Music for June 20, 2021 + The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• We Shall Be Delivered – Sea Chanty, arr. Sanford Dole

Instrumental Music

• Fantaisie en ut - César Franck (1822-1890)
• Humbly I Adore Thee – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• March Pontificale – Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823-1881)

Congregational Music (hymns from the Hymnal 1982, or Renew (marked “R”) or Lift Every Voice and Sing II (marked *)

• Hymn R194 - Jesus, what a Friend for sinners (HYFRYDOL)
• Hymn* - When the storms of life are raging (STAND BY ME)
• Hymn 608 - Eternal Father, strong to save (MELITA)
• Psalm 107– Tone VIIIa

We all know sea shanties. A sea shanty (chantey or chanty) is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. They were found mostly on British and other European ships, and some had roots in lore and legend. These songs were simple, rhythmic melodies that were easy to learn and easy to sing. There is usually lots of repetition, either of lyrics or a refrain. The most commonly known is probably “What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor.” The Gilligan’s Island theme song is written in the style of a sea shanty.

 
Sea shanties resurfaced in popular culture. In 2009 a BBC Radio presenter was in Cornwall on holiday and came across homemade CDs of some local fishermen. An agent travelled to Port Isaac and negotiated a recording contract worth £1 million for them with Universal Music Group, who, taking quite a gamble, signed them to a recording deal. To everyone’s surprise, Fisherman’s Friends and their album reached number 9 in the charts and achieved Gold Record status.

 
Then early this year, a Scotland-based postman named Nathan Evans posted a rendition of the New Zealand shanty "Soon May the Wellerman Come," on TikTok. Nathan’s incredible rendition of The Wellerman exploded on the platform and has even become something of a TikTok challenge.

Using the TikTok duet feature - which lets you record a video alongside another TikTok user - users are layering their harmonies over Nathan’s original video, including the renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. To date, over 17.5 million people have watched the original video.

Taking that same song, “Soon May the Wellerman Come,” some Episcopal church musicians in California have rewritten the words to fit this Sunday’s Gospel lesson.

One day our Lord, his sermon over, said, “Let’s go off to the other shore.”
So each disciple took an oar and they began their voyage.
The boat set out for the other side and for an hour did gently ride,
but then the watchman loud did cry, “A storm is coming in!”
Then how the wind did blow, the waves did over the gunwales flow,
strong as the crew did row, the ship was close to found’rin’.

I have to admit, it’s a fun song to sing, and I hope it will help cement the lesson in our hearts as well as our minds.

All of the hymns reinforce the theme that Jesus calms our troubled seas. The opening hymn is Jesus, What a Friend of Sinners by the great Presbyterian evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman. The hymn includes these two stanzas:

Jesus! what a help in sorrow!

While the billows o'er me roll,

even when my heart is breaking,

he, my comfort, helps my soul.

    Refrain:

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah, what a Friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

he is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a guide and keeper!

While the tempest still is high,

storms about me, night o'ertakes me,

he, my pilot, hears my cry. [Refrain]

The opening and closing voluntaries are works by two Belgian organist who live at the same time, César Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck, who was based in Paris most of his adult life, and Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, who studied in Paris and Germany before returning to Belgium. 

Music for June 13, 2021 + The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Hymn of Promise – Natalie Sleeth (1930-1992)

Instrumental Music

• Symphonie Gothique: 2. Andante Sostenuto - Charles-Marie Widor (1844 –1937)
• Jerusalem My Happy Home – George Shearing (1919-2011)
• Praeludium from Suite in D Minor – Johann Krieger (1651–1735)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 525 The Church’s one foundation (AURELIA) 
• Hymn 302 Father, we thank thee who hast planted (LYONS)
• Hymn 657 Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)
• Psalm 92 – Tone VIIIa

This Sunday the Good Shepherd SUMMER Choir will sing one of the simplest and loveliest anthems in our library, the beautiful Hymn of Promise by Natalie Sleeth. I have written about it before, so if you want to read the story of how it came to be, please go here.

