Monica Alexandra Harper,
Director of Music Ministries/Organist
Monica Alexandra Harper is a nationally recognized concert organist and church musician. She has won prizes in many prestigious national organ competitions, including the 2008 National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, the 2006, 2007, and 2008 John Rodland National Church Music and Organ Competition in Ridgewood, NJ, the 2005 Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition in Wethersfield, CT, and the 2006 Arthur Poister National Organ-Playing Competition in Syracuse, NY. She has performed recitals in many parts of the USA, including ones most recently at St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis for the 2008 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, IN, Christ Episcopal Church in Macon, GA, The Midwinter Organ Conference at Baylor University in Waco, TX, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Miss Harper is the recipient of two national music leadership awards: the 2004 National Music Teacher's Association Achievement Award for "successful teaching experience and demonstrated leadership abilities" and the 2008 National Religious Music Week Alliance Award.
Miss Harper recently completed her resident doctoral studies, summa cum laude, at the renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, IN, the largest school of music in the USA with over 1,600 music majors. She has double doctoral majors in Church Music and Organ and double doctoral minors in Music Education and Choral and Instrumental Conducting. While a student at I. U., she was on faculty as the Associate Instructor of Organ and Church Music, musician at Emmanuel Baptist Church, and sub-dean for the Bloomington Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She was awarded a grant from the James M. Barnett Foundation for doctoral study and was the Dean's Music Merit Scholar. She has studied organ with world-renowned organists Dr. Marilyn Keiser, Dr. Chris Young, Dr. Joyce Jones, Dr. Janette Fishell, and Dr. Fletcher Anderson. Her own students have won state and local music competitions, and she is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Choristers Guild of America, and the College Music Society.
She holds a Master of Music degree, summa cum laude, in Church Music from Baylor University in Waco, TX. While at Baylor, she was the Full Graduate Teaching Assistant and organist at Central Christian Church She was a prize-winner in the 2005 and 2006 William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition for the state of Texas. She also holds the Artium Baccalaureatus degree from Wesleyan College, a private liberal arts college for women in Macon, GA. Here, she graduated magna cum laude with triple majors in Business Administration (Accounting Concentration), Organ, and Piano. While in Macon, she was Worship Leader at the United Methodist Home for Children and Youth, Director of Music at Park Memorial United Methodist Church, chapel music leader at Wesleyan College, and singer in the Wesleyannes Vocal Chamber Ensemble. She was also employed at a local Certified Public Accounting Firm. Miss Harper was honored with an Award of Excellence in accounting from the Educational Foundation of the Georgia Society of Public Accountants. She was also honored musically by the Steinway Society of America and the Steinway Galleries of Atlanta for piano achievement and the Georgia Music Educators Association for winning the state piano competition in 2003.
Simon Spalding,
Associate Director of Music Ministries
Simon Spalding has served Centenary United Methodist Church as Associate Music Director since March 2006. His duties have involved recruiting and directing volunteer singers and musicians; selecting, composing, and/or arranging music for worship services and church events; and performing on a variety of instruments.
From March 2006 to August 2009, Simon directed music at the 8:50 contemporary service, working with both the regular Praise Team and visiting groups. Simon played electric bass, guitar, and violin; most of the time he played an “omnichord”, a seven-stringed instrument that combines the range and sounds of bass, guitar, and mandolin. The ensemble for this service typically included singers, piano, electric bass and guitar, and drum kit.
Simon has composed a number of songs and pieces for worship at Centenary, such as “Song for Jesus’ Birthday” (for the Children’s Choir at Christmas), “Water Into Wine”, “Love One Another”, “The Church at the Crossroads”, and “I Will Lift My Eyes to the Hills”. He has also collaborated with fellow Centenarian Dana Scott on “Jubilee”, “Morning Prayer”, “Ocean of Love”, and other songs. These compositions have been used in worship services at Centenary and elsewhere.
Simon has also organized monthly contra dances and occasional concerts and historical balls, held in the church’s Fellowship Hall.
Since August 2009, Simon has directed music for Centenary’s 8:30 Sunday morning service, selecting and arranging more traditional music and instruments (piano, violin, mouth harp, accordion, mandolin, autoharp). For this service, Simon directs different combinations of musicians and singers on different Sundays of the month; a Folk Ensemble, Gospel Ensemble, Instrumental Ensemble, and others.
Education, Background, and Experience
Simon grew up in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, in a family involved in theater and the arts. He performed children’s roles in theatrical productions, provided music for stage productions in his teens (e.g. The Camp Meeker Players’ production of The Glass Menagerie, 1973), and formed a variety of music ensembles in high school and college.
