Dear Diego,

I thought I would tell you about two special events.

My church hosted a concert on Saturday May 25. The performer was a man named Philip Lipton. He is an expert at playing the clarinet. Among other jobs, he was a teacher for a short time at El Sistema in El Salvador. So of course I thought of you! Philip likes Spanish literature, especially poetry by Federico Lorca. Two of his compositions were about Lorca’s poems.

Philip played two different sizes of clarinet. The small one is a common soprano clarinet. The large one is a bass clarinet. He also uses a computer, which plays background sounds. He also has a tool called a loop pedal. He works it with his feet. It records as he plays, then plays back the music in a loop. He builds up music by adding one sequence of notes at a time, until he has a complex piece with many notes playing at the same time. It was fun to watch and hear as he made songs this way. Philip stayed after the concert to talk to everyone about his music. It was a fun concert.

Philip Lipton with a clarinet

Philip Lipton with a bass clarinet

The Sunday before was Pentecost. We had a special service with flags, pinwheels, and dancing. Pentecost is when we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit, as told in the book of Acts. We read the Bible passage in many languages, because it was about a miracle where lots of people heard the disciples speaking about Jesus in their own language. The Holy Spirit helped the disciples speak all those languages. I read in French. Other people read in English, Spanish, and Swedish. Everyone wore red because the Holy Spirit appeared like little red flames as it came to the disciples.

St. Andrew’s choir, Pentecost, 2018

All the best,
— Garrett Mitchener