted you in high school by filling out the Reflecting in Gratitude Survey (linked above). And while you are considering the standards and the infinite spaces in your own life, we would like to call your attention to an important anniversary coming up! Lutheran Summer Music will celebrate 40 years of transforming lives and connecting people through faith and music in 2021. In the survey we invite you to indicate an interest and willingness to become involved in this celebration in some capacity.
Be sure to make note of the LSM Alumni reunion dates this coming summer during Festival Weekend July 23-26th.
Blessings to you this Advent season. May you find and explore the glorious spaciousness in your life.
December 2019
“…the best of friendships aren’t always a 24/7 interactive – there’s a gentle ebb and flow, as with all things in life. The best friendships are ones that continue to nurture themselves, even when the individuals aren’t actively participating. Friendships nurtured at LSM have that ability.”
— Evelyn Yee, LSM 2011
January 2020
This is number 4 in the 2019-2020 Reflecting in Gratitude Campaign
“We, the LSM alumni remain connected through faith and music. We lived the experience that grew from the mission and vision of our revered founding fathers and mothers. The founders are now passing the torch to us, trusting us to preserve that which most transformed our lives, fold it into the challenges and advantages of our present day, and enable the enrichment of further generations of the LSM community.”
– Jeanine Krause, LSM ‘89-’91
LSM is embarking on a gratitude campaign. Alumni receive a monthly email containing a reflection from Jeanine Krause, alumni-related announcements, and a link inviting you to share your personal LSM stories and what you are most grateful for.
https://jeaninekrause.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/December.jpg637640jeanine Krausehttp://jeaninekrause.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Jeanine-Krause-3c-small-Size-320x320-1.pngjeanine Krause2020-04-18 16:59:202020-04-18 22:05:12RiG 2019-2020/3 December 2019: Our High School Years
How did LSM impact you in college or in your career?
Attending Lutheran Summer Music unburdened me from the college search. My path emerged clearly, and I enrolled at St. Olaf College, following those LSM teachers and professors, Steve Amundson (orchestra), A. Dwayne Wee (piano), Merilee Klemp (oboe) and others who touched and encouraged me both in my art and also personally. This was my way of thoroughly integrating music, faith and worship into the daily fabric of my life.
I entered college 2,000 miles from home, surrounded by a family of fellow LSM alumni. These are the people who, to this day, challenge me to faithfully share my gifts. These are also the people I proudly stand by, providing support as they share their gifts.
Together we fortify each other so that we can give of ourselves. LSM helped us find our gifts and at LSM we learned it is our joyful duty to share them with each other. We are bonded together in the culture of collaboration, encouragement, and support that is unique to LSM and sets it as a place apart.
For this reason, I am very pleased to be a part of the newly formed LSM advisory council. This new group primarily comprised of LSM alumni will be actively engaged in the the future of LSM, working together on strategic initiatives to improve the program to ensure that all manner of resources including time, awareness, creativity, money and artistry are continually nurtured and replenished. We eagerly anticipate sharing more soon after our inaugural meeting in mid-January.
When the dark clouds move in and doubts and insufficiency loom, we learned at LSM to encourage each other to refresh and strengthen body, mind and soul through music, faith and worship.
The culture of generosity happens at all levels of LSM. At the root of this is the willingness to nestle into the peacefulness of knowing that you dwell in abundance.
For those of you who go into 2020 with rejoicing: remember to celebrate with cries of gratitude, acknowledging your blessings.
For those of you who carry suffering and loss into the new year: remember to anchor yourself with gratitude for the smallest joys: running water, a cup of tea, a kind word, and the comfort of knowing that you have a gift to share.
January 2020
This is number 4 in the 2019-2020 Reflecting in Gratitude Campaign
“We, the LSM alumni remain connected through faith and music. We lived the experience that grew from the mission and vision of our revered founding fathers and mothers. The founders are now passing the torch to us, trusting us to preserve that which most transformed our lives, fold it into the challenges and advantages of our present day, and enable the enrichment of further generations of the LSM community.”
– Jeanine Krause, LSM ‘89-’91
LSM is embarking on a gratitude campaign. Alumni receive a monthly email containing a reflection from Jeanine Krause, alumni-related announcements, and a link inviting you to share your personal LSM stories and what you are most grateful for.
https://jeaninekrause.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/January.jpg426640mholfelderhttp://jeaninekrause.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Jeanine-Krause-3c-small-Size-320x320-1.pngmholfelder2020-03-02 11:53:072020-05-16 13:09:48RiG 2019-2020/4 January 2020: College and Careers
What impact does Lutheran Summer Music have on you today?
What is so important to you that you would voluntarily drive hundreds of miles (uphill… both ways) in a snowstorm? Ask me this on any ordinary day and I will respond with a resounding NOTHING!
As this new year dawned, one of our fellow LSM alumni lost his wife to illness. In her mid-40’s, a mother, a talented musician, adored by her family and friends, it feels unreal and definitely out of the ordinary that she left this life.