Often we sing hymns which we have sung all our lives, and never think about what they mean. This Sunday, we are closing the 10:15 service with Charles Wesley's great hymn, Love divine, all loves excelling. It's one of the few hymns of that era that depicts God as a loving god, and not a judgmental deity. Every line in this hymn can be traced back to the Bible. Every thought is based on God's word. Here is an example of just the last stanza of the hymn:

Finish then thy new creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
Pure and spotless* let us be, (Cant. 4:7, Eph. 5:27
Let us see thy great salvation, (Heb 2:3, 2 Peter 3:14)
Perfectly restored in thee; (Psalm 51:12, Isaiah 49:6, 58:12)
Changed from glory into glory (2 Cor. 3:18)
Till in heaven we take our place (John 14:2-3)
Till we cast our crowns before thee (Rev 4:10)
Lost in wonder, love, and praise (Rev. 8:1)
* the original word was "sinless," influenced by John Wesley's belief that humans could strive toward perfection, thus being sinless.

But a couple of lines are a bit obscure. I want to lift those out and give an explanation of them.

Line five of the third stanza says we are "changed from glory into glory." This comes from 2nd Corinthians 3:18

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

You have to remember the story of Moses coming down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments. It's said that his face was shining so brightly from being around the glory of God that he had to veil his face to keep from blinding his people. This glory comes from knowing the Law of God. But with Christ, we are a new creation (see the first line) and, as William Barclay says in his Commentary,

...we see the glory of the Lord with no veil upon our faces, and because of that we, too, are changed from glory into glory. Just possibly what Paul means is that, if we gaze at Christ, we in the end reflect him. It is a law of life that we become like the people we gaze at. (William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, The Westminster Press, 1954)

And in the penultimate line, we sing about casting our crowns before him. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John describes an event that will take place sometime after the Judgment Seat of Christ. The scene involves twenty-four elders, sitting upon twenty-four thrones, all of which encircle the throne of God.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads …. (Revelation 4:4)
The twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne. (Revelation 4:10)

For the saints to cast their crowns before the throne of God is to publicly acknowledge Christ’s right (and His alone) to wear those crowns. At this time they will “give credit where credit is due.” During their lives, these believers had faithfully represented Christ to the world in both character and service. But the ability to do so had not been generated by their own will and power but, instead, by the will and power of God. 

Music for June 6, 2021 + The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Lead Me, Lord – S. S. Wesley (1810-1876)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan (What God Ordains Is Always Good) – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) 
• Nocturne in A Minor – David Karp
• Toccata in C – Johann Pachelbel 

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the last hymn which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn 594 Go of grace, and God of glory (CWM RHONDDA)
• Hymn 533 How wondrous and great thy works (LYONS)
• Hymn When peace like a river (VILLE DU HAVRE)
• Psalm 130– tone VIIIa

As I am away this week at the Diocese of Texas Music Camp for Youth, I am unable to go into a detailed account of the music. So here are some quick notes

The anthem is an excerpt from a much longer anthem, Praise the Lord, O my soul, by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, an English organist and composer. The grandson of Charles Wesley, he was born in London, and sang in the choir of the Chapel Royal as a boy. He learned composition and organ from his father, Samuel, completed a doctorate in music at Oxford, and composed for piano, organ, and choir. He was organist at Hereford Cathedral, Exeter Cathedral, Leeds Parish Church, Winchester Cathedral, and Gloucester Cathedral. Wesley strove to improve the standards of church music and the status of church musicians; 

The original anthem was written in 1861, with this excerpt first published in 1905 in The Anthem Book, no. 8. But it was not until it was published in The Church Anthem Book in 1933 that it became quite popular. Now you can find this simple song in almost 30 hymnals, including the Episcopal book Lift Every Voice and Sing II, and the Renew hymnal which is in our pews.

Music by Johann Pachelbel opens and closes our service. First is a partita (an instrumental piece composed of a series of variations, as a suite) on the Lutheran Chorale What God Ordains Is Always Good (Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan). There are nine variations of varying difficulty and styles, even including a gigue, which is perhaps a little out of character for church music, but is fun to play, nevertheless.

