YRMusic.com :: Featured Artist : Clif Hardin

FEATURED ARTIST
Clif Hardin

Clif's music has procured a prominent place in the repertoire of many Unitarian Universalist church choirs. His style is direct and forthright, touching frequently on themes of love, beauty and the celebration of life and nature. We encourage choruses of all denominations and faiths to explore his music!

FOR A LIMITED TIME RECEIVE A 15% DISCOUNT ON ALL OF CLIF'S MUSIC PUBLISHED BY YELTON RHODES

Order any score by Clif Hardin in quantities of 12 or more by September 30, 2009, and receive a 15% discount! Place your order by e-mail (sales@yrmusic.com) and be sure to mention the "Featured Artist Discount."

Clif recently sent us MP3s for 11 of his pieces which you can find by looking through the catalog entries listed next to his bio (you'll see the "listen now" indication.

Also, he recently launched his new website where you can find additional information about his music (both choral and piano literature). Be sure to check it out at www.ClifHardinMusic.com.

We asked Clif for some insights into his music and what inspires him to write, and this is what he shared:

"I’m fifty-four years old, now. Being in the heart of middle age, it gives me a nice vantage point to reflect on what has been and what might come. As a younger musician, I had several scripts in mind about how my life should turn out personally and professionally. Like most people, none of my scripts played out quite the way I anticipated. In my twenties, I would have never thought that I might become a full-time church musician. And here I am now, very happy with my job at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, MD.

At River Road, I see the great value of being part of a community and sharing my life through time with that community. I love leading the choirs there and playing for services. At its very best, music in a service feels like art joined with worship, bonding people together in a unique, special way. I am encouraged to compose and arrange, and I have the immediate opportunity to have my music rehearsed and performed. Since Unitarian Universalism is liberal and non-creedal, there is also a great need for music with texts that reflect this emerging and evolving faith. In fact, a larger work that I am proud of, Requiem, came about in such a way. It was commissioned and supported by a group of people at River Road who wished there was a Requiem that used texts that were more compatible with Unitarian Universalism than the traditional Roman Catholic rite. More commonly, it is a coming Sunday topic that might be a motivation to create something new. So, this combination of opportunity and need at my work has been a wonderful catalyst for creating and growing.

Let me share a little anecdote about growth: Not too long ago, we were developing a service about the “spirituality of summer.” Though there is plenty of music about summer, the topic reminded me of a piano piece I had written as a teenager. My recollection was that it was really pretty good and so maybe I should play it for the service. Later that day, I pulled out a box from my attic that contained my early efforts, and there in pencil on old manuscript paper was the piece, Summer Mood. The first measure or two had a nice idea, but after that, well, it wasn’t all that good, after all. I looked over the other pieces in the box and came to a similar evaluation- there was spirit in the ideas, but they weren’t carried out very well.

Instead of feeling disappointed, the music in the box gave me a lift. I realized that in music, like most things, there are not two categories, good and bad, or mature and immature. I realized how far I had come, and that it has been a gradual process. The music in the box gives me great hope that if I keep working at it, I might keep growing as a composer, musician and person, even after age 54. Moreover, it reminds me that we all have the chance to grow in our art and as people.

I did, in fact, use that teenage piece, though. I took the opening idea and wrote a new piano piece called Come Summer that is now part of a collection of pieces called Journey On.

SEARCH YRM CATALOG FOR:
Music by Clif Hardin
Arranged by Clif Hardin

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Clif Hardin's Website

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