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Congregational Songs Contests

It Was Very Good!

In day two of my Faith Alive scripture song submissions, I get a little whimsical.

Here’s what they wanted:

Genesis 1: 1,31: We need a catchy version of these two verses for K-1.  Could include animals, animal sounds, etc.  Maybe an island feel.

Here’s what I came up with: MP3, PDF

I could extol the virtues of a singable melody, an upbeat acoustic reggae style (watch your back Bruno Mars), and a simple call-and-response form that will let non-readers sing along. But all I need to say is beluga, arugula.

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Congregational Songs Contests

The Colors of the Covenant

A few weeks back Faith Alive put out a call for scripture songs for children and tweens. The email listed four scriptures in their Sunday school curriculum for which they need songs. There’s nothing that motivates me more than this kind of scripture song challenge. (I can’t wait until their Sunday School curriculum moves into Leviticus!) For the next four days I’ll post a new one each day.

Here’s what they wanted:

Genesis 9: 12-13: Something appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders. Could use the line “This is a sign of the covenant as a chorus”? This one will be a challenge!

Here’s what I gave them: MP3, PDF

I especially like the words on this one. The alliteration in the title gets things started. The first verse succinctly tells the story of Noah, culminating in the rainbow of the chorus. (Not as easy as it seems, by the way.) The second verse applies the story of the rain, rainbow, and the covenant to those of us who are singing the song. Of course, this is a lot of words for 2nd and 3rd graders to sing. It wasn’t clear whether the song is intended for listening or singing, so we’ll see whether it’s accepted or not.

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Production music

Time Lapse

Back when I was young (a few months ago) and thought I could make some serious Benjamins composing music for video productions, I always kept an eye out for projects in need of music. The video below was created by John Lyzenga to be used as a confession during a Calvin Worship Symposium service. It originally used a song by Sigur Rós as the soundtrack, and frankly, the sad, sweeping music fit the video beautifully.

But I mess with stuff. That’s what I do. So I decided to retrofit the video with something I composed called “Time Lapse.” Most of the recording is made with Logic Pro’s sampled instruments, but there are a few tracks of real strings too, courtesy of the Allegro String Quartet. Check it out: http://youtu.be/JWgdG_o4Ci4

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Colin

Love Alone

The collaboration between Colin Gordon-Farleigh and me has slowed to a trickle, with our output dwindling to only 16 songs since the start of the year. The latest was finished this morning. In this demo of “Love Alone” I took a straight up ballad approach, but I think what’s really going to put this one over the top is an arrangement in the long lineage of ballad/disco hits like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” and Cher’s “Believe.” Each of these has at its core, a great melody, often in a minor key. Things usually start off slowly, then the song becomes a double-time dancing frenzy of grief release. Nowadays, that great pop disco tradition has developed into techno style ballads, although good examples escape me at the moment.

For now you’ll have to satisfy yourself with the down tempo ballad version (MP3, PDF). But if you want to create a bangin’ remix, just let me know and I’ll get you all the files you need.

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Rock and/or Roll

The Allegro Sessions: Prayer (On My Darkest Days)

Toward the end of college I was having a crisis of faith. It was not at all helped by Wolfgang Borchert’s brilliantly depressing “Draußen vor der Tür,” in which God makes an appearance as a tired, helpless old man. My doubts and faith were channeled into a musical prayer called, appropriately enough, “Prayer.” I recorded it with guitar and violin on my “From the Hand of” cassette (note to my younger readers: cassettes were how independent musicians released music before Myspace and Bandcamp) and decided to retool it recently for full quartet. We’re still learning it, so it’s a little rough, but I’m already loving the way the strings add depth to the song.

Prayer (On My Darkest Days), MP3

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Art Music Demos Rock and/or Roll

The Allegro Sessions: Palestrina

Yet another composition about composing, this time I’m asking the question “in the face of so many great composers, should a minor talent like me even bother?” It takes the form of an open letter to the Renaissance master Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, asking whether he composed knowing he would be revered as a musical master centuries later or whether he was content to simply make music for the immediate joy (and income) it brought him.