During communion you will hear a Nocturne in A Minor by David Karp. As you mighty imagine, a nocturne is a slow, dreamy, sleepy kind of piece. This one is no exception. David Karp was on the piano faculty while I was at SMU, and, in fact, still is. He wrote this piece in memory of another professor at SMU, Louise Bianchi, who was Professor Emerita of Piano Pedagogy.

Dr. Karp is a nationally known pianist, composer, educator, lecturer and author, who holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Colorado with additional doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. At Southern Methodist, he teaches classes in performance, chamber music, improvisation, advanced class piano for piano majors, required piano classes for music majors and sight-reading classes for piano majors. In addition to his academic work,  he is prolific composer, with compositions numbering over several hundred and published by several major music publishers in America. These compositions are performed in competitions, recitals and a variety of music venues all over the world, often listed as required repertoire for students.

Music for May 30, 2021 + Trinity Sunday

Vocal Music

• Round the Lord in Glory Seated – C. Hubert H. Parry (1848-1918)
• Christ, be with Me – Noel Rawsthorne (1929-2019)

Instrumental Music

• Suite for Organ – John Stanley (1712-1786)
• I. Introduction and Allegro
  
• II. (Slow with expression)
• III. Trumpet Voluntary
• Allein Gott in der Höh – Andreas Nicholas Vetter (1666 – 1734)
• Allein Gott in der Höh - Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau (1663 - 1712

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 362 Holy, holy, holy (NICEA)
• Hymn 295 Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 371 Thou, whose almighty word (MOSCOW)
• Canticle 13 Glory to You (John Rutter)

"And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." Isaiah 6:3

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, the only day in the Liturgical calendar to commemorate a doctrine rather than a person or event. As the name suggests, Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's always the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity.

Musically, we observe the day by singing hymns praising the Trinity. One of the most familiar, and a personal favorite, is the opening hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. One that is not as well known, but equally as beautiful and powerful, is the hymn Round the Lord in Glory Seated.

Our hymnal pairs a text by the 19th century Anglican Bishop Richard Mant with a tune by C. Hubert H. Parry, an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Parry is best known for the choral song Jerusalem, the coronation anthem I was glad and the hymn tune REPTON, which sets the words "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". 

Hubert Parry earned a Bachelor of Music degree at Oxford at the age of 18.  Although an accomplished organist, pianist, and violinist, he initially worked for three years as a clerk at Lloyd’s of London before leaving to further his musical studies.  Parry published his first orchestral work in 1878 (Piano Concerto in F# Minor) and then went on to compose a wide variety of works including oratorios, librettos, chamber pieces, cantatas, choral works and solo songs.

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

In 1883 he joined the Royal College of Music as a teacher and became its director in 1894, a position he held until his death.  He was knighted in 1898 and made a baronet in 1903.  Probably his most notable pupils were Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst.  Parry was not a distant man and inspired others through his kindness, warmth and enthusiasm.  From 1900-1908, he served as a Professor of Music at Oxford and received three honorary doctorate degrees from Cambridge, Oxford and Dublin.  Most music critics in recent years consider him to be one of the most underrated of the late Romantic composers and a number believe he was one of the most influential English composers since Henry Purcell.

RUSTINGTON was first published in the Westminster Abbey Hymn Book (1897) as a setting for Benjamin Webb's "Praise the Rock of Our Salvation." The tune is named for the village in Sussex, England, where Parry lived for some years and where he died.

St. Patrick's Breastplate is a poem that is often used on Trinity Sunday. This great Trinitarian text belongs to a Celtic style of hymn known as a lorica, from the Latin word for “armor” or “breastplate.” In effect, it serves as both a statement of faith and a prayer for God’s protection. The most familiar part of this poem is the prayer "Christ be with me," which has been set to a new tune by the British organist Noel Rawsthorne. He was organist of Liverpool Cathedral for 25 years and City Organist and Artistic Director at St George’s Hall, Liverpool.

Another lesser known British Composer is John Stanley, a contemporary and friend of George Fredrick Handel. He was completely blind from the age of two, but in spite of this he was greatly admired both as a composer and as a performer, and Handel himself was often seen, along with other famous musicians of the day, listening to Stanley's performances on the organ of the Temple Church, London, where he was organist for more than 50 years.

