Music for May 2n 2021 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Unto Thee, O Lord – Virgil T. Ford (1922-2005)

Instrumental Music

• Variations on Gaudeamus Pariter – Jayson A. Snipes (b. 1983)
• Hymn 200: Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
• I. Theme
• II. Cantabile
• III. Allegro
• IV. Toccata
• Rhosymedre – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
• Sortie – Jâcques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823-1881)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “*” which is from Wonder, Love, and Praise.)

• Canticle* Christ our Passover (Pascha nostrum) (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 379 God is love: let heaven adore him (ABBOTT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 529 In Christ there is no East or West (MCKEE)
• Psalm 22:24-30 simplified Anglican chant by Jerome W. Meachen

Virgil Ford

Today’s anthem is a quiet, acapella setting of verses from the 25th Psalm: Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. Show me thy ways, lead me in thy truth. Teach me thy paths, for thou are the God of my salvation. This setting, from 1960, is by American church musician Virgil T. Ford. An ordained minister of music in the United Methodist Church, he was active as a church organist/choirmaster for over 40 years at churches in Norfolk, Virginia and Eastern Massachusetts.

Ford was born in Norfolk, Virginia and started taking piano lessons at the age of 9. He attended The College of William & Mary and earned a B.A. Degree in 1943, and University Extension Conservatory of Chicago and earned a B. Music Degree (Composition) in 1955. He had over 250 published compositions that include anthems, cantatas, youth music collections and new hymn tunes.

The opening voluntary is a set of variations on the Easter hymn Come, ye faithful, raise the strain (Hymn 200), set to the tune GAUDEAMUS PARITER. It is by the contemporary American composer Jayson Snipes. He is a native of Winston-Salem, NC, and received a B.M. in Music Education, and M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied organ, voice, and conducting. Currently, he serves as Director of Traditional Music at Maple Springs United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, and is Artistic Director of Piedmont Chamber Singers.

The communion voluntary is Ralph Vaughan William’s luscious setting of the Welsh tune RHOSYMEDRE. This hymn tune was written by the 19th-century Welsh Anglican priest John David Edwards who named the tune after the village of Rhosymedre in the County Borough of Wrexham, Wales, where he was the vicar from 1843 until his death in 1885.

The hymn tune appears in a number of hymnals and is sung to a variety of texts. In our hymnal, it is set to a lovely text about the Christian family (“Our Father, by whose name”, hymn 587). However, I first associated the tune with the text “My song is Love Unknown, my Savior’s love to me,” and that’s the text I still associate with it. So, when reading the Epistle lesson for today about the love of God, this immediately came to mind.

This piece was originally written for pipe organ in 1920. As usual, in his arrangements of British folk music, Vaughan Williams succeeds here in turning an apparently simple tune into a work of profound emotional impact. In this short but sweet work Vaughan Williams crafts a wistful piece of great beauty. It has since been arranged for string orchestra, concert band, and other various instruments.

This prelude was played at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales at the request of Lady Sarah McCorquodale. It was also played at the weddings of her two sons: Prince William (in April 2011) and Prince Harry (in May 2018). It is such a favorite of mine that I want it played at my memorial service, as well. (But not soon.)

Music for April 25, 2021 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Good Shepherd Sunday

Vocal Music

• Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us – William Bradley Roberts (b. 1947)

Instrumental Music

• He Leadeth Me/Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us – arr. Phillip Keveren (b. 1961)
• My Shepherd Will Supply My Need – arr. Brian Henkelmann (b. 1956)
• Communion – Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Tuba Tune – C. S. Lang (1891-1971)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “*” which are from Wonder, Love, and Praise.)

• Canticle*- Christ our Passover (Pascha nostrum) (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 208 - Alleluia! The Strife is O’er (VICTORY)
• Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Psalm 23 - simplified Anglican chant by Jerome W. Meachen

The fourth Sunday of Easter is also called Good Shepherd Sunday, for the Psalm is always Psalm 23, and the Gospel reading references sheep. Many churches named after saints will often claim that saint's day as their "patronal" festival, so it is fitting that the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Kingwood should look to this day as our own feast day.

Jackson Hearn and Grace Tice
(looking for all the world like a prom picture)

With that in mind, we celebrate with music appropriate to the day. Not only does this Sunday mark the official return of the choir, but also brings a guest musician, the oboist (and my dear friend) Grace Tice. Grace is a free-lance musician in the Houston area, with degrees from North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) and Rice. She has performed with the Houston Ballet Orchestra as well as several regional orchestras. She is a favorite of church musicians in Houston, because not only is she extremely musical but also because she lives up to her name, Grace.