The thing I like about this song is that it stretches the boundaries of song form. It goes all over the place, but never loses its way. The problem is that it is an absolute bear to play. The poor cello and viola fill in for bass and guitar, with rhythmic double stops that form the backbone of the groove. The violins have solos and fiddle rhythms. And then everyone has to stop on a dime and nail delicate harmonics. It’s a wonder they didn’t walk out on me when I passed out the music!

Take a listen to a work in progress: Palestrina, MP3.

PS – If you’re wondering why I keep composing given the fact that I’m dwarfed by people like Palestrina, it is best summarized by Henry van Dyke: “The woods would be very silent if no bird sang except the best.”

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Demos Rock and/or Roll

The Allegro Sessions: Have I Gone Too Far?

On day two of our journey into the world of Allegro we arrive at another jazz tune. But this time it’s an intimate ballad with ripe harmonies and melodies that stretch to the point of breaking. “Have I Gone Too Far” was written while I was in grad school, compelled by my composition professors to “find my voice,” which was code for “write unnecessarily complex music that would be completely inaccessible to anyone outside our little club.”

I received my compositional indoctrination during the day, and played my guitar around town at night. In fact, this was when I first began writing music for guitar and string quartet, trying to find ways of composing music that were artful but also accessible. During these years of musical tension, I often wrote songs that explored the questions that kept turning in my mind. And the question in this case was, “Have I Gone Too Far?“

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Demos Quirky Rock and/or Roll

The Allegro Sessions: I’ll Be Around

For the last year or so I’ve been getting together with the Allegro String Quartet, a fine female foursome who have been working on some of my rock and roll string music.

As any patron of these pages knows, I am nothing if not eclectic. (I’m still trying to figure out if that’s a feature or a flaw.) Over the years, I’ve written a number of things for strings that combine classical sensibilities with rock/pop/jazz/global aesthetics. Sometimes this has taken the form of compositions for string quartet alone (6, Jig), and at other times the strings are layered into a band (Dreaming). But what interests me most is a hybrid somewhere in the middle. Last week, Allegro and I made four rough recordings of songs we’ve been working on. Each one crosses genres in some way.

First up is “I’ll be Around.” This is a pretty straight ahead jazz tune, and I could imagine Bing Crosby singing it in a 1950s TV special. But this rendition is Bing-less, with me on vocals and guitar as the quartet switches between a tight-harmony solo, pizzacato, and a verse in which they throw themes back and forth between them. The tempo marking says it all: “coy and cute.” Take a listen to I’ll Be Around, MP3.

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Arrangement Church

My Jesus, I Love Thee

Jud Mereness

One of things I like about Church of the Servant is that we do funerals well. Everyone pitches in, whether at the piano or in the kitchen, to make sure the life of the person who died is celebrated and the family left behind are comforted. I think sometimes people are surprised at how heartily we sing on these occasions.

Such was the case at Jud Mereness’s funeral. Jud was a longtime member of the church and sang for a number of seasons in the choir. His wife Cele plays her viola at the church and has herself played in her share of funerals. So it was an honor to give a little something back to the family.

Cele asked if I’d sing “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” I’m never very comfortable singing at funerals (I cry), so I decided to sing only verse 1 as a solo and then invite the congregation to join me. I also thought that a string arrangement would be just right, so I wrote a new one. Here’s the recording from the service: My Jesus, I Love Thee (MP3).

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Contests

Vote for the St. Gregory Remix

I’m really sorry. When I posted my St. Gregory Remix I thought it was going to be evaluated on creativity and quality, in which case it would have won hands down. But it turns out that it’s one of those “turn out the vote” deals. So why don’t you head on over to Indaba and let people know that you vote for Greg: http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/victimae-paschali-laudes-remix-opportunity/submissions/60592