Hello Michael. I just wanted to reach out and say how much I am enjoying perusing your entire catalogue - and learning from it. I looked at your bio, and like you, my career was spent in IT. Unlike you, however, I did not begin composing/arranging in earnest until I retired last May. Now I have 66 years of music circling in my head looking for a landing zone. Most everything I do is specifically for my home church organist and choir. But our choir would not be capable of doing justice to most of your works. We occasionally bring in professional string quartets and brass quartets. As I listen to some of your choral works, I think how nice they might sound being done by strings or brass. Would you be receptive to me scoring some for strings or brass or organ plus strings/brass for use in our services? Obviously, I wouldn't distribute them in any fashion beyond use in our service, and I'd ensure you were credited as the composer on the sheet music. And I'd be happy to submit them for your approval in advance.

There is something important I would like to clarify about my compositions in general, as liturgical music itself is an expression of faith, and there are a variety of faiths represented on this forum. I mention it in this thread due to the above request to arrange some of my compositions.

It is probably obvious from my website that I am a Catholic and that I hold to all that the Holy Catholic Church teaches. If I did not believe Catholicism is the one and only true Faith, I would not be Catholic. My compositions, therefore, are an expression of my Catholic Faith, and are intended for the Catholic liturgy.

In freely sharing my compositions, it is not my intention to participate remotely in the worship of other faiths. Honestly, because I write compositions almost exclusively on Latin texts, I wasn't expecting there to be much interest in my compositions among Protestant denominations.

I know that some of my compositions have been sung elsewhere, such as at a Lutheran church, and likely other places unbeknownst to me. After all, the scores are freely available. In these instances, it is my hope that the compositions are still a witness to the Catholic Faith, that God may use them to draw souls to Himself and to His Church.

I mean no offense, but I simply wish to clarify that my compositions are inherently Catholic and that I hope for the day when the Protestants are converted, when there will be one flock and one Shepherd.

Thank you for your very kindly worded clarification. I did not disclose my personal affiliation initially because I did not realize it was relevant. While I am pretty well versed in scripture and all my works are rooted in scriptural texts, I am not Roman Catholic and know practically nothing of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. But I confess that I very quickly began to sense how important those criteria are for participation in this forum. If I had “lurked” for a while before jumping in, I might have discovered that and quietly slipped out the back door. Please accept that I meant no offense. I don’t wish my participation in this (or any other) forum to cause others angst or discomfort. And now I’ll slip out the back door. May God bless you and keep you.

Er... @MarkRippe please do stick around! I'm here almost entirely for the new music and the odd question or two, and I'd hate to see you go.