When I was in Uganda I was doodling on the guitar one day and I came up with a cool little guitar riff. Somehow it seemed to match up in my mind with the hymn text “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.” Like all promising musical ideas that come to me, it kept playing in my head and I kept fussing with it on paper. But then it just got too fussy. I was over thinking it until all its charm was gone. So I decided to take a break from looking at it on paper and just get back to how the started–with me doodling on guitar. Over the last few days I’ve just been playing with it and now I feel like it’s once again becoming that simple, charming song that I met in Uganda. Here’s me playing it straight into the mic on my MacBook Pro: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy MP3.
My wife’s friend Paula is the founder of Mind the Gap Theatre Company in NYC. Recently she sent out a call for “a sexy cool jingle/ tagline” for their new podcast. How could I resist? After all, I’ve written marches, fight songs, faux soap commercials, VBS theme music and pop songs for girl groups–how could I say no to a sexy cool jingle?
I’ve been working on the Hymnary.org for a few years now, and I decided it was about time that it had some theme music. Since it’s a database of all kinds of congregational songs, I thought it would be appropriate to compose a brisk and whimsical romp through hymnological history. Take a listen to the Church of the Servant choir and me singing The Hymnary Theme Music.
Back when I lived in Pittsburgh, I played out quite a bit with a trio consisting of Elizabeth Way on violin, Eric Emmons on acoustic guitar and me on vocals and string bass. One summer I recorded an album of these songs called from the hand of on a four track cassette. (On this particular recording I replaced Eric on guitar for logistical reasons–if Eric had played on the recording it would have sounded a lot better!) One of the hits from that recording–if a cassette that sold 200 copies can have a hit–is “The Deeper You Get.”
Colin Gordon-Farleigh has been working with a new singer, Lisa Winwood, who needs a new batch of songs that will fit her soulful voice. Here’s the first. I took a little different approach this time. Instead of writing a piano score and having Finale play it back, I wrote a lead sheet and recorded a rough demo of the song.
Yesterday was Easter, and we had a blow out celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Church of the Servant. The service included my new setting of Psalm 118, the day’s lectionary Psalm. Okay, I went a little overboard with this one. It’s more than 7 minutes, includes parts for soprano solo, strings, brass and timpani, and the full score is 40 pages long. And it’s hard. But it was Easter, so a little extravagance seemed entirely appropriate. Listen to the COS choir and strings performing it with Melissa Simon on soprano and Brandan Grinwis on timpani: MP3.
Just cant get enough? Check out the “bouncing ball” version of the score:
What could be a more appropriate soundtrack for a quiet Friday in Lent than a rollicking country song about leaving it all behind? Actually, this song has nothing at all to do with Lent, it’s just that the incongruity between the song and the season struck me as humorous. But I digress.
Colin and I are back in business, and “Shake the Dust” is the latest in our catalog. “Shake the Dust” is the kind of song you want playing in the background after you’ve pistol whipped the bad guy, kissed the girl goodbye, tossed back a shot of whiskey and thrown the glass against the wall with a hearty laugh. And haven’t we all had days like that?
One of my favorite hymn tunes is O WALY WALY (often associated with the song “The Water Is Wide”) and one of my favorite hymn texts is “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” I often put them together, to the annoyance of those in the pews, but this Lent I decided to do something a little different. I paired Marie J. Post’s text “As Moses Raise the Serpent Up” with the tune O WALY WALY and put it medley with “When I Survey” paired with HAMBURG. Then I added a new refrain to wrap it all together into a meaty Lenten sandwich. Listen to the sinfully cheesy demo, or download a side of music score.
With Ash Wednesday quickly approaching, it seems appropriate that I post a song about the fleeting nature of our earthly existence.
I remember having the idea for “Bones and Ashes” while taking a walk during one of my summers working at Camp-of-the-Woods in Speculator, NY (1984-86). I can’t remember when I finished it, but in the end I included it in my 1993 recording from the hand of…
For any of you who want to “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” here is Bones and Ashes.
