It's a difficult task...
...to talk about the professional music career I have had over the past 45+ years. Yes, there is extensive experience managing comprehensive instrumental, choral, and worship music programs (e.g., 35 yrs.). Yes, as a composer, arranger, and recording artist, I have published works in a variety of genres, seen a variety of organizations perform and record my works, and met some extraordinary people along the way. Yes, I have written commercially, arranged for popular, well-known artists in a variety of genres, seen hymn arrangements utilized in commercials internationally, and spoken with hospital staff who found my works inspirational to families of those dying of various diseases.
And, yes, I have intentionally chosen not to list the collection of these works on this site.
When I started my career, all my musical efforts were about self-aggrandizement. I sought every opportunity to write, to promote myself, to validate that I deserved to be treated with respect, and I received everything I sought, including the backlash. I saw how people chose to exploit and use me for their own benefit. Publishers readily accepted my works, offered me contracts, and chose to keep the royalties for themselves. Performances of my works promoted the performers, the academic or professional institution or organization, failed to acknowledge and report their performance to ASCAP or BMI, and thereby discarded my right to recognition as composer and arranger on their CDs, and royalties from their digital collections (e.g., Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, et al.). With my confidence and self-image in tatters, ceased was the ability to compose, arrange, and/or perform. I had, in all effect, lost all purpose.
In the silence that followed 16 years of turmoil, I learned the meaning of the phrase 'feathers in the wind.' Violently removed from all that had become my persona, I walked empty and lost before the world. I had no desire to please or be with any artists of music, much less listen to any musical works. There were no students, no schools calling for teaching engagements, guest appearances, or clinics. Left was one friend who desired a relationship; the rest leaving me neglected and cast aside, stepped over as if I was a piece of trash found on the road. Deep emptiness, shadows, and ineptitude became the glasses of my existence. I cried often, deeply, as my body broke from the incredible stress. And, my mind, at a loss for a creative antidote of disguise, began to fail. I lost moments, days, weeks, until all I could consider was a scriptural correlation to the life I was living in the present.
...and, as if a breeze of refreshment, came a daughter who loved music deeply.
Slowly, intentionally, I taught her how the character of one's heart spills into the technique and messages of the craft--the motif of which should be the knowledge that God chose me to love deeply, and to use His holy and sacred gift of music as it was intended: to praise Him, to bring Him glory, and to invite the Spirit of Christ to inhabit the praises of those who hear it. I listened to the words I taught intently, pondering their existence in my life, my heart. And then, as if a moment of clarity opened the heavens, I dropped all my past growth and knowledge, and waited expectantly for Christ. Buds of new growth followed, slowly growing from the ashes of a life I once knew. In time, the winds subsided, the wounds turned to scars, and deep roots of a tree that was transplanted into the rich soil of Christ--and, near a river of flowing water--appeared, feeding the growth that was in plain sight of all.
Today, I am deeply in love with the love of my life--Jesus Christ. I am composing and arranging again, seeking to please only Him, while conveying a message of mercy, of hope, of sincere and unconditional love, and of restoration.
He IS everything He has said He is!
And, in honor of all He has done for me, I want others to know of the divine and holy nature of music, of praise and authentic worship (e.g., obedience), of the musical prowess, integrity, ethics, and honestly required of an obedient leader and those of his/her team, and help the younger generation of songwriters have the opportunity to publish their works.
I hope you enjoy your time at Christian Ontos Publishing.