Stories Behind the Songs

Songs from Amidon/Stearns Musicals
From 2001 – 2009 Peter Amidon collaborated with Stephen Stearns creating four original musicals for Brattleboro’s New England Youth Theater. Stephen wrote the script and Peter composed all of the music and lyrics. Here are a few of Peter’s original music and songs from those musicals. from The

What they are saying about Amidon arrangements
I found my way to your choral works because I was looking for high-quality, interesting music suitable for our scaled-down size and UU theology. I’ve been completely delighted by getting to know your catalogue on so many levels! I also feel a great deal of gratitude for the

The Story Behind “The White Goddess”
Listen below: Free download – pdfs/mp3 – White Goddess Two hundred friends and family gathered under the tent outside the Guilford Community Church on a hot Saturday, June 25, 2022. After a prelude of traditional tunes played by Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy, the Celebration of Life for

Star Harmony 2024
(STAR HARMONY 2023 WAS CANCELLED DUE TO HURRICANE LEE.) an astonishingly beautiful retreat center astonishingly beautiful retreat center on a small island off the NH coast. You can walk around it in an hour, just an hour by ferry from Portsmouth, NH. Fri eve through Sunday morning – Sept 13,

Land on the Shore – a journey
Becky Tracy, Zara Bode, Keith Murphy, Peter & Mary Alice & Stefan Amidon perform: Land on the Shore Maybe forty years ago I first came across this remarkable recording of Buna Hicks singing “Father’s Now Our Meeting Is Over” on the Folk Legacy “Traditional Music of Beech Mountain

Alouette Iselin’s “Solstice Song”
Solstice Song by Alouette Iselin Mary Alice and I have been singing Alouette Iselin’s “Solstice Song” for thirty years or so. Alouette is a New Hampshire-based therapist and singer and songwriter. I was always thrilled when she led a song at our pre-pandemic monthly Brattleboro pub sings with

O Mary, Where Is Your Baby – a Christmas spiritual from Louisiana
O Mary, Where Is Your Baby – a Christmas spiritual from Louisiana In 1980 Mary Alice and I purchased “The Second Penguin Book of Christmas Carols”, a small paperback edited by Elizabeth Poston which includes a number of traditional American gems. This is where we learned “Watts Cradle

Amidons’ musical settings of scripture
We have a tradition at our Guilford Community Church UCC of arranging and composing songs as needed for our services. Here are eight of the musical settings of scripture: seven newly composed, and one arrangement of an old hymn. * *

Arrangements for Advent and Christmas
Here are some of our Guilford Community Church Choir favorite anthems for Advent and Christmas: Watts Cradle Hymn words by Isaac Watts – traditional American tune “RESTORATION” Watts Cradle Hymn Simple SATB harmonization with an easy piano part. We sing this in our Christmas Pageant when Mary comes