Friday FIVE: May 29 - Someone Had to Write It

Friday FIVE: May 29 - Someone Had to Write It

As America approaches its semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026, composer and pianist Stephen Limbaugh decided the occasion deserved more than a theme song. In this episode, I reflect on his America 250 Symphony, a full four-movement, 28-minute orchestral work documented in real time over two years on X [https://x.com/StephenLimbaugh/status/1945148693042085974]. Working in the lineage of Dvořák, Copland, and Gershwin, and collaborating with Hollywood orchestrator Conrad Pope, Limbaugh is attempting something serious. Whether or not it becomes a landmark work, the instinct behind it is worth paying attention to. The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey. Here’s the link to support the work: https://www.givesendgo.com/A250symphony [https://www.givesendgo.com/A250symphony] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com [https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Friday FIVE: May 22 - The Oratorio Before Elijah

On May 22, 1836, Felix Mendelssohn premiered his oratorio St. Paul in Düsseldorf to immediate acclaim. One hundred and ninety years later, one chorus from it still stops people in their tracks. In this episode, I reflect on what made St. Paul significant in his time, what How Lovely Are the Messengers does with a text from Romans 10, and why a group of fourth through tenth grade boys in West Monroe, Louisiana, sang it better than they may have known. The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey. Here’s the recording of “How Lovely are the Messengers”: https://youtu.be/wE5Ngf9_uqo [https://youtu.be/wE5Ngf9_uqo] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com [https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Friday FIVE Revisited: March 28 - A Place in the Choir

This week’s episode briefly discusses the role of the choir when it comes to congregational singing in worship. The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features five minutes of music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com [https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Friday FIVE: May 8 - The Hymnal as Teacher

For generations, church hymnals did more than preserve songs. They quietly taught ordinary people how to read music. A passing remark from country singer Ella Langley sparked this one, and this episode explores how the act of singing from the page, week after week, formed musical instincts most people never knew they had. I reflect on the shift from hymnals to lyric screens and ask what role the church should play in forming musically literate worshipers today. The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey. https://jarrodrichey.substack.com/p/music-on-the-screens-in-worship [https://jarrodrichey.substack.com/p/music-on-the-screens-in-worship] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com [https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Friday FIVE: May 1 - Two Minds, One Harmony

On May 1, 1786, Mozart conducted the world premiere of The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna. 240 years later, it remains one of the most performed operas on earth. In this episode, I reflect on what made Mozart’s approach to opera revolutionary: music so precisely tailored to each character that you cannot swap their melodies. And in the opera’s very first scene, before the plot has barely begun, Mozart does something even more remarkable. He lets two characters sing in harmony to tell you something the text never says. The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.Here’s John Mason Hodges’ talk at New Saint Andrews College on this exact subject: https://youtu.be/9OSFCcvtcFc [https://youtu.be/9OSFCcvtcFc] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com [https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]