Lilly Chapel Press is an outlet for sacred choral settings by Lloyd Kauffman, and from other selected sources.
Personal …
Lloyd describes early influences of his work as follows:
One of my most vivid childhood memories is singing hymns in our daily “family worship.“ My father, a minister and active singer, taught us to sing
at an early age. We would learn the melody, then try to harmonize by ear. When we were old enough to understand, he taught us to read music with the seven-shape notation he had always known. We never sang in public, but its place in our family has been among my most formative musical influences. Hymns of the church became a cornerstone of my personal and spiritual heritage.
While teaching at both middle school and junior college levels, I quickly learned the value of including some hymn settings in a choir’s regular repertoire. Songs I was interested in using were often not available as choral settings, so I started writing my own arrangements in suitable voicings. First as a casual interest and later more seriously, I have had the joy of writing hymn arrangements for most of the choirs I have been privileged to lead over the years.
Lloyd received a B.A. degree in Music Education
(Eastern Mennonite College), an M.A. in Music Education / Choral Conducting (Ohio State University), and taught general and choral music for 28 years at the middle school and junior college levels. In addition to annual choir tours in the U.S. and Canada, he has led periodic choral and study tours in Europe, served for parts of four years as a music resource to a cluster of Mennonite churches in Germany, and taught at Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya. The number of choral settings offered here with alternate language options reflects his ongoing international connections. He remains active in choral activity, choral writing, music workshops and other endeavors related to choral and church music.
Musical …
While Lloyd’s musical output includes original compositions, his core interest has been choral arrangements of hymns and related sacred music styles. An obvious reason is the melodic and textual strength of many hymns that very naturally lend themselves to an expanded choral treatment. Another is increased connection with audiences. In addition to basic familiarity, many of these settings include a verse in hymnbook harmony where the audience can sing along.
Reflecting a long-time affinity toward the rich sound of male choirs, his mixed voice arrangements frequently include sections of male voice divisi, or antiphonal male-female choir effects. But, while using numerous stylistic approaches and voicings in arrangements, he has always tried to remain musically true to the original character of the songs.
Since many choral hymn settings used here have a recognized historical and / or congregational connotation, and are used by a broad range of church traditions, text choices predominantly reflect the context of their origin, or the form in which they have been most commonly known.
Significant use of the shaped notation of the 19th Century Singing Schools still remains active in some parts of the country. In the interest of making these settings as accessible as possible, most songs with a tonality suitable for singing with solfeggio are available in identical editions of either standard notation, or shaped notes using the Aiken seven-shape system.