The opening voluntary is a group of pieces taken from a collection of voluntaries which have been grouped together by Henry Coleman to form a suite , and have been freely transcribed for the modern organ. The organ of 18th century England did not have the full pedalboard that organs now have, so the music has been arranged to accommodate that.

Music for Sunday, May 23, 2021 + Pentecost

Vocal Music

• If Ye Love Me – Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585)
• Gracious Spirit, Dwell in Me – K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• Dearest Jesus, We Are Here – Johann L. Krebs (1713-1780)
• Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now – Johann G. Walther (1685-1748)
• Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist (Come God, Creator, Holy Ghost) BWV 667– Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

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

• Hymn 511 Holy Spirit, ever living (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn R168 If you believe and I believe (Zimbabwean)
• Hymn R291 Go forth for God, go to the world in peace (GENEVA 124)
• Psalm 104 – tone VIIIa

Thomas Tallis was the preeminent composer of the English Renaissance. He was such an important  person during the Tudor period that he was one of the characters in the 2007 BBC television series The Tudors, though in a highly fictionalized version. A Catholic, he was able to survive the the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and his music often displays characteristics of the turmoil. During Elizabeth I's reign, he wrote music using Latin texts, in a florid style. 

Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic church in 1534 and the rise of Thomas Cranmer noticeably influenced the style of music being written. Cranmer recommended a syllabic style of music where each syllable is sung to one pitch, as his instructions make clear for the setting of the 1544 English Litany. As a result, the writing of Tallis and his contemporaries became less florid, using English texts.

Today's anthem is an example of English text writing. If Ye Love Me was actually written during the reign of Elizabeth I, but it is a noted example of this Reformation compositional style, essentially homophonic but with some elaboration and imitation. Typically for Anglican motets of this period, it is written in an ABB form, with the second section repeated. It has become a favorite of English speaking choirs the world over. 

It was sung at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 2018.

The other anthem is a setting of a hymn by the 19th century English Congregational minister, Thomas T. Lynch. Lynch's hymn is set in this meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 (seven syllables per line). But K. Lee Scott sets this text to the tune ADORE DEVOTE, a chant from the 13th century, which has the meter 6.5.6.5. D (Doubled). As you can imagine, some creative license has been used in fitting the 19th century text to the 13th century tune, including writing an entirely new 4th stanza written by the composer. Thankfully, it works. (The tune ADORE DEVOTE is in the Eucharist section of the hymnal as hymn 314: Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen, as well as the hymn 357, Jesus, Son of Mary, fount of life alone in the Burial section.)

All the organ music for this Sunday comes from the Baroque period, the period in music history that is roughly the years 1600-1750. It was the period where the organ truly was the king of instruments, especially in Germany, the home of all three of today's composers. The first piece is a piece by Johann Ludwig Krebs. Krebs studied under his father and was later a favorite pupil of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach at Leipzig. His music shows many of the same attributes found in Bach's music, and his best organ works equal anything by Bach. Bach (who had also instructed J. Ludwig's father) held Krebs in high standing. However, it was quite difficult for Krebs to obtain a patron or a post at any cathedral. This can be attributed to the fact that by this time the Baroque tradition was being left behind in favor of the new galant music style. This point in time also marked the transition to the classical music era, with composers such as Bach's son, C.P.E. Bach. 

Today's opening voluntary is one of a set of pieces for organ and wind instruments that Krebs wrote. The trumpet part is played by Sydney Peltier, our alto section leader. She came to us at the start of the year. She is a teacher in Houston ISD, after teaching for a couple of years as a middle school choir director in Humble ISD.

The next two opening voluntaries are by another contemporary of Bach, Johann Gottfried Walther. Not only was his life almost exactly contemporaneous to that of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was the famous composer's cousin.  Walther as a city organist of Weimar wrote exactly 132 organ preludes based on Lutheran chorale melodies. Two of those are the settings of the hymn Lord Jesus Christ, be Present Now which I'll be playing for the second half of the opening voluntary. (The same tune is used in our hymnal for No. 3,  Now that the daylight fills the sky and No. 310, O saving Victim, opening wide).

