Secretary Michael
Life
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Died:
Biography
Secretary Michael (the old penname of Michael Laschober) 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 versions, 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, the founder of "Junkyard School" (a popular collection of afterschool programs), a choir director (Oakland Children's Chorus, St. Louis Peace Choir), a maker of weather charts (Metropolitan Weather Charts), a botany facilitator (St. Louis Nature Study Society) [8] and a longtime St. Louis concert piano tuner/technician (Academy Piano Service).
Today Secretary Michael is a volunteer leader of Botany Walks for St. Louis teachers [9], an advocate for secular choirs, a volunteer counselor on Discord's "Determinists Support Group" for those troubled by determinism, and a composer of choral works that celebrate peace and egalitarianism [10].
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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