Category: Choir

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Let Every Shore Rejoice (Psalm 97)

Psalm 97 proclaims that God is above all other gods. To our ears, this may seem an odd declaration, but surrounded by polytheistic cultures, the Psalmists took great pains to differentiate Israel’s God from the many neighboring gods of sea, harvest, and fire. Here, the point is made by portraying God as a mysterious, all-powerful deity before whom mountains melt like wax. It’s pretty awesome stuff, really.

To capture the spirit of Psalm 97 musically, I used an angular harmonic style that never comes to rest. Is it in the key of E minor? A minor? I still can’t decide! The chorus has lots of dissonance, and the verses use stacked fourths that give it a raw, energetic sound that feels just right for the lyrics.

1. The Lord God reigns,
let all the earth be glad;
let every shore rejoice.

Darkened clouds surround him
to shield frail human eyes.
Fire flames before him;
the wicked run and hide.

Lightning flashes, mountains melt
like wax before the fire.
Glory rings throughout the heavens
to praise the Lord on high.

2. Your people hear,
let all God’s children sing;
let every voice resound.

God, you are exalted
beyond all other gods.
Earthly powers tremble
before your righteous throne.

Those inside your love
know only kindness and delight.
Joyous hearts are beating,
and our eyes are filled with light.

3. Rejoice in God,
let all God’s people sing;
let every tongue rejoice.

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Arrangement Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs Live

Mary’s Song, live at Baylor University

It’s so much fun to work with friends! In this case, my friend Carlos Colón commissioned me to write an arrangement of “Mary’s Song,” a song written by another friend, Wendell Kimbrough. This beautiful performance was recorded at a rehearsal for a chapel service at Baylor University.

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Art Music Choir Church Commissions Live Psalms

Let the Peoples Praise You

From 2000 to 2005, I worked at Northwestern College in Iowa, teaching music and worship in the music department, and leading chapel worship and overseeing worship teams for campus ministries.

In my second year there, a new president was inaugurated, and I was commissioned to compose a piece for the ceremony. I hadn’t thought about it much in the few decades since, but I recently found a recording from the inauguration and decided to clean it up and post it here.

I had forgotten how much I like it!

The lyrics are adapted from Psalm 67–a perfect Psalm of thanksgiving for a fall worship ceremony in the heartland of America. The meter is 7/8 throughout. I never strayed from a 2+2+3 rhythm; still, the choir hated me for the odd meter! The rhythmic vitality really drives the piece; it feels exciting and exuberant. The harmonic style is–I don’t know what to call it–pan modal? But I like it. There is a lot of bite in the harmonies, but they’re not so complicated the choir can’t find their notes or it leaves the audience scratching their heads.

It feels like it was an important step forward in my composing.

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Arrangement Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs

Colón: Prince of Peace

I haven’t posted to my blog in a month, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking off. No, indeed! I’ve been working on some big commissioned projects and soon-to-be-released albums. But here’s a recent arrangement I can share with you.

St. Athanasius

My good friend Carlos Colón wrote a beautiful song based on St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, called “Prince of Peace.” He asked me to write strings to go with the choral anthem and then he recorded it with a group of exceptional musicians.

Most of the time, I follow my own artistic impulses, but it is really satisfying to help someone else achieve their musical vision–especially when it turns out so beautifully!

You can request the score at Carlos’ website.

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Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs Demos

Our Souls Will Magnify the Lord (O Antiphons)

I forgot to post this to my blog when I completed it in December!

My alma mater congregation, Church of the Servant, reached out to me last year about their O Antiphon service.* They had been using various musical resources and wanted to commission a brand new setting of all seven “O” texts. I set to work writing new texts based on the original Latin verses and composing an original melody.

Since the O Antiphons are traditionally associated with the Magnificat, I decided to tie all seven verses together with Mary’s song of praise, turning her words into a group response: “Our Souls will Magnify the Lord.” It is a pentatonic (five-note) melody that never seems to come to rest because it begins on the second scale degree and ends on the third. Let me put that in normal person language: the melody has a mystical, elusive quality that reflects the tone of the text and worship service.