Simon attended Chinatown Presbyterian Church, a trilingual (English, Cantonese, and Mandarin) church also known as “Cameron House” from its days as a Presbyterian Mission under the direction of Donaldina Cameron. He also attended Monte Rio’s Presbyterian Church on the Russian River, and sang with the English-language choir of Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in San Francisco.
Simon attended Lowell High School and the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley, he studied Ethnomusicology with Bonnie Wade; Harmony with Andrew Imbrie and Janice Giteck; Early Music with Alan Curtis and Lawrence Moe, and Anthropology with Alan Dundes and Tim White. He served on the organizing committee of the annual conference of the International Musicological Society in 1977, organizing and participating in performances of traditional Irish and Russian music. Simon studied Central Javanese Gamelan with Jody Diamond, Dan Smith, and Ki Wasitodipuro, continuing to play Javanese music after his graduation. He also assisted Winston Wu in teaching traditional Chinese music, taught a mini-course in Irish music, and participated in Los Gringos Allegres, a student mariachi band. He organized concerts of Medieval music and his own compositions.
Before, during, and after college, Simon played bass and contrabass balalaika with the Korowczenko Balalaika Orchestra and with the Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival. With the latter group, he performed on college campuses throughout the US, on the Dinah Shore Show, and at Carnegie Hall. With this group, he played in Pops Concerts with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Honolulu, and London, Ontario. His performances with Massenkoff also included Chautaqua Institute, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, and the Concord Pavilion.
Concurrent with this, Simon organized and directed music groups and music-and-dance shows for the Dickens Christmas Festivals and Renaissance Pleasure Faires, directing shows and groups of street actors portraying sailors and visiting Irish and Scottish groups of the 16th and 19th centuries.
Simon co-founded the Dogwatch Nautical Band, a San Francisco-based group performing songs and music of the sea. While he performed only rarely with group after 1984, the group has continued up to the present day.
Simon performed with the folk-original group Golden Bough from 1980 though 1981, playing on the group’s first commercial recording and participating in tours of the Pacific Northwest and Europe. With this group, Simon performed at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, the Rotterdam New Pop Festival, Nyon Folk Festival, and other events and venues.
From 1983 through 1984, Simon directed California Breezes, a group based in San Diego performing traditional and contemporary folk music from their home state. With this group, he performed in Stockholm’s Kungstraedgarden, Copenhagen’s Grabrodretorg, the Rattviksdansen International Festival, and festivals and concert venues throughout Europe.
In late 1984, Simon joined Celtic Stone, a folk-rock group on whose first album Simon had played early in 1983. With this group, Simon performed acoustic and electric fiddle and electric bass at the North Texas Irish Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, and made a European tour in 1986. He performed, composed, and arranged much of the material on the group’s third album, Natural Bridges.
Starting in the mid-1980’s, Simon began performing solo as well as sitting in with far-flung local groups. These performances include appearances at L’Orient’s Festival Interceltique, Krakow’s Shanties Festival (three times receiving the coveted “Audience Prize”, and a special prize from the Polish Yachting Association), Raleigh’s Artsplosure, and other events. Simon has performed lecture-concerts presenting history of a variety of times and places through song and music, for museums and other institutions throughout the United States and Europe. Simon has lectured at the prestigious St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music in Russia, at the national maritime museums of Sweden and Denmark, for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (on celestial sidebarigation), and for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Simon has pursued a career in History concurrent with his music career. He worked as a USNPS park ranger in 1980-81; directed the startup of a small maritime museum in Washington, NC 1989-1990, consulted in the development of a maritime museum in Southport, NC in 1991; and worked as Living History Programs Manager at Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens in New Bern, NC 1998-2003. He has also developed programs and events for museums in Pennsylvania, New York, Scotland, Sweden, and Denmark. This work has often included music performances and lectures.
Simon plays with the local oldies and rock groups RetroRockets and Collateral Damage. He recently played guitar in the New Bern Civic Theater’s production of Grease. Simon directs the teaching studio of Fuller’s Music in New Bern, where he also gives private and workshop instruction on a variety of instruments. Simon teaches music two days a week at Gramercy Christian School in Newport. Simon still performs at Tryon Palace and Bank of the Arts on a contract basis, and organizes dances (sometimes providing dance calling or music) at Craven Community College and at the Ministry Center of Christ Episcopal Church. Simon still occasionally travels to perform in California, Poland, and elsewhere.
Simon and his wife Sara have performed acoustic folk music together as Tuppence since 2000. Together, they have performed throughout North Carolina, and at concerts and festivals in Louisiana, California, Texas, and Scotland. They have recorded two albums, Small Change and Give Me Your Hand.
Sara Spalding is music director at Bethany Christian Church in Arapahoe, Pamlico County, North Carolina. Simon, Sara, and their twins Albert and Susannah are members in both Centenary and Bethany Churches. They live in the Ghent neighborhood of New Bern.