The first one is written for keyboard alone - no pedal and no trumpet. But the second one was written with the pedal part playing the melody, which today will be played on the trumpet.

The closing voluntary is the extended chorale setting of Come, God, Creator, Holy Ghost, from Bach's The Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668. This chorale prelude on Martin Luther's hymn for Pentecost "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" consists of two variations linked by a bridging interlude: the first is a miniature chorale prelude almost identical to BWV 631 in the Orgelbüchlein, with an uninterrupted cantus firmus in the soprano line; in the second, the four lines of the cantus firmus are heard in the pedal, beneath a flowing imitative ritornello accompaniment on the keyboard.

It is one of the last things he ever wrote. In 1750 when Bach began to suffer from blindness before his death in July, BWV 666 and 667 were dictated to his student and son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnikol and copied posthumously into the manuscript. 

Music for May 16, 2021 + The Seventh Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether – Harold Friedell (1905-1958)
• The Tree of Life – K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• Concerto in E-flat Major – Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Kevin Mendoza, trumpet
• I. Allegro
• II. Andante
• I Thank Thee, Lord, through Thy dear Son – Johann Christoph Bach (1642 –1703)
• Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked with an asterisk which are from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn 460 - Alleluia! sing to Jesus! (HYFRYDOL)
• Hymn 494 - Crown him with many crowns (DIADEMATA)
• Hymn - I have decided to follow Jesus (ASSAM)
• Psalm 1 - simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome Meachen

The music for this Sunday (which is Confirmation Sunday for us) begins with parts of a trumpet concerto by Franz Joseph Haydn, played by a student from Lone Star College in Kingwood, Kevin Mendoza. The concerto was one written by Haydn for his friend Anton Weidinger, a trumpet virtuoso and inventor of the first "keyed" trumpet which would allow a trumpet player to play in any key. 

the "natural" trumpet

A valve trumpet from the 1880s

You see, before this innovation, trumpets had no valves, and could only play a limited range of harmonic notes by altering the vibration of the lips; this is why it is called by the name of "natural trumpet". Most of these harmonic notes were clustered in the higher registers, so previous trumpet concertos could only play melodically with the high register. 

Weidinger developed a keyed trumpet which could play chromatically throughout its entire range, though his idea of drilling holes and covering them with flute-like keys was not a success as it had very poor sound quality. Weidinger did not perform the Concerto in public until 1800. Surviving in a single manuscript copy, this extraordinary work wasn't performed again until 1929.

 The valved trumpets used today were first constructed and used in the 1830s.

Harold Friedell

The offertory anthem is one of our choir's favorites, partly, I imagine, because of its lyrical melody and partly because of its imaginative and descriptive text. "Tether" is not a word used much today except in the term "Tether Ball," but I think that is an extremely accurate term for how the spirit connects us together, and to God. If you ever played tether ball as a child, you know that the ball is tied, or tethered, to the pole, and no matter how hard it is hit, it is connected to that pole, and will always return. Crafters in the group also love the term "knit thou our friendship up," though modern hymnals have tried to replace that with the pedestrian phrase "so now bind our friendship up."

This beautiful setting was written by Harold Friedell, an American organist, choirmaster, teacher, and composer. Friedell was raised in New York state, and worked at several prominent churches, ending up at St. Bartholomew's in New York City. Draw Us In the Spirit's Tether was composed while he was at St. Bart's. He also taught at Julliard and Union Theological Seminary. You can read more about him here.

The communion anthem is another beautiful setting of a hymn text. Eric Routley, an English Congregational pastor, musician and hymn writer, was the preeminent 20th-century hymnologist of the English-speaking world. He translated a 12-stanza hymn by a 17th-century Hungarian pastor to produce this text. K. Lee Scott wrote the tune for Routley’s text as a commission for the Episcopal Churches in the Diocese of Alabama for their Year of Evangelism in 1995. He remembers studying Routley’s texts (“because Routley had such an eye for texts”) and being drawn especially to this one because it was so panoramic. Scott remembers late at night sitting on the organ bench with just the organ light on in little Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church, walking back and forth from the organ bench down the aisles, as the tune gradually emerged out of his meditating on the text.

