Secretary Michael
Life
Born:
Died:
Biography
Secretary Michael is a St. Louis peace activist with a large catalog of compositions that have been put into the public domain and are free to download [1]. Among his major works: "Secular Hymnal" [2] (SATB and Solo Editions, each containing 144 secular hymns), "Choral Dialectics" [3] (each dialectic is a rational argument, battled-out chorally in 4 short movements), "Little Machines" [4] (a collection of 28 very short mechanical works for unaccompanied mixed chorus), "Joe Puma - Wild Choir Music" [5] (a collection of 36 secular shape-note hymns), "Candelescence" [6] (a "free peace opera" for singers and piano), "Aren't We the Lucky Ones" [7] (The story about a commune of science students in which the young child "Twimfina" first appears. Her name is an acronym for "The World Is My Family, I'm Not Afraid". Later, as a young adult, she appears as the central figure in the opera "Candesescence").
BIO: A graduate of the UMKC Conservatory of Music, Secretary Michael has been an elementary school teacher (teaching Science and Music in both public and private schools), a private piano teacher, and the founder of "Junkyard School" (where he created and led youth classes such as: Zappo Electricity Club [adventures in building electric circuits], Totally Lost Hiking Club [botanical hikes], Termites [woodworking class], Junkpickers [taking apart old appliances], Flying Figbars [paper airplane making]). He also served as choir director (for the City of Oakland California), a maker of weather charts (Metropolitan Weather Charts), writer of the Genocide Slide [8] and a longtime St. Louis concert piano tuner/technician (Academy Piano Service).
Today Secretary Michael leads the St. Louis Peace Choir [9]. As a lifelong advocate for keeping public choirs secular [10] and free from nationalism, he continues to create choral works that celebrate peace and egalitarianism.
See also: Secretary Michael's editor page.
List of choral works
- Balance (Choral Dialectic)
- Change (Choral Dialectic)
- Clean Water (Choral Dialectic)
- Jo Puma (Secular Shape-note Hymns)
- Peace Songs for Choir
- Secular Hymnal
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Publications
External links
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