Grace will be heard on the choir's anthem, a setting of the text "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us" which first appeared in Hymns for the Young, 1840, which was edited by Dorothy Ann Thrupp. Although no author's name appears with the text, it is thought that Thrupp wrote it, since she often published hymns anonymously, under the pseudonym "Iota," or simply using her initials. 

The text is coupled with a new tune written by William Bradley Roberts, the Professor Emeritus of Church Music at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria. Previously he was a parish musician, serving at St. John’s, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., and at churches in Tucson, Newport Beach, Louisville, and Houston, where he was a student at Houston Baptist University.

In addition to playing with the choir on their anthem, Grace and I will play arrangements of some "Shepherd Hymns" for oboe and piano. We will start with a "mash-up" of two American hymn-tunes associated with the texts He Leadeth Me and Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us. If you came to the Episcopal church out of any other Protestant tradition, you will likely recognize these two tunes.

He Leadeth Me is a hymn paraphrase of Psalm 23, written in the late 1800s by Baptist minister Joseph Gilmore. With its tune by William Bradbury, it has appeared in well over 1150 hymnals - with 50 of those being published since 1979. It is not in The Hymnal 1982.

The other tune in this "mash-up" (I still can't use that term without thinking of the TV series GLEE which introduced it to me.) is the  tune used in most hymnals for Savior, like a Shepherd lead us. This tune is named BRADBURY, after its composer, William Bradbury (the same William Bradbury who wrote He Leadeth Me.) This tune is pair with this text in at least 254 modern hymnals, while the tune in our hymnal, SICILIAN MARINERS, is paired only three times.

This arrangement of these two hymns is the work of Phillip Keveren, a multi-talented keyboard artist and composer living in Brentwood (Nashville), Tennessee. He composes in a variety of genres, and is widely acclaimed for his piano publications. Mr. Keveren is a prolific arranger, orchestrator and producer. His work is featured in numerous instrumental recordings, church choral, educational piano and Christian artist releases. His arrangements and compositions appear on recent projects by Sandi Patty, Travis Cottrell, Sara Groves and Ronan Tynan. Keveren holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from California State University, Northridge, and a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Southern California.

The other piece in the opening voluntary is a oboe and piano setting of the Southern hymn, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. It is arranged by Brian Henkelmann, a pianist, organist, composer and educator currently living in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he is organist at the First United Methodist Church and on the faculty of Arkansas State University. Henkelmann holds a bachelor of arts in music from Moravian College, a master of arts in theological studies from Moravian Theological Seminary, and a master of church music from Concordia University Chicago. 

Music for April 18, 2021 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain – R. S. Thatcher (1888-1957)
• Come, Risen Lord – Alfred Morton Smith (1879-1971)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on Middlebury – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Hymn 213 - Come Away to the Skies
• Hornpipe – George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the canticle which is from Wonder, Love, and Praise.)

• Canticle Christ our Passover (Pascha nostrum) (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 182 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO) (stanzas 1,2,5)
• Hymn 180 He is risen, he is risen! (UNSER HERRSCHER) (stanzas 1,2,4)

The anthem this Sunday morning is by Reginald Thatcher, an English musician and educator who lived in the first part of the 20th century. From all accounts, he was an unassuming man, though he held leadership positions at several fine schools before becoming principal of the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1944. He was also the assistant director of music for the BBC during the early war years in the late 30s until 1943. 

His anthem, Come, Ye Faithful, was written when he was director of the Harrow School, one of the most prestigious schools for boys in the world. It uses the text by eighth-century Greek poet John of Damascus (c. 675- c. 754) who is especially known for his writing of six canons for the major festivals of the church year. (A canon is a form of Greek hymnody based on biblical canticles. Greek canons demonstrate how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ's resurrection.) This text was written around 750 and inspired by the Song of Moses in Exodus 15.

The communion motet is simply a hymn straight from our hymnal. I’ve chosen it because it is perfect for today’s Gospel and the celebration of the Eucharist. It is a fine text which celebrates the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Stanzas 1 and 4 allude to the part of the Emmaus story (Luke 24:28-35) in which the two disciples invite Jesus to be their guest, but then Jesus becomes their host. Stanza 2 focuses on our partaking of the sacrament and stanzas 3 and 4 on the oneness we share with all believers in this world and in heaven.

Originally written as "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest," the text by George W. Briggs (1875 -
1959) was first published in the original edition of the British hymnbook Songs of Praise (1925). Briggs was a well-known twentieth-century hymn writer. A clergyman in the Church of England, he served a number of parishes and was a chaplain in the Royal Navy. He was especially interested in promoting meaningful worship in the British schools and consequently wrote Prayers and Hymns for Use in Schools (1927) and Prayers and Hymns for Junior Schools (1933). Briggs was a founding member of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

This tune was written by the Rev. Alfred M. Smith, an Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania whose avocation was music. He has written three hymn-tunes, two of which are in our hymnal.