A collective of LSM alumni made our way through blustery winter weather last month to celebrate the life of this beautiful woman, to embrace her husband and children, and to lift our voices and instruments collectively in song at a time when words alone cannot sufficiently express the strength and weakness of the human condition.
On an “ordinary” day it is easy to pretend we are self-sufficient. Faith, expression through music and community are a routine we practice more out of a sense of duty rather than as a matter of life and death.
Those of us who set up a dutiful practice of Faith, Music, and Community, however, are better equipped when days come that are out of the ordinary.
On such days, snow and miles of driving become merely puzzles to be solved on the way as we go about the business of living out our values; faith, music and community become essential. Nothing can bring back what is lost and yet, we are handed the joy of bearing burdens together.
LSM impacts my life because through my experiences there, the importance of faith, community and the healing and celebratory power of music took hold.
February 2020
This is number 5 in the 2019-2020 Reflecting in Gratitude Campaign
“We, the LSM alumni remain connected through faith and music. We lived the experience that grew from the mission and vision of our revered founding fathers and mothers. The founders are now passing the torch to us, trusting us to preserve that which most transformed our lives, fold it into the challenges and advantages of our present day, and enable the enrichment of further generations of the LSM community.”
– Jeanine Krause, LSM ‘89-’91
LSM is embarking on a gratitude campaign. Alumni receive a monthly email containing a reflection from Jeanine Krause, alumni-related announcements, and a link inviting you to share your personal LSM stories and what you are most grateful for.
https://jeaninekrause.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/February.jpg541962mholfelderhttp://jeaninekrause.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Jeanine-Krause-3c-small-Size-320x320-1.pngmholfelder2020-03-02 11:50:532020-05-16 13:09:13RiG 2019-2020/5 February 2020: The Present Day
RiG 2019-2020/3 December 2019: Our High School Years
/in Lutheran Summer Music/by jeanine KrauseReflecting in Gratitude Series 2019-2020/4
How did LSM impact you in high school?
LSM choir director, Craig Hella Johnson blew my mind. We were packed into the choir room on that summer morning at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, singing an A-flat in unison. He prompted us, the LSM festival choir, to sing incrementally to an A, the next half step up.
For some reason up until this moment, I thought there were only A-flats and A’s, and I suppose this is understandable because on a piano it LOOKS like there is nothing in between.
From that moment forward I grasped the infinity between two notes, whose sound for whatever arbitrary reason, we have agreed are called A-flat and A. We agree on a standard and yet we are still free, especially as a choir, to intonate in pure intervals which means finding the spaces and allowing the natural laws of physics to cause RESONANCE. Two in-tune notes will miraculously produce further perceivable frequencies: overtones or undertones or both. Thus, the result is greater than the sum of the parts!
I am so grateful because it was in my high school years that I began to understand that despite all appearances, there is space with infinite potential between everything.
In our LSM schedules packed with rehearsals, lessons, meals and practice sessions, we still found time to laugh and draw and make up silly skits. I now remember to look for the little gaps in my schedule that allow me to share in the joys and sorrows of my fellows, or just to breathe. Then returns the faith that I both care and am cared for, which comforts and strengthens me. In our adult lives shuttling between our work, our children’s lessons and the grocery store, there is space for a quick game of UNO, or to observe the grey December light dancing on the trees dropping their leaves, or to dance around the kitchen.
An A is an A because we agree it is. We are friends because we agree we care. LSM impacted me in high school because I began to understand that we work well when we agree on certain standards and then within this, we courageously explore the infinite possibilities and find the relationships that resonate.
Thank you to those who shared with us in the last gratitude survey. You demonstrate in your friendships that once we agree on the underlying standard that we care for one another, there is a result which overcomes both the passage of time and geographical distance. Inside this space, our relationships flourish.
Please take a moment to share with us how LSM impacted you in high school by filling out the Reflecting in Gratitude Survey (linked above). And while you are considering the standards and the infinite spaces in your own life, we would like to call your attention to an important anniversary coming up! Lutheran Summer Music will celebrate 40 years of transforming lives and connecting people through faith and music in 2021. In the survey we invite you to indicate an interest and willingness to become involved in this celebration in some capacity.
Be sure to make note of the LSM Alumni reunion dates this coming summer during Festival Weekend July 23-26th.
Blessings to you this Advent season. May you find and explore the glorious spaciousness in your life.
December 2019
“…the best of friendships aren’t always a 24/7 interactive – there’s a gentle ebb and flow, as with all things in life. The best friendships are ones that continue to nurture themselves, even when the individuals aren’t actively participating. Friendships nurtured at LSM have that ability.”
— Evelyn Yee, LSM 2011
January 2020
This is number 4 in the 2019-2020 Reflecting in Gratitude Campaign
“We, the LSM alumni remain connected through faith and music. We lived the experience that grew from the mission and vision of our revered founding fathers and mothers. The founders are now passing the torch to us, trusting us to preserve that which most transformed our lives, fold it into the challenges and advantages of our present day, and enable the enrichment of further generations of the LSM community.”
