This year’s annual meeting, held June 27-28, was graciously hosted, once again, by St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The meeting served multiple purposes this year. First of all, it provided an opportunity for PSALM board members and staff to report on the organization’s progress and plans for the future. It also provided opportunities for PSALM members to meet each other face to face and to discuss issues of concern to all Orthodox musicians. Many of us had already become acquainted via the e-group and e-mail. What a joy it was to put faces (and souls!) together with e-mail addresses! And it was very encouraging to have over thirty participants this year, some who stayed over after the Liturgical Music Institute, and some who came from as far away as San Diego just for the meeting. We had a healthy mix of clergy, choir directors, singers, and composers, which lent itself to balanced and lively discussions!

The meeting began on Friday afternoon with the presentation of progress reports, given both orally and in the form of a sixteen-page booklet. Highlights of the reports (which can be found on the PSALM website) include the following:

• Paid memberships nearly tripled from 2002 to 2003; among these, we now have sixteen parish memberships.
• The online liturgical music resource is well on the way to being launched. Several grant applications have been submitted requesting funding to support the final stage of this project.
• The Board of Directors has embarked on a strategic planning process to develop and prioritize goals for the next three years.
• A regional events chairperson has been appointed, and we are enlisting the aid of regional events coordinators to organize workshops throughout the country.
• The website continues to improve and expand on a daily basis, thanks to a competent team of volunteers!

Following the reports, the attendees broke out into three discussion groups on the following topics:

• Clergy/musician relations
• Bringing professionalism to the role of the church musician
• The role of composers/arrangers in the growth of liturgical music (A brief summary of these discussions will appear in future issues of PSALM Notes.) Following the group discussions, Anne Schoepp, national events chairperson, presented some models and resources for planning regional liturgical music workshops. She then divided the participants by regions of the country, and each group brainstormed workshop ideas. Out of this session came several planning committees for regional events to be held in the coming year.

On Friday evening Professor Helen Erickson (St. Vladimir’s Seminary) moderated a lively roundtable discussion on copyright issues, called “Whose Music Is It, Anyway?” Some important points made during this discussion were:

• Works composed or arranged by Orthodox musicians should be protected and respected by the Orthodox community at large.
• There is a historical precedent in the Church for this protection.
• Education will be necessary to change existing attitudes regarding respect and financial support for those who create liturgical music.

Saturday morning provided an opportunity for attendees to test their sight-reading “chops” in a music-reading session of PSALM Music Press publications. Fr. Sergei Glagolev, Anne Schoepp, Walter Obleschuk, and Vladimir Morosan shared the podium and led the group through several dozen pieces. (It was a joy to watch Fr. Sergei’s face as he heard some of his own compositions sung for the first time by a full choir!) Many participants commented that all PSALM events should include some time to lift our voices in song, since making beautiful sacred music is at the heart of our ministry. It was inspiring, challenging, uplifting, and just plain fun!

After the reading session, a brief demonstration was given by PSALM volunteer and technical consultant, Ted Feldman, on the progress of the online liturgical music resource. The resource will house sheet music that can be downloaded from the PSALM website and will contain a vast index of over 2300 categories of liturgical hymns. If the music is not available through the PSALM website, the index will give information about where it can be purchased. This project is in its final stage—the one that is the most technically complicated and labor-intensive. While we have applied for several grants to help fund the final stage of this project, we are also asking PSALM members to make contributions toward this groundbreaking resource.

The final session on Saturday was a group discussion, led by Mark Bailey and affectionately known as “Group Therapy for Church Musicians.” The group discussed ways that choir directors and clergy can instill a sense of commitment in singers. Some of the ideas mentioned were:

• Plan rehearsals so that there are reachable goals.
• Set long-term goals, too.
• Build opportunities for success into your “Choir Plan.”
• Make sure that learning is happening at rehearsals (no one wants his time to be wasted).
• Include a social element in the rehearsal that provides opportunities for the singers to bond.
• Include humor in your approach. And a gem from Fr. Sergei Glagolev: “If you want your choir to pay attention to you, say something interesting!”

We at PSALM pray that God will bless our efforts to bring Orthodox musicians together more often to make music, learn from each other, encourage each other, and glorify God. And we hope that you will plan now to join us next June for our annual meeting. It’s a unique opportunity to network with Orthodox musicians from all jurisdictions throughout the U.S. and Canada!