Music for April 11th, 2021 + The Second Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Doubting Thomas – arr. Mark Schweitzer (1956-2019)
• His Most Holy Lyfe – Carlton T. Russell (b. 1938)

Instrumental Music

• Rondeau: O Filii et Filiae - Jean-François Dandrieu (1682-1739)
• Prelude in Classic Style – Gordon Young (1919-1998)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked * which is from Wonder, Love, and Praise.)

• Hymn 490 - I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (HOUSTON)
• Hymn 209 - We walk by faith and not by sight (ST. AGNES)
• Canticle -  *Christ our Passover (Pascha nostrum) (SINE NOMINE)
• Psalm 33 - (Jerome W. Meachen)

The second Sunday of Easter is one of my favorite Sundays, because it focuses on the Apostle Thomas’ all-to-real reaction to hearing that Jesus was not dead, but alive. I can relate, because I, too, feel like I would want proof to such an outrageous claim.

The hymn and tune “O sons and daughters, let us sing,” or O FILII ET FILIAE, tells the story of the events just after Jesus’ resurrection: the women finding an empty tomb, the confusion and fear amongst the disciples, and Jesus’ appearance to Thomas and the other disciples. The Hymnal 1982 divides the original 12 stanzas between two hymns, both sung to the same tune: Hymn 203 which focuses on the women at the tomb, and Hymn 206, which focuses on Thomas’ doubts. It is this hymn Mark Schweitzer has arranged for choir and that we use for the anthem today. 

The opening voluntary today is also based on O FILII ET FILIAE, a set of variations by French Baroque composer Jean-François Dandrieu. These were actually drawn from a set of variations by his uncle, Pierre Dandrieu, a Parisian priest and musician who lived from 1664 to 1733. Jean-François would revise and enlarge his uncle's volume of organ noëls, which was first published by his uncle, Pierre Dandrieu in 1714 (rev. in the 1720s). Jean-François's book was published posthumously by sister, Jeanne-Françoise, in 1759.  This sounds like a musical soap-opera plot.

The communion motet is a setting of a prayer (collect) which Thomas Cranmer wrote for the first Book of Common Prayer (1549). Although the vast majority of the collects of Archbishop Cranmer are based on Latin originals, this one is among the few that were newly composed for the Prayer Book. It was originally the collect for the Second Sunday after Easter.

The composer of the motet is the Rev. Carlton T. Russell,  Professor of Music and College Organist, Emeritus at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where he taught for 41 years. In 2006, after retiring to Maine, he and his wife Lorna S. Russell, also an organist, became ministers of music at St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church in Blue Hill. An Episcopal priest, Dr. Russell holds degrees from Amherst College, Princeton University, and The Episcopal Divinity School, and the Choirmaster (Ch.M.) certificate of The American Guild of Organists. 

Here is the text of that collect:

Almighty God, who hast given
thy only Son to be unto us
both a sacrifice for sin,
and also an example of godly life;
Give us grace
that we may always most thankfully receive
that his inestimable benefit,
and also daily endeavor ourselves
to follow the blessed steps
of his most holy life. Amen

Music for Easter 2021

Vocal Music

• Now the Green Blade Riseth – Shirley McRae, arr. (1933-2018)
• Christ the Lord is Risen Today – John Ferguson, arr. (b. 1941)
• I Know that My Redeemer Liveth – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
• Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Improvisation on Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing! - Paul Manz (1919-2009)
• Carillon de Westminster, Opus 54, No. 6 – Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Rondo in G – John Bull (1562 or 1563 – 1628), arr. Richard Ellsasser (1926 - 1972)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 207 Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 178 Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• S-128 Sanctus - William Mathias
• S-151 fraction anthem (
• Psalm 118 – Hal H. Hopson

The music for Easter takes on an appropriately celebratory tone with the addition of two instruments you don't usually hear together except on a Revolutionary War battlefield.

At the time I was looking for music for Easter 2021, choirs were not yet permitted in our in-person services, so I needed some special music for our four-person Schola (1) that would be appropriately festive while not being over-powering for the small group. I remembered an arrangement of an Easter carol which was accompanied by piccolo and snare drum alone. It was a perfect choice. I paired it with another Easter carol arranged for two-part choir, flute, bells and tamborine, and was all ready for Easter. Then, when we got the word that the choir could sing, we were all set!

