Music for Sunday, September 25

The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (10:15)

Vocal Music

• Praise God in His Holiness – Geoffrey Shaw (1879-1943)

Instrumental Music

• Grand jeu – Pierre du Mage (1674 – 1751)
• Suite du premier ton No. 3 Récit – Denis Bédard (b. 1950)
• Rigaudon – André Campra (1660-1744)

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 494 - Crown him with many crowns (DIADEMATA)
• Hymn 429 - I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath (OLD 113TH)
• Hymn 705 - As those of old (FOREST GREEN)
• Hymn R - Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
• Hymn 625 - Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)
• Psalm 146 – Tone VIIIa

St. Michael and All Angels (5 PM)

Vocal Music

• God Be In My Head – H. Walford Davies (1869-1941)
• Ave Verum Corpus – W. A. Mozart 

Instrumental Music

• Aria – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Picardy – Charles Callahan
• Ye Holy Angels Bright – Charles Callahan

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 618 - Ye watchers and ye holy ones (LAAST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 282 - Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels (CAELITES PLAUDANT)
• Hymn R75 - Praise the Lord, O heavens adore him (AUSTRIA)
• Hymn 324 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (TUNE)
• Hymn 625 - Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)
• Psalm x – Tone VIIIc

Praise God in His Holiness

The composer of today's anthem, the English organist, music educator, and composer Geoffrey Shaw, was the younger brother of the organist and composer Martin Shaw. As a boy, Geoffrey was a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral in London under Sir George Martin. Later he was organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied under Sir Charles Stanford and Dr. Chas. Wood.

From 1902 to 1910 Geoffrey Shaw was music master at Gresham's School, Holt. In 1920 he was named his brother's successor as organist at St. Mary's, Primrose Hill, London. He also served as inspector of music to the Board of Education from 1928 until his retirement in 1942. In this post he devoted himself to the furtherance of popular organisations, both in the schools and training colleges and by means of such unofficial activities as summer schools for teachers and competitive festivals. In 1932 he was awarded the honorary Lambeth degree of D.Mus. In 1947 the Geoffrey Shaw Memorial Fund was established to assist musically talented children.

Geoffrey Shaw composed a ballet, All at Sea, orchestral works, and chamber pieces, as well as partsongs and unison songs. He also co-operated with his brother in editing song books.

An interesting fact is that his son, Sebastian Shaw, was an actor who was chosen for the small but crucial role of redeemed, unmasked and dying Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, the third and final film in the original Star Wars trilogy. 

Music for March 21, 2021 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

Create in Me a Clean Heart – Carl F. Mueller (1892-1982)
Hymn: As Moses Raised the Serpent Up (GIFT OF LOVE)

Instrumental Music

Praise to the Lord – Anna Laura Page (b. 1943)
Called Home to Heaven – Fred Gramman (b. 1950)
This Is the Day– Susan Morris (b. 1951)
Grand Jeu – Pierre DuMage (1674-1751)

The Bells are ringing! For the first time since this pandemic began, the Good Shepherd Handbell Guild will be ringing in our morning worship services. We have actually been rehearsing since September, but the fall was spent focusing on music for Christmas, as we played at the live Nativity services. But now we get a chance to play in worship.

Because we are playing three numbers (the most we've ever played in one service) and because we are live-streaming our services, we are moving from the security and anonymity of the loft right down front of the congregation. This will offer you the rare opportunity to watch the entire choir in action. I believe that bell choir music is as interesting visually as it is aurally, so this should prove to be fascinating for the members of the congregation.

Anna Laura Page

The first piece is an arrangement of the hymn Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, by Anna Laura Page A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Kentucky. A widely published composer of choral and handbell music, she has been active in the promotion, composition, and publication of music for handbells, serving as the Handbell editor for Alfred Publishing for 11 years, and was also on the Music Committee for the 1991 Southern Baptist Hymnal. She currently resides in Sherman, Texas.

In this piece, listen for several idiomatic handbells techniques, including the martellato (where the bell is sounded by hitting the padded table), mart lift (similar to the martellato, but the bell is immediately lifted off the table to allow it to vibrate), staccato (the bell is rung normally, but with a thumb or finger on the bell to shorten the sound), and echo, where the bell is rung normally then touched lightly on the table to affect the sound (listen for a "wow-wow" effect).