K. Lee Scott

K. (Keaton) Lee Scott is an internationally known composer and choral conductor of church music.  A life-long resident of Alabama, he received two degrees in choral music from The University of Alabama School of Music and has served as adjunct faculty for The University of Alabama School of Music, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Music, and Samford University School of Music.  He travels widely as a guest conductor and clinician in North America and beyond.  He is also director of music at Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church.  He has traveled extensively as guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States, as well as to Canada and Africa. 

Music for May 9, 2021 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Come Down, O Love Divine – arr. Fernando Ortega (b. 1957)
• Harrison Boyd, solo

Instrumental Music

• Christ the Lord Is Risen Again – Sondra K. Tucker
• Be Thou My Vision – arr. Julie Turner
• Trumpet Prelude – Johann Helmich Roman (1694-1758)

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 413 New Songs of celebration render (RENDEZ à DIEU)
• Hymn 297 Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 610 (stanzas 1,2,4) Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN)

It seems like I have been excited about the music each Sunday ever since the choir has been been back, and this Sunday is no exception, except this week it is because the Good Shepherd Handbell Guild is back to play for us! We are playing two pieces, both of which are based on hymn tunes. 

The opening voluntary is a setting of the old German Easter chorale Christ ist erstanden (hymn 184). The tune is from 1533, so it is akin to a Renaissance dance.  The use of tambourine and flute enhance this vibrant setting of the ancient Easter hymn. We are still in the Easter Season, so it is still appropriate! 

Sondra Tucker

It is arranged by my friend Sondra Tucker. She and I were musicians in Memphis together, then we both moved to Houston. She then moved back to Memphis before returning back to Houston! In fact, she has been playing with our group this Spring, and we are thrilled to call her a friend of our bell choir. Sondra is a well-known composer for handbells, for choir, for organ, and for flute ensemble.  Since 2013 Sondra has served as Handbell Editor for Alfred Publishing Company.  She is in demand as a conductor and clinician, having served on the faculty of numerous local, area, and national events. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and the University of Memphis. Away from music, Sondra is an avid knitter, swimmer, and motorcycle rider.  She is married to Roger, who has also played with us this Spring.

The other handbell work is a setting of the beloved Irish hymn Be Thou My Vision (hymn 488), paired with another tune, THAXTED," a melody by the English composer Gustav Holst. Holst's air is based on the stately theme from the middle section of the Jupiter movement of his orchestral suite The Planets and named after Thaxted, the English village where Holst lived much of his life. He adapted the tune in 1921 to fit the patriotic poem "I Vow to Thee, My Country."  You'll hear that melody in the middle of the piece, played on the bells while accompanied by the handchimes.

Julie Turner

This medley is a product of Julie Turner, a musician from Tennessee who specializes in Handbell music. Since 2006, Turner has been the Associate Conductor, Composer in Residence and a Board Member of Music City Bronze, Nashville's advanced community handbell group. She has also been the handbell director at her church in Nashville since 1999. She holds a B.A. in Music from Cumberland University and was a contract music engraver for the United Methodist Publishing House for nine years. Julie has over 30 published handbell arrangements and compositions and was named Composer of the Year in 2009 by Jeffers Handbell Supply. Julie and her husband Jim have lived in Nashville since 1986, where they raised their two children.

The choir is not singing an anthem this week. Instead, we will hear a solo by Harrison Boyd, who will be leaving this week to continue his education with an internship in Iowa. Harrison has chosen an arrangement of the hymn Come Down, O Love Divine (hymn 516) by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is in an arrangement by Fernando Ortega, a contemporary Christian Musician from New Mexico who now works in an Anglican church. He has produced 20 albums of sacred music in both contemporary and more traditional hymnody since 1999, and has won three Dove Awards. He's become known for his contemporary take on traditional hymns. You might find interesting his 2016 blog entry where he discusses the difference between upbeat worship songs that "were always so corny and utterly forgettable," and the hymn which Harrison sings for us today.