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today is arranged by John Ferguson, for many years the Elliot and Klara Stockdal Johnson Professor of Organ and Church Music and Cantor to the Student Congregation at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. His undergraduate work was completed at Oberlin College, his Masters degree from Kent State and the DMA diploma from The Eastman School of Music. He set the Charles Wesley Easter hymn to a Christmas Carol from 13th century France called ORIENTIS PARTIBUS. (You may remember the carol as "The Friendly Beasts.") It's a very simple setting for choir which is made more joyful by the addition of the spritely piccolo and crisp sound of the snare drum.

The other anthem is a setting of another Easter text set to another French Christmas carol. Anglican priest John MacLeod Campbell Crum wrote Now the Green Blade Riseth to be paired with the popular French carol melody NOËL NOUVELET. Michael Hawn, retired professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology at SMU, wrote this about the text:

The vivid imagery of the hymn is biblically based: John 12:23-24: "And Jesus answered them, saying, the hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (KJV) In addition, 1 Corinthians 15:37-38 connects the image with the resurrection: "And that which sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body." (KJV)

The connection of the Easter event - the rising of Jesus -- is unmistakable. The simple phrase "Now the green blade riseth" reminds us that Jesus is risen today just as he rose on that first Easter morning. In the third line, we find "Love" being used as a metaphor for Jesus. We are now reminded why Jesus came to the earth in the first place: "For God so loved the world…" (John 3:16). After speaking directly about Jesus' death and resurrection, Crum turns to our lifetime struggles. In the fourth stanza, Crum emphasizes that no matter what we are going through, "Jesus' touch can call us back to life again." (2)

This arrangement is by a one of my Memphis friends, Shirley W. McRae. Shirley was Professor Emerita in the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music (University of Memphis), where she taught for 25 years and served as coordinator of music education. At the University, she taught courses in aural theory, children's choirs, hymnology, choral conducting, and music education. 

With a worldwide reputation in the specialized field of Orff Music, she was a composer, music clinician, children's choir conductor as well as the author of two textbooks, Directing the Children's Choir and Tutoring Tooters. Over her extensive career, she composed numerous choral works, both sacred and secular, for unison and mixed choirs as well as eight books of compositions and arrangements for Orff music classes. Her compositions and arrangements have been widely performed by school, university, community, and professional ensembles across the United States. Four of her compositions have been commercially recorded by groups including the Rhodes College Singers, the Denver Women's Chorus, and the Memphis Boychoir and Chamber Choir.


She has arranged this carol for choir, flute, handbells and percussion.

The opening voluntary at the 10:15 service is a toccata based on the famous bell peal, Westminster Chimes. Nearly everyone associates the Westminster chimes with the Clock Tower at the House of Parliament in London. Originally, however, they were fitted to the clock of the University Church, St Mary's the Great, in Cambridge, England. This is a fabulous organ piece, written by a great composer, Louis Vierne. He was almost completely blind after being born with cataracts, and composed in Braille or on large manuscript paper. From an early age he had a gift for music, and was able to pick out notes from a Schubert lullaby on the piano at the age of two.

The closing voluntary is the Rondo in G, attributed to John Bull but probably composed by Richard Ellsasser, an American organist active during the 1940s, 50's and 60's. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Ellsasser was a musical prodigy who studied piano and organ, touring the eastern United States as an organist with various symphony orchestras at the age of 7. He made his New York organ debut in 1937. At the age of 19 he became the youngest person in history to have played, from memory, all 250+ organ works of J. S. Bach. At age 41, he suffered a stroke which forced him into retirement.

(1) Schola refers to a singing school especially for church choristers, and specifically: the choir or choir school of a monastery or of a cathedral. In a monastery, everyone was expected to sing the service. The Schola was a specialized group from out of the larger "choir" (Congregation) for special music.

(2) C. Michael Hawn https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-now-the-green-blade-riseth

Music for Holy Week 2021

Good Friday

Vocal Music

• Were You There – Spiritual
• Richard Murray, baritone

Instrumental Music

• O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded – J. S. Bach
• Prelude in E Minor – Frédéric Chopin

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “LEVAS” which are from Lift Every Voice and Sing.)

• Hymn 168 O Sacred Head, sore wounded (PASSION CHORALE)
• Hymn 474 When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM)
• Hymn LEVAS38 The Old Rugged Cross (George Bennard)

Maundy Thursday

Vocal Music

• Ave Verum – W. A. Mozart
• And Still the Bread Is Broken – David Ashley White
• Psalm 116

Instrumental Music

• Pange Lingua – Charles Callahan

Congregational Music 

• Hymn 329 - Now, my tongue, the mystery telling (PANGE LINGUA)
• Schubert Sanctus and Agnus Dei
• Stay With Me (Jacques Berthier)
• Psalm 22