Fred Gramman

At the offering we are playing a meditation on the hymn-tune HOLY MANNA, which is often used for the text "Brethren, we are met to worship." It was written by Fred Gramman, the organist at the American Church in Paris. He is a native of Washington state where he began organ studies with Dr. Edward Hansen of Seattle. He earned organ performance degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Michigan, moving to Paris in 1972 for organ study with Marie-Claire Alain and Maurice Duruflé. Since 1976, he has been Director of Music at the American Church in Paris where, in addition to his organist duties, he also conducts the Adult Choir, the ACP Bronze Ringers, and the Celebration Ringers

He wrote the piece for the community ensemble Music Made in Heaven, a handbell choir made up of parents who have lost children to death. The group was formed in 2004 as a continuing expression of the parent's love for God and their joy in the gift of their children. 

Gramman named the piece Called Home to Heaven, utilizing the last verse of the hymn Brethren We Have Met to Worship. The line, "Then He'll call us home to heaven" resonates with those who have lost children and other loved ones. 

HOLY MANNA is masterfully woven through this arrangement creating an enchanting setting of the traditional tune. The second verse is beautifully created, juxtaposing bells and chimes in a fugue-like style. It is followed by a majestic verse and prayerful conclusion.

Listen for the use of mallets , the Echo technique , and the Swing. (You'll see it at the very beginning.)

Susan Morris

The communion bell piece is an interpretation of Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." This gentle and inspirational work was written by Susan Morris for the Handbell Choir of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Music is an avocation for Morris. Even though she began taking piano lessons at the age of ten and soon after began composing her own music, her career was in science. She received a BS in Biology from Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and then continued her studies at the University of Virginia, receiving a graduate degree in Medical Technology.  She now resides in Lynchburg, VA.

Music for July 22, 2018

Vocal Music

• God, Our Ever Faithful Shepherd – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Christine Marku, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Toccata and Variations on The Lord is My Shepherd (CRIMOND) – Barbara Harbach (b. 1946)
• Prelude on “Evan” – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Grande Jeu – Pierre DuMage (1674-1751)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 518 - Christ has made the sure foundation (WESTMINSTER ABBEY)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (ST. COLUMBA)
• Hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless (ST. AGNES)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Hymn 693 - Just as I am, without one plea (WOODWORTH)
• Hymn 493 - O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)

We get to hear one of J. S. Bach's most beloved works for the offertory today. It is the ninth movement from Cantata No. 208, Schafe können sicher weiden,  also known as "Sheep May Safely Graze."

The Cantata is really not a sacred work. It is a secular cantata, written for the birthday of Duke Christian of Sachsen-Weissenfels, in 1713. This aria is not a hymn to the Good Shepherd but rather a celebration of benevolent despot (Duke Christian). 

Sheep may graze safely where there’s a good shepherd who stays awake and where there’s a good nobleman watching over a blissful nation.

Bach was the court musician at Weimar at the time, but he knew which side his bread was buttered. He received at least two more commissions directly from the court at Weissenfels. 

As is so often the case, Jesus gets worked into the translation, and this purely secular work becomes a mainstay in the sacred genre. We use it today in reference to the Old Testament reading Jeremiah 23:1-6:

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

The Gospel lesson continues that theme, as Jesus sees a crowd and has compassion for them, because they were like "sheep without a shepherd." For that reason, Psalm 23 is chosen as the psalm of the day.

We will sing the hymn setting of the twenty-third psalm, set to the Irish tune ST. COLUMBA, for the psalm. I will admit that this is a long hymn, so the third stanza will be a solo organ stanza. Read the text while the organ plays a setting of the hymn by the English composer Kenneth Leighton, who captures the line "perverse and foolish oft I strayed" by not only straying from the melody, but even confusing things a bit with a canon between the right hand and the left hand.

Barbara Harbach

In addition to ST. COLUMBA, I will feature two other hymn-tunes associated with Psalm 23 for organ voluntaries. The opening voluntary is a set of variations on the tune CRIMOND (see hymn 663) by the Missouri composer and organist, Barbara Harbach. She is a professor of music at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and has written a large body of works including symphonies, operas, musicals, works for chamber ensembles, film scores, and modern ballet, as well as pieces for organ, harpsichord, piano, and choir.

In this work, you will hear a fanfare-like toccata at the beginning, with the melody rather hidden in the pedal line. Then she does something a little different with each variation. She changes the key with each movement. The melody is very clearly defined in each variation, but on the third variation, she combines the CRIMOND melody with the tune from "Amazing Grace," so you'll have to listen closely. The last variation presents each phrase of the tune in a different key, reminding me of my friend Gail who says (of her own singing), "I am not bound to one particular key."

The communion voluntary is based on a lesser-known tune from England named EVAN. It appears in over 280 hymnals to wide variety of texts, but the one Gordon Young had in mind when he made this lovely setting was "The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want." One can picture in one's mind that peaceful, pastoral hill side where sheep may safely graze.