Good Morning.

Monday Morning Email readership continues to grow. We now have over 2350 members of the Creator Leadership Network and I want to thank you for being a part of our network of musicians helping musicians do our ministry better. When we started this resource a little more than a year ago, I had no idea we would grow so large so fast, and I appreciate the confidence and trust you have in our ability to serve you and your ministry. We're here to help, if we can...so let us know if there is something we can address that will help you and your ministry. (Sorry...all this political campaigning must be permeating my subconsciousness...)

One of the things that is great about CLN is that I get to meet all kinds of people who are in the process of becoming friends. And, as a side benefit, I get to tell my new friends about my old friends. Actually, to be precise, in this case, I should say long-time friend because this guy is younger than I am. Allan Petker is a great composer and engaging clinician who has a very nice website. If you direct a choir you quite likely have sung one of Allan's anthems, but I'll let you in on a little secret...he's a great viola player too (insert gratuitous viola joke here....don't have one? how about this one...what's the difference between a violin and a viola? A viola burns longer). Check out Allan's website here. Tell him I sent you.

This week I am pleased to introduce you to one of the things that I was talking about last week. For those of you who from time to time (or regularly) find yourself in the position of needing to conduct one of your musical ensembles, we have help. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, but who need to lead your assembled musicians in the upcoming Christmas musical, this is especially for you. And if you are an "old hand" at conducting, you'll appreciate this new resource. Finally, for those who have a sharp eye, you already know that we've added a new "tab" in the list of resource areas on Creator's website: MasterClass. If you have been a subscriber to the print version of Creator for some time, you'll remember that we were one of the first to do big events, and they were called MasterClasses. We are in the process of bringing the MasterClass concept back to life electronically, and our first step is to present a series of Conducting Tips presented by MME writer Doug Lawrence. Each week Doug brings you a succinct little tip, technique, or help to enable you to do this part of your ministry better. Check out the first 12 sessions, presented in co-operation with TheSingerLink, by clicking here. We guarantee you'll be a better conductor if you do (ok...equal time...gratuitous conductor joke ahead, courtesy of my good friend Doug Dunsmore: Do you know how to be a great conductor? Take off your shoe, put your foot in a pail of water, and stick your finger in an electrical outlet.)

Speaking of the print version of the magazine, our Children's Choir 2.0 issue is now on the way to our subscribers. Last week, we had a great response when I offered the first 25 people who either are children's music leaders, or who supervise children's music leaders, who are not subscribers to our print magazine (that is the children's music leaders are not subscribers), and who emailed me, a free one year subscription to the print version of Creator, including a copy of our Children's Choir 2.0 issue. So I'm going to do it one more time. Email me here [email].

This week's reminder about the many things available at our website to help you do your ministry better: You'll want to bookmark our articles page. We continue to add from the inventory of more than 1200 articles from Creator's print publishing history to our website, and you are sure to find things that will assist you in your ministry. Just select the topical category or categories that interest you to see what is there. Among the new titles this week are several articles about worship, and one which helps explain some of the stories behind famous Christmas Carols. Click here to purchase these and other articles. And, when you are finished checking out those things, why not stay a while and explore the rest of our website? Thanks.

In this week's MME we have more lists of repertoire. This time there are a variety of lists of favorite anthems, vocal solos, solo piano music, instrumental solo and ensemble music for weddings, and handbell music for Christmas from Creator's Editorial Board.  Read this week's MME by clicking here.

This week, pray for all those who are conductors, and for all those who make music under their leadership, and please tell your friends and colleagues about Creator and MME too.

Blessings,

Vern Sanders
Publisher
Creator Magazine