– Jeanine Krause, LSM ‘89-’91
LSM is embarking on a gratitude campaign. Alumni receive a monthly email containing a reflection from Jeanine Krause, alumni-related announcements, and a link inviting you to share your personal LSM stories and what you are most grateful for.
RiG 2019-2020/4 January 2020: College and Careers
/in Blog, Lutheran Summer Music/by mholfelderReflecting in Gratitude Series 2019-2020/4
How did LSM impact you in college or in your career?
Attending Lutheran Summer Music unburdened me from the college search. My path emerged clearly, and I enrolled at St. Olaf College, following those LSM teachers and professors, Steve Amundson (orchestra), A. Dwayne Wee (piano), Merilee Klemp (oboe) and others who touched and encouraged me both in my art and also personally. This was my way of thoroughly integrating music, faith and worship into the daily fabric of my life.
I entered college 2,000 miles from home, surrounded by a family of fellow LSM alumni. These are the people who, to this day, challenge me to faithfully share my gifts. These are also the people I proudly stand by, providing support as they share their gifts.
Together we fortify each other so that we can give of ourselves. LSM helped us find our gifts and at LSM we learned it is our joyful duty to share them with each other. We are bonded together in the culture of collaboration, encouragement, and support that is unique to LSM and sets it as a place apart.
For this reason, I am very pleased to be a part of the newly formed LSM advisory council. This new group primarily comprised of LSM alumni will be actively engaged in the the future of LSM, working together on strategic initiatives to improve the program to ensure that all manner of resources including time, awareness, creativity, money and artistry are continually nurtured and replenished. We eagerly anticipate sharing more soon after our inaugural meeting in mid-January.
When the dark clouds move in and doubts and insufficiency loom, we learned at LSM to encourage each other to refresh and strengthen body, mind and soul through music, faith and worship.
The culture of generosity happens at all levels of LSM. At the root of this is the willingness to nestle into the peacefulness of knowing that you dwell in abundance.
For those of you who go into 2020 with rejoicing: remember to celebrate with cries of gratitude, acknowledging your blessings.
For those of you who carry suffering and loss into the new year: remember to anchor yourself with gratitude for the smallest joys: running water, a cup of tea, a kind word, and the comfort of knowing that you have a gift to share.
January 2020
This is number 4 in the 2019-2020 Reflecting in Gratitude Campaign
“We, the LSM alumni remain connected through faith and music. We lived the experience that grew from the mission and vision of our revered founding fathers and mothers. The founders are now passing the torch to us, trusting us to preserve that which most transformed our lives, fold it into the challenges and advantages of our present day, and enable the enrichment of further generations of the LSM community.”
– Jeanine Krause, LSM ‘89-’91
LSM is embarking on a gratitude campaign. Alumni receive a monthly email containing a reflection from Jeanine Krause, alumni-related announcements, and a link inviting you to share your personal LSM stories and what you are most grateful for.
RiG 2019-2020/5 February 2020: The Present Day
/in Blog, General, Lutheran Summer Music/by mholfelderReflecting in Gratitude 2019-2020/5
What impact does Lutheran Summer Music have on you today?
What is so important to you that you would voluntarily drive hundreds of miles (uphill… both ways) in a snowstorm? Ask me this on any ordinary day and I will respond with a resounding NOTHING!
As this new year dawned, one of our fellow LSM alumni lost his wife to illness. In her mid-40’s, a mother, a talented musician, adored by her family and friends, it feels unreal and definitely out of the ordinary that she left this life.
A collective of LSM alumni made our way through blustery winter weather last month to celebrate the life of this beautiful woman, to embrace her husband and children, and to lift our voices and instruments collectively in song at a time when words alone cannot sufficiently express the strength and weakness of the human condition.
On an “ordinary” day it is easy to pretend we are self-sufficient. Faith, expression through music and community are a routine we practice more out of a sense of duty rather than as a matter of life and death.
Those of us who set up a dutiful practice of Faith, Music, and Community, however, are better equipped when days come that are out of the ordinary.
On such days, snow and miles of driving become merely puzzles to be solved on the way as we go about the business of living out our values; faith, music and community become essential. Nothing can bring back what is lost and yet, we are handed the joy of bearing burdens together.
LSM impacts my life because through my experiences there, the importance of faith, community and the healing and celebratory power of music took hold.
February 2020
This is number 5 in the 2019-2020 Reflecting in Gratitude Campaign
“We, the LSM alumni remain connected through faith and music. We lived the experience that grew from the mission and vision of our revered founding fathers and mothers. The founders are now passing the torch to us, trusting us to preserve that which most transformed our lives, fold it into the challenges and advantages of our present day, and enable the enrichment of further generations of the LSM community.”
– Jeanine Krause, LSM ‘89-’91
LSM is embarking on a gratitude campaign. Alumni receive a monthly email containing a reflection from Jeanine Krause, alumni-related announcements, and a link inviting you to share your personal LSM stories and what you are most grateful for.