This should have been a simple one-and-done seven-verse hymn, but as I continued to work on it, I imagined more sonic textures. By the time I was done I had written a 60 page score for choir, flute, alto recorder, violin, viola, bass, and piano. Feel free to follow along in the scrolling-score video above.

*If you’re not familiar with this Advent tradition, the O Antiphons are seven songs, each beginning with “O” and then addressing the coming Savior with a title like “O Wisdom” or “O Root of Jesse.” You may know them in one of their most popular forms, the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Contests Demos

The Nicene Creed

The World Council of Churches recently put out a call for musical settings of The Nicene Creed for their 2025 conference which will commemorate the 1700 years since the gathering at Nicea that produced this creed.

How could I say no?

I composed a setting of the Apostle’s Creed years ago but have never tackled the much longer Nicene Creed. Writing a song based on a text like this is daunting: there are no metrical patterns or rhymes to guide the music–just words.

I started by composing a very simple refrain of “We believe” to be sung before and after each section of the creed. This gives a congregation an easy way to engage the song right away. Each section–God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit–uses the verbatim text of the creed.

To shape this prose text into something singable I utilized lots of melodic sequences that are easy to follow even upon first hearing–this is no time for clever melodies with wide intervals! Music coherence is achieved by chains of harmonic progressions that give the music forward motion and repeated harmonies that give the ear some structure. Even though the setting is based on repetition and simplicity, I was able to throw in some interesting twists and turns that keep things fresh.

Who knows? Maybe this will be my big hit. I’m sure no one expected Malotte’s “Lord’s Prayer” would be so successful!

We believe in one God,
the Father, the almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Psalms

If The Lord Had Not Been On Our Side @ GIA

I was very pleased to hear that my Gospel/Spoken Word/Choral rendition of Psalm 124, “If The Lord Had Not Been On Our Side,” is featured in their Spring 2021 choral packet. I was even more excited to hear the recording that will be included in the reading packet: the narrator is commanding, the choir as smooth as butter, and the rhythm section takes it home.

I think everyone should own a dozen copies!

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Contests Pilgrim Psalms Psalms

Psalm 122: Let Us Go (Church of the Servant)

How cool is this? My friends at Church of the Servant made a music video of my song “Let Us Go” for the COS Psalm Contest premiere Sunday. It was great to see old friends from the COS Choir, Guitarchestra, and Joyful Noise Orchestra, as well as contributions from friends in Jakarta, New York City, and LA (via Pakistan). Thank you!

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Arrangement Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs Live

Jesus Cristo, esperança do mundo/Jesus Christ, Hope of the World

This fall, I was commissioned to write an arrangement of the lovely Brazilian milonga, “Jesus Cristo, experança do mundo.” It premiered last night in the second installment of Calvin University’s four-part Lessons and Carols. The whole program was lovely and it was great fun to hear my choral piece elsewhere than in my own head!

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Demos FAWM 2020

Psalm 37: An Antiphonal Acrostic

A number of months ago, my mom mentioned that Psalm 37 is one of her favorite scriptures, so I thought I’d set it to music. Little did I realize what an undertaking it would turn out to be! 

You see, Psalm 37 is an acrostic with 22 four-line poems based on each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. What’s more, it is a wisdom Psalm on the theme of good things happening to wicked people. This is not the stuff of Chris Tomlin hits, but since I’m committed to setting all 150 Psalms to music I decided to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

What I composed is 22 “songlets,” each starting with a letter of the English alphabet (through V, the 22nd letter). Each of these songlets is 8 measures long; the second 4 measures of each songlet can be sung together with the first 4 measures of the next songlet, creating a musical chain of 22 links.

At this point, either your eyes are glazing over or you’re completely nerding out with scripture-song ecstasy! If you’re in the first category, just take a listen to the demo above. It will start to make sense as you hear it. If you’re in the latter category, take a look at either the musical score or the lyrics side-by-side with the NIV scripture text. You’ll